Previous Next

Strategy, rather than zapping the enemy, is the theme of Harvester. It is intriguing rather than exciting, depending on planning more than fast hand-to-eye coordination.

Up to four people can play, each driving a harvester which gobbles dots scattered about the screen.

When the game is RUN, the screen fills up with coloured dots known as parcels of Boosterspice. The distinctive harvesters for each player are placed at random. To the right of the screen are simple direction codes: 1 for up, 5 for down, 8 for north east, and so on. You make a move by typing in your personal code (A-D) and the direction code of your choice.

You can take as much time as you like to make up your mind, and then use the Delete key to change it. Hitting RETURN makes the move.

The harvester trundles off, gobbling dots in your chosen direction as far as it can go, to a pleasant musical accompaniment. It stops when it hits the edge of the screen, meets another harvester or runs out of dots. Moving in a direction which is thus barred, without any dots left to gobble, ends the round.

The player's score is then reduced to zero and other players' scores are carried over the next round.

The strategy is to try to munch a line of dots in such a way that your opponent is isolated in as small an area as possible.

The graphics are simple but effective and include a rather powerful screen flash routine in the second half if you fail. The sound effects also work well. Harvester's biggest appeal is the fact that it is a game for the intellect rather than a sublimated desire to zap other entities.