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Hyper Active was a Sinclair User covertape arcade game in 1988. I tell you what, for a freebie attached to the cover of a gaming magazine, Hyper Active was pretty good!

Taking inspiration from the classic arcade game Defender, this game had you as an astronaut trapped on an unstable asteroid.

ZX Spectrum Hyperactive
You had to collect a series of energy pods (one at a time) by touching them. On contact they would float and circle around you - keeping close by as you jetted around the scrolling level. In the centre of the level there was a crystal repository where you would drop the pods off at. So - drop one off and go find another.

A scanner at the bottom of the screen (again very reminiscent of Defender) showed the locations of each pod as well as the alien nasties that inhabited each level.

Luckily you were armed with a rather splendid lazer gun which zapped the alien hordes very nicely. As the levels progressed your weapon would change to a sort of missle launcher, bomb dropper (on bonus levels) and so on. Good variety actually.

Each level had different nasties to destroy such as weaving dragons (reminded me a little of the dragons in the arcade classic Space Harrier), flying saucers etc.

You also had to watch your shield level and energy level. Losing either meant the loss of one of your three lives or no ammo!

If you dallied around too much on a level then a rapid flying homing saucer would be on your ass like attribute clash on Wally Week - and a bit of nifty flying was required to nail it.

Once you had made your way through each level you were returned the start with the difficulty ramped up... It looks like there was no way out afterall for our poor star traveller.

It should also be noted that this game featured some absolutely stonking menu music. Keith Tinman's theme tune is superb and ranks amongst my favourite ZX Spectrum music.

The excellent music to set the scene of this arcade game...
video

The only downside to this classic game is the main character is a little difficult to control - it can be fiddly lining up to shoot down the nasties. Having said that once you get the hang of the gravity effect (which is nicely balanced) it's pretty much okay.

Hyperactive ZX SpectrumAll in all for a freebie this game was superb - I would have been happy to part with £2.99 for it!

I think I'm also correct in saying that Joffa Smith developed this game in roughly five days - not bad going eh?

GENRE: Arcade Game
RELEASE DATE: 1988
RELEASED BY: Special FX Software - Sinclair User Covertape
DEVELOPER(S): Jonathan Smith and Keith Tinman (music)
PRICE: FREE!