C&VG


Cosmic Causeway
By Gremlin
Commodore 64/128

 
Published in Computer & Video Games #76

Cosmic Causeway

Excuse me while I just re-adjust my eyes. My horizontal hold has taken a severe battering hurtling down the Cosmic Causeway otherwise known as Trailblazer II.

This is basically Trailblazer, only more. Lots more. Much more. Brilliantly more.

You control a bouncing ball which whizzes down 24 fraught-ridden cosmic trails over six levels. The trails consist of different coloured squares, each with its own special property. Some make you speed up, others slow you down. And the black squares do not exist. Land on these and you disappear into the void and one life is lost. You must complete the level in the required time to continue.

Cosmic Causeway

The squares and their properties are: Brown (Safe square); Grey (Marks the end of a level. This is where you can select your icons. The timer will not start until you leave this area); Blue (Bounce you in the air); Green (Speeds you up); Red (Slows you down); Purple (Bounce you backwards); Cyan (Reverse the left/right controls. On higher levels, some red squares behave like cyan ones. (Sneaky, eh?); and Black into the abyss!

Watch out for shimmering white disks. Hit these and you can gain credits which you can spend on the following icon features.

The icons, which last just for one level, are: Score x 3 (Multiples current level score by three); Roll on ceiling (Where there is one); Cyan Deactivate (Makes cyan squares behave like brown ones); Purple Deactivate (Allows you to roll over purple squares); Turbo (Gives great speed. If your speed is great enough you can smash through walls); Shield (Collision with aliens will not throw you off-course, but will destroy them and gain you points); Roll Over Holes (Obvious, that); Time Retarder (Slows the timer to half speed).

There are also walls in the Cosmic Causeway with one of three types of doorway through which you must pass. Some doors open and close all the time, some open only as you approach and some will begin to close as you approach.