Chronos


by John P. Tatlock, Steven Tatlock, Tim Follin, Gremlin [2]
Mastertronic Ltd
1987
Your Sinclair Issue 19, Jul 1987   page(s) 67

Mastertronic
£1.99

This game comes complete with the standard epic tale about how the world came to be created and how Chronos became trapped by the Mystical Dimension Weavers. However, a nice touch is that Mastertronic doesn't take any of this rubbish too seriously - what have Mystical Dimension Weavers to do with you - all you'll be up to is firing your lasers at the enemy and getting a huge score.

So what have we got? Chronos is a variation on the Scramble theme of games. The screen is a right to left scrolling landscape and you have to shoot everything that moves and quite a few things that don't so that you can battle through to rescue Chronos. There are six separate screens that are made to vary in colour, and the shape and behavior of the Dimension Weavers alters as you progress through.

On the first screen they start off as little jet planes and spheres, then in the next wave they mutate into tumblin' dice. Very deep, very significant. Also, the letters of the word BONUS float by occasionally, and if you pick them up you get an increasing bonus score that starts at two hundred extra points and doubles until the S appears - this gets you an extra 3200 points!

Another nice touch is the use of the high score table to pass messages to you while you're playing. Don't quote me on this (mainly 'cos I forgot to make a note) but I'm sure the messages changed on further loadings.

I like this game - it's a no-nonsense shoot'em up given a touch of the ridiculous by the programmers.


Graphics: 8/10
Playability: 8/10
Value For Money: 9/10
Addictiveness: 8/10
Overall: 8/10

Transcript by Chris Bourne

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