Games published by Micropool
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Nuclear Embargo
Earth's source of energy and power is nuclear fission, obtained from a rare mineral called Uranium 235 that was discovered in the early 21st century after Earth's fossil fuel supply finally ran out. Uranium 235 eventually ran out, but huge deposits of the mineral were discovered on Saturn's many moons and a deal was negotiated with the dictator named Rayol, the first to supply Earth with this precious mineral. Centuries later, Saturn has a new Premier named Rayol IV or Rayol the Perverse and he has decided that he needs a zoo with different races of Earth's inhabitants, so he demanded that Earth give him 1000 of its inhabitants. Earth refused this demand and so Rayol has prevented Uranium 235 from being delivered to Earth and with Earth's reserves dwindling and the possibility of mass starvation something must be done. Instead of sending a massive force to wage war on Rayol and the planet Saturn, Earth's leaders have decided to send one man to participate in a surprise raid. You have been the man selected for this important mission, and in your ship loaded with nine robots you have to visit all the moons of Saturn, transport a robot and collect as much Uranium 235 as you can.
The game starts with a map of the area around Saturn in a 10 x 10 grid. Within several squares there is a moon or pulsar and you have to decide which moon to explore with different levels of difficulty or when to visit a pulsar zone that is needed to get energy. As soon as you start the game you lose energy, so action and decisions must be quick. You move the cursor to the moon you want to search for and with a press of the fire button you move to that square, keeping in mind that any movement further decreases your energy. Once you are at the desired square, you press F1 and you are looking at a close-up of the moon's surface with a small portion shown on the screen and the screen scrolls in multiple directions as your view moves. At the bottom left of the screen is a bar which is your X-ray detector and when there is Uranium 235 nearby, the bar will move from left to right and when it reaches the end, then an alarm will sound briefly and you have found a location containing the mineral. On some lunar surfaces there are defenses that shoot at you but you can return fire and destroy them.
Now it's time to send one of the nine robots to the surface, so pressing F5 brings up the transport room and a robot ready to go. In the lower right corner there is a target and a small cursor. When you are ready to send the robot to the surface, hold down the fire button and the cursor will start moving out of the center of the target. As the robot is in the process of transporting, you must keep the cursor in the center by moving the joystick or the robot will start to overheat. If you stay off center for too long, the robot will be destroyed and another one will have to be sent. If you keep the cursor in the center for too long, the robot will appear on the surface. The robot is viewed from the side with part of the surface shown and the screen moves to the left or right as the robot moves. An arrow below the game screen shows the direction of the nearest Uranium 235 barrel and you move the robot to its location. Patrolling the surface and sky are droids that will try to destroy your robot, but you can deflect the missiles with a beam. There is also radar showing the location of droids to avoid.
When you reach a barrel you can empty it and move on to the next one. Once you have emptied all the barrels, you can return to the ship. If you press F5 again you will see the transporter room again and returning the droid is the same procedure as transporting it to the surface. On the surface of some moons there are pyramids and below the game screen there is another arrow indicating your direction if you are on this moon. Inside the pyramid you have the opportunity to close the defenses and for this you play a game like the old board game Mastermind in which you have to guess the five correct colors and their position that the computer has. It is a process of elimination and you have a limited number of tries to get the sequence right. If you succeed, you close the defenses. Once your robot is back on the ship, you can decide the next map square to visit (press F1 to see the map) and hopefully collect enough Uranium 235 needed.
If you find that your energy is running low, you can select a square containing a pulsar, and the game switches to a first-person perspective from your ship, as you move your view in multiple directions looking for the pulsar.
