Tynesoft
describe MIRAX FORCE as `The Ultimate Shoot 'ern up', and whilst it
is basically yet another addition to the long list of `Uridium'
style scrolling space-zap games, this one certainly looks like
giving the competition a fair run for their money.
There's not anything very original about the plot, it's just another
case of flying your space craft — 'Star Quest' — over the Alien
Mothership, destroying as much of it as possible as you go.
Eventually the Mothership's main reactor begins to pulsate, allowing
you access to the following level of play. Not that easy, of course,
since Alien defence ships forever block your path in an attempt to
halt your mission, and fire missiles which can be very difficult to
dodge. Avoiding these is not the only problem — indestructible
pylons, buildings and shadowed objects protruding from the surface
of the Mothership must also be negotiated. Once again, an auto-fire
joystick is highly recommended!
An initial glimpse of the ace title page acts as a brief graphical
taster of what is to follow. The display scrolls horizontally over
several screens, smoothly and in the direction of your choice at
fast or slow speed as desired. Some amazingly intricate designs form
a birds-eye view of the Mothership, and colours are chosen at random
each time you play. Occasionally these clash slightly but it's a
small price to pay for an interesting effect created most of the
time. All in all the game is a great display of the Atari's
graphical capabilities. Congratulations Tynesoft, you've discovered
them at last!
Sound effects are pretty standard, but an added bonus is digitised
speech created with the assistance of 2-bit Systems' Replay package.
This will hopefully kill the myth that quality electronic speech is
sacred to the ST fraternity! An extremely clear voice announces 'The
battle begins', `Mirax Force' and 'Game over'. It possibly says
other things as well, but unfortunately I didn't get far enough into
the game to find out! MIRAX FORCE suffers from the same drawback as
other space-zap games — it's not at all easy to progress very far
without a great deal of practice. This does mean however, that the
game would seem to offer lasting appeal, and at least the
possibility of some extra speech should hopefully provide an added
incentive to persevere!
My only gripe concerns the brief instructions printed inside the
inlay — not only are they riddled with mis-spellings and incorrect
grammar, the loading instructions are wrong too! Still, on the whole
this is a first class effort from Tynesoft, who seem to have upped
their previously standards considerably in recent months. It won't
be everyones cup of tea, but if you're looking for a challenging and
fast-paced scrolling space-zapper, you need look no further than
MIRAX FORCE.
Paul Rixon
Published by Tynesoft. £7.95 on cassette - £9.95 on disk -
1 player with joystick
