Previous Next

Trapped inside a space ship crawling with aliens, the spaceman wants to escape. Robot patrols are on his trail. Somehow the intrepid spaceman must locate his escape shuttle, refuel it and crack the code so he can flee from the merciless invaders.

Apart from being very deadly by themselves, the robots have also booby-trapped the ship with elaborate snares to try and get rid of the spaceman. Spikes rise ominously out of the floor and impale the unwary spaceman if he treads on them. Beware of glowing panels in the floor. When they're white these are quite harmless, but if they change to blue when you're walking over them they sap your power pack considerably. Contact with the patrolling staff also results in power loss.

Your power pack is shown at the top of the screen, coloured magenta and labelled AC. Each clash with the patrol robots or a trap around the space station results in a drain of this power. When the level becomes too low, the spaceman dies and the game Is over.

In order to re-fuel the shuttle, nine barrels of fuel have to be collected. Fuel barrels come in three colours: magenta, green and cyan. When three barrels of each colour have been collected, their contents can be mixed to provide the fuel for the shuttle. These barrels are situated on platforms and are studiously guarded by the robots.

The spaceman can move around the space station on foot or he can use the teleport pads, represented by flashing cyan boxes. If he needs to super-leap to another higher platform, then this can be arranged by way of striped pieces of floor. When the spaceman stands on these he automatically jumps upwards and can get to where he wants to go.

Once all the barrels have been collected the spaceman still has to gain security access to the shuttle. For this he needs a secret password. Dotted around the space station are computer terminals. When the spaceman approaches one of these he is given a series of letters. Only one of these letters will go towards making up the password anagram. If he selects the right one, then it is displayed at the top of the screen and transferred to the Master Computer. However, if the spaceman chooses wrongly, then some of his valuable energy is sapped away. Six letters are needed to build the access code to the Master Computer.

There is a time limit to the game. Next to the AC box is a green one labelled TM. The green level gradually goes down as the game progresses and if the escape mission is not carried out within 15 minutes then the game is over.

Control keys: O left, W right, P activate, O W and P also used to crack computer codes
Joystick: Kempston
Keyboard play: responsive
Use of colour: very colourful
Graphics: quite good, though sparse at times
Sound: occasional spot effects, but that's all
Skill levels: one
Screens: 21

'ATLANTIS has never really impressed me with software. The whole look of Luna Atac is very unimpressive and off-putting. As with most budget games from this company, the screen contains lots of colour and very small, plain graphics. The idea of Luna Atac being a platform game is nothing new but going around getting the barrels and guessing the codes is quite addictive at first, but after a few games I realised that there Isn't a great deal to the game'

'I seem to remember a game much like this a couple of issues ago called Hypa Raid. This is not a great improvement, but at least you can get to look around the space station without having to work out problems first. The game is not really original or compelling but for two quid you can't really expect it to be. However, if this is your type of game I'm sure it'll keep you playing for an afternoon at least. The graphics are below average -there are only platforms and small undetailed characters. The sound is also poor. The odd spot effect is all you are likely to hear. This seems to be a little more playable than Hype Raid so if you liked that you'll probably get on with this'

'Luna Atac bears graphical resemblances to Frank N. Stein, which in itself is not a bad thing, but the screens are very empty looking. The game isn't amazingly big, but getting around isn't quite as easy as it first seems. MAW'S seems to have stopped production of mainly good games and the standard, in general, seems to have gone down a little. That said, Luna Atac is a reasonable game, but not one I'd recommend to anyone who likes a game that's immediately hookable, as it takes some persistence to get into properly. Not bad, overall ATLANTIS but could do better....'