Personal Computer News


Arcadia

Categories: Review: Software
Author: Mike Gerrard
Publisher: Imagine
Machine: Dragon 32

 
Published in Personal Computer News #093

ARCADIA 64

A new Imagine release for the Dragon? Just like old times, really, apart from the small fact that both Imagine and Dragon Data are now bankrupt. It shouldn't be too surprising to discover then that this is a pretty bankrupt piece of software.

Arcadia was well received when it came out on other machines - but that was about a hundred years ago when Imagine had cash in the bank and people were glad of something that took Space Invaders a stage further. Now, even for the Dragon's aching limbs, we've seen much better.

The game is in the familiar space invaders style. You control your laser at the bottom of the screen, and you have five lives.

Arcadia

It's a game for one or two players, with joystick or keyboard control - and a wide choice of keys are available.

For a game that's taken at least a year to be converted for this machine, you'd think they'd have got it right and allowed the program to loop back to the beginning after a game to enable you to switch choices. Instead you're stuck with the first one you make.

The first screen contains... Is it a bird, is it a plane? Whatever it is, it travels in groups and flits across the screen, going off the left edge and coming back onto the right side in ever-descending circles. Clear this wave and another begins, and another, and the only way to progress to the next level is by surviving while a counter ticks down from 99 to zero. Lose a life and it starts at 99 again.

While everything is smooth-moving, you soon learn that in order to survive you have to adopt the old Asteroids techniques and blast all the aliens bar one, and then keep out of the way of this one while the clock ticks away. This does prove rather boring.

Everything is reasonably fast and smooth-moving, but there's nothing very mega absorbing about the game.

Mike Gerrard

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