C&VG


Jet Pac
By Ultimate
Commodore Vic 20

 
Published in Computer & Video Games #28

Jet Pac

One of the best-selling arcade game titles for the Spectrum has now been released for the Vic.

Jet Pac brought fame to Ultimate, a small company whose first release became an instant success and the Vic version is just as good.

As the person in charge of the Acme interstellar transport company, your job is to assemble your rocket and then to load enough fuel to let it take off. On reaching the next planet, you must fill up again. After four screens, you must rebuild the rocket.

Jet Pac

The Spectrum version had 16 screens before they started to repeat but, the Vic game has just eight. Because Ultimate wants everyone to have an equal chance at finishing the game, the Vic one runs slightly faster than the ZX.

The Vic will accept standard Atari-type joysticks, and these can be used in the game, although the keyboard can be used instead. What's more, the superb graphics of the Spectrum version have been captured in the same detail on the Commodore machine and the screen is one of the best that I have seen - all in 8K, too.

One talked-about problem from the Spectrum as the so-called bug in screen four. This, says Ultimate, was deliberate to allow poor players to achieve a high score. Anyway, that problem doesn't arise now, as that screen was one of those which was removed for the Vic. So it seems that Ultimate thinks Spectrum owners are more likely to be poor players than Vic owners!

A great game for one or two players, and well worth £5.50.