Commodore User


Space 2
By Midas
Commodore 16/Plus 4

 
Published in Commodore User #41

Space 2

Buy one, get one free, as they used to say in those adverts for crummy things nobody wanted, but everyone seemed to get for Christmas. Yes, Space 2 is two great games for the price of one.

I'm usually instantly suspicious of this kind of thing, but the loading screen said it was by Kingsoft - purveyors of well 'ard software as far as I'm concerned - so I sat back and waited.

The first game is a pretty standard invaders type thing. You control a double-barrelled rocket ship and blast the friendly-looking aliens to pieces. Despite their appearance, the things from Outer Space are really quite nasty, and drop bombs on you.

By the way, I appreciate this is totally irrelevant, but have you noticed how people just don't say 'Outer Space' any more? These days it's just Space. I always wanted to wonder where inner space was. Well, that's that one cleared up.

The second game, Pilot X (why not Pilot B?) is much more exciting. Again, it's a variation on a very old theme, but with an added dimension which makes it totally brilliant. It's usually called something like Caverns Of Mars.

You have to pilot your ship down through the perilous caverns, avoiding the somehow inevitable death crash. The brilliant thing about this version is that you have to dismantle the craft in mid-flight to get it round some of the obstacles. There are these two huge balls on either wing, you see. By pushing the joystick forwards, you can make them move outwards an equal distance from the main body of the craft. This is necessary to squeeze through narrow passages and avoid space stalagmites - the balls go either side.

It's incredibly difficult, because you have to keep you eye on three moving targets at once. Pilot X is a truly addictive game. Each time you smash the old ship to pieces, you really must have just one more go. What's more, the graphics are pretty good and the music well off tune. This is the game to go for. Consider the first one a bonus.

Ken McMahon

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