| Sigma Seven
Copyright/Publisher: Durell Software LTD, Release Year: 1986, Categorie: Space Diagonal Scroll, Number Of Players: 1 INFO SIGMA SEVEN is an all-action arcade game featuring imaginative state-of-the-art 3D graphics and exciting synthesised sound. There are seven increasingly more difficult stages to the game which starts-out easy but ends-up almost impossible. Each stage is split into three phases: first take a space-fighter and blast your way to the next station through swarm-mine defences, then free that stationīs internal pathways of killer-robots and radioactive deposites, to finally reach the remote-controlled main panel which must be reset within a critical few seconds. May be played on keyboard or with a single joystick. Quick reactions essential. GAME SIGMA SEVEN has seven stages which progressively increse in difficulty from very easy to almost impossible. Hence there is no need to fix a "skill level" before play. Each of the seven stages is divided into three separate "sub-games" or phases, the first flying through space fighting against space-mine defences, the second travelling along the internal pathways of a space station fighting against robo-mines, and the third solving a futuristic puzzle. CONTROLS [Q] - Joystick UP - Forward [A] - Joystick DOWN - Backward [O] - Joystick LEFT - Left [P] - Joystick RIGHT - Right [SPACE] - Joystick FIRE - Fire PHASE ONE Take-off from your base and fly to the next factory fighting your way through the space-mine defences as you go. The distance between the space stations and the number of space-mines increases with each new stage. Bonus points are awarded for destroying complete waves of mines. PHASE TWO Once into the factory area, the player must move around clearing the pathways. Defence robo-mines rapidly home-in to kill simply by making contact, through they may be shot first. Each stage has different path layout, which is more difficult than the last. As the paths are cleared a pattern of fixed markers is revealed. This pattern MUST BE MEMORISED and subsequently enterd on the control unit in phase three. The player may leave phase two (at the opposite end) when the red spiral in the top left hand corner changes to white, which happens after clearing a certain area of the pathways (proportional to the stage's skill level); or he may choose to wipe out all the robo-mines and clear all the paths to maximise his score before making his exit. Score is awarded for destroying robo-mines, and the points are shown over the explosions. Bonus points are awarded in proportion to the area of pathway cleared. If the time limit is exceeded (the spiral at the top left of the screen runs out) then all remaining "lives" are lost and the game ends. PHASE THREE The control unit must be reset by pressing a group of its buttons in a pattern similar to that revealed on the pathway in phase two. The usable buttons of each stage are surrounded by inactive ones coloured blue which should be ignored (there are fewer inactive buttons as the stages get harder). During play the usable active buttons repeatedly change colour from green to red then to yellow. An active button may reset by positioning the player's KEY SPHERE above it and pressing "fire"; through this must be done while it is yellow (after which it stays white). Hitting a button already on will turn it off again. Timing is critical, as a defence force-field lags just behind the KEY SPHERE, and will cost one "life" if touched by mistake. Lights on the side panels indicate time taken, and the bonus available for quick completion. If the time limit is exceeded all remaining "lives" are forfeit and the game ends. LIVES The player starts phase one with three "lives". At the start of each following phase, three more "lives" are added to however many are still left. If a player gets through phase one with two lives left, then he would have 2 + 3 = 5 lives for phase two, and so on. If the player looses all his lives during any phase, or exceeeds the time limit in phase two or three, then the game is ended. ========================================================================== Taken from Project 64 Readapted for the Spectrum in 2000 AD by Alessandro "Gazzosa" Grussu http://members.nbci.com/gazzosa |