Producer: Mastertronic
Retail Price: £1.99
Author: Paul Hargreaves

When you joined the space forces, nobody said it would be like this. But here you are on an alien space base trying to retrieve eight Dynatron Cores. These places are fraught with danger, and you're only allowed three lives.

The alien bases consist of high-tech chambers and underground caverns through which you can run, jump and duck, and you can increase or reduce your power as necessary.

But it can be hard work looking for Dynatron Cores and your body knows it. An electrocardiogram (ECG) shows your heartbeat as it switches between vigorous activity and contemplation of your next move. If the beat rate gets too high you're in trouble.

To provide some help on your heart-thumping quest there are sliding platforms that pass over ravines, slides that move you so fast they get you there before you've gone, light stairs and bridges, and trampolines that can increase your jumping height. Retracting bridges can give you some assistance, but must be used with the greatest of care.

And you have to keep a close watch on the strange world around you, because airborne aliens have a horrifying touch that even a quick dab of TCP won't cure. So cuddle them at your peril.

These aren't all the horrors that await, either - laser beams can slice your carcass neater than a Dewhurst butcher, and hydraulic pistons flatten you very effectively.

When you collect one of the Cores, a defence system is automatically triggered and a timer begins a countdown. The alien complex must be left before this reaches zero or your body particles will be ripped asunder. So get cracking, and collecting the other seven.

COMMENTS

Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair
Graphics: Intricately detailed with liberal use of colour
Sound: the odd spot effect
Options: definable keys

Hmmmm, this I've seen before. Dynatron Mission looks and plays like so many other budget platform games, and frankly it offers nothing new. Strolling around the pretty graphics isn't particularly compelling and timing jumps carefully to dodge nasties lost its appeal years ago. The problems involved are quite difficult, so Dynatron Mission may well appeal to hardened problem-solvers but there's not much here to attract anyone who's already got a few games of this genre.
BEN [50%]

Dynatron Mission is an excellent game, full of colour and detailed graphics. It's a bit similar to another Mastertronic game, Universal Hero - something fishy there! But even if you already own Universal Hero you'll find this a fantastic game and be addicted in a second. It's full of hidden extras, such as the spaceman's heartbeat, and the animated sequence at the start. Dynatron Mission is brill, so get mapping it.
NICK [88%]

Mastertronic
£1.99
Reviewer: Duncan MacDonald

Now in this day and age, 'budget' as well know, doesn't necessarily spell 'naffness' (no, it spells 'budget'. Haw Haw). And since the author of this game was Paul (Glass, Plexar) Hargreaves, I was expecting another budget sizzler. I didn't get one. Oh dear.

Here's the plot: "Guide the space commando through the alien complex to find and reclaim eight reactor cores while avoiding the nasties. Then escape before the automatic defence system blows you up." Okay, so many a good game has been hatched from a hackneyed scenario, but they tend to rely on slick but simple gameplay meshed with 'just one more go' addictiveness. Dynatron is just TOO hard (and not helped by it's slight wibbly control response). Moving through the flick screen caverns I soon found myself unable to get any further, and let's face it, after a twentieth attempt with absolutely no progress made, one does tend to reach for the negative operational toggle (off switch). I certainly did. If this is simply down to my ineptitude then I apologise, but I don't think it is. This is the sort of game that should have an infinite live POKE printed on the cassette inlay card. Or a warning in huge dribbly letters. So unless your wizardry with the joystick knows no bounds, steer well clear.