Previous Next

Well it's far into the future and the Americans and Russians are still going at it hammer and sickle. Now the Soviets have developed a new MIG Starfighter, a highly dangerous and sophisticated weapon currently being constructed in a secret factory deep within the Siberian wastes. For extra security the plane has been split into different modules and scattered throughout different workshops. With the MIG spread over such a large security complex it's going to take a real American super hero to infiltrate the factory and steal the parts of the plane. Or someone really stupid.

The security system within the factory is mainly based around a colour coded card/lock system. At any one time a data card and a lock card can be carried. Holding a lock key that matches the colour of a door grants you access to the region behind it. In the higher security sections an appropriately coloured data card is also needed to open coloured doors.

Cyborg guards patrol areas of the factory complex, blindly following their pre-ordained paths. Contact with a guard causes one of the four micro batteries running your protective suit to lose a third of its power and you return to the start of the current screen. If all four batteries are out of action, the environment stabilisers in your suit pack up and you expire.

The factory itself is made from a series of rooms each with a number of gantries and walkways making up the scenery. There aren't any ladders connecting the thoroughfares but one way transporter beams serve a similar purpose. These appear in the form of arrows in the platform floors. Whichever way the arrow points is the way you're transported if you stand over it and press the activate button. The transportation is immediate but it's worth waiting before transporting for any cyborgs that may be trotting over the landing pad to get out of the way.

Stealthy super secret agent that you are, your actions include walking left and right along gangways and activating objects you don't have a gun, so cunning rather than violence is called for.

Most factory chambers contain a couple of main doors that connect with other parts of the complex. Travel through one of these portals and another chamber flicks into view. The all important sections of the MIG fighter are shown as flashing squares. Guide your guy over one of these and a small detail of the overall MIG SF is added to a growing picture in the status area at the top of the screen.

Different pieces of lock and data card are also imbedded in the floors. Standing over one of these floor plates and pressing the activate button causes an exact electronic image to be copied into your data or lock store, wiping out the current image stored there. Sadly, you can't just wander about the factory opening all the doors and then running off to collect all the parts of the Starfighter since the doors reset and relock themselves when a room is re-entered.

Some circuitous routing is involved in completing the task, and you often have to retrace your steps in a chamber once a door has been opened, so that you can re-copy an appropriate lock or data pattern into your status area before proceeding.

Control keys: Q left, W right, P activate
Joystick: Kempston
Keyboard play: very simple and no problems
Use of colour: pretty enough
Graphics: adequate
Sound: nice start tune, annoying sounds during play
Skill levels: one

'A lot of my dubiousness about cheapies has been dissipated by such games as Booty, Finders Keepers and the more recent and excellent Spellbound. But I don't feel this game is in quite the same class as some of the budget games around. It's like a cross between Booty (the door opening strategy) and Frank 'n Stein (activating things to rise a level) - a combination which hasn't quite come off. The continuous tune is average, as are the graphics. Some may feel that, for the price, it is good value but I can't see Hypa Raid's appeal lasting for more than a day or two because most of the fun lies in establishing the correct route to the plane parts: hardly a daunting task! It's not all bad, but I'm sure Atlantis can do better.'

'This game is very similar to most other Atlantis games in that it is jolly with nothing special going for it. There's not much brain ache or arcade skill involved in playing this one, so it becomes very monotonous after a short burst of energy. The graphics are undetailed but largish and colourful with next to no colour clash. The sound is poor, with an appalling tune that you can't disable and very few spot effects. Generally Hypa Raid is a little monotonous, so I wouldn't really recommend it but on the other hand for two quid you can't go far wrong.'

'Hypa Raid is a strange type of game whose nearest relation seems to be Firebird's Booty. The game revolves around the player's ability to solve logic puzzles, even though at first sight it may seem like an arcade game. Most of the game involves trying the work out a feasible way of reaching the next door or lock pass. All very fine and well, but once a route has been worked out that's it, you still have to go through whatever sheets you've managed to solve previously. Maybe a function for saving out your game place would be handy. I can't say that Hypa Raid is the best budget game that I've seen, but it still may be worth having a look at if this sort of thing does appeal to you. '