  
THE author of Spindrone seems to have discovered the solution to a problem that has bugged governments for years - the way to get rid of plutonium. You simply leave it outside in neat rows and let some aliens take it away.
The setting is the planet Fungii 7, where the only native lifeform is a type of toadstool. As you may know, to colonise a planet you need plutonium, and as you have just colonised Fungii 7 you have tonnes of the stuff lying around in large baked bean tins. Leaving all this nuclear fuel in nice rows is just too much of a temptation to the unfriendly neighbourhood aliens, who have decided to relieve you of it. Although the CND supporters among the colonists might be pleased, your bosses aren't. They have given you the task of convining the nasty Kermatoid aliens that stealing is morally wrong, using the tried and trusted technique of blowing them up. The plot makes all the difference in games like these, doesn't it? The graphics are large Mode 0, colourful and chunky, moving slowly in a very relaxed manner around the screen.
You might wonder how the programmer manages to scroll such nice graphics, and clearly the programmer did too, because there is no scrolling.
When you get to the edge of the screen it flips to another part of the planet where exactly the same nasty Kermatoids are stealing yet more of your precious cans of nuclear nasty stuff. Your "highly manœuvrable battle droid" - which is actually a dustbin on legs - skids its way left and right and very occasionally, when you remember you can do it, it floats up and down. The name Spindrone comes from the way that the dustbin rotates as it makes its way around the planet.
The Kermatoids - lumps of green putty with eyes - drift down the screen, ready to grab a can of Plutonium. To convince them otherwise, you fire a laser at them. If you let them grab a can, either through carelessness or through pity because they look so cute, they float back up, and then for no readily apparent reason, drop a rock on you. As you only have a limited number of nuclear bean cans, this is clearly a Bad Thing, and the game will end if you lose them all. For those cans remaining at the end of each attack wave, you receive a bonus. Also on the Kermatoids'side are little rockets that make their way from side to side, and generally get in the way. You can explain your viewpoint to these, too, with your lasers. In later attack waves, life becomes even more complicated with flying saucers buzzing you, springy things bouncing around, and worst of all, the dreaded radio-controlled homing. doughnuts that will follow you around and even wait under you if you should float into the air to avoid a low-flying rocket. It's not easy being a battle droid. This game uses an old formula revamped with nice graphics, and ays as such; in short a typical budget game. The programmer shows he knows his stuff, and with an original idea might come up with something rather special. ACU #8808
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