A&B Computing


Sea-Lord

Author: Dave Reeder
Publisher: Bug Byte
Machine: BBC Model B

 
Published in A&B Computing 1.05

Sea-Lord

Move out to the left, duck behind that large rock, emerge... and fire!

That's the bill of fare served up in this new release from the Merseyside Software House. Basically, it's a version of the old 'Zap The Alien' game, but with a twist or two in the tail.

You find yourself stranded in the mighty underwater world of the sealord armed only with your laser; and attacking you are the scouts, miners, shells and other allies of the Sea-Lord.

Sea Lord

Rather than Asteroids, your submarine is controlled by clockwise and anticlockwise rotation, at any point, the movement being in the direction it faces. However, as so often before the keys are poorly chosen (TAB and Q for rotation - these are not even the same size). In addition to this, fine degrees of precision are quite out of the question using these methods; hence motion tends to be rather random.

I eventually realised in fact that this is also partly true for the movement of the aliens for one can frequently cower in the corner and reside in this haven without fear of being captured. Really, therefore, death results from misadventure rather than any heroics from the aliens.

Various rectangular shapes representing rocks on the seabed are scattered about; there is a 3-D effect allowing aliens and your submarines to travel behind the rocks.

Graphics are moderate - your submarine has no real shape to it - the highlights being smooth motion and bright explosions. Sound, although not outstanding, in most cases seems adequate whereas error-proofing is nothing short of sound.

My final verdict is therefore that this fair but unoriginal game should appeal to all those Space Invader freaks as a change from the standard game.

Dave Reeder

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