| PYRAMID
SOFTWARE |
16K CASS. |
| 1
PLAYER |
32K DISK |
The latest space action game Raidus has you in an attack fighter
within the Mother Ship high above one of the planets of the Cronian
Empire. Miles below on the planet surface is one of the Evil Overlords -
mechanical devices that act as security posts for the Cronians. You must
leave the Mother Ship, fly down to the planet surface whilst avoiding
the enemy patrols and space boulders, find and destroy the Evil Overlord
and return to the Mother Ship to continue your mission on another
planet.
The action is spread over dozens of screens, but the game does not
scroll, rather it flips from screen to screen but does give the
impression of continuous movement. The graphics of the Mother Ship and
the cities on the planet surface are very good but out in space are just
hundreds of stars, too many to make it look realistic. What's it like to
play? HARD! In fact I found it so hard that I lost the majority of my
craft just getting out of the Mother Ship! Control is by the joystick,
but once you move in one direction you carry on moving and can go
careering from screen to screen until you inevitably crash into
something. The only way to slow down is by applying thrust in the
opposite direction but it is not easy. The effect is rather like trying
to drive a car on an ice rink. What it is like at the more difficult
levels, I dread to think. During the time I had this game to review, I
didn't even get down to the planet's surface and there are 216 levels in
all. Yes, 216! What's more, each level can only be accessed by a
password gained by completing the previous level.
If you want a real challenge, then this game appears ideal. It easily
lives up to its claim of being 'a game you will not easily master' and
with 216 levels of play you will have to spend many hours (weeks?)
developing your skills before you can claim to have completed your
mission.
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