TUNNELS OF ARMAGEDDON

 You'll need patience and determination to grasp what's happening in TUNNELS OF
ARMAGEDDON, a futuristic arcade game/spaceship simulation from California
Dreams. (This review is based on the Amiga version).

 Your patience is tried from the start, where you have to pass the copy
protection by lining up a color-coded wheel. All you have to do is align the
colors according to the onscreen instructions, and use the mouse to touch the
color that you end up with. That seems easy enough, but I somehow had trouble
figuring out whether the color I was looking at was dark purple or light blue.
And while _you_ need patience, the _game_ doesn't seem to have much. Unless
you're quick to type the code, the game will enter a demo mode. This seems
aggravating, and it is at first, but you get the hang of the codewheel after a
few tries, and the learning curve becomes much flatter after that.

 TUNNELS is aptly named. The United States, after drilling under ice in
Antarctica, has discovered a mysterious door made of material not found on
earth. The door-opening is broadcast on national televison, and cameras peer in
at what appears to be an endless connection of tunnels.

 Then, an alien voice speaks, describing a collection of peoples who live deep
in the tunnels and benefit from faster-than-light travel. The aliens are willing
to give the U.S. the secret of their speedy travel, but to gain this, America
must send its most skilled pilot to navigate the tunnel. Eventually the pilot
will reach a point of no return. If he makes it past that point and reaches the
end, the U.S. wins; if he fails, an explosion will occur and America will be
zapped.

 Of course, you are the pilot, and the game begins with you at the control of
your spaceship, looking out of your windshield into the tunnels. You can see
various gadgets on your control panel, and the cockpit and out-the-windshield
views are quite nice, though not out of the ordinary.

 There is quite a sensation of speed as you hurtle through the narrow tunnels,
making split-second decisions on whether to veer left or right, and taking care
to pick up objects that suddenly appear. Bear in mind that the game isn't a
serious spacecraft simulator. The emphasis is on arcade action.

 To be great at this game, you'll have to develop terrific hand-eye
coordination, and you'll really have to be able to think on the fly. You'll have
to learn how to review your cockpit gauges, and at the same time, keep your
attention fixed out the windshield. You guide your craft using the mouse, and
the left mouse button fires the laser that allows your base station to track
your progress.

 Along the way, you will have to keep a sharp lookout for objects such as bombs,
ammunition, more energy, an autopilot, and a superbooster. You won't be able to
finish without them, and you have to pick them up by zapping them with the
laser.

 TUNNELS runs on A500s, A1000s, and A2000s with at least 512K of RAM, and a
mouse. There isn't any on-disk copy protection, so backup copies can be made.
The game comes on one disk, and can be installed on a hard drive, but it also
runs fine from the floppy.

 TUNNELS, full of splashy color and decent sound effects, is well-designed. It
encourages newcomers to continue by allowing them to pick up where they left off
during the first few missions. While TUNNELS appears to lack broad enough appeal
to attract large numbers of gamers, it's a nice "sleeper" of a game that should
be considered, especially if the price has been discounted a few dollars.

 TUNNELS OF ARMAGEDDON is published by California Dreams and distributed by
Electronic Arts.

*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253