Producer: System 3
Retail Price: £7.50

Twister is the name of a demon from the depths of hell. Apparently she's one of the worst. Together with her horde of unspeakable nasties, she intends to ruin mankind once and for all. Out of the world's 4.5 billion population, you have been chosen to fight for mankind's survival. To do this, you have to travel through your own subconscious in order to gather various sacred symbols that will enable you to vanquish Twister and her mob of killjoys.

The first section involves jumping across a series of platforms as they approach and collecting the objects that appear on many of them. Whilst you are attempting to do this, Twister's twisted minions appear above you. To avoid their wrath it's necessary to shoot them down using psychic weaponry with which you have become equipped whilst collecting four special suits of cards that appear while you're fighting.

The next section has you travelling down a grid-work corridor and again you must avoid the demons. This time characters of the word of Ultimate Power have to be collected. The next corridor is walled but is otherwise similar to the last screen except that signs of the Zodiac have to be collected. If success is achieved here, a jet pack appears on the back of your character and amidst dramatic bolts of lightning, he rises from the corridor. At the top of the screen, the Evil twister appears as a snake wrapping itself around a planet. Demons must be eliminated before the triangle of truth finally materialises. If that's touched in time, the warhead of the psychic bolt displayed at the base of the screen begins to flash. A direct hit down Twister's throat is necessary to kill her and you only have one chance. Time your shot well...

The objects appear one by one every time you shoot a demon. Touching one allows you to pick it up. However, two objects cause either a loss of energy or the loss of the last object to have been picked up. One of the useful objects is a triangle of darts which gives extra firepower when collected.

The layout is simple enough. At the base of the screen an energy bar indicates current strength whilst the number of shots remaining are also displayed. At the top of the screen, any important objects that have been collected are shown. The background is black with yellow platforms approaching from the void, becoming larger as they get nearer.

COMMENTS

Control keys: left/right O/P; S to jump; A to thrust; X to fire
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair, Cursor
Keyboard play: reasonable
Use of colour: unimaginative
Graphics: beautiful sprites, good forward scrolling
Sound: rather limited
Skill levels: 1
Screens: 6

Despite the rather inane plot, this proved to be an enjoyable shoot em up. It's not too difficult to get quite far in the game so perhaps expert blasters will find it lacking as a challenge. Even so, the sprites are well drawn and animated, often being quite imaginative and amusing. One of the corridor screens is very much like Atari's old Tempest game but otherwise there's a reasonable degree of originality to be found. If you're after a fast, fun arcade game then this could be just what you're looking for.

Twister Mother of Charlotte is one of those games that I can't get my teeth into at all. The graphics are very good, there are many detailed characters and the forward scrolling of the platforms/stepping stones is brilliant. The sound is fair with no tune on the title screen and only a few spot effects during the game itself. I just about managed to get onto the forth screen after about half an hour of play so it shouldn't be too hard to complete, if you can be bothered. The best thing about Twister in my view is the colourful front end which is quite entertaining. If you like fairly simple games with lovely graphics and no brain ache involved in playing then I recommend this game.

Although the scenario is all a bit daft, the game itself is quite a neatly presented shoot em up with lots of interesting monsters to avoid or shoot. The scrolling playing areas which zoom out at you lend the game a fair old pace, and leaping around collecting the right objects while avoiding the wrong ones and killing the nasties can get frantic. I enjoyed the Twister, no matter who Charlotte is!

System 3
£7.95

Ah! What's in a name! T'zer peepers (and aren't we all, eh?) will of course know that Twister is the third incarnation of System 3's long awaited Mother of Harlots. This title seemed a little raunchy for the shelves of Smiths so Mother of Charlotte was born. Safer, true, but boring, smacking of an undiscovered Bronte novel. And, lo, it came to pass that Twister was the climax of all this name calling and the marketing men saw that it was good.

Dads will remember Twister as a garden game usually won by double jointed yoga gurus able to put their right ankle behind their left ear. This might be a useful skill for Mother of Harlots but we like it plain and simple here at Castle Rathbone.

