''Critical Mass'' (known as ''Power!'' in North America) is a

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

developed by Simon Francis and published in 1985 by

Durell Software Durell Software is a software developer based in Taunton, Somerset in the United Kingdom. The company is a provider of back office administration and accounting software to independent financial advisers, mortgage brokers, and general insurance b ...

for the

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the S ...

, Commodore 64, and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 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 the ''ZX81 Colou ...

Plot

anti-matter In modern physics, antimatter is defined as matter composed of the antiparticles (or "partners") of the corresponding particles in "ordinary" matter. Antimatter occurs in natural processes like cosmic ray collisions and some types of radio ...

power station on an orbiting asteroid is used by the local star system for energy. The station has been taken over by hostile aliens who are threatening to overload the power system which will turn the reactor into a massive

black hole A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can defo ...

and destroy not only the planetary system, but several nearby stars as well. The object of the game is to make it to the heavily defended power station and disable it before the reactor reaches critical mass and implodes.
''Critical Mass'' cassette inlay instructions

Gameplay

The player may control the hovercraft in either a normal joystick operational mode or with vectored movement. When the player pushes forward on the joystick, the hovercraft accelerates, and when pulling back on the joystick, speed decreases.

Reception

In 1988, '' Dragon (magazine), Dragon'' reviewed ''Power!'', and gave the game 4 out of 5 stars.

Reviews

Crash! ''Crash!'' is a 1977 film directed by Charles Band. It starred José Ferrer, Sue Lyon, John Ericson, Leslie Parrish, John Carradine and Reggie Nalder. Synopsis Jealous invalid husband (Ferrer) tries to kill sexy blond wife (Lyon), who uses o ...

- Dec, 1985 *

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 ...

- Dec, 1985 *

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 pub ...

- Dec, 1985 *

Zzap! ''Zzap!64'' was a computer games magazine covering games on the Commodore International series of computers, especially the Commodore 64 (C64). It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact. The magazi ...

- Mar, 1986

References

External links

*{{lemon64 game, id=569, name=Critical Mass
''Critical Mass''
at Spectrum Computing 1985 video games Amstrad CPC games Commodore 64 games Durell Software games Video games developed in the United Kingdom ZX Spectrum games