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ANY CONNECTION between The Covenant, biblical events and good games is totally coincidental.

You must guide your space ship around the caverns, getting out to pick up objects and pieces of covenant which, once fitted together, will save the world from destruction. There is, however, the little problem of the Thingies. They have a sting in their tails which will terminate you instantly.

To destroy the Thingies you must leave your craft, pick up some anaesthetic and hit one of the two creatures. It will then be disabled for a few seconds. Then jump back into the spacecraft and bounce on it to pick it up. Such complex action makes lengthy play impossible.

The Thingies are intelligent and attack as soon as you leave your craft, draining your energy. Getting to the energiser is difficult and once there the Thingies continue their attack.

In the second section you must pass pipes which drip molten lava. There are more Thingies to kill, more covenant to pick up and more sections through which to pass.

Arcade wizards would find it difficult to complete 256 caverns, go through 67 passages and contend with ever-present aliens using just one life.


Publisher PSS Price £6.95
Memory 48K Joystick Kempston, Sinclair, Cursor
**

John Gilbert

THE COVENANT
PSS / £6.95
Rick: One for all you raiders of the lost Arcade. An adventure with a platform element, this game combines something of a Dr. Who scenario with an intergalactic Roots saga. A game most certainly for the skilful, not the wilful, as just one false blast (well only a few anyway) on your retro will doom your ancestral race, to oblivion. As a cosmic culture-vulture your mission impossible is to retrieve the 64 pieces of your people's covenant. You won't find 'Darwin was here' scratched on any of the multitudinous caverns in this game, as it's actually the groovy ghoulies who threaten your existence. They're miraculously transmuted into your own descendants once you've captured them all - it's a wonderful thing evolution.
But what am I doing, I can't go on telling you the plot! Let me tell you about the revival of the bubble car instead. You must manoeuvre your spherical craft, in a roundabout way through rocky caverns and around ledges. Don't worry about bursting the bubble, you can quite safely smash it into walls. But be warned, it's no smooth ride in your floating globe. You'll need a pretty nifty touch to control the craft as the friction factor's high, so don't expect to slip around gracefully like the ball in a Steve Davis trick shot. And don't waste energy searching for a recharging spot either.
If you've got Superman-type- saviour-of- the-world instincts, then you should have plenty of fun with The Covenant, and it really does put the joy back into joystick! 8/10
Ross: I know software can be adventurous, but the thought of being the last bastion of a whole threatened race is hard to get used to! Luckily, controlling the vehicle and avoiding grand caverns takes your mind off the seriousness of your task! Watch out Indiana Jones, you've got a rival! 6/10
Dougie: The graphics are fairly average, but the game is well up to scratch. It takes a bit of practice to get really good, and there's no chance of me finding all 64 bits of the covenant ... but that's no problem. Fun, fun, fun. 8/10