Introduction
Peter Scott, the wizard of arcade adventures, presents his first all-action shoot 'em up! You control AL, the globular droid, in a revenge mission against the eight rebellious planets of the Ryvian system. Beware the electric spikes on the surface of the planet, avoid the evil aliens disguised as cuddly computer characters. Collect the laser weapons and bombs as they float past, otherwise you won't survive the hazardous conditions on the planet surface. Ransack is a high-speed arcade extravaganza that will test your skill and reactions to the limit!"
"We want revenge!" - that was the surprising decision of the Democratic Council of Planets, normally a friendly bunch of well-meaning but ineffectual representatives.
The Ryvian system of planets had refused to pay its share of the council budget, and then had the nerve to eat the council representative sent to negotiate with them! So, reluctantly, the council invoked the so-called 'Ransack' clause, which allowed them to punish defaulters. Unfortunately, due to the budget shortfall they could not afford to send a battle fleet, only a second-hand and somewhat battered "Al" (artificial lifeform - the words "Robot" and "Droid" are regarded as discriminatory, and are no longer used).
Playing The Game
You control Al, who owing to a stabiliser systems failure can only bounce along, as he wreaks revenge on the eight planets of the Ryvian system. Although you set out with a limited supply of weapons further supplies are teleported onto the planet's surface, where they get swept up by the violent winds that sweep across all of the planets in the system.
Their weapons are contained in protective metal cases, which are marked on the outside with a symbol indicating the type of weapon inside. These include multi-directional and multiple pulse lasers, smart bombs and random bombs (marked with ? to confuse the enemy).
Watch out for the electrified sections of the planet's surface which will drain your energy, and beware the weird alien lifeforms sent against you by the Ryvians. Though they take the disguise of cuddly characters from well-known computer games underneath they're 100% solid evil. Ignore your better instincts and blast them!
Your remaining energy is shown as a series of blocks beneath your score; each hit costs half a unit of energy to be lost. Bombs that you collect are shown on a monitor display to the right, whilst weapons are displayed on the left; only one bomb or weapon can be maintained at a time.
Hints And Tips
Learn the planet surface. Stay away from the edges of the screen. Some spikes only take energy if you are moving when you hit the ground.
Conserve your smart bombs: they are usually only given if needed! In the bonus game at the end of each screen you should fire constantly; when the X1 spaceship changes direction an alien will probably appear.
Game Controls
Z - Left, X - Right, RETURN - Fire weapon shown on left hand monitor
SHIFT - Activate the bomb on right hand monitor
COPY/DELETE - Pause/Restart, ESCAPE - New Game
Q/S - Sound off/on (when the high score table is showing)
