Producer: Interstella
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £5.50
Language: Machine code
Author: A. J. Lloyd

Having said in last month's issue, that after Starblitz, there wouldn't be much point anyone else doing a 'Defender' game, it's always worth being able to say that you've changed your mind if someone proves you wrong, and Interstella have come up with a 'Defender' well worth changing minds for.

It is a classic version with green landers, purple mutants, mine layers, pods, swarmers and humanoids. Your ship is equipped with a powerful laser and three smart bombs. Destroying a lander who has grabbed a human will earn you points, but you'll get more for catching the human before it falls back to earth. Humans falling from a great height blow up when they hit the ground, but they tend to be safe if it's only a small fall.

There is the obligatory radar at the top of the screen and the ship has the customary facilities of reverse and hyperspace.

COMMENTS

Control keys: T to Q=up, V to Z=down, G to A=reverse, P=fire, O=thrust, H to ENTER and B to SPACE=smart bombs
Joystick: Kempston, ZX 2
Keyboard play: very responsive
Use of colour: good
Graphics: smooth, detailed, fast
Sound: fair
Skill levels: progressive difficulty
Lives: 3

An excellent copy of the arcade original with detailed and fast aliens. The ship behaves very realistically, especially when slowing or reversing direction, when it slews backwards for several inches before gathering speed in the other direction. Colour is well used and the sound is average for this type of game. The keys are well positioned, which is important in a "Defender." A brill game.

The game is played with the usual attack waves, each screen bringing more and varied aliens as hazards. The graphics are very fast and smooth, lovely laser blasts and explosions, especially when "you" go for a burton. I was disappointed with the sound which is non-existent during play, the only explosion sound being when your ship is destroyed.

Lack of sound makes this version a fraction less exciting to play than the Softek one, but I thought the graphics were actually slightly better, and that makes up for it. The keys are well thought out and the radar is quite accurate. If you like the thrills of a classic arcade game, then this is a very good buy.

Landers, mutants, mine layers, pods, swarmers, baiters, humanoids, smart bombs and mines are the hazards you'll meet in this shoot-'em-down arcade extravaganza.

Johnathan: This is probably the best Defender game ever written for the Spectrum. It's really excellent, with graphics that are equal to the arcade version, and a speed that makes it very playable. The quality is stunning. HIT

George: Graphics, speed, colour, and so on are all on a par with other similar programs, but with a number of refinements. HIT

Mike: While this is a fairly good version of the familiar Dtfender-type games, it makes little use of sound, and is virtually impossible to play without a joystick. MISS

INDEFENSIBLE DEFENDA

Memory: 48K
Price: £5.50
Joystick: Interface Two, Kempston

Defenda, for the Spectrum, is hardly earth-shaking and it would barely register on the Richter scale of software, as it is yet another version of the well-worn arcade favourite Defender.

Interstella, the company which manufactures the game, may be new to the software scene and the Spectrum but that is no excuse for producing a game which appears outdated and uninventive.

You will experience a sudden attack of deja vu as your ship appears above an alien landscape. It can move in all directions on the screen. As it moves horizontally the landscape below it scrolls across the screen and the aliens materialise, ready to kill or be killed.

As in the arcade version, the alien ships have a habit of picking up refugees who are on the ground. If you shoot an alien which is carrying a refugee the little figure will fall to the ground and die. It is also your job to rescue refugees who look as though they may meet with a sticky end.

The game is joystick-compatible but it is scarcely worth using such an aid as the keyboard is ample for earning points. Neither it it worth moving through to the depths of skill in the game as the graphics do not become any more than ordinary. It can be obtained from Interstella Software, 82 New Forest Drive, Brockenhurst.

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
CONTROL: Keys, Sinc, Kemp
FROM: Interstella

This is an above average version of Defender that should please all shoot-'em-up addicts. This version has reasonable graphics and impressively fast action. All the usual features are here as you zap about the skies blasting aliens and rescuing humans.

If you don't have a joystick, not to worry, there's a good selection of control keys to choose from.

Here's a game for all you arcade game players that suffer from lOp-Nitus (lack of ten pence pieces for your favourite machines!). The game is of course - you guessed it - a take off of "Defender", and a pretty good take off at that. The game features most of the features of the arcade original, including humanoids to be rescued from the grip of the alien Landers, mutants, baiters and other little oddities to ensure sleepless nights. There is even a radar at the top of the screen (as in the original), showing how many little nasties are left to be dealt with as dots.

The action and screen scrolling is fast and smooth, enough to prove a real challenge. The graphics are good, very good in fact. When you rescue a falling humanoid, you see a small "500" whizzing past your ship stowing the amount of bonus points you received. Very impressive! There is even reverse! All in all the game is quite like the "Real Thing", except for the fact that you can use Interface II and Kempston joystick interfaces with the Spectrum version (something you can definitely not do with the arcade version!).

Another little advantage of the Spectrum version is the game produces special codes to verify your high-scores, Hyperspace is no problem except for the fact that when you use the hyperspace button, you sometimes get materialised onto an alien, which results in an instant ship loss.

The instructions on the inlay card are quite good. There are graphic representations of what the aliens look like in the screen, with the scores for shooting the alien alongside. The only problem is the inlay card instructions assume you know how to play the game Defender already.

My only gripe about this game is that there is no sound during the course of the game, not even the low growl of the engines, or even when you shoot an alien nastie. In fact, the only sound being when a lander takes a humanoid, there is a low series of clicks, and when you go into hyperspace or get killed, there is a sound like something you could make using a FOR-NEXT loop, with a BEEP statement in the middle.