THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE



ASTROCLONE



PUBLISHER

Hewson



AUTHOR

Steve Turner



YEAR

1985



CATEGORY

Arcade Adventure



DESCRIPTION

Astro Clone is a game divided into two parts.  The first one has

you walking around in an adventure, the other is an arcade

shoot'em-up, as in Defender.



CONTROLS

Keyboard, Kempston, Cursor

 KEYS : Up     - A to G

        Down   - Z to V

        Left   - B, N

        Right  - M

        Fire   - H to L 



INSTRUCTIONS

In this, the fourth of the Seiddab series of games, the aim is

simply to defeat the Seiddab by shooting down Seiddab cruisers

en route to the enemy bases (in a DEFENDER-like arcade section)

and then to knock out all the Seiddab bases (in an adventure

section which looks rather like MARSPORT). You must also use some

strategy in choosing the route you take to achieve the overall

aim of defeating the Seiddab.



You begin the game in your Astroclone Assault Craft with your

oxygen steadily draining. To operate the clone, you use an icon

driven control system. Your clone can be in one of three modes,

each of which can be selected via an icon driven menu:



  1. Movement  - allows you to move around

  2. Arm  - allows you to pick up, drop or use objects

  3. Laser - puts a weapon in your clone's hand and allows you

             to aim and fire it with a cross-hair cursor.



The galaxy is shown on screen as a series of 24 box-like sectors.

You can move from one sector to another by using a cursor to lock

on to a space ship. You can then deploy it in another sector

(perhaps one which is full of Seiddab!). You must think

strategically here, as you must decide where it is best to deploy

your forces.



ARCADE SECTION : Once you're happy with your force dispersion you

can then start fighting the Seiddab in a shoot-em-up section

reminiscent of DEFENDER. Pick a sector where you want to fight

and your ship enters it through a star gate. You will then be

faced with a horizontally-scrolling landscape around which you

can fly, and around which various Seiddab ships are also flying.

As well as your targets, the Seiddab cruisers,  there are also

three types of smaller ship, homing missiles and asteroids. These

others don't have to be destroyed to clear a sector but it makes

life easier if they are!



ADVENTURE SECTION : If you clear a sector of all the Seiddab

cruisers and it has a Starbase in it you can enter the base by

flying into an object that looks like an electricity pylon. When

you do so you enter the arcade/adventure section of the game.

Here you have to work out how to destroy the Starbase by using

the objects littered around the place. Wandering around the

Starbase are the actual Seiddab themselves. They look like

miniature three-legged robots with a vicious claw but you can 

defend yourself with a laser gun. Once you've destroyed the base

you can go on and try to find another Starbase, beginning the

whole process over again.



SCORES RECEIVED

Crash: "A strange mix of shoot-em-up and arcade adventure."

RATING : 88% (CRASH #22, November 1985)

 

NOTES

If you hadn't realised, Seiddab's is from the word Baddies,

backwards!















































