Published by Ocean Software Ltd. Developed
By Denton Designs Released
Platform ZX Spectrum
THE SETTING The Queen of the Cosmic Wartoads has been abducted and imprisoned by THE RYGELLIAN SLIME BEASTS, their deadliest foe. Chained beneath the murderous Sludge Saw in the King's chamber and transformed into an apparition of horror to the Wartoads (namely a human female), her fate is measured by the descent of the blade, which unless stopped will slice her in two! The task of rescue has fallen to you, the most heroic Cosmic Wartoad, to traverse the Rygellian Time-Void, reach the Slime King's lair and dismantle the deathly machine with your Cosmic Tool Kit. The eight pieces of the Tool Kit are scattered around the Time- Vacuums of the Void and must be collected en-route to your goal. They are: Intergalactic whisk, Chronosynclastic stanley knife, X-Ray binoculars, Stellar fish, Death-Ray smutt gun, 3 million megawatt light bulb, Cosmic axe and a Zippo lighter. The reward for success is the hand of the Queen and all her Kingdom; the penalty for failure is death!
ROAD to NOWHERE and SOMEWHERE (A hitch-hiker's nightmare.) This strange phenomenon of the Rygellian Time Void gives rise to the travelling paradox - namely to travel along the Road gets you nowhere but uses up time. The significance of the Road to your goal is that crossing it (rather than going down it) you are transported from one Time Vacuum to another, allowing you to "Leap Frog" to another Time Node some distance away. There are eight occurrences of the Road in the Time Void providing links between four pairs of Nodes. When you start the game the linked Nodes are coloured red in the Time Grid Window. Before you can cross the Road and make use of the link you must find a key to the parked car which will move away as you approach the Road, allowing you to cross it. (Like the pieces of the Tool Kit, the key to each of the links will be found in the Time Vacuums; simply pass over to pick up.) Next time you visit the Time Grid Window the key will be displayed on the right and the Time Nodes which have an "Unlocked" link will have changed colour from red to white. Once a link has been "Unlocked" by finding the key it will remain so throughout the game even if you run out of lives or Alpha-Pellets and are sent back to the start Node.
HINTS and TIPS 1. The fire and movement control operating independently can prove an advantage. It means you can halt and fire by operating the fire control only and avoid collision with your foe (which as you know can prove fatal). 2. When battling with the Slime Master and his Pawns, it is most effective to outflank the Pawns defensive wall and shoot the Master himself (a bigger and slower moving target). 3. Clues to the locations of Tools - Each time you complete eight combat screens in succession (ie. eight without defeat) you will be shown the location of one of the Tools next time you return to the Grid Window. At the top the word 'Tool' will flash as will one of the Grid squares (it will be useful to make a note of this for future use). 4. Some Time Vacuums are easier to traverse than others and there are more, or less, difficult ways to achieve your objective. It would be useful to map the different paths to build on experience you have gained; the chances of succeeding at random are remote. GOOD SHOOTING!
Review
I remember this game being packaged with my Spectrum +3 on disk so as you could imagine it got quite a lot of play as I did not own many games and the fast loading time.
Surprisingly its actually a very entertaining game.
With its clear crisp graphics to its challenging gameplay.
The queen of the cosmic wartoads has been kidnapped by the Rygellian Slime Beasts, turned into a human and is being held captive beneath the Slime King’s Sludge Saw, which descends over the course of ninety minutes and will kill her if it is not stopped.
The player controls the Cosmic Wartoad as he attempts to rescue the queen. To achieve this he must travel across the Rygellian Timevoid, an 8×8 grid of “nodes”, by entering a node, successfully completing the minigame within, and then entering an adjacent node, all the while collecting the eight pieces of the Cosmic Toolkit that will shut down the Sludge Saw. Each node contains one of several repeating minigames, which typically involve the Cosmic Wartoad fighting one or more enemies on a pseudo-isometric screen.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes a challenge.