VOIDRUNNER (Mastertronic Added Dimension) (c) Mastertronic Limited 1987 Conversion by Icon Design Voidrunner: the final conflict of the Droid Wars ... Much has been said about the infamous Droid Wars, in which the Terran Gridrunner and Matrix squadrons clobbered the lurking Droid forces that threatened to mutate and multiply on the great Power Grids that used to supply the Earth's power in the benighted days before mass/energy conversion became cheap, safe and efficient. Songs have been written telling of the brave pilots heroism, children have been named after the elite squadrons that used to patrol the Grid (although if I were a kid and had to go through my school life with a stupid name like 'Gridrunner' Smith I'd be pretty peeved I can tell you). Most people think that the Matrix wars were the end of that particular scene; they assume that we pasted the Droids and that they vamoosed back to their homeworld and stayed put. This is partially true: they did nip off home pretty smartish after we had finished giving them a good blasting; unfortunately, shortly after their defeat, a routine Terran scan of their disgusting pebble of a homeworld revealed intense Droid activity on a scale never before seen: they were getting ready to come back and NUKE the whole planet by way of revenge. Consequently, a top-secret mission, codenamed VOIDRUNNER, was planned with the objective: genocide. Nail every single droid in existence and eliminate their threat forever. The mission was kept secret because the Terran government didn't want our people to think that they were going to fall into the habit of annihilating entire alien species. (It was about the time we encountered and befriended the endearingly cute and highly-developed race of G1'zurkka-antelopes on the planet of GimmeZeroZero 6, and public feeling was running strongly pro-alien at that time. This was way before the Zzyaxian conflicts, remember.) Anyway, a corps of crack pilots (there always seems to be plenty of crack pilots around when you really need them, don't there?) were trained, packed into shiny spaceships, and subjected to a few years' hypersleep until they reached orbit around the Droids' homeworld, which was such a benighted pit that it was known as Void. Then, they leaped into their sleek and horribly beweaponed fighters and, each accompanied by three drone ships, streaked into battle. (Drone ships were extra, unmanned fighters that flew in pre-programmed formation with the pilot's own ship. Drones were flown in various configurations, depending on the threat being encountered. The advantage: awesome firepower, and the disadvantage: larger target area. If a drone ship was hit the resulting blast would take out the whole formation.) Starting the Game To begin play from the Title Screen, you should, logically enough, press the FIRE button. When you do so, the screen will indulge in various pyrotechnica and announce the level you're about to enter, then your ships will rez-up and blasting can commence. (If the Title Screen has given way to the High Score Table when you go to start, press FIRE twice: once to regain the Title Screen, once more to start.) Your Ship Formation You have four independently-firing ships. In the game's early levels the ships move around in a cluster. Later on, you'll get symmetrical formations of ships where the motion of some ships is reflected or inverted. You'll need to be on the beam to cope with these. Look at the level called SHEEP for the first example of this. Many formations have the ships flying in different directions too; this can be useful for nabbing aliens coming up behind you, for example. Your Enemy There are many different types of enemy ship. DroidSeg: the most common, explodes when blasted, bounces around the screen in predictable patterns. CenHed: behaves like the old Gridrunner aliens; leaves a Pod when hit. Pod: Neutral; explodes when shot. Some Pods take more than one hit. Laser: zaps if you go into its line-of-sight; cannot be shot until after it has discharged. Discharges randomly after a certain time. Barb: attacks the player from all sides. Can be shot. Bomb: drops onto the player. One type can be shot; the other cannot and must be avoided. Vortices: aliens that fly in loose lissajous formations. They drop bombs when shot, so watch it. Camels and Goats: smart bombs. Find out how. Bad karma to shoot these, but plenty big points. The Attack The rez-up of an alien is accompanied by a visual effect such that you can easily anticipate where it will appear (except Vortices which are different). Use this to prepare yourself. Sometimes, aliens need more than one shot to be killed, or turn into other aliens when shot: be prepared. Some are particularly high-scoring; watch for and shoot these. The Zapper This is the vertically-moving line that traverses the screen. Occasionally it pulses, leaving a bright line for a second or so. If your master ship (the green one) is on the same line, it will DIE. Be aware of the firing pattern of the Zapper and you can stay clear of it. Waves There are thirty waves in Voidrunner, all different. You have to blast all the aliens in a given wave (except for Bombs and Barbs, which detonate anyway) to progress to the next. The first sixteen waves are available from the startup screen. Lives You begin with five. If your ship or any drone is hit, or if you are zapped, the ships explode and you lose a life. (The ships explode at the end of a wave, too, but you don't lose a life then; you gain an extra life for successfully finishing a wave.) You may have a maximum of nine lives at any given time. Game Over Is very pretty, and comes when all your lives are used up. If you have been hero enough to attain a place on the high score table, the High Score display will appear with your score on it. You may enter an appropriate bit of text into the table. You can have thirty letters- worth: press FIRE to accept the letter already there, or else use left and right on the stick to select the desired letter, and FIRE to go on to the next one. That's About It I can only wish you good luck and happy blasting. CONTROLS Joystick or Keyboard Keys are redefinable, or use: Q - Up A - Down O - Left P - Right Fire - Symbol Shift LOADING INSTRUCTIONS Type LOAD "" and press ENTER.