Spectron-CV
Posted: November 12th, 2006, 12:02 pm
SPECTRON / COLECOVISION / D+
Mordern gamers probably don't remember when the number one game in the world was not Super Mario or Street Fighter, but SPACE INVADERS. So, of course, every-and I mean EVERY system that came out in the early 80's HAD to have at least ONE Space Invaders remake for the system, be it a Game console (even the channel F had one) or microcomputer (I doubt ANY 80's micro was produced without two or three S.I. adaptations). Sadly, most of the remakes , while sometimes offering better sound or graphics,
rarely was as addictive as the original coin - op or VCS versions.
Take Spectron for the Colecovision as a prime example. Being on the CV system, of course, It has Graphics and Sound far surpassing the arcade original. The game is actually a sort of mix between S.I. and GALAXIAN. The game opens with a beautiful space station in the background with blinking lights, and a nice theme plays as one of four ships slides out to meet a colorful alien armada that bounces, chitters and flaps back and forth but never descends. You have blue-white sheilds to protect you but these erode quickly from the bombs the aliens drop.
Since the aliens don't actually LAND, they must try to end the game in some other way-namely by diving under your ship (the GALAXIAN influence) and laying an egg. Six eggs laid and the station blows up (or are they bombs?) ...Game Over.
Later waves have different colors but other than that and faster speed there is NOTHING more to see in this game. No bonuses, no intermissions, NOTHING to play for but points. At the time this was released (1983) , we already had evolved into multi screen games, and other than a graphics showcase this cart really offered nothing to the player even THEN, let alone NOW! This is one of the worst games for the system, eclipsed only by the horrible SLURPY (one of the worst games ever PERIOD!). If you want a "alien Armada" type game for CV, both THRESHOLD and the Atarisoft GALAXIAN are much MUCH better than this turkey.
Mordern gamers probably don't remember when the number one game in the world was not Super Mario or Street Fighter, but SPACE INVADERS. So, of course, every-and I mean EVERY system that came out in the early 80's HAD to have at least ONE Space Invaders remake for the system, be it a Game console (even the channel F had one) or microcomputer (I doubt ANY 80's micro was produced without two or three S.I. adaptations). Sadly, most of the remakes , while sometimes offering better sound or graphics,
rarely was as addictive as the original coin - op or VCS versions.
Take Spectron for the Colecovision as a prime example. Being on the CV system, of course, It has Graphics and Sound far surpassing the arcade original. The game is actually a sort of mix between S.I. and GALAXIAN. The game opens with a beautiful space station in the background with blinking lights, and a nice theme plays as one of four ships slides out to meet a colorful alien armada that bounces, chitters and flaps back and forth but never descends. You have blue-white sheilds to protect you but these erode quickly from the bombs the aliens drop.
Since the aliens don't actually LAND, they must try to end the game in some other way-namely by diving under your ship (the GALAXIAN influence) and laying an egg. Six eggs laid and the station blows up (or are they bombs?) ...Game Over.
Later waves have different colors but other than that and faster speed there is NOTHING more to see in this game. No bonuses, no intermissions, NOTHING to play for but points. At the time this was released (1983) , we already had evolved into multi screen games, and other than a graphics showcase this cart really offered nothing to the player even THEN, let alone NOW! This is one of the worst games for the system, eclipsed only by the horrible SLURPY (one of the worst games ever PERIOD!). If you want a "alien Armada" type game for CV, both THRESHOLD and the Atarisoft GALAXIAN are much MUCH better than this turkey.