Activator

Copyright : Cascade Games | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

...Must help us....power fading....unknown force....please help......

This was the final message from the space station Antari, located at the edge of the Sol Galaxy. It is your mission to track Antari and using your remote activator pod bring her back to life. You will encounter many dangerous beings and hazardous problems along the way, you will find fuel pods scattered around the space station, bring them back to the power chamber.

Good luck.... not much of a story we know but that?s all Cascade give you in this space adventure, here?s the review.

Graphics

Considering the game was developed by the not so clever (at least no so far) Cascade software house the graphics are pretty much spot on. There are plenty of different enemies and problems to encounter on your journey around the space station, everything is either brightly lit or dull and dark (depending on the location) which is just perfect for the location the game has bene set in. Animation is also pretty impressive, there is one thing that you should stick in your mind when playing this game and that?s the Cascade 50 games pack and how awful that was.

Sound

As is the tradition with Cascade games there isn?t any music in the game at all, not even a welcome tune to get you started but the actual in-game sounds are spot on, there are plenty of various sounds to be heard which range from explosions to ghostly noises, it all adds to the atmosphere of the game very well indeed.

Gameplay

Activators is far from being the easiest Amstrad CPC title available but I?m sure that at least a few hundred people that visit this site will remember this title at some point, a cover tape demo or playing it at a friends house despite the fact that the developers aren?t that well known today at all.

Some players wil find the game frustrating and difficult before reaching for the power switch, the reason? well the controls are a nightmare for a start as you run aimlessly into walls and the evil forces that have taken over the space station, if you press left once your pod will keep going left until you press right and then keep going right until you press...well you get the picture. Baring in mind that even brushing past one of the many enemies in the game can knock 50% of your energy off and the fact that you have only a few lives to complete this monster game with (without saving) it?s not surprising that most players never got the chance to complete it.

If you loved it back in the days when Amstrad was king (it still is but you know what we mean) then grab it otherwise leave it to rot with the others.