C&VG
1st December 1983
Terrahawks
Terrahawks is the name of the game - and the name of a new TV series featuring the puppets of Gerry Anderson, the man who brought you Thunderbirds.
Philips have signed a deal with Mr. Anderson to market games based on the series - and Terrahawks is the first of these cartridges for their G7000 system.
At the launch of the new game Philips owned up that it was being written before someone can up with the idea of linking it to the TV show.
But the game has all the ingredients of the show - nasty evil aliens and a brave defence force determined to beat off their attacks.Terrahawks is the first of a new wave of games for the G7000 which are a considerable improvement on what has come before. It's a classic space shootout - in Galaxians or Space Zombies style.
The game starts with Zelda chief nasty in the TV show - appearing on the screen and launching a wave of ships to attack the Hawknest, the Terrahawks' base. You control one of the Terrahawk ships and blast away at the alien ships which swoop and swarm above you.
As the game progresses each wave of aliens ships is armed with more devastating and dangerous weapons to hurl down at the defenders. If begins with clusters of rockets which are fairly easy to blast or avoid. Then come the anti-matter mines which draft down slowly - but have the nasty habit of homing in on your Terrahawk ship.Then little green meanies appear to plague you. These are the Annihilators which race across the bottom of the screen at you if they manage to reach the earth's surface that is. Your best bet is to blast them before they land!
Meanwhile the anti-metter mines and rocket clusters are still falling too!
Zelda's fourth squadron is armed with the deadly Nucleonic Space Mines which zero-in on their target.
By this time, things are getting a bit hectic - and if you live through four screens, Zelda begins her invasion again - but the aliens begin to get fiercer with each wave.
It's not the most original of games, but quite addictive once you get into the swing of things. One small criticism I'd make is that it's difficult to tell when one game ends and another starts.
You only get one life so when your base is blasted by an alien that's it. But the only indication that the game is over comes when the score register flips back to zero at the bottom of the screen.
There is a high score register too - which makes playing against a friend a competitive affair.
Overall, Terrahawks is a good addition to the range of games for the G7000.
Verdict
A basic space shoot-out - but none the worse for that.
