Martech has a go at space racing and to be completely honest, it’s at the same low standard as its other gaming ventures. It starts off with the most diabolical cursor movement I have seen on a CPC menu; you have to align a vertical and horizontal line to select the function you want. Then when the game starts, you’re not sure what is really going on; you press left to go forward, and all these other cars zip past you. From what I understand, you have three race types – speed run, killing and tag – but they are chosen at random and you can’t select the type of race you want to play. The graphics are Spectrum-looking Mode 1 and all the cars are the same colour, and the in-game sound consists mostly of a poor droning noise representing your engine. You’re likely to load it, have a few goes and get annoyed and switch it off.
Explore an alien base and take out the enemy robots, security systems and computers. To its credit, Fusion 2 is a good-looking game, with plenty of colour and large sprites. You’re equipped with a laser and jet pack. Both drain energy when used but they will also recharge over time. You can also crawl through narrow gaps and utilise a teleporter. Your jet pack is used to ascend and descend through the base. Interestingly the game opts for two different methods when transitioning between screens – scrolling horizontally but not vertically. The sound effects are pretty standard but the locations are a bit samey. A nice little game at the end of the day, though. I wonder if there was ever an original Fusion?
Future Bike Simulator
(Hi-Tec Software, 1990)
This is a shoot-’em-up which is set in a future where motorcycles are banned. But someone has developed an alternative mode of transport to replace it – the future bike. You race your future bike along five tracks, shooting other bikers and collecting money which you can use to buy power-ups to improve your bike, such as shields, smart bombs, extra energy and lives, and a radar to show the route the track takes ahead of you. The radar is very useful because the game is remarkably fast, and if you crash into the side of the track (which is easy to do), you lose a lot of energy. The graphics are reasonably good, but it’s a standard shoot-’em-up, and the speed of the game will put a few people off.
After crashlanding on an alien planet, you, as the Future Knight, must escape your massive ship, fight your way along the planet’s surface, and ultimately rescue some woman who was stolen from your ship. The first half of the game is undoubtedly the best, as you wander your ships corridors looking for the way out, using your ray-gun to blast the huge Transformer-like robot enemies into atoms. When you eventually reach the planet’s surface, the pace lessens somewhat, and the difficulty level rises quite a lot, but not enough to render the game unplayable. The graphics are gorgeous (I love those huge robots!), there are some nice futuristic tunes and sound effects, and the game is hugely addictive. Another triumph by Gremlin Graphics! Oh, one more thing, leave Future Knight standing still for a while and see what happens...
Watch a YouTube video of this game by:
Axelino.
In this game from Tynesoft, you play a very happy-looking chap in a strange world indeed. Collecting items is the task at hand as you wander around this very weird place. Certain areas allow you to levitate, while others take control of you, throwing you to some hidden room. Each room is decorated with some very crude-looking platforms and oddly chosen colours. The sprites are all blocky and flickery, adding to the poor game that this one is. As you listen to the pleasant tune (which can be turned off in the tabs above the play area) something springs to mind here – weird game!