Producer: Ocean
Retail Price: £7.95
Author: Kaos

A race of reptilian aliens - the Visitors - threatens to take over the world. A resistance movement has been formed to try to prevent this, which is where you come in: playing Michael Donavan, fearless leader of the resistance movement who aims to destroy the aliens single handed.

Having sneaked aboard the Visitor's Mothership he scuttles round, planting bombs in key locations. However, Diana - leader of the alien horde - has spotted your presence and is doing her best to make sure you don't succeed. Devilish Diana has commanded her army of robots to search you out and put a stop to your plan.

Four types of robots have to be dealt with. Surveillance robots follow Donavan around the ship reporting back to Diana. Maintenance robots scuttle along the floor of the space craft fixing things while cleaner robots hover at head height tidying up. But it's the deadly security robots that Michael Donavan must really keep his eyes peeled for. They can be destroyed with a bolt from the laser gun, and points are won for obliterating them, but ammunition is severely limited.

The robots operate on high voltage electricity and contact with them gives Donavan a nasty Encounters with robots don't kill instantly, but they do put a strain on the heart. After too many collisions with robots, your heart gives out.

Windows at the bottom of the screen monitor progress. A green screen to the left shows messages being sent to the robots from Diana and helps you keep track of the robotic hot-spots. The middle screen includes a clock and under this the score is displayed. A lightning bolt reveals the laser's firepower and a cardiogram bleeps reassuringly at the start of the game, getting more irregular as Michael's heart is damaged.

Function keys are located on the right of the status area. From the top and moving clockwise the keys are as follows: a) allows the game to be paused or abandoned; b) calls up information on locations in the ship; c) allows you to lay your explosives; d) is the log-off button, used to return to the game; e) displays the security code in the green window while f) stores information about the red-dust formula that Earth has been developing to kill off the aliens.

Number keys to the right of the function keys, like all the numbers in the game, are in base six because the reptilian aliens only have six fingers! Every now and then the hero comes up against impenetrable security doors that can only be opened by inserting the correct code. However, he can move from level to level via teleport pads. To use these, stand him on one and press up to move up a level, or down to move down a level.

Will Michael Donavan manage to outwit the alien invaders, or will we have to sit through another series of V on the television to see if good triumphs over evil?

COMMENTS

Control keys: CAPS SHIFT left, X right, B to SPACE fire, P up, L down
Joystick: Kempston, Cursor, Interface2
Keyboard play: fine
Use of colour: effectively monochrome
Graphics: neat animation and smooth scrolling
Sound: continual noise
Skill levels: one
Screens: large scrolling playing area

V has finally arrived and after all the hype the game hasn't turned out to be too bad. The alien's mother ship is a pretty drab place apart from the odd console room here and there, and a few laboratories if you can find them. I was very disappointed to find that there were lots of enemies on the ship but none of them were Visitors: instead there are these pesky little robots that literally get under your feet and don't engage in proper combat at all. The finish of the game is very good and you'll spend a long time on it if you play it fully. Unfortunately the writer(s) seem to have left out the TV tie-in, and thought up a game all of their own. Not so much for fans of the telly series as for serious arcade/adventure players.

I'm not incredibly enthralled by V. The game has its good points, admittedly. The animation for Donavan's forward rolls is quite neat, but the backgrounds make the robots hard to see, and generally make the game look a bit of a mess. Once you get into V, it's fun to play, and it gets better the longer you spend with it I'm not sure that I'd come back to it a lot, but I played it for quite a while. Overall, not bad, but it could have been improved.

Controlling your man is not hard, but at first it is a little confusing. The icons are also quite easy The use after a bit of practice. The graphics are disappointing: there's a lot of colour clash and very little variety in the backgrounds. Your character is well animated, although sometimes it's hard to make him out against the garish backgrounds. The sound is minimal, with only a few spot effects. Generally this follows the trend of most Games-of-the-series in that it's disappointing.

Ocean
£7.95

'Lo there, lizard lovers, and at long last a big V to you all. Yes, the game of the schlock sci-fi show - the series that made Dr Who look sophisticated - has arrived. You play Michael Donovan, last hope of the earth. Your mission is to enter the vast visitors'space ship, plant explosives in key places and bail out before they explode (even Donovan isn't so dumb as to hang around when the whole place is about to blow). It sounds like an impossible mission... It also looks like an Impossible Mission. But you wouldn't let that stand in the way of saving the earth, would you?

The ship itself is vast which is going to provide one of your main problems. It's a maze of long corridors, blocked by security doors and bulkheads, and linked vertically by transporter lifts. To add to the fun there are also five levels and the doors linking these are rather less frequent, so you'll spend an unbelievable amount of time racing around just trying to locate the Water Inlet, the Air Purification Plant, the Central Computer, Nuclear Reactor and Docking Hangar - your targets.

