The BBC and Master Computer Public Domain Library

METEORS

Professional, Originally Released On Cassette Only

Game Type          : Arcade; Shoot-'Em-Up;

Author             : Neil Raine

Standalone Release(s)   : 1983: METEORS, Acornsoft, £9.20

Compilation Release(s)   : 1988: ACORNSOFT HITS 2, Superior/Acornsoft, £9.95

                    1989: PRES GAMES DISC 4, PRES, £9.95

Stated compatibility    : Electron

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

Supplier            : ACORNSOFT, 4A Market Hill, CAMBRIDGE CB2 3NJ

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

Instructions

"Steer your laser-ship through a hall of meteors smashing them with your laser bolts as they hurtle towards you on all sides. Avoid being hit by the missiles from hostile flying saucers which fire at you as they pass. Your ship is equipped with as many laser bolts as you can fire and as a last resort, you can escape through hyperspace.

Complete with sound effects and table of high scores."

Steer the ship to avoid the meteors, firing at them as you go.

Large meteors will split into smaller ones when they are hit, and these will in turn break into four fragments.

Watch out for hostile flying saucers which fire at you as they pass.

When the going gets too rough you try try escaping through hyperspace but you can't be sure where you will re-materialise and so this can be risky!

Clear all the meteors before going on to the next screen. You start off with three ships but can gain an extra one every time you score 10000 points.

Game Controls

CTRL - Rotate Left,   A - Rotate Right,   RETURN - Fire,   SPACE - Hyperspace

SHIFT - Thrust

S/Q - Sound On/Off,   COPY/DELETE - Pause On/Off,   ESCAPE - Quit Game

Scoring

Shooting a large meteor   =    20

Shooting a small meteor   =    50

Shooting a tiny meteor    =   100

Shooting a large saucer   =   200

Shotting a small saucer   =  1000

Instructions' Source   : METEORS (Acornsoft) Back and Inner Inlay

Review (ELBUG)

In this game, you control a spaceship in the centre of the screen, which may be rotated left or right, and moved forwards with the thrust control. Your task is to destroy meteorites which float around generally in your direction.

If you are hit by them, your ship is destroyed (silently!). If you shoot a meteorite, it divides into smaller parts which still follow you and become harder to destroy.

Occasionally a UFO enters the field of view and you score more points by destroying it. If you get into a tight situation you can enter hyperspace and re-emerge anywhere.

In principle this is a good game, but this implementation is not very exciting. The action is rather slow and the graphics are purely black and white. For the price of £9.20, other Acornsoft games offer better value for money. Rating: ***

Philip Le Grand, ELBUG 1. 1

Review (Electron User)

Drifting alone in space, your ship is menaced by a sudden meteor storm. Collision is imminent. All that you have to fight off the huge rocks are your ship's laser bolts. The trouble is that as soon as you hit them the meteors break up into little pieces which are just as deadly. You have to blast away at these until they've all been destroyed or they'll destroy you!

Just to make things more difficult, all the firing has attracted the attention of some extremely hostile flying saucers. These take the opportunity to snipe at you while you're distracted by meteors, so you've got to shoot at them as well. You do have thrusters to help you dodge, and if it all gets too much you can escape into hyperspace.

It's great fun, a game of quick thinking and fast reactions. Colourful and fast, space flight will never seem the same again.

Nigel Peters, ELECTRON USER 1. 1