| DATASOFT |
16K CASS. |
| 1
PLAYER |
32K DISK |
This is an adaptation of a popular 3-D arcade game for the Atari
400/800 computers. You are the pilot of a spacefighter craft that
flies through a heavily defended space fortress in pursuit of the
robot Zaxxon. You have to fly through gaps in walls and choose to
shoot fuel dumps (which when hit refuels your own craft), tank guns,
radar dishes, parked enemy fighters or avoid them. After your first
pass through, you face enemy fighters flying in outer-space. Having
survived you take on the fortress again, this time with high walls and
force-fields. Low on fuel you have to shoot what fuel dumps you can
and then position your craft at the right height to pass through the
narrow gaps between the walls and force-fields. At the back of the
fortress lies the Zaxxon robot with its deadly homing missile. All you
need is six direct hits on Zaxxon to destroy it. Having done so, you
have cycled through one complete phase of Zaxxon, ready to take on the
next difficulty level.
The arcade game has a very heavily armed fortress, complete with
missile silos, and buildings-these added features are missing on the
home computer version, and instead of a 3-D dogfight in outer-space
with enemy fighters, this is compromised into a 2-D battle. In the
arcade, Zaxxon is a huge fearsome robot, but it has shrunk in size for
the Atari computer. The 3-D flying difficulty is present as in the
arcade, but the fortress is somewhat barren in comparison - this will
disappoint arcade followers of the game who will keep going back to
the arcade machines to play this visually stunning game. There is also
the De-luxe version in the arcades with its cute dragon to fight.
Datasoft has not produced a faithful adaptation of the Sega game
and this will disappoint many unaware buyers of the game - it is still
a reasonable playable 3-D game for the Atari and will amaze those who
have not heard of Zaxxon before.
top
