K240


Title		K240
Game Type	Management Sim
Developer	Gremlin 1994
Players		1
Compatibility	All Amigas (1 Meg)
Submission	Michael Carrillo

Review
K240 is set in the year 2380 where man has reached out and colonised
space.  With that has also come the ability to mine asteroids, you are
given a sector of space (K240) to mine and sell the ore back to Earth
Gov.  Sounds Easy? Well it would be except for the fact that that area
of space happens to be inhabited by other Alien Races who don't take
too kindly to the Johnny come lately's of Human kind taking over their
space.


You start the first mission against an easy opponent and with some
space ships donated by the Earth gov to protect you (the difficulty
curve is pitched just right) At the start you get given a set amount
of credits from which you build up your colony.  Once you have the
basics, i.e. life support, hydrophonics, health centre, Mines etc,
etc, and have  some ore stored up, an Earth Gov. transporter will come
round and take away your ore and credit you with their worth soon
after. With more money you can build up further i.e. Ship yards to
build scout ships  and fighters (two types).  The scout ships can be
used to explore the area of space around your asteroid in search of
other asteroids  and once they have located some, you can dispatch
another scout ship to conduct a geological survey to see if it's rich
in minerals.

Also available is something called SCI-TEK which is very similar to
an on-line catalogue of which  (funds permitting) you can purchase the
blueprints to all manner of excellent stuff, such as Fleet Battle
ships, missile launchers, asteroid engines and beyond. Once those
blueprints are delivered you have  to get around to building the
actual things - providing you have the funds and ore necessary.

Unfortunately The nearby aliens are also going around colonising ore
rich asteroids and expanding their empire so this means that it's
either you or them. It all boils down to either they destroy you by
sending missiles raining down on you and/or they send both missiles
and Spaceships to wipe you out -  or you do it to them first. If you
manage to destroy them, then the level is won and you may move on to
the next level.

The Graphics are crude but functional and everything is viewed from
an isometric 3D point of view  the sound effects are OK but sparse.
The control (mouse driven) is excellent and easy to configure to your
own personal taste.

The major plus that K240 has got going for it is gameplay and it has
gameplay by the bucketload.  After you have set up your colony you
will find that it's suspense all the way since you never know where
the enemy is until your scoutships locate them and even then, it may
not be enough to stop  them kicking your butt out of Sector K240.

This game has but one flaw and that is that Gremlin just didn't add
more missions - you only get six levels, which is (in my opinion) too
short! One more thing if you ever, ever get offered the cheat  codes
for this game (printed or otherwise) run a mile because believe me
after you know and use them, you will feel that you have missed out on
half the fun. What's the point of playing a game with as much suspense
and atmosphere as K240 if you know that at the press of a few keys you
can win? Recommended.


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