Alien Lure

A game which links the bugbaiting type of program with a battle against alien invaders has been produced by Sanath Yogasundrum.

When the game begins, the player is asked for a skill level, A or P, which stand for amateur or professional. It is advisable to start on the amateur level while the player begins to understand this complex game.

A small grid is shown in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen in which there are four aliens, shown as X and $, with a soldier (*). The soldier has to dig a hole (O) and then lure the aliens into it, scoring 100 points for every X and 200 for every $.

The hole is dug by going into dig mode, pressing 2, and pressing the cursor key for which side of the soldier you wish to place the hole. The soldier can then be moved by pressing 01 to return to movement mode, and using the cursors in their normal directions.

A soldier can be killed either by falling into his own hole or being eaten by an alien. The game lasts for the lives of three soldiers, although an extra soldier can be gained by scoring more than 3,000.

Two other limitations are that only one hole can be dug at a time and a hole cannot be dug beneath an alien. Once an alien has fallen into a hole it is filled immediately and the game continues.

Even after playing for more than an hour at the amateur level, no-one at Timex Sinclair User managed to score more than 1,300. (T/S1000/ZX81 16K)