Game:

Sidewize (1987)

Category:

Review

Duration: 26:43

661 views

42

Huge playlist archive with Kempston Mouse games: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxOanVBhqd3tM1Ov2sGHI177WdlY0wali
INTRODUCTION (From the manual):
The four worlds of Omicron, Nu, Delta and Iota are under siege. The combined forces of the Xeolom Alliance has resisted for 24 years, but the armies of the Dariard Mutants have slowly gained the upper hand. The Xeolom Warriors had been gathered.

Seven levels below the launch area, Dynar is putting the finishing touches to his armour. The tannoy blared out: "Two minutes to control point Zero, two minutes to control point Zero. All units operational to check their status and report. Check status and report."

The constant repetition of C.O.E. information reports had always irritated Dynar. "Station 58 Alpha, status clear, I repeat, status clear." Dynar closed his transmitter and walked into the elevator. As the metal shell shot its way upwards, Dynar made a last check of his primary weapon systems. With a basic provision of 6,000 anti-matter shells, he was confident of lasting at least two or three minutes in Warp Space. Dynar knew all too well that of all of the Xeolom Warriors, his task would prove the most difficult. He had to find his own weapon supplies in Warp Space, and there would be precious few of those, As the elevator came to a halt, and Dynar stepped out into the ever dimming light of the Warp Acclimatization Chamber, the other Warriors were assembling. Dynar signalled a vague greeting and walked across to his jettison position. Placing the containment clamps around his body and locking them into his armour, the despatch dome slowly descended. As his helmet appeared from its containment cell, a V.D.U. selection panel popped up before him.

This was it. Dynar was only seconds away from Warp Space. This was the only choice he would get - which baffle zone to attack first. As Dynar started to prepare himself for the onslaught ahead, he heard a solitary voice through his helmet: "Farewell, young Warrior. Xeolom suffers and Dariard awaits ..."

REVIEW:
You play as Dynar and suited up in your best jetpac dress you have to defeat the armies of the Dariard on the four worlds of Omicron, Nu, Delta and Iota. When the game starts you can select which world you want to start with, and when you have defeated the enemies on that world, you can select again etc. There are four selectable worlds and when the armies of the Dariard is defeated on all four worlds, you have to go to the final battle on the planet of Zeta.

You can fly all over the screen with your jetpac gear and there are power ups to collect to gain speed and extra fire power. The game is done in monochrome which causes problems on the level on Omnicron where the bottom half of the screen is covered by green trees, and on the level of Nu where the bottom half of the screen is covered by magenta mountains, because it is hard to see the enemy bullets here. On some of the levels you will also meet some walls coming at you at insane speed, making them hard to avoid. Besides these problems this is a pretty decent shooter!

This is a special Kempston Mouse version and it plays very well. As you can move all over the screen you can take good advantage of the extra speed!

The game was published by Firebird Software Ltd in 1987.

Rating:
Original version: 80%
Unofficial Kempston Mouse version: 85%

If you do not have a Kempston Mouse for your Spectrum you can play the game in an emulator that supports Kempston Mouse and play it with your PC mouse.

Original version: https://www.emuparadise.me/ZX_Spectrum_(Z80)_ROMs/Sidewize_(1987)(Firebird)[a]/82435-downloadUnofficial Kempston Mouse version: https://velesoft.speccy.cz/kmouse/kmvelesoft/sidewize-km.zip