Producer: Abacus
Memory Required: 16K
Recommended Retail Price: £5.95
Language: machine code
Author: Michael Lee

Galactic Warriors follows a familiar scenario; alien hordes threaten the galaxy, your mission is to save the Earth by manning three laser bases (by which they mean you have three lives of course). The aliens will not risk their big cruisers against you, so instead they release a load of attack craft, armed with missiles.

As a game type this could be said to be Centipede as a Space Invader. The mother ship zips across the top of the screen spewing out the little green attack craft in a ragged line. Their major obstacle is all the space debris dotted about at random, asteroids in fact, which replace the centipedal mushroom forest. If an attack craft touches one it changes direction. So the line of aliens zig zag down the screen, their line gradually breaking into individual segments, until they reach the bottom and your laser base.

As in centipede games you can shoot away the asteroids. There are two types, magenta ones and red ones. The magenta require two shots and the red only need one. When you hit an attack craft it turns into a magenta obstacle. Additionally, the alien missiles also destroy the asteroids. Apart from your laser the base is equipped with a force barrier but when this is employed you are not allowed to fire the faster otherwise you blow up. The barrier is effective against contact with an alien.

COMMENTS

Keyboard positions: good, Q/W left/right, P fire, SYMBOL SHIFT barrier.
Joystick option: none
Keyboard play: responsive
Use of colour: mixed reception, two approved, one didn't
Graphics: good
Sound: very good
Skill levels: 3
Lives: 3

This is a well presented game with good instructions. In fact it's an updated Space Invader type. The graphics are good and so is the sound, but the colours could have been brighter.

The "Attract Mode" is well thought out, cycling automatically through the points table, game demo, Hall of Fame and back to the title page. Graphics are one character size but detailed and smoothly moving. Although the laser base only has to move left and right, you are not allowed to fire whilst moving and there isn't a continuous fire. Lack of continuous fire is no problem but I would have preferred to be able to move and fire at the same time. A good game with loads of playability.

The whole presentation is very effective, everything organised just as if it were on an arcade machine. Good colours, lots of sound and fast moving at all three speeds. The tunes played between each life are long and could get irritating, but they seem to have thought of everything, pressing ENTER stops the tune dead and gets the game moving again.

Producer: Abacus, 16K
£5.95 (1)
Author: Michael Lee

Difficult to decide whether this should be under the Galaxian heading or the one we've put it under, but at the end of the day Galactic Warriