Previous Next

The next one from BT is Exodus, and before I start I must mention the excellent introduction before each game is played.

The word "Exodus" falls into the screen, a letter at a time, with a clear clicky laser sound and the border along with each letter containing bright flashing lines in unison with the sound. It is a pity that this screen does not occur more often as I could have watched this for ages, much better than the washing machine!

Keys can be redefined with a selection of joysticks available, but with your own key definition, this game is compatible with any type of joystick.

A nice edition also is the instruction mode, which prevents the usual fumbling for the cassette in order to read the tiny printed directions.

The idea of the game is as follows. There is a pit, obviously in the outer galactic sphere and you need to stop the countless objects from climbing to the outside by shooting them with your laser. The pit is in the shape of a hexagon and your ship can either move clockwise or anti-clockwise around the boundary of the pit.

If an object manages to reach the rim of a pit, you must not touch it as a life will be lost. There are also other handicaps. If a mutant llama manages to escape (I didn't quite manage to catch sight of any mutant bits) and reach the outside rim, another life will be lost. You have also got a friend Spud (as in potato) and if you happen to shoot him you will lose a life as well as a friend!!!

There too are various advantages, like a bonus of 1,000 every 10,000 points and a time bonus for shooting a clock will add time to your limit of 79 seconds.

As well as the vast scoring scheme for many different and interesting objects, if you fire and hit a Television that is tuned to Channel 4, you score an extra 20 points as this is so rate (A wonderful idea and true!!!).

The game is fun to play, the only real difficulty is to stop the mutant llamas escaping and not to get Spud. As long as you stay clear from any object leaving the pit, you should not have too many problems.

I first of all wondered why the pit was in the shape of a hexagon, but I soon found out that it was to bring over a false sense of speed. Travelling around the pit is fine, but if you want to move quick in order to reach a llama, your instinct has got to be quick as the shape slows you down.

I did not quite understand the time imit as when the time reaches zero, a life was lost instead of perhaps going onto the next level. There might be a target number of objects before they stop jumping from the pit, but if this game has got any faults, this is the only one.

Although the graphics are not very interesting, they are clear and, with lively sound, this game is a sure winner for the mere price of £2.50. Should keep you amused for ages.