The BBC and Master Computer Public Domain Library

ESCAPE FROM MOONBASE ALPHA

Professional, Originally Released On Cassette Only

Game Type          : Arcade Adventure Style

Author             :

Standalone Release(s)   : 1982: ESCAPE FROM MOONBASE ALPHA, Micro Power, £7.95

Compilation Release(s) : 1987: PRES GAMES DISC 2, PRES, £9.95

                    1988: MICRO POWER MAGIC 2, Micro Power, £7.95

Stated compatibility    : Electron

Actual compatibility    : Electron, BBC B, B+ and Master 128

Supplier            : MICRO POWER, 8/8A Regent Street, Chapel Allerton, LEEDS

                    LS7 4PE. Tel: 01532 683186.

Disc compatibility     : ADFS 1D00, CDFS 1D00, DFS 1D00

Instructions

Left for dead on the nightmare planet, your only hope of escape is to find the Doctor deep down on Level 7 and pay him 10 bags of gold to transport you to safety in his time machine.

The monsters get stronger the further you descend into the heart of the Base. A good strategy, therefore, is to build up strength on the upper, easier levels by killing monsters and collecting gold before progressing downwards.

After the instructions have been displayed and the final part of the program has loaded, there will be about a 10 second wait while the game is set up.

Game Controls

Z - Left,   X - Right,   * - Up,   / - Down  

T - Take a Hulk Pill,   P - Pick up Gold

To pick up the Gold, move into the corner of the room and press P for each bag of Gold. You will not be able to do this if there is a monster in the room.

Taking a Hulk Pill doubles your strength for five seconds and allows you to walk through walls, but when you revert back your strength diminishes to one third of its original value.

For details of the many types of monsters you will encounter, see the instructions included in the program. Good luck!!

Instructions' Source   : ESCAPE FROM MOONBASE ALPHA (Micro Power) Inner Inlay

ESCAPE FROM MOONBASE ALPHA is a three-dimensional adventure game loosely based on the television series "Dr. Who". The adventure takes place in a series of linked rooms, each of which is represented in a three-dimensional form on the screen when you visit it. This is an unusual and intriguing feature of this game.

The object of the game is to collect as many bags of gold as possible, whilst fighting off the challenge of the various monsters. You start in a room on level zero, and to escape you have to find "The Doctor" who is down on level seven. The price of freedom is ten bags of gold, so make sure you have plenty of gold before finding the Doctor. Most rooms have various connecting doorways, or stairways, leading to other rooms in the game.

You will sometimes find a "Tardis" in a room you visit, and if you can enter the Tardis quickly you dematerialise and then re-appear in a quite different room: This may help or hinder your progress. As you move through the levels, the monsters become stronger and stronger, but at the same time, each bag of gold that you acquire also increases your strength.

This is a very nice game, with some enjoyable graphics, and makes a nice relaxing change to the "zap 'em" type games. It certainly rates very high in the tables for the best Electron software. Rating: ****

Alan R. Webster, ELBUG 1. 5