Previous Next

The cassette inlay says Bat Attack is 'the first of a series of tapes which are more realistic and more challenging than the games you've been playing so far.' You'd be batty to believe it.

Admittedly, the first few seconds are impressive, as the title looms toward you and tilts itself upright. But what follows is simply another rendering of a well-tried theme: the 3D maze game.

The scenario is that you're inside Dracula's castle to collect the gold bars which litter the floor. But your attempts at burglary are put in jeopardy by a collection of bats, against whom you can only protect yourself by means of cloves of garlic.

What actually happens is that you are given a simple 3D view of the corridor in which you are standing, revealing exits to right and left, and any gold or garlic which may be lying on the floor.

You can move in any direction, or rotate to see what lies to your left, right and rear.

You can also get an overview of the entire maze to see how many gold bars you've collected. A separate 'radar' continually indicates the position of the bats as they close in on you.

But although this is all competently done, you may be disappointed by the complete lack of animation. When you move, the screen simply switches directly to the new position. And the bats themselves - when you see them, just get larger as they approach - no flapping wings or drooling mouths.

Those who lack Sinclair's Interface 2 may also take exception to having to use the cursor keys for control - plus Caps Shift when you want to rotate.

There are a total of four mazes, linked by a lift. The bats become increasingly aggressive as you progress through each successive maze. But you, I fear, may become increasingly bored.