Sinclair User


Hyperbowl

Categories: Review: Software
Author: Graham Taylor
Publisher: Mastertronic
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Sinclair User #60

Hyperbowl

Hyperbowl is another one of those Mastertronic games which manages to create a new idea out of a couple of old ones. In this case Asteroids meets American Football creating a game which could have been called Footoids or Asterball but wasn't, thankfully.

Remember in the olden days when computers only had two graphics and spaceships just looked like triangles? So it is with the Hyperbowl playing screen. Two triangles, or similar geometric shapes, do battle on a playing area which consists of black, with the occasional dotted line dividing the blackness into large squares of emptyness. Beyond being a poetic concept it has no function in the game except to help you get a rough idea where you are.

The game is simple. You use your geometric spaceship to barge or fire a puck across the opponent's goal line. You get one point ordinarily, or two if you manage to push it into a line that marks the middle section of the goal. Obviously the other ship is going to be blasting and barging the puck in the other direction. Like Asteroids the ships, lacking friction, are somewhat difficult to control - it takes a while to build up momentum and, having got moving, it is very easy to hurtle at zillions of miles an hour straight past where you wanted to go.

Vital to having any idea about what is going on is a scanner which fills the right hand section of the screen - this shows you where you are, where the other ship is and where the puck is. I managed to survive for a while on idiots level, but clearly thrashing the thing on sensible skill levels will be very difficult indeed.

Overall Summary

Asteriods meet American Football. Both win. Simple to learn difficult to master. Another Mastertronic winner.

Graham Taylor

Other Reviews Of Hyperbowl For The Spectrum 48K


Hyperbowl (Mastertronic)
A review by Ben Stone (Crash)

Hyperbowl (Mastertronic)
A review by Marcus Berkmann (Your Sinclair)

Other Spectrum 48K Game Reviews By Graham Taylor


  • Football Manager 2 Front Cover
    Football Manager 2
  • Phantomas Front Cover
    Phantomas
  • Academy Front Cover
    Academy
  • Dandy Front Cover
    Dandy
  • Zzzzz Front Cover
    Zzzzz
  • World Games Front Cover
    World Games
  • Rescue On Fractalus! Front Cover
    Rescue On Fractalus!
  • Kinetik Front Cover
    Kinetik
  • Athena Front Cover
    Athena
  • Brainache Front Cover
    Brainache