Personal Compuer Games
1st February 1984
Ultima Zone
Ultima Zone is basically a gamespack for the Oric, with three games on offer, and although each one is colourfully and musically presented, none will have you reaching for the keyboard with much enthusiasm.
First on to the screen is Battlezone, in which you blast away at the "Walkons" and avoid the bouncing "Brunes". This game is the best of the three, but that isn't much of a recommendation.
The Walkons were presumably named for their speed, and are not only slow but also rather large. Shooting them is about as difficult and as interesting as treading on your own toe. However, if you are truly inept, you can get yourself a shield by pressing the delete key which makes you invulnerable to everything the screen has to offer.
The second game is called The Trap and, if you thought the Walkons were slow, in this game the targets don't move at all! Your task is to manoeuvre a second ship up and down the screen by shooting at its control panels and then activating its lasers in the same way.If you've managed to get it in the right place on the screen, it will then destroy the targets. If this sounds difficult, don't worry, it isn't.
The last game, Orbit Runner, is no better - just a scaled-down version of Frogger with a small space ship instead of a frog, and not enough obstacles to make it interesting.
As your score rises higher, the action of all three games speeds up but by this time you will have started playing something else.
Ultima Zone is a possible buy for small children with no arcade experience, but at £8.50 it should be avoided by everyone else.