This Twister is a six level arcade shoot 'em up. Level one is essentially a platform. Monoliths like those from 2010 whizz at you. Some carry goodies that increase your fire power, others speed your leaps. Your task is to play cosmic stepping stones, jumping from one to another without falling into galactic oblivion. Meanwhile, the wicked offspring of Twister - sputniks, harpies and variously mutilated heads will attempt to put up your life insurance. None appears able to exterminate you at a stroke but all contact is detrimental. Your tactics will thus vary between high speed head hunting - but losing your fire power - or wily evasion making sure each shot counts while you pick up your space goodies.

This principle holds good throughout the next five levels. The next sequence is the first of Twister's corridors of power. Here you only have lateral movement but, a la Nightmare on Elm Street, you can walk about on the ceiling. Fine if you don't wear a wig. More ghoulies enter here ranging from Ghostbuster evacuees to fat men with whips.

Level three is (another) corridor, but the next is whizzo, fab and brill. Moving through a hyper-space type transition brings your rocket back-pack to life. Now you can manoeuvre for the first time over all the screen, whilst all around a galactic electric storm crackles and sparks. Goodies and baddies materialize at random and you have to plot a course between one to get to the other. Savvy?

Success here takes you to the final frontier. The Ultimate Confrontation with Twister who sadly looks like a deflated football. By any other name Twister is a thoroughgoing if derivative whizz bang shoot 'em up. This is one for the Jung at heart who feel like shooting hell out of the cosmic mother.

Publisher: System 3
Price: £6.95
Memory: 48K
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair, cursor

A wonderful piece of rampant nonsense from System 3, Twister was extensively previewed last month, so here's a brief run-down for those of you who missed that issue - shame, shame! Not much has changed between the early version I saw and the final game, which is essentially a shoot-'em-up with some very imaginative graphics.

Twister is a giant serpent, said to be the root of all evil. She sleeps the unquiet sleep of the utterly depraved in the middle of level six, but you'll have to fight hard to get to her.

Each level involves collecting a number of symbols, which combine to form a psychic weapon whch kills Twister. Those are card signs, the planets, the zodiac, and the parts of Twister's human body and her name.

The first level has you jumping stepping stones. The second consists of two broad paths, one at the top and the other at the bottom of the screen - you flip between the two as you move. The third and fifth are straight roads, rather like the Star Wars Death Star trench games, and the fourth has you roaming all over the screen with a jet-pack, looking for the planets.

The mechanics are simple. Kill three nasties and a symbol will, sooner or later, appear. Ammunition is replenished by passing over a little heap of bullets, energy, by collecting shields.

You must also avoid the horseshoes, which will confiscate one symbol if you touch them, and the little rockets, which drain your energy.

What makes the game is the highly charged depiction of the various demons which oppose you. These are mainly based on standard horror images - flabby ghouls, satanic goats, evil faces hovering in darkness, and oddly, the hookah-smoking caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. I particularly enjoyed the obscene figure of Charlotte herself, all hooked talons and dangling dugs, as well as the whip-wielding demon on level two.

There are extra details - winking eyes and a little skull-and-crossbones when you die, as well as a very pretty high-score table with a sort of fireworks display going on behind it. The monsters tend to attack in different ways - watch out for the devil's spitball which turns into a slinky spring and then pounces on you in a deadly trap.

All the monsters are bright green, which lends a sinister effect to the game. The final figure of Twister, coiled about her spiky ball and occasionally unwinding to hiss and yawn, is most impressive indeed.

A really good shoot-'em-up is always welcome - light relief from all the soft operas so much in fashion these days. Twister has all the vital ingredients - excellent graphics, good gameplay, varied tactics and an addictive theme. Very nasty indeed.

MACHINE: Spectrum
SUPPLIER: System 3
PRICE: £7.50

Welcome to a nightmare, a soul-searing sojourn to the core of consummate evil.

Your aim is the destruction of Twister, the corrupt servant coiled around a core of evil in this rather nice shoot 'em up and strategy game from System 3.

And what makes it most memorable are the excellent, screen designs, a wide variety of creepy monsters and glowing ghouls.

There are five levels of play to progress through, collecting the parts of what can be described as a psychic bomb to the destroy Twister.

On the first level you must play a form of moving hopscotch, jumping from stepping stone to stepping stone, zapping the monsters and collecting the four symbols used on playing cards - hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades. There are also piles of ammunition to be collected, which are needed to destroy the energy-sapping fiends.

