Zzap


Killing Machine

Publisher: Atlantis
Machine: Commodore 64/128

 
Published in Zzap #65

Killing Machine

You may have thought you were the ultimate killing machine a couple of days ago, but now you've seen war at first hand and your starship has been reduced to scrap. You jump into your emergency escape ship and head for the nearest planet.

The ship is equipped with guns, but you'd be happiest if the planet was overpopulated with scantily-clad babes rather than any military hardware. Sadly, life on the planet is dominated by a giant brain which regards you as an invading virus. A bit of cheek you might think, but there's no time to debate about when you took your last shower... Killing Machine is a vertically-scrolling shoot-'em-up, composed of three levels each with a massive baddie at its end.

The final level guardian is The Great Brain itself. Getting that far will require smart use of all the add-on equipment floating around. Blasting a metal caterpillar releases a weapons capsule to double, then triple your firepower. Hitting an amoeba releases a shield (brief invulnerability) while the crab yields a speed-up.

The levels aren't very long, and with just three of them it's no surprise lastability is provided by a not particularly enjoyable high difficulty level. The graphics aren't bad, with mediocre backgrounds and a fair variety among the sprites, while sound consists of an okay soundtrack and useful FX.

The end-of-level guardians are unremarkable, and the game as a whole is unlikely to provide that much entertainment. The only novel factor is that the order in which the different aliens appear is random, making it impossible to learn a route through a level.