Producer: Firebird
Retail Price: £1.99
Author: Adam Waring, Tony Warriner

Ultima Ratio hangs threateningly above the earth, an ominously powerful nine-stage battle platform controlled by an alien race. But its inexorable progress earthward can be stopped by your highly manoeuvrable fighter.

This craft can find its way through the intricacies of the platform's superstructure, which contains killer units and direction-reversing devices, multiple pulse guns and shielding.

Your multidirectional ship carries blasters (and limited ammunition) to counter an alien defence squad of fighters, which flit unpredictably across the squared surface of the platform.

All enemy craft and many of the platform's carbuncular constructions must be destroyed before you can reach the next section of the battle platform.

And your fighter's shielding is weakened and eventually destroyed by alien fire and dangerous ricochets from your own blasting. In this unprotected state the fighter's five lives can be quickly lost. But shielding can be renewed and fuel replenished in rejuvenating zones.

Time screens show the seconds left for each stage as you fight through this vertical flick-screen space world.

COMMENTS

Control keys: choice of three sets
Joysticks: Kempston, Sinclair
Use of colour: reasonable
Graphics: unattractive
Sound: poor spot FX
Skill levels: one

Ultima Ratio is another shoot-everything game with a colourful backdrop. The graphics are well-defined and colour is used very effectively - every block in the background has its own colour, and there's no clash. And the small monitor screens around the play area, showing how much time you've got left, give that extra boost of panic! This is a real neat shoot-'em-up; I just wonder how on Earth you kill the last alien on zone 01!
NICK

How can anyone expect a success from something as unplayable and unrewarding as this? The graphics are poor; the colour is used far too liberally and the characters are unattractive, dull, and unoriginal. Some may buy it purely on impulse at £1.99 - it's them I pity. Ultima Ratio is awful.
MIKE

The similarity to Lightforce stops at the colour-masking technique - everything else in Ultima Ratio is inferior. There's a serious lack of decent sound, which would bring the game to life, and it gets boring very quickly - mainly because of the appalling control method. After a long line of very impressive budget games, the Buzby boys have come up with a below-average product.
PAUL

Firebird
£1.99

Uragedding fed up with Uridium clones? Well, you inter-galactic zapperoonies you, here's one under the moniker Ultima Ratio from those good ol' rock steadies of the budget market, Firebird.

The pan-Universe war has waged for 33 years and in an effort to break the bloody deadlock, the Evil Empire has unleashed Ultima Ratio, a nine stage battle platform with defending fighters, pulse guns and battle shields. With Mother Earth itself threatened, your kamikaze task is to destroy this platform of peril all on your lonesome.

Each of the nine stages is laid out in stickle brick squares, over which you fly to find the most direct path to eliminate the enemy. Make sure the colour separation is sussed on your TV cos some of the objects merge disconcertingly in the otherwise luridly coloured sectors. Anything that flies is hostile so zap on sight - though some need bigger doses of mega-death than others.

Because you can't fly on to following platforms until you've annihilated everything, you'll need to replenish both shields and fuel repeatedly, and they're found secreted about the stages. But beware - in your zapping about, watch out for direction reversing devices which waste an awful lot of time.

An onscreen countdown from 100 gives your time allowance per screen and you have five lives to play with. Scores go into the mega 1000s, the graphics and screen scrolling are okay for a cheapie, but it lacks the essential quality of a zowie shoot 'em up - it should be faster, faster, faster, pussycat. Alright for superannuated star fighters.

Label: Firebird
Price: £1.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Andy Moss

It's 33 years since galactic war broke out, and you were dong very nicely thank you until Ultima Ratio turned up. A nine-stage battle cruiser that carried multiple pulse guns, defence fighters and battle shields that had to be seen to be believed. Each stage must be completed and neutralised before you can progress to the next. The smooth graphics make this game, and let's face it, if you enjoy a straightforward shoot-em-up, as long as you've got smooth scrolling what more can you want? Ultima Ratio is large and colourful, fast and furious. Sit down, get set and push that fire buttons.