HYPERCIRCUIT
Alligata,
£7.95 cass, £11.95 disk, joystick only
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O Frantic shoot-em-up inside
a microchip |
The
action takes place on the circuit board of the 6510
chip inside the 64, and in some ways is reminiscent
of the arcade game Defender. You patrol the circuit,
trying to protect a collection of 'base units' -- small
coloured squares which are preyed upon by the evil Destructors.
You
are given 35 base units initially, and must kill 20
destructors in order to progress to further levels.
Each new level sees the return of a full complement
of units for you to look after. The actual circuitry
is larger than a single screen and scrolls in all directions
to compensate. It is a good representation of the internals
of a microchip, complete with components and wiring.
It's
this maze of wires that your craft moves along. There
are several dead ends around the maze, where your base
units are normally found.
Due
to this unusual structure, strange things occur in play.
The most noticeable is the firing. When you release
a bullet it follows the path of the circuit until it
hits something nasty or goes off-screen.
Another
more frustrating example is when something nasty occurs
on an adjacent, but separate to you, wire. You can't
immediately do anything and usually have to work your
way round an awkward piece of maze before you can.
You
have five lives with which to defend your base units
for as long as possible and an extra life is given at
10,000 points (unfortunately the only one given).
In
case things should get a little too heavy, you are provided
with a form of smart bomb -- the hypercharge. This is
in fact a 'rechargeable smart bomb' and is activated
by a swift bash of the spacebar. Anything hostile on
screen will then be destroyed instantly. Once used,
the hypercharge needs around fifteen seconds to replenish
itself and can be used as many times as you wish.
Each
of the five nasties, yourself, and your base units,
are depicted with graphical simplicity. Even so, they
don't offend the eye and suit the game well.
As
is the case with the graphics, sound is simple but competent.
A frenetic piece of music adds to the hectic pace of
the game, but even so, it does become tiresome to listen
to after several plays. Sound effects are good and befitting
for such a game. It's a shame to lose them for the sake
of not hearing the tune, and a music-off facility would
have been appreciated.
GP
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