Personal Computer News


Last Sunset For Lattica

Author: Mike Gerrard
Publisher: Arcade
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Personal Computer News #061

Android Angst

Android Angst

As long as Berserk's many emulators are as good as this new one, which owes something to Tutankhamen and Halls of the Things I won't complain.

Objectives

You must find and defuse a bomb that's somewhere in the 100 locations in the game's mazes, which are on three different levels. To go from one level to the next you first find a key, then the lock to fit it.

In Play

Last Sunset For Lattica

The maze is a Tutankhamen-like arrangement of long passages with deadly walls, occasionally leading into large chambers where you tend to find the goodies, along with a few million baddies (600 to be precise). The baddies are of five types of Android, and the graphics for these are very good. You're shown the whole list of them before the game begins, dancing to a tapping sound - the Cycloids seem to be doing a soft-shoe shuffle.

Your own character also seems to enjoy a knees-up. As well as the key and lock you're also shown the bottles of magic potion which gain you an extra life on touching them. The Androids fire at you, but you can pass through them without harm which is just as well considering the narrowness of the passages. A good tactic seemed to be to ignore the aliens completely and make a mad dash through the passages to find the key and the lock, trusting in luck that you wouldn't get hit on the way, then return to see off as many Androids as possible.

Four different skill levels from expert to novice affect the speed and I found the novice level tough enough. The advice on negotiating the maze is "If in doubt, turn right." I managed to get through to the second level, which was the same as the first, only more heavily populated.

Last Sunset For Lattica

The screen scrolls automatically, which is fine if you're on a passage but a problem in the chambers as you're not shown the exits. If you try to go out of a chamber at the wrong point you're shown the next screen and must then re-aim for a passage entrance.

As if negotiating the passages, finding keys and locks and annihilating Androids isn't enough, the bomb you're defusing (Remember the bomb?) is on a timer which starts at 150 and ticks steadily away at the foot of the screen. There's also a high-score record which looks rather odd as the programmer has elected to use the letter 'S' wherever a '5' is needed.

Verdict

Not quite in the top class of Hall of the Things, but still a good, fast, colourful game.

Mike Gerrard

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