

                                     EQUINOX

                                    =========





  Keyboard Control Keys:

 ------------------------



Left     O

Right    P

Thrust   Q

Fire     M

Use      A

Pause    3





  Instructions:

 ---------------



A mining asteroid, Suri Ani VII, becomes contaminated with  highly  radioactive

waste  after  an  accident  with  its disposal.  The miners have fled for their

lives,  leaving  behind  their  equipment  and  much  valuable  ore.   This has

obviously cost the owners of the asteroid a lot of  money  and  hoping  to  cut

their  losses,  they've  sent  in  a Dedicated Disposal Droid to get rid of the

waste and decontaminate the mines.  You're  the person with the job of remotely

piloting the droid...

 

Nothing is ever as simple as it might seem, and such is the case in EQUINOX too

- the fleeing miners forgot to shut down the asteroid's security systems, as  a

result of which the place is now difficut and dangerous to penetrate.  Security

Droids  materialise  next to any intruder detected and attempt to destroy them.

Since only three lives are provided, you'll  need to make good use of the DDD's

onboard laser system to destroy the Security Droids.  Unfortunately  they  tend

not to stay destroyed and rematerialise shortly afterwards.



The  radioactive  canisters  at  the  root of the problem must be collected and

disposed of by dropping them down  a disposal chute into the lead-lined storage

room below.  There are eight levels on Suri Ani  VII,  and  each  one  must  be

cleared  of  the  canisters  contaminating it.  A time limit is imposed on each

level due to the creeping meltdown of some of the canisters - take too long and

they'll explode.



The DDD has a retro-thrust unit  fitted  which can be activated in an emergency

to make an escape from materialising Security Droids.   This  demands  a  large

amount of fuel, and if the DDD runs out of fuel it will explode.  Batteries can

be  collected  to  replenish the fuel supply, though.  Quicker movement between

certain locations is possible via teleporters,  for  which you'll need to pay a

toll of one droid life.  This is exchanged for a cyan teleport credit which can

be obtained from the credit dispensers.  The  trans-level  transporter  ensures

safe  passage  between  levels,  but numbered level passes have to be collected

before inter-level transport is permitted.  Access  will only be granted if the

DDD has a pass with a number less than or equal to the number of the level  you

want to travel to.



At  the  top  of  the  screen are a number of status windows.  The leftmost one

shows the inventory; the next one  shows  lives remaining; the centre one shows

the score and the time remaining (the coloured squares); and the right-hand one

shows two bars indicating respectively fuel and laser energy supplies.





  Reviews:

 ----------



 87%  (CRASH #30, July 1986)

    "A very well produced shoot-em-up adventure"





   This text is taken from 'The Sinclair Software Database' by Stephen Smith

  ...........................................................................

