Sinclair ZX Spectrum

Rescue from Atlantis

The advanced civilization of the planet Somerset built a gigantic exploratory spaceship called Atlantis, and sent it to research the planet Earth. After the completion of its task, the ship submerged to an oceanic abyss. The D.A.G. ("giant-looking depredators"), a war-mongering civilization, took possession of Atlantis with the intention of conquering Somerset and the universe. Somerset sends a hero to rescue Atlantis from the enemy, and return it home. Rescue from Atlantis is a Spanish side-scrolling action-adventure game divided in three loads. In the first load, the hero must find a way to gain entrance to the camouflage city built on top of Atlantis. This level starts with the bathysphere being dropped from the sky into the ocean by a spaceship. Once it hits the bottom, the player can guide it. The bathysphere is armed with a laser gun. The protagonist can also be ejected from the bathysphere in order to explore more strait entrances. There are objects scattered on the sea floor to be collected and used. The bathysphere also comes with some useful paraphernalia: a jetpack to reach higher places; a portable computer to connect with the main one in Atlantis; a first-aid kit that can only be used once; and a mould to fabricate gold bars.There are some gold nuggets on the submersed caves (to melt them the player has to find a source of heat). The player investigates a complex of aquatic tunnels while collecting the needed tools for the task ahead. At the top of the screen there are two horizontal bars. The leftmost indicates the oxygen level (there are places on the levels that replenish it). The one in the right side is the bathysphere fuel level; once empty, the vessel will stop moving. The player must find sources of fuel to make it swim again. In this first load, the main danger comes from the creatures of the sea: octopuses, sharks and abyssal fishes take a bit of the energy when the character touches them. In the second load the bathysphere enters the city that was raised on Atlantis, now under the sea and in ruins. Guarding the entrance to the ship is Korx, a powerful D.A.G. mage. The main objective of this level is to find a way to destroy him (he is invulnerable to the laser weapons). Besides the animals of the previous load, the character has to fight hammerheads and some alien creatures. The final load sees the bathysphere entering Atlantis. The ship is a mechanical labyrinth, with lifts and sentinel robots. The main objective is to find the computer room, where the hero can activate the ship and bring it back to Somerset. The game has a password system: after solving each load, an alphanumeric code is displayed on the screen. The code is generated based on the actions accomplished. The second and third load require this code to start. It is possible to reach an unwinnable situation by failing to collect or assemble the necessary objects for the completion of a later level.