Delta Charge (ZX Spectrum)

DESTRUCTION & MAYHEM!

Earth is in deadly peril! Deep in space – an area called Delta – alien forces are massed ready to attack. And you are the only one to stop them! Can you survive and destroy the endless waves of enemy fighters hurled at you by the warships? Charge – and find out: but shoot to kill!

GAMEPLAY

Yet again Terra is in deadly peril as diplomatic relations with the Hsiffan Khanate disintegrate into tatters. The Hsiffies – nasty yellow, buck-toothed, slimy aliens, who cheat at poker, mistreat their mothers and jump red lights – are hell-bent on destroying the Terran empire. To combat this insidious alien threat, DAMOCLES has been reformed. As member of that squadron, your mission is to obliterate as much of the Hsiffan attack fleet as possible.

You are advised to enhance your ship’s abilities so as to improve your chances against the Hsiffan threat. Most of the attacking formations yield a credit if they’re completely destroyed, and, depending on how many credits have been earned, extra weaponry can be bolted onto the ship.

This Armament may be acquired in the ‘weapon collection screens’, which are a group of icons that frequently cross your path between alien attacks. Each icon has its price, and the extras you can afford are highlighted in blue, while items out of your price range are in grey. Just fly over the desired icon, and within seconds more death power is at your disposal.

Remember, though, that the weapons are not permanent. After a pre-set time they start to fade away, quite possibly leaving you in a nasty situation.

Attack waves do not always give credits – some may even take them away; so always keep a close eye on the credit counter in the bottom left-hand corner of the scanner.

For more information about the game, please refer to the scanned instructions included in the downloads.

ARMAMENTS

Below are detailed explanations of available extras. New pilots are advised to acquaint themselves with their respective icons and capabilities (as copied from the COLE INDUSTRIES armament sales catalogue).

• Extra Speed: Defending Terra is a speedy business and without extra velocity you may soon be pushing up daisies in a war grave. But be careful not to overdose on speed, because the ship’s engines soon overload and will then go slower than before. Only one credit.

• More Bullets:  The rudimentary firepower accredited to the basic ship is sufficient for dealing with the namby-pamby front-line attack force, but you really ought to be better equipped when entering later levels. With grade three gunnery hugging the ship’s hull, fool be the Hsiffite who messes you around. To you John, two credits.

• Multiple Fire: Those sneaky devils will attack from all sides, so guard your back, port and starboard sides with super multiple-fire  - ideal for dealing with the spinning wheel of death that’s sure to be encountered once you’ve acquired some space skill. A snip at a mere three credits.

• Fish Weapon: For four credits, extra pulse-lasers from the amphibian planet Zlot can be yours. Blow away the enemy with impressive ease and take away the strain from alien encounters. Experience surprise as previously invulnerable space monsters boil away into their component molecules.

• Protector: Lacerate any fool Hsiffy trying to encroach on your personal air-space with this ball of razor-sharp, spinning shrapnel and glass. It chops, it mashes, it winds and grinds, and apart from all that, it looks good. Astound your enemies and amaze your friends with the style and elegance that five credits will make yours.

• Warper: This little gadget does things to space-time that would have any self-respecting scientist breaking out into a rash of puzzled frowns. Once attached to your sturdy space steed, a near total reversal of the time-flow quotient occurs every pico-second. In layman’s terms, all time slows down. Even the most enthusiastic Hsiffan would have a job beating a Reliant Robin from 0 to 60 when the warpers’s in action. This makes them very easy to avoid and easy to shoot, especially considering your ship still moves at normal speed. To you squire, only six credits.

• Supa Shield: The champagne of armament, the crème de menthe of the weapons world. Makes Hsiffans look like the lager-shandy of the alien threat league. But excellence costs, and a Supa Shield carries the not immodest price tag of seven credits. Not cheap. Still, if you want to put the wind up the enemy there’s nothing finer than a Supa Shield to do it with.

CREDITS & ACKNOWLDGEMENTS

STAVROS FASOULAS
Original C64 game

TWIGHLIGHT
Spectrum Conversion

JASON MCGANN
Main Programmer

OLIVER FREY
Cover Artwork + Illustrations

RUNNING THE GAME

The Delta Charge ZIP file contains numerous versions of the game for ZX Spectrum 48k and 128k computers:

• 48k and 128k .tap file
• 48k and 128k .tzx file

The files are intended for use with a ZX Spectrum emulator such as Spectaculator. Please note that we are unable to provide technical support for emulators.

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