game of the month
BOMB SQUAD
AN EXPLOSIVE ADVENTURE
by PAUL TUPACZEWSKI
This challenging arcade/action game will push your joystick skills to the limit-there are ten levels to complete. (We never got past level two!) But we think you'll agree that the game's sophisticated programming features make it worth the effort. The BASIC program works on all 8-bit Atari computers with at least 32K cassette or 48K disk.
It's not just a job-it's an adventure. That's what they said when you enlisted in the Interplanetary Bomb Squad. Hah! The Bomb Squad is no adventure-it's suicide. You'll be lucky if you ever get off this frostbitten world to pick up your paycheck.
Detonator, your mission is to save a planet on the very precipice of extinction. Don't blow it! Put in your earplugs, strap on your jetpack and get ready for your noisiest assignment yet. Destroy those bombs before they destroy you.
BLAST OFF
Before slipping into that jetpack, you'll have to carefully type in
Listing 1, BOMBSQU.BAS, check it with TYPO II and SAVE a copy. If you have
trouble with the special characters in lines 25 and 1080, don't bother
typing it in. Listing 2 will create those lines for you and put them in
a file called LINES.LST Now, type NEW, LOAD Listing 1 and ENTER "D:LINES.LST"
(cassette owners type ENTER "C:"). Remember to SAVE your completed program
before you RUN it.
When you RUN the program, it will take about 30 seconds to load before the red Bomb Squad logo rolls onto the screen. Plug in your joystick and press the trigger to begin.
You're stuck in an endless labyrinth of weapon storage facilities buried deep beneath the hard crust of planet Htrae. Did we tell you it's not a nice place? Red bombs rest on girders in the storage vault. Whirling robot guards are darting about, just waiting for you to drift into their path. Then there's Evil Eye-the rotating green thing that's constantly trying to run you down. And watch out for Puff, the red helium balloon. Puff is smiling, but don't let that fool you. Buggo, the white rabbit, moves left and right at random. Touch even one of these guys and you lose a life. Lose three lives and the Detonator gets blasted. Get blasted and you go back to the first room. Did we tell you this wasn't going to be easy?
If you typed in Antic's March, 1986 game of the month, you'll notice that the jetpack is controlled just like a Lunar Lander. Maneuver your jetpack by pushing the joystick in the direction you wish to go. You don't have downward thrusters, by the way. To land on one of the girders, you'll have to rely on the pull of gravity-what little of it there is on planet Htrae. And did we tell you about the green spires surrounding the border? Stay away- they'll just slow you down.
DON'T GET BOMBED
With all the advances in technology, by now someone should have invented
an android that could take care of this. It's too blasted dangerous. Even
for you, The Detonator. But only a human would have the agility to dart
between the unflinching mechanical guards that haunt this place and then-gently,
oh, so carefully-land on the holding platforms and defuse the bombs.
There's hope yet. Every once in a while, mysterious symbols appear. If you touch the Crystal, all enemies freeze in their tracks for a few precious seconds. Don't be foolish though, they're still deadly to the touch. Touch the Snowflake and the enemies freeze again. But this time when you touch them, you get 500 points and they get transported out of your path, to the top of the screen. Each time you touch the Sunburst, the point multiplier at the top of the screen is advanced by one.
Detonate every bomb on screen before the mechanical meanies get to you, and the computer multiplies the points by 100 times the number of bombs to tabulate your score. The number of bombs appears in the upper right hand corner.
So keep going. Fifteen bombs in the first room and who knows-how many more bombs? How many more rooms? We hear there may be ten. We hear that each room is more dangerous, that in some of those rooms, you only have one life. We also hear that your job may be opening up again, real soon, Detonator ...
Paul Tupaczewski of Boonton, New Jersey is making his debut in Antic.
Listing 1 BOMBSQU.BAS Download
Listing 2 LINES.BAS(not needed)