THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE



VIRUS



PUBLISHER

Firebird



YEAR

1988



CATEGORY

Arcade



CONTROLS

Keyboard, Kempston, Cursor.

Keyboard controls are redefinable.



INSTRUCTIONS

The country has been invaded by waves of hostile alien

spaceships. Instead of attacking military installations, however,

they are intent on polluting the landscape with a lethal red

virus which kills off all plant and animal life. Determined to

counter this threat, a pilot is strapping himself into the

cockpit of his state-of-the-art Hoverplane. This is equipped with

the latest technology - long-range scanner, laser cannon and

smart bombs, all of which will be needed to destroy the aliens.



The action is shown in 3D with wire-frame vector graphics showing

the Hoverplane and the enemy ships. The contours of the landscape

are shown by a pattern of undulating squares representing the

earth's surface.



The long-range scanner in the top left corner of the screen shows

the position of the enemy ships in relation to the Hoverplane.

Gauges above the main playing area show the amount of fuel

remaining and the plane's altitude. Extra fuel can be obtained

by landing at home base.



The Hoverplane is controlled by thrusting the engines and

rotating the craft. At high altitudes, the fuel supply is

automatically cut and the plane lowers rapidly towards the

ground. You move, helicopter-style, by dipping the plane's nose

and thrusting. You can refuel by landing on one of your landing

pads.



During play, a map of the land can be displayed showing polluted

areas in red. All enemy ships in the attack wave must be

destroyed before the whole map turns red. Each wave contains many

different aliens, including the following:



 1. SEEDERS - flying saucers which hover and sometimes land,

              spraying the virus.

 2. BOMBERS - high-flying alien ships which drop "packets" of

              virus.

 3. FIGHTERS- fast-moving ships which try to shoot you down.

 4. PESTS   - small kamikaze alien drones which try to collide

              with you.



Collision with any alien ship results in the immediate

destruction of the Hoverplane. If an alien attack is defeated,

you gain a bonus score determined by how much of the landscape

remains uncontaminated. An extra Hoverplane and smart bomb are

awarded every 5,000 points.



SCORES RECEIVED

"A playable conversion of a 16-bit game. Just slightly too hard

too keep you really hooked." 77% (CRASH #55, August 1988)



GENERAL FACTS

This game was originally called Zarch on the Archimedes version.



NOTES

