Computer Gamer


Nether Earth

Publisher: Argus Press
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Computer Gamer #26

Nether Earth

Five eons ago the Insignians burst through the Earth's mantle and are now trying to take over the world. You're Earth's only hope. Your job is to build robots to combat the war machines the Insignians are building under the rock crust developing on the Earth's surface. Your aim is to destroy the three alien bases and to save the world.

You start the game with a single anti-grav craft. This can hover over the battle area, which is a narrow strip sixteen miles wide and 512 miles long. The ship scrolls diagonally across the screen and shows the factories, rocks and chasms that now make up the Earth's surface.

By landing on your own base you enter the construction screen, where you can build your battle robots by using the resources there are your disposal. Each robot has a chassis, which is either bipod, tracked or anti-grav (flying); cannon; missile; phasor or nuclear weapons and an optional electronic support module to guide weapons and improve their accuracy.

Nether Earth

Once you've built your army you can send it out either under direct control, by landing your anti-grav craft on it, or issue orders to stay and defend, seek and destroy or take a robot factory. These factories are strewn around the landscape and can be controlled by your robots, they hold valuable resources you can use.

Soon you're into the real battle of the robots. To win that war you will need to scout round regularly in your anti-grav craft, annexing as many factories as you can and also build the right robots for the right tasks.

This is not a game you can play in an odd few minutes. It needs careful planning to win the day. Those prepared to learn the necessary might survive long enough to bomb the enemy bases and win the game.