Missile Man & Space Fighter Pilot
| Full title | Missile Man & Space Fighter Pilot |
| Year of release | 1983 |
| Publisher | Jupiter Cantab |
| Producer / Author(s) | Micromega |
| Memory | 3K |
| Type | Game |
| Cost : | £5.95 |
| Download | SFP & MM
[CRC32 A3FD9050] Distribution Permission Allowed | Group 2 |
Instructions
Space Fighter Pilot
Make sure that the Ace has just been switched on and that nothing has been typed in.
Load and run the program by entering
0 0 bload e
and do not switch off the tape recorder until you hear the tone.
Use keys z, x and c to move to the scene of the action, v to enter missile command and n and m to intercept the oncoming missiles. Instructions are displayed by the program.
Missile Man
Load the program by entering
load b
Run by entering
b
The program displays instructions for fighting off the invading hoards from outer space.
Screen shots
Space Fighter Pilot
Tape Inlay
Cassette Body
Review
These two programs on one cassette are fine examples of what can be done using a mixture of FORTH and machine code in less than 3K of RAM. Space fighter Pilot provides an excellent simulation of taking off from a runway into a changing pattern of nocturnal stars and the illusion of motion is produced and sustained by moving lines. There are two "warp speeds", fast and very fast, and a running score of missiles zapped and missiles which got through is maintained in large figures at the bottom of the screen, against the usual whooping background of what the arcade addict has come to think of as space noises.
There is an instruction "SH Silent" on screen, but no way could I find of activating it. You can change the warp speed and zero and counters in mid-game, but the only way to escape is to cut off the power. This disabling of controls is presumably a protection against copying, but it unfortunately also prevents the user studying the skillful programming. The instructions are terse to the point of inadequency, but most users will sort them out by trial and error, although they should not have to.
Missile Man is a clever if relatively basic interpretation of an old arcade friend without the protective forts at the bottom of the screen down which the "hoards" (sic) of space invaders slide diagonally while the bombs fall vertically, which adds an element of new interest. The playing area only occupies about half the screen and the score is kept to the right of this. Movement is on the slow side and somewhat jerky, but not unacceptably so, for this is FORTH without benefit of machine code. The player's single gun moves and fires in the usual way.
The program is protected and use of the "V" key to start the game prevents the user examining the dictionary with VLIST. There should be some recognition of the fact that many users want more than just the run-time effects of the program they buy.
G.M.