The other major hassle en route to success is the fact that the lizards don't speak English, or anything like it. Even their number system is base six. All of which means that the Communiputer display at the bottom of the screen is of very little use until you've had time to do some decoding. Then you can work out which button is for security access codes and how it works; which one provides location information, that you'll need for mapping the ship, and which one is for priming a bomb.

The android patrols pale into insignificance after that. There are four types - Security robots are more deadly than Maintenance ones - though it would be wise to avoid them all because any sort of contact damages Donovan's heart, which then takes time to recover. Our hero runs athletically and performs the most spectacular forward rolls - hence the feeling of deja vu concerning Impossible Mission. Time your roll right and you should be able to leap over the Maintenance robots. There's also a laser to deal with Security droids, though its charge is severely limited.

With its constant electronic beeping and long, dully mechanical corridors, V successfully instils an atmosphere of panic. A feeling that's helped by the sparse nature of the instructions - nothing here to help you too much, and if I were you I'd consult the preview that we carried back in Issue 3 for further playing hints. It's sure to keep Hack Free Zone busy for a while because mere blasting won't get you anywhere without brainpower.

My one real worry is that the game is a little too big for its own good, and though there's a Pause facility there's no Save game option. I found I was chasing all over the place and apparently achieving very little, story of my life really. Then again, I suspect further play will reveal greater subtleties in what is very much a voyage of discovery in an alien environment.

Publisher: Ocean
Programmer: Garry Knight
Price: £7.95
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair

The visitors command ship creeps through a slow steady orbit high above the planet earth.

V, the fantastically successful TV mini-series is back in the form of the game-of-the-film from Ocean. The ratings-topping science fiction pulp pap - a wonderfully redundant mix of Star Trek and Dynasty mashed into a confection of reptile aliens, tangled romances, betrayal and live rodent eating - is perfect micro game material.

If you want to save the world Donovan's your man. This anodyne hero with the Colgate smile can do it. The kind of guy you could believe into save the human race.

As Donovan you are thrust unceremoniously into a random point in the alien ship's architecture: the plane, level and sector are set by the computer. You carry a laser gun, explosives and a device call a communiputer, giving status info on ship-board activity.

Once you've got your bearings you can move up and down between levels using beamer pads, which look like the tops of toadstools. Most of those will allow you to travel in only one direction, either up or down. Each level is split into sectors, some of which are protected by security doors, and the ship is bustling with a robot population keen on removing you from their environment. Attack is the best form of defence and your laser gun proves invaluable. You only have a limited number of shots though - the fire-power remaining is shown as the first thin bar on the status panel - and gun performance is affected by the electromagnetic fields of the robots.

Four classes of robot patrol the levels. Maintainance robots travel along corridor floors while cleaners float above head level. Neither do much damage but if you bump into them your power decreases. The killers of the V ship are the security robots which are armed with lasers. You should take them straight on but you can jump over them and roll to the ground by pushing the joystick up. In that way you can avoid touching the robot and dodge its deadly firepower.

The ship also supports surveillance robots which report your location to Diana, the reptile leader. She will send yet more robots after you so you should silence their inaudible chatter before they get a chance to squeal.

Your primary objective is to destroy the ship. You must set explosives at the water inlet, air purification plant, central computer, nuclear reactor and docking hanger. You can set them in any order but once you have typed in the current time on the detonator you have only 30 minutes before the explosion. In that time you have to set the other charges and escape safely.

Time on the spaceship is confusing: all numbers on the craft are displayed in the reptile numeric system.

The clock which continuously ticks away on the status panel is split into six sectors, two of which are continually up-dated while the other four rotate as time passes. Pretty soon it becomes obvious that six characters depict hours, minutes and seconds. If you safely reach one of your targets - such as the reactor - you prime your charge by fixing the time on the detonator to that of the first four digits of the current time. Detonators are set by pressing down on the joystick which puts the communiputer into operation. A keypad appears at the bottom right of the screen and the main status display, bottom left, is cleared. There are 12 icons on the pad which are operated using an arrow cursor. The first two columns invoke actions such as detonators while the others are marked with the characters of the reptile number system.

To set the explosive device use the icon in the second row, second column.

Your secondary mission is to find the formula for the red dust which kills the reptile aliens. Laboratories on each level of the ship contain a piece of the formula for red dust manufacture. Somehow you will need to find the security codes for the levels where the labs are to have a chance with this sub-mission.

The five pieces of the formula are picked up by pressing the second key in the first column of icons. To get to them, however, you must switch off the security circuit on the lab's level in order to get through the security door - you cannot get into a lab using the beamer pads.

Invoke the security pass system using the icon pad and a series of six tumblers appear in the status window. Each of those tumblers must be rotated so that they each contain the same symbol. The icons which, until now, have been used to choose alien numbers can be used to rotate the tumblers in various patterns.

Only with great difficulty can the sequence be set but to get the formula you will have to master the technique. For a start you will have to make a chart of the tumblers each icon controls. I can assure you that, though it's pretty devious, it is possible - I've done it.

