The Seiddab Trilogy is a series of video games designed by Steve Turner (as

Graftgold Graftgold was an independent computer game developer that came to prominence in the 1980s, producing numerous computer games on a variety of 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit platforms. History The Hewson Era The studio Graftgold was formed in 1983, whe ...

) for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

and published by

Hewson Consultants Hewson Consultants were one of the smaller software companies which produced video games for home computers in the mid-1980s. They had a reputation for high-quality games which continually pushed the boundaries of what the computers were capable ...

. It consists of '' 3D Space-Wars'' (1983), ''3D Seiddab Attack'' (1984), and ''3D Lunattack''. All three games were later published together as ''The Seiddab Trilogy'' by Hewson for the

Rotronics Wafadrive Wafadrive packaging Rotronics Wafadrive shown with two Wafa tapes, a blank 64 kB and software release tape Front and back of a Rotronics 64 kB Wafa tape The Rotronics Wafadrive is a magnetic tape storage peripheral launched in late 1 ...

. The series name is derived from the word "baddies" being spelt in reverse. ''Astroclone'' (1985), also written by Turner is part of this series.

3D Space-Wars

''3D Space-Wars'' was released in 1983 by

3D Seiddab Attack

''3D Seiddab Attack'' was released in 1984 by Hewson Consultants.

Critical reception

Your Spectrum ''Your Sinclair'', or ''YS'' as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993. History The ...

's review highlighted the realistic 3D effect and split-screen display, but criticized the monochrome graphics and slow game speed.

Sinclair User ''Sinclair User'' was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum (while also occasionally covering arcade games). Initially published by ECC Publications, and later EMAP, it was publi ...

awarded 5 out of 10, criticizing the unclear, flickering display but praising a sophisticated concept and satisfying explosions.

Personal Computer Games ''Personal Computer Games'' was a multi-format UK computer games magazine of the early/mid-1980s published by VNU. History ''Personal Computer Games'' was launched in July 1983. The magazine was part of VNU and had its headquarters in London ...

were unimpressed with the 3D effect and felt that the enemy ships were indistinct and the action unexciting.

3D Lunatack

''3D Lunattack'' was released in 1984 by Hewson Consultants, and is the only game of the series that was also published for the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

. The player takes control of a Z5 Luna Hover Fighter in an attack against the Seiddab command base. The Z5 must be piloted through three rings of defence before destroying the base.

Gameplay

The game requires the player to attack the Seiddab base, which is protected by three rings of defense. The first consists of robotically controlled tanks which fire missiles; these tanks can be destroyed by laser fire. The second ring is an area of mountains protected by mines, which are set to explode when the player gets too close. They may be shot using the Z5's lasers, or dodged. An exploding mine rocks the players craft altering its course. The third ring of defence is studded with missile silos, which may be attacked with the Z5's lasers. If the player manages to penetrate the command zone, the base must be repeatedly strafed while avoiding its defensive firepower. At any time the player may be attacked by Seiddab fighters. The Z5 is armed with air-to-air missiles that can be used to destroy the enemy fighters before they come into range. Once they are visible, the lasers must be used. Weapon selection is automatic- if the target is below the horizon lasers will be used, if the target is above then missiles will be fired. The screen displays a cockpit with a horizon of mountains, and enemy craft displayed, and crosshair sights of the Z5's weaponry. There is also a radar display which switches on automatically when an enemy hover fighter is detected, and places a small box near the enemy location indicating the range to the fighter. At this stage missiles may be fired and forgotten. Below the main display are indicators for fuel, armament type in use and hull temperature, which increases to a critical point with each enemy strike. An additional audio track was included on the cassette tape. ''3D Lunattack'' also supported Currah Microspeech.

Reception

Reviews were mixed. While ''

'' only gave the game 6/10, ''

CRASH Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch su ...

'' awarded it a CRASH Smash at 90%. ''Sinclair User'' said of the game "the controls are difficult to handle and of the type where you lose position rapidly through having to over-correct continually", while ''CRASH'' decided that "the display is wonderful, the best three dimensional Battlezone-type game yet... Really excellent, most playable and addictive too."

Astroclone

''Astroclone'' was published in 1985 by Hewson Consultants. Its working title was ''Seiclone'', but was changed to avoid confusion with

Vortex Software Vortex Software was a video game developer founded by Costa Panayi and Paul Canter in the early 1980s to sell the game ''Cosmos'' which Panayi had developed for the Sinclair ZX81. They converted the game to the ZX Spectrum, but due to the low sa ...

's ''

Cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...

''. The game combines

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of chara ...

sections with

arcade adventure Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games ...

elements that Turner had developed with ''

Avalon Avalon (; la, Insula Avallonis; cy, Ynys Afallon, Ynys Afallach; kw, Enys Avalow; literally meaning "the isle of fruit r appletrees"; also written ''Avallon'' or ''Avilion'' among various other spellings) is a mythical island featured in the ...

'' (1984) and ''

Dragontorc ''Dragontorc'' is an action-adventure game developed by Steve Turner's Graftgold and released for the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum by Hewson Consultants in 1985. It is a sequel to 1984's '' Avalon The 3D Adventure Movie.'' The hero of ''Avalon,'' ...

'' (1985).

References

External links

*{{WoS game, id=0004393 1984 video games Shoot 'em ups Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games set in outer space ZX Spectrum games ZX Spectrum-only games