Codename Mat II, recently released on both the
Spectrum and the Amstrad, is curiously misnamed on the
Commodore seeing as how its predecessor, Codename
Mat, never appealed on the 64.
The
scenario casts you as Mat, champion of the good, defender
of the innocent and scourge of the Myons. The Myons
are an evil hunch of aliens set on destroying the energy
collection grid based around the planet Vesta, a planet
rich with the famed substance Karillium, the most precious
substance in the known universe. Karillium is mega form
of Baby Bio, one small pinch and a desert becomes a
thriving jungle. Vesta's energy grid also happens to
be Earth's most important power source.
The
reason for the Myons' onslaught is that the planet Vesta
was under their control until Earth launched an unmanned
attack force and look it. Obviously a bit annoyed about
the theft of such a valuable commodity, the Myons are
now doing their best to disrupt the satellite grid distributing
the Karillium power to Earth.
With
tempers all round on the rise, you have been equipped
with a new ship, the Centurion II, and sent to defend
and repair the satellite network.
The
object is to destroy the Myons' and guard the satellites.
The Myons' attack in waves, of which there are eight.
If you destroy all eight then they repeat themselves
with an increased ferocity. All in all there are 256
levels before it cycles back to repeating itself. Mat
is defending twenty four satellites and after clearing
a wave of Myons there is a chance to repair them. You
can also do any repair work necessary on the Centurion,
but the time units allocated to the ship and satellites
are limited.
The
main action is viewed through the cockpit on the top
half of the screen; here, any aliens in view plus the
surrounding stars are seen. Using the joystick you can
move up, down, left and right, for other ship controls
the keyboard is relied upon. As you move, the starfield
twirls about in true 3D style as in Elite. For
travelling around in the immediate vicinity, there are
information panels depicting the status of the ship
on the bottom of the screen. The information shown is
up to you and a number of different status screens can
be called up.
[This
screenshot was not in the original review]
To
keep you up to date on the Myons' manoeuvres, three
types of spanner are provided with varying intensities.
The Quadrant Chart gives a view of the twenty four satellites
and the damage status of each link in the energy grid.
The Long and Short Range Charts are displayed simultaneously,
both working along the same lines. Centurion is shown
as a central dot viewed from above, and the Myon ships
appear as moving dots. However, no information is given
about the enemy's vertical position in relation to you
and things can get confusing. When in battle, a semi-intelligent
Battle Scanner can be called up. This tracks the alien
nearest to you and also gives a reading of his range.
During battle you can choose between photons or laser.
The lasers fire blasts quickly one after the other but
the photon weapon is a bit slow, on the other hand it
won't blow up if overheated.
If
your ship is damaged, it is possible to get it repaired
by the two droids that come as standard fittings on
Centurion. The trouble is they take their time in doing
the simplest of jobs and if you're in battle they could
well be destroyed. At any point it is possible to save
out your current progress or load a previously saved
game, though this may take a bit of time.
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