Playing The Game

The object of the game is to remove all the bombs from five different buildings. You start on level one in a four by four building. The displays at the top of the screen provide a view of what is going on in two adjacent rooms. At the bottom of the screen is a map of the building showing you the positions of droids and bombs. Each droid is restricted in the number of rooms it can move between. Your score is shown in the box on the left, and any bonus droids you have available. The status box on the right shows whether the droid you are controlling is carrying either a bomb or a circuit board.

To remove the bombs from the building you will have to carry them to the exit and throw them out. There is not always a direct route out of the building, so you will have to throw the bomb between a number of droids to remove it. The exit room is the only room with a door which leads to the outside. Certain elements in each building will not function until you replace the corresponding circuit board in the computer room. These include lights, matter transmitters and door or window openings. Some circuit boards are dummies and have no effect and others switch off obstructing forcefields.

You can move around the building in a number of different ways. Through the doors, dropping through hatches, sliding up and down poles, or using the matter transporters.

Options

Once the game has loaded you will see the opening screen. From here you will be able to select either beginner or advanced level. On beginner level you will have slower guards, more time and more impacts before the bombs explode.

If you have already played the game but have failed, you will be given the opportunity to restart the last level you played with a zero score.

If you manage to remove all the bombs from a building, you will be placed at the start of the next level.

The Options available are:

To select control method: Press

1. 1 - Keyboard - gives user ability to define keys; 2 - Kempston; 3 - Interface 2
2. Z - Abort
3. X - Start new game from building 1
4. C - Start new game from highest building reached in current session
5. V - Beginner/Expert
6. B - Music/Sound (128 version only)

Selecting And Controlling Droid

When a new level starts, you will be placed in droid select mode. This is shown by the flashing highlight on the map. By moving the joystick left and right, the cursor can be moved over all the available droids in the building. Pressing the fire button selects the droid. If the cursor is over two droids, then the droid shown hovering is the one available for selection.

To place a bonus droid (if available), select the cursor left or right to highlight the bonus droid and press fire. A single cursor will now appear over the top left room on the building map. Use the joystick to position the cursor over the room in which you wish to place the bonus droid and press fire. The droid select cursor will appear. To move the bonus droid you have just placed, press the fire button again.

When in droid movement mode, left and right on the joystick moves the droid left and right relative to the floor. Up moves the droid to the back of the room and down brings it forward. Pressing the fire button opens up the control icon window, which acts as a gameplay pause. Any bombs being carried by your current droids will continue to fizz, but time is frozen until you return to movement control.

The Control Icon Window

There are four icons present in this window. From left to right they are:

1. Droid select
   Enables the selection of another droid by moving joystick left or right and pressing fire. Control is switched to this droid.
2. Bomb throw
   Enables the droid being controlled to throw a bomb or circuit board.
3. Scan rooms
   Allows you to view all the rooms in the building, left, right, up or down.
4. Droid movement
   Returns you to movement control of the currently activated droid.

Bombs

All the bombs in a building are set to go off in a sequence. If you are carrying an active bomb you will see the fuse burning in the status display. Be careful when throwing bombs as they can only withstand a limited number of impacts before they will explode. When throwing a bomb through a window or hatch, try and position a droid on the other side to catch it. When the bomb passes into the new room, control will automatically be transferred to the new droid.

Replacing Circuit Boards

Circuit boards need to be replaced in the computer room to restore the function of certain elements in the building. There is only one computer room per building. To replace a circuit board, move the droid carrying the circuit board to the back of the computer room until the circuit board disappears from the status display and reappears in the computer.

Have fun doing this in the dark on level 4!

Picking Up And Throwing Objects

A droid can only carry one object at a time. Trying to pick up a bomb whilst carrying anything else will cause the bomb to explode. To pick up either a bomb or a circuit board, move your droid over it. To throw, press the fire button to open up the control icon window and select the bomb throw icon by pressing fire; the display will be replaced by a trajectometer showing the angle and direction at which the throw will be made. Move the joystick left or right to select the direction required, and press the fire button to throw when the angle you want to throw at is displayed. Holding the left or right joystick position slows the movement of the trajectometer for more accurate throwing.

Pulling the joystick back towards you will drop the object carried and return you to movement control mode. It also unfreezes the pause! Pushing the joystick forward will cancel the throw and return you to movement control mode.

Robot Guards

The robot guards will only chase after an active droid if they are in the same sector of the building. If you go out of the sector, they freeze. Guards can be destroyed only by making them fall through hatches within a short space of time. If a guard makes contact with an active droid, the droid will disintegrate. If the droid is carrying a bomb, then the bomb will explode.

Scan Mode

In scan mode, moving the joystick in any of the four directions will move a cursor over the building map. Releasing the joystick will display the highlighted rooms. This mode will enable you to plan your routes and keep an eye out for any guards which might be lurking in adjacent rooms. Pressing the fire button will return you to the location and control of the currently active droid. In Building 5, no scan mode is available until one of the circuit boards is replaced in the computer.

Rooms

Because of the nature of the research being carried out in the buildings, each room has an individual gravity generator. These have been set to one of four strengths and the rooms have one of four orientations. The gravities are as follows:-

0.5G = Yellow
1G = Green
2G = Blue
3G = Grey

Forcefields

You cannot move or throw objects through forcefields without sustaining damage.

Scoring

Points are scored for collecting and replacing circuit boards but more importantly for the speed with which bombs are taken to the exit.

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