Martians Muscle In

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In Spaceman Sid the Martians have muscled in on our mining operations on the Planet Tribos.

With only your XR5 laser-armed combat rover for protection you must infiltrate the Martian defences and destroy the enemy camps.

The constantly scrolling planet surface is far from smooth, yet the combat rover's excellent independent suspen sion copes admirably with the rugged terrain.

However the craters must be jumped by pressing Shift and the larger rocks vapourised with a blast from your forward laser cannon.

The results of failing to clear a crater are quite devastating as all three wheels fly gracefully skywards and bounce away in different directions leaving the combat rover sat squarely on the ground.

The XR5's weaponry consists of two lasers, one firing forward and the other vertically upwards.

The vertical firing laser is designed for shooting down the enemy scout ships which hover overhead dropping rather large bombs in your general direction.

So that you don't present a sitting target for the enemy bombs, you are able to manoeuvre your craft backwards and forwards on the screen by use of the Z and X keys.

The forward laser is essential to enable Sid to destroy the rocks which litter the landscape and block his path.

Small rocks are destroyed by a single shot but the larger ones must be hit twice. Another hazard at ground level is the occasional enemy drone ship which skims over the surface at high speed in an attempt to ram your ship kamikaze-style.

The planet's surface is divided into five sectors, each consisting of five sub-sectors. Your position in each sector is shown graphically at the top of the screen.

Spaceman Sid is essentially the same game as Micro Power's Dune Rider but is played at a more leisurely pace - at the beginning anyway - and there are fewer aerial aliens.

Personally I found Sid more pleasing graphically, and much more addictive.

Jon Revis