A Barrel Of Apples

Quadrant (£21.95 (Cassette))
Pete And Pam Computers, New Hall Hey Road, Rossendale, Lancs, BB4 6JG. Tel: (0706) 227011
Wavy Navy (£22.50 (Cassette)), Flip Out (£19.95 (Cassette)), Repton (£25.50 (Cassette)), Star Blazer (£23.00 (Cassette)), Free Fall (£19.95 (Cassette))
SBD, 15 Jocelyn Road, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 1BR. Tel: 01-870 9275

It's playtime with the Apple II - Nigel Cross looks at some recently released challengers

In catering for both adults and children the software houses have created endless quantities of spare time entertainment in the form of computer games.

Most Apple games these days have excellent graphics and sound, but the quality of the games varies enormously. For those of you with a 48K Apple PCN endeavours to give you an insight into the world of graphical ingenuity.

Wavy Navy

For all the name and the camp boat on the package, Wavy Navy is not one of those limp-wristed games. Wavy Navy is by far the best of this bunch, with its easy-to-follow instructions, brilliant graphics and sound, and it's easy to play and learn. It has ten levels of difficulty (from galley slave through to president) with superb variation in each.

Kamikaze jet fighters, helicopter gunships, mines, bombers and even Exocet-like missiles combine to make this game both fun and difficult to survive. It proved the only one of the selection to have both instant and lasting appeal.

I suggest that you rush out and get it.

Quadrant

In Quadrant, you are required to patrol a shielded quadrant (6112) of the universe containing two stargates. It is through these that the - yawn - aliens appear. They are endeavouring to take over the quadrant - you are defending it.

Four classes of enemy attempt to attack you, with increasing points for the more aggressive, plus the alien commander.

This character is the ultimate destroyer; quickly zaps in, rushes around and "splat", got you. All you've got is an infinitely available laser cannon, but you are also armed with three heat-seekers which are capable of destroying all the aliens in the quadrant as soon as deployed.

A boring game needing three hands to play it, one for the game paddle to control your ship, one to fire the cannon or thruster and one to fire the heat-seeker (space bar). You can use yet another spare hand for the stasis field (pause) using 'ESC'.

I found that high scores could be achieved through the simple expedient of moving to one corner and waiting. All in all, not the best of games but the graphics and sound are excellent.

Flip-Out

Ah, such relief! A chance to use your brain instead of the normal wrist-breaking zap, splat and pow. In this game the emphasis is on strategy as you slot marbles into and out of a vertical playing area. This area has nine possible layouts, giving you a series of vertical paths broken up by flip-flop barriers.

All you have to do is drop your opponent's (human or computer) marbles one by one into the grame, while he or she does likewise. The ten marbles that each of you have, either drop through into your home marble-box or are caught on a barrier. To release the caught ones, you have to drop in more marbles from your marble-box to activate the flip-flop, and so it goes on.

The winner is the first to have got all their marbles!

It's very difficult in Flip-Out to select the correct strategy to win. A game worth playing - both addictive and timeless.

Repton

The best thing about Repton is the "free" iron-on T-shirt transfer. Other than that, the game starts with page after page of instructions on-screen which are amazingly complex.

Playing is ridiculously difficult and complex, especially since the game is little more than another version of Defender. I assume it is possible to get really high scores, but only after many hours of mind-numbing practice.

Star Blazer

Eyestrain is the only real problem with this all-action game. For all that the graphics are excellently executed the dazzling white background should really have been toned down or at least Broderbund could have supplied a pair of shades.

You, in your star blazer, are supposed to complete a series (five) of increasingly difficult missions. Levelling radar stations, blasting supersonic tanks, destroying IBM (sorry! ICBM) installations until eventually getting the opportunity to bomb the Bungeling Empire headquarters.

Star Blazer is certainly worth a bash, but not up there among the top flight games.

Free Fall

Sirius always manages to produce games with excellent graphics, sound and convenient controls. Free Fall is no exception. It seems such a shame that the game itself is futile and childish. I don't think even the youngest kids would like this one.

You play the part of a steeple-jack hanging about on moving girders and have to drop down to others while gaining points for collecting prizes off passing girders - just like the Generation Game conveyor belt. To make life contrivedly difficult, you are shot at by needles (?), guns, and even the odd bomb manifests itself. Not worth the effort!