The Game Player, #2 -- Vol. 5, pg. 19, November 5, 1982 ------------------- 1) OMEGA VALLEY and ASTRO TERROR The Tiny Arcade, Tape T-101 Rich in color and good in graphics, OMEGA VALLEY provides the player with not only a fine space game, but a unique one, too; for in this one-player, science-fiction space battle, one must defend three "valleys" at one time, with the catch being that you may only cue-up one valley at a time on your television screen. Each valley is identical in design, with four laser cannons, two on each side, that fire across the valley in an attempt to destroy the eighteen invader ships (six per valley) before they land. The three valleys are named "Alpha," a green valley, "Delta," a red valley, and "Omega," a blue valley. To select a view of a particular valley, you simply press the corresponding color shift key (on the keypad). In addition, the four laser cannons are controlled by the keypad. The hand controls are not used. Points are scored by destroying the alien ships before they land, with bonus points available under certain conditions. But beware! If three ships manage to land, they win (and they will tell you so, too!). After the first wave of intruders are [sic] eliminated, another eighteen appear, spread further apart and descending at a faster rate. The pace steadily picks up as the game progresses, and you find yourself frantically switching back and forth from one valley to the next and back again, trying desperately to fire on the alien spaceships before they land three of their units and declare victory over you. On side two of this cassette, you find ASTRO TERROR, a very fast-paced, intense, nonstop action game, in which you sit at the controls of a space station, monitoring on your viewer screen the vast portals of space. Your mission is to destroy the alien force (the "inorganic Vultor") when it appears on the screen, by punching in the alien's position coordinates on the computer keypad. The coordinates are where your deflector beam will hit when you fire. As outlined in the instructions, the keypad serves as the command console of the space station. To hit the enemy objects, you must enter the coordinates of the target on the keypad, then fire your deflector beam. This may sound simple, but it is not, for the target, which is actually a bomb coming right for you, is constantly moving, making it quite a challenge to predict the proper coordinates. The game's programmer only gives you three space stations, so unless you are extremely fast, the game ends quite quickly. This is perhaps the only "flaw" in ASTRO TERROR: The action is so fast, one does not have a chance to get used to the game and develop a skill for predicting and punching-in coordinates. Thus, I predict that a lot of folks will find the game a bit frustrating. Fortunately, however, you are given shields to protect yourself with. The shields will vaporize incoming bombs. You start the game with 100 shield units. Each hit you absorb will weaken them by 10 units. Once the shields are gone, it's goodbye, space station. In addition to having bombs hurled at you, there is also an enemy space station on your screen, constantly on the move. Unless you destroy it, [it] will fire an annihilation ray at you, for which you have no defense. As a whole, ASTRO TERROR and OMEGA VALLEY combine to make a pretty good game cassette. ASTRO TERROR has some fantastic sound effects, and as mentioned previously, OMEGA VALLEY is quite colorful. In addition, both provide excitement, and also help the Arcade owner become a little more familiar with the keypad.