Producer: Mastertronics
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £5.95
Language: BASIC with machine code

Enter the explosive battlefields of the Second World War and engage in combat with the columns of enemy tanks, it says on the inlay. First thing to note here, is the use of the plural in tanks, actually there's one tank to battle with. Well, there's two if you play this game as it should be - in two. It doesn't state on the cover that it is only a two player game, although that doesn't prevent you playing against yourself.

The option menu allows for wind variation, playing by day or night and playing in foothills or mountains. Playing at night means that the two tanks are invisible except when a shell explodes nearby. In the foothills one tank is usually lower down a hillside with a low rise between it and the other tank. In the mountains there is a giant molehill between you.

Each player has an inclination and a velocity counter. The object is to get the trajectory and force of shot correct to blow up your opponent's tank. Shots which hit the mountains blow chunks out of them. The wind feature allows you to have the wind blowing at steady velocity in one direction or to change direction and force randomly. The trajectory of shots is affected by the wind.

COMMENTS

Control keys: 6/7 elevate up/down and decrease/increase velocity with key 1 to set positions, 2 to fire
Joystick: hardly necessary
Keyboard play: fairly slow
Use of colour: limited
Graphics: average
Sound: poor
Skill levels: 1
Originality: there have been better games on the theme than this

Tank Trax has not got the greatest graphics ever seen etc, but it does have a certain degree of strategy and mild addictivity. I thought it was slightly above average because of its addictivity and playability. Of the graphics, you can say that they do their job.

This is one of the better games from Mastertronic and is quite playable. A fair amount of predetermination is needed to judge what angle of elevation and what velocity will be needed to blow the enemy's tank to pieces. Colour and sound have been quite well used. In all, quite playable and an average sort of game.

Tank Trax is not designed to keep you on the edge of your seat despite its active looking cover. It's reasonably amusing for a few minutes if you are playing against yourself, as the computer takes no part in this game. The graphics are very simple, although the tanks are quite nicely drawn and it is a very static type of game, which together with the simple graphics tends to make it tedious after a short while. I wouldn't consider this one worth its low price, although it might be suitable for very young players.