Panther Copyright/Publisher: Mastertronic, Release Year: 1986, Categorie: Space Diagonal Scroll, Number Of Players: 1 INSTRUCTIONS You take the part of the lone remaining pilot in the Federal force under attack in the city of Xenon. The alien invaders have swept away the defences and all the population has been evacuated. Well, nearly all of it. There are still people in the city, mostly military personnel who must be brought out to the spaceport and safety. As the one and only poor sucker who can fly a Panther ground attack craft - you're the Hero for today. Those who get left behind are hidding in bunkers either in the city or the surrounding areas. All you have to do is to fly through and pick them up. The spaceport is on the other side of the city from where you are, so it should be a nice easy flight. Oh, by the way, the enemy is now in the suburbs and some craft have been sighted near the main buildings. Missile enplacements have probably been set up and the spaceport is a long way away. You´ll probably get quite a reception when you get there. The Panther you'll be flying has five Phoenix shields, to repair itself if hit, but you'll need a couple of seconds to activate them. Meanwhile, it gets lonely on the ground, waiting to lift off again and hoping no aliens happen to drop in... The shuttle takes off at 0800 sharp. With or without you. It may take more than one run to clear the city but the transmat still operating can put you back to Panther base from the shuttle bay, Probably just in time to start again and go get some more people. It's at times like this you really know where the buck stops. Always with you doesn't it! Cease whining and get in there and act heroic. At least get it this once...please! GAMEPLAY The game is won by piloting your craft across the landscape, shooting up the invaders and rescuing the personages who got themselves left behind. To do this you land close to the bunkers and they appear in the screen. Stay around until all the the refugees have made it into your ship - whatever the aliens are doing to stop you - then move on as quickly as possbile. At the end of your run, there awaits a means of getting your passengers to safety. Find it and use it. Scroing high points is only possible upon completing several sweeps through the different stages, and upon the safe departure of the civilians. The aliens attack in waves and your flight computer indicates both the launch and position of the incoming craft relative to your Panther at the bottom of the screen, along with the number of Phoenix shields remaining. The number bottom right is your present score. The craft is flown with the joystick in the normal manner and watching the shadows of both your ship and the aliens will give you an indication of height and relative positioning. THE LANDSCAPE The city stands on an island in the middle of a large inland lake. You start from the base in the desert and head in towards the city centre. The lake contains some oil platforms (somewhere) and there are PROBABLY a number of survivors hiding out in there so you'll have to go look for them on the way past. The spaceport lies beyond the City and is well surrounded by alien seige craft. Things get considerably tougher once you approach the City itself. There are Surfce-to-Air-Missile (SAM) batteries amongst the buildings and if you don´t obey the computer´s instructions to get below radar, they´ll hunt you down pretty quickly. This does of course mean that you have to fly AROUND the skyscrapers, not over them. A pilot of your class should find that no problem. ========================================================================== Taken from Project 64 Readapted for the Spectrum in 2000 AD by Alessandro "Gazzosa" Grussu http://members.nbci.com/gazzosa