That's all there is to it! Avoid being killed, plant the explosives and piece together the secret formula. And the best of luck - Ocean has some fiendish minds lurking in its gameplay development department. Assuming you do manage to achieve your targets (I only managed two charges - at the lab and at the water inlet), hanging around is not recommended. With your explosives about to blow a rapid vacation of the scene is in order. Find the Transit Out bay - its location can be discovered from the icon control pad - and beat a hasty retreat. As you get nearer to escaping, the robots become frenetic in their activity trying to hunt you down.

Initially, I was quite put off V by the lack of instructions. I had no idea what was going on to start off with, and apart from the stunning graphics I didn't realise just how clever the game is. The status displays seemed baffling and I had great trouble with the icon panel.

Then slowly I was hooked and drawn in. Frustration turned into a determination to suss it all out and I was converted. Easily one of the better movie spin-offs.

And by the way, a third TV series is apparently on the way, going into production later this year.

CBM64 & Spectrum
Ocean
Shoot-'em-up
CBM64: £8.95, Spectrum: £7.95

Can you strike more heroic poses than Marc Stringer without messing up your hairdo? Can you wipe out more of your own crew than Dianna? Such are the problems posed by the game of the TV series.

Michael Donavan has caught the regular alien shuttle to the mother ship, dodged the guards, and is now alone. All he has to do is set explosive charges in various vital parts of the mother ship, spread a little red dust around the place and find the exit.

Despite the pulp science fiction plot, Ocean have managed to produce an intricate and fascinating game.

You start the game in the hanger, with locked doors around you. This forces you to explore the resources of the "Comuniputer". The game is joystick driven. Pulling the joystick down gives you access to the little information computer you carry around with you. This is a handy gadget. Picking locks, digging around in handy alien computer terminals, nothing is beyond it. Picking locks can be a problem which may mean you never see more of the ship than the first screen. The tip is to get the digits on the Security Code all the same.

This is a clever, intricate, game with good graphics and sound. Lots of blasting of harmless robots, and plenty of plot. Another strong contender for the late Easter present.

THOSE TV REPTILES WITH A TASTE FOR RODENTS ARE OUT TO CONQUER THE EARTH.

Ocean
£7.95

Good grief! Just when we all thought we'd seen the last of V, the show that made Blake's 7 look like Hamlet, Ocean go and turn it into a computer game. The computerised V is nowhere near as hilarious as the original TV series, but despite the limitations of the Spectrum's graphics the animated character in the game is far less wooden than any of the actors in the series.

As in the original the hero of the piece is Donovan, who once more has to singlehandedly take on an entire race of lizard-creatures and prevent them from having their wicked way with out planet. This time around Donovan has managed to sneak his way aboard the aliens' Mother Ship and is attempting to destroy it by placing explosives at five key points ion the ship - the Water Inlet, ASir Purification Plant, Nuclear Reactor, Central Computer and Docking Bay.

The Mother Ship is an enormous maze full of corridors arranged in five sections, and each section is made up of four floors which in turn are some eighteen screens wide. You can pass from one part of the ship to another by using the Beamer Pads and doorways which are scattered through the corridors, but because the ship is so large it might be a good idea to make a note of some of the more important locations as you come across them so that you can find them again if you need to.

The alien's leader, Diana, has discovered that Donovan is on board and has set loose hordes of security robots to track him down. These come in four types, but all deliver a nasty electric shock which can put a strain on Donovan's heart and eventually kill him. But to even the scales a little he is armed with a rechargeable laser and ca do some nimble somersaulting over some of the robots to avoid coming into contact with them.

Graphically the same bears quite a resemblance to Impossible Mission, particularly in the leaping motion of the main character and the wandering robots. The upper two thirds of the screen show the interior of the ship, with an impressively detailed side view of the corridors on two levels. The remainder of the screen shows the energy level of Donovan's laser, the condition of his heart and oxygen levels.

The remainder of the screen provides information about the energy level of Donovan's laser, his heart beat and oxygen levels, as well as showing the display of Donovan's Communiputer. This is an icon driven device (again, similar to the one in Impossible Mission) which gives details of Donovan's location, the location of some of his main targets, and also enables him to try and break the security codes on the doors to these areas.

SIX FINGERS

Unfortunately the instructions on the cassette inlay are so brief that they don't really give you any idea of how to use the Communiputer or even of how to find and use the explosives that you're going to need. I'm afraid that there's an awful lot in this game that the instructions just don't help you with at all, such as the code breaking sequences: these use a system of numbers and symbols based on the number six (as the aliens have six fingers on each hand, though logically that should give them a number system based on twelve, not six) which is obviously going to be quite tricky to work out, but the instructions don't even mention this aspect of the game, let alone give any idea of how to go about it.

V is a large and complex game, and just for once the game more than lives up to the original ideas that inspired it (mind you, the TV series wasn't a particularly hard act to follow, was it?). And as long as you're prepared to go through a lot of trial and error to find out all the things that the instructions don't bother to tell you about, then it should provide an enjoyable challenge that will take some time to solve.