Quite an unusual offering from Cascade, and probably the firm's best to date. You control a spaceship which roams the pest-infested corridors of Spaceport Antari. The object is to locate fuel rods and place them in a certain room, blasting any nasties that happen to enter your sights. Starting from what is presumably your mothership, you hurtle along at a fair rate of knots (parsecs?) until entering the port of Antari. Once in, there is no way back until the task in hand has been completed. Immediately you are face-to-face with a less-than-friendly being. The first reaction is to stab at the Fire button. This will be to no avail, for you have to search for weapons. What a time to find out! The graphics are large and reasonably detailed, with the surrounding corridors taking up some lively patterns - growing all the more strange the further you proceed through the game. While the initial tune will make you either retch or reach for the volume control, the laser and explosive sounds are very satisfying. Once you have found your ammunition (this appears as a bullet standing on end), pressing Fire will pick it up. While in your possession it will give untold firepower. Blasting an alien or one of the strange-looking plants with waving tentacles will cause it to erupt into flames. There is one problem: if an alien is heading towards you and you manage to zap it, the debris continues on its original course. So if you stay in the way, be warned: your energy bar will soon be short. During your travels on Antari, you will notice objects with letters inscribed on them. These, if you pick them up, allow you to pass through various sections and thus proceed further in the game. A maximum of three passes, which includes your ammunition, may be carried at one time. You need to select carefully lest you find yourself stuck.   
You will also very occasionally encounter an item that defeats description. This is most likely to be one of the fuel rods. Just pick it up and take it to the special room with ... call them seven odd-looking stools. Flying over these will cause the rod to leave your grasp and position itself onto one of these stools. The playing area is quite surprisingly large, and the number of aliens (Antarians-?) will keep the most trigger-happy freak in heaven. To start with, .you are given nine lives, which may seem rather an excess, but boy do you need them - bumping into an alien or plant will cause serious damage to your livelihood. This may all seem more than enough to be getting on with. Unfortunately those kind people at Cascade have included a countdown timer: only 30 minutes to complete the task, otherwise ... well, you know. Initially, there is a lot to do, what with fighting off the aliens and picking up passes. However you soon tire of the repetitious gameplay. The only thing keeping you going is the thought, ‘Where on Antari is that last rod?'. It's certainly tough, but once you recognize the playing area, you will probably move on to something more demanding. RpM , AA FIRST-DAY TARGET SCORE : 7,000 GREER SCREEN VIEW : Everything is exceptionally clear - someone has got it right at last. | SECOND OPINION With well over 150 rooms to explore and some fast shoot-em-up action, you would think this would be an excellent game. It lacks something - lasting appeal or rather the give-me-another-go feel. It has some decent graphics, with good explosive noise. Apart from that, there is not much for me to recommend. BW |
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