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STRANGELOOP
Virgin,
£8.95 cass, joystick with keys
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Massive 250 screen robot factory to explore
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Devious puzzles, classy graphics, long challenge |
The
first space-age aardvark hits the 64 with this
250 (25x10) screen epic. A long forgotten robot-controlled
factory situated on the edge of a solar system sets
the scene.
The
factory has worked away automatically for a hundred
years, the robots harmlessly carrying out their menial
tasks, until now. A powerful alien force, possibly jealous
of Earth's riches, has invaded the factory and reprogrammed
the robots so that they can destroy our planet.
Your
job is to enter this hostile environment and discover
the Control Centre where you can disable all the automatons.
In a climate suited to robots, you have to fight your
way through zero gravity, diverse temperatures, floating
swarf, and through many weird and wonderful screens
to achieve this.
Armed
with only a space suit and a laser, you have a formidable
task ahead of you. There is a jet cycle for you to use
once you have found and collected it. Collect it, did
I say? Well, the robot guarding it isn't going to give
it up easily, not without a few bullets being bounced
about, anyway.
Once
you have got the jet your mission can really begin.
Don't spend too much time admiring the view, get to
a pipe and move up or down it (if it isn't blocked off).
At
the bottom right of the screen there is a scanner/map.
This shows the adjacent two rooms in each direction,
a total of 25. It doesn't reveal what is in the rooms,
but you can clearly see the entrances and exits to them,
so you are able to plan your moves ahead. The map will
flash a room red if a dangerous 'megaswarf' is residing
within, and yellow for the control room. There are other
colours too, but you have to work these out for yourself.
The
pipes which link the various rooms are zero gravity
lifts forming a large and complex system and allowing
extensive exploration and access to most rooms. If there
are no pipes then there are usually doors either in
the left or right hand walls, which allow you to enter
the adjacent rooms.
On
your travels through the factory you will see much old
and abandoned machinery, some of which may still be
working. There are CRUSHERS, which clang up and down
and will flatten you if you're careless enough to stray
under their mashers. Odd revolving SCOOPS grind away
into the night and CONVEYOR BELTS, harmless but progress-slowing,
trundle along their infinite paths. COMPUTERS too tick
away the long hours to themselves, but most are purely
a decorative part of the landscape . . . .
There
are also rooms containing large machines which, although
standing static, may have mysterious purposes later
on in the game. Large ELECTRICITY GENERATORS, a NUCLEAR
REACTOR and its ENTRANCE ROOM are just a few of the
highly deadly locations.
Some
rooms contain odd robots which have escaped the ravishings
of the aliens and are still friendly, and these will
help you solve the game.
The
result of entering a dangerous low-pressure
section of the factory -- suction into outer space!
Notice the panel bottom centre showing your
status in detail.
As
you wander around the factory you might see an object
lying around. Move over it and you'll automatically
pick it up and it will fall into you pocket. This pocket
is represented by a box on the screen. It shows what
you have picked up. If you'd like to examine the object
more closely, press space-bar and a cursor will appear
in the box. Move the cursor over the object and press
fire. You will get a read-out telling you what the object
actually is.
These
objects have to be used to solve puzzles throughout
the game, and the only way to complete this game is
to use all the objects. At first you will only find
a few objects. But give one of these to the correct
friendly robot and he will give you another object.
Use this to solve another puzzle and you will gain yet
another piece! Eventually after solving many puzzles
you will, hopefully, be able to gain access to the Control
Centre and then disable the robots.
When
you start the game you are given eight lives. You can't
earn extra lives, but there are supplies littered around
the factory which you can pick up to prolong your current
life.
The
main cause of death for your man is suffocation. Throughout
the factory there are thousands of pieces of razor sharp
SWARF, floating around randomly. You have to shoot this
flying debris: if you touch it, it will make a leak
in your space suit. This will be indicated on screen.
If you are carrying some patches, the puncture will
be automatically fixed. When you run out of patches,
though, you will start to lose oxygen.
The
more puncture you have (up to a lethal maximum of 99)
the faster you will lose oxygen. The faster you lose
oxygen the less time your man will live, so blast that
swarf! Occasionally you will come across a MEGASWARF.
This giant swarf will chase you at high speeds and give
your spacesuit more holes than a sieve.
If
you want to map the game, the space bar will pause the
action and tell you the location you're in. It does
this by referring to the factory layout which is a 10x25
screen complex. The programmers have marked the top
0 to 9, and down the side A to Y. You can then work
out your position in the factory: eg M2 (where you start)
is in the bottom left hand region of the factory.
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