Personal Computer News


Braxx Bluff

Author: Bob Chappell
Publisher: Micromega
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Personal Computer News #085

BRAXX BLUFF

Braxx Bluff is certainly a challenge. As commander of a small spacecraft, it is your task to land on a strange planet, find a marooned crawler, and return its crew to base before they die.

At the start of the game, you're docked with a mothership. After undocking, your aim is to land a minute dot in the centre of a circle displayed at the sides of the screen. In doing so, you are able to accumulate credits but be quick as your ship is rapidly losing altitude. Getting at least eight credits will allow you to press a Fire button, which ignites retros, enabling you to land safely.

Once you have succeeded in landing, you enter the Walker phase. Here a beeping tone and score indicate the crawler's proximity. But there are rocks and vultures to prevent you from reaching your target. Obtaining at least 20 credits at this point will allow you to move onto the next level (which is so difficult that I was unable to reach it). The first phase (the land-crawler) entails trying to keep your crawler on a road. A clunking noise will determine whether you are straying from the trail or not.

Once you have reached 50 credits, you move onto the next phase, the Sea-Crawler. Here the object is to find the mothership. But beware! The rocks are fatal. You are able to locate the ship by a direction finder (the higher the tone and score, the closer you are). Once at the ship you go on to the last phase, the Finale. You board the mothership, and are greeted by the commander's puzzled face and congratulations. You should have acquired at least 70 credits to finish, and for each crewman alive, you receive an extra few credits.

Although the response of the controls is a bit sluggish at times, the graphics are quite good. This is surely a game for those determined people who will never give up until they have won.

Bob ChappellKaren Isaac

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