The second level has both a floor and ceiling, and your hero can flip from one to the other if the demonic onslaught gets too much. This time you must collect letters which spell out the name Twister.

Level three is a battle to collect the 12 signs of the zodiac, and level four, which must be played among a rather impressive lightning storm, involves the collection of planetary symbols.

And the final level involves the collecting parts of Twister's body. And then it's straight to a confrontation with evil itself - Twister, a vile serpent.

The psychic bomb which will now have collected, must be fired into its gaping maw to achieve the ultimate victory.

Oh, by the way, Charlotte be found among the phantoms, goats and other nasties which sap your energy. You can't miss this buxom creature with the wild flowing hair. She's naughty but nice.

Spectrum
System 3
Arcade Adventure
£7.50

Since the mists cleared from the Silurian Epoch, mans greatest fear has been the unknown.

Evil, the most feared unknown of all, has adopted many guises since the beginning of recorded time. Till now the Dark One, had only manifest itself in the hidden depths of your imagination.

Twister, the blackest-hearted of Hades inhabitants, has ascended from the pits of the nether world, to pronounce the ultimatum of despair on the world of mankind.

To oppose the relentless onslaught of Twisters hordes, you must summon all your reserves of courage and cunning for the battles ahead. You alone are chosen to gather the elemental symbols that will enable you to defect the terrifying might of Twister.

In your first encounter with Twister's demonic acolytes, you must gather the four suits of cards. Ascending to the next level you must collect the characters of the word of power.

Travelling ever upwards, the next task is to collect the mystical signs of the zodiac then onto the planetary symbols. Delving further into the unexplored depths of your id, you are confronted with having to collect the dismembered parts of Twister's discarded human form.

Twister knows you are now close to victory. Only one weapon, the psychic bolt, can exorcise Twister from your domain. To secure the supernatural weapon, you must conquer the gathered legions of Twister, the devil-spawn of Tartarus.

Once the demonry are vanquished, you must fire the psychic bolt down the foul throat of Twister. Only then can you claim to be victorious.

He who has dared to gaze upon the numinous visage of Twister, shall possess the knowledge of the unknown... or be possessed.

System 3
£7.50

1985's PCW show wasn't terribly memorable except for one thing; the goings on at the System 3 stand. To promote their "soon to be launched" game Twister, they had a band of semi-naked girls running around their stand with whips!

It actually took until the middle of March for the game to be finished, nearly six months! Was if worth the wait? In some ways, yes, and in others, no. Sub-titled Mother of Charlotte, Twister is, to quote the inlay, "The blackest hearted dweller in Hades", and it is up to you to save the world from a fearful doom by killing her.

To play Twister requires either some deft finger movements, or a joystick interface, preferably the latter. The object of the game is to complete various 'dimensions', by killing a certain amount of devils, and collecting the correct symbols - which are dotted around along the way. Each completed Dimension gives you a section of the psychic bolt. In order to kill the Twister, you must have all the sections of said bolt.

Graphically, Twister is excellent. All of the levels have been carefully designed and drawn, and the feel of travelling into the screen has been achieved with dramatic effect.

Each Dimension provides different hazards, though they all shore a similar objective You must collect various symbols, and when you have collected the right amount, the next screen scrolls on very neatly. How long your game lasts depends on your ability to jump or move around, shoot hundreds of Demons, and watch out for which symbols you need to collect. On the first screen the symbols are the various suits of cards - spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs - on the second screen you must collect the seven letters that spell Twister, and so on. I can say that I played for quite a while before managing to get much past the third screen!

As Spectrum games go, the sound was very good, and it showed that a little imagination can go a long way. Twister is a very original game, and it is apparent that a lot of thought has gone into the game it has a few details that remind me of the original Tempest arcade machine, but they are used in such a diverse manner that this isn't very apparent.

Priced at £7.50, Twister actually represents relatively good value for money, especially in comparison to many games retailing at £10. Twister is a game that will appeal to a wide variety of Spectrum gamers, from the diehard shoot-'em-up fan to an arcade/adventurer with an itchy trigger finger! Recommended.