THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE



KOMPLEX CITY



PUBLISHER

Legend



AUTHOR(S)



YEAR

October 1985



CATALOGUE NUMBER



CATEGORY

Arcade



DESCRIPTION



CONTROLS

Sinclair, Cursor, Kempston, AGF



INSTRUCTIONS



ORIGINAL INLAY CARD TEXT



HINTS/CHEATS



SEQUELS/PREQUELS



REVIEWS



Review of _Komplex City_ from Sinclair User No.43, October 1985



PRETTY CLEVER aliens, the lot in _Komplex_ - they've built a vast

maze of a city to test our resources. Naturally you're unable to

resist the challenge, so it's into the mazes of _Komplex City_

for another bash at convincing the aliens of humanity's

superiority.  Legends's series of shoot'em-ups got off to a shaky

start with _Komplex_, but the sequel more than redeems earlier

disappointments. _Komplex City_ is fast, long, and, as its name

suggests, complicated.  The maze of tunnels has over 65,000

intersections, and there are several trillion possible mazes -

you can change them by typing in a name for the maze at the

beginning. Then, every time you use the same name you will get

the same maze.  To help you there are a number of on-screen

scanners and the like. The long and short range scans show how

far away from the targets you are - there are 11 to collect. 

Another display shows what lies just ahead in the tunnels. At

each intersection you can choose your direction, or whether to

go into hyperdrive. You may also get an opportunity to increase

your score, make a short jump or restore your shields - with the

exception of jump, those involve maximizing the size of bar

graphs or the amount of green on the screen. It is what lies

ahead in terms of shields, score bonuses or jump that is hown on

the display, and yuo will have to plan carefully to make the

best use of those options.  Hyperdrive is great fun. The screen

suddendly bursts into colour and various mushroom-like baddies

come at you. Some are animated, with ports opening and guns

extending to blast you. Hyperdrive is costly on the shields, but

vital for completion of the game in less than a month.  The

tunnels themselves are done in wireframe graphics, with aliens

coming at you at some speed. While there is little new about the

graphics style it is extremely effective, and the flashes and

various stuttering sounds indicating gunfire or damage are not

so obtrusive as to hurt the eyes - a boon to reviewers at the end

of a long week of zapping. You can switch off the sound or the

flashes anyway.  One particularly good feature is the autopilot,

which actually plays the game for you and can be cut in at any

time. It's not a very skilled autopilot, and you will have little

trouble in doing better yourself, but it does provide a good way

of learning how the game is played.  Legend has clearly put a lot

more care into _Komplex City_ than into recent products, and that

attention to detail has paid off. You probably won't want another

shoot-'em-up this side of Christmas.



                                   Chris Bourne



Publisher: Legend

Price: 9.95

Memory: 48K

Joystick: Sinclair, Cursor, Kempston, AGF

Rating: ***** (out of 5, meaning: =9324 carat. Buy it.=94)







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