A&B Computing


Aabatron

Author: Jonathan Evans
Publisher: Bevan Technology
Machine: BBC/Electron

 
Published in A&B Computing 2.11

Aabatron

The specifications for this strangely named game certainly sound impressive; at least on the inlay card. Five speed action, hi-score table, joystick compatibility, eight different aliens, sound on/off and twenty screens. In fact, every feature you could possibly want apart from a quit option. So I quickly loaded the program.

The title page is in Mode 2 and is simply the instructions for the game. After several files, the screen clears and you are asked to select a skill level. You control what looks like a canon, surrounded by bricks and monsters which roam around the screen, occasionally taking pot shots at you. You have to guide your canon and shoot all of them whilst avoiding contact. When you manage to shoot all the aliens, you go onto another screen with a different arrangement of bricks and faster aliens.

Probably the most striking feature of this game is the intro music. It uses the cassette relay clicks to simulate drums (I think). This was quite impressive, although I don't think it does the component any good. Unfortunately, that's just about the only striking feature of this program. The game itself is playable, but a lot more imagination could have gone into the graphics and sound effects. Also, characters could have been animated and more music would have been nice. Movement of the aliens could have been much more sophisticated as well.

This game just can not be compared with the recent pure machine code games by software houses such as Acornsoft, Imagine and Ultimate.

Jonathan Evans

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