Previous Next

Sandra Grandison rounds up a varied batch of banging, zapping and mindbending games.

Whether you prefer a bit of zap-pow-blast action or the more thoughtful pleasures of adventuring or maze-running, there are quite a few games around on the Oric to keep you up late at nights.

Xenon-1 is a space invader type game with a difference. It has lots of colour and sound which will give you hours of entertainment.

Your mission is to blast your way through five levels of play and if you accomplish that, what more can I say? Being fleet commander in the Xenon Space Academy you should put on a pretty good show. I managed to fire through to level three, but after that there wasn't much hope for me.

There are ten skill options at which to play, and option zero which is the hardest will certainly give you a run for your money. I tried playing at its tremendous pace and got zapped within the first level.

Centipede is based on the arcade version. A fast moving centipede travels from the top of the screen downwards and you have to eliminate it before it gets you.

Not only do you have to cope with the centipede, but you have to blast through a field of mushrooms, nasty spiders, itchy fleas and mushroom-laying bugs.

There are some good sound effects in this game. When you hit a centipede repeatedly, it sounds as though you're firing a machine gun. And there are three levels of play.

My major moan about this game is the positioning of the Up key, which I found awkward. Apart from that, this is fairly good, mainstream stuff.

A drive in the country with a difference - that's how the publisher Cirosoft describes the Oric adventure Nightrider. Your mission is to recover valuable stolen shares from ex-foundation members and staff who are now trying to legally take over. They must be stopped immediately. However, you are not able to kill them. Hard task eh!

On my first time round this adventure, I ran into the sinister Professor Stein along with his welcoming committee of three men with flame throwers. I had four options - quit, fight, run or ask for help. Being brave I decided to fight them off, but I was killed.

Second time around I beat the opposition. I then asked to see a map of my chances, my surroundings and my route. I headed north only to find yet another welcoming committee.

I asked for help and guess what? While trying to escape I drowned in my car crossing a river!

Red Devils is a very simple game. You have to manoeuvre into castles trying to escape an ever-increasing maze of red devils who spring up randomly. If you get surrounded by the little perishers you can always dive into an escape hole.

You'll get tired of this game. There's nothing that really taxes the brain.

Your standard arcade type action for the living room. Nothing original about this one. The usual multi-coloured invaders come at you dropping bombs, and you pick up bonus points if you hit the mothership. I'd have been amazed if this one hadn't turned up sooner or later on the Oric.

Here we go again on another adventure - this time in Quest Of The Holy Grail. So, as you might expect, you take the part of a Knight of the Round Table, and you get the usual bunch of monsters to battle.

The mythical chalice lies hidden in the Castle Perilous. So with a strength of 250 I began to roam the five-floor castle. My quest was a bit of a letdown though.

On the first time round I got killed by a monster. The second time round I began to lose interest in the game as I seemed to be going around in circles. I wouldn't say this is an exception adventure - it's like so many others on the market. The only thing that changes is the storyline.

Now here's better value for money. Two classic games to test your mental agility and reflexes. If you like the challenge of getting out of mazes this is the package for you.

The maze is a square, in which each side can have from three to 20 rooms. You decide what size you want the maze to be. Then in 3D technology you're shown each step you take as you battle to escape. And if you want you can ask to see a map of where you are, but this loses you a few points.

Breakout is a standard version of its arcade namesake. You practice your wall demolition in this colourful game. If you like bashing down walls you can't go wrong with this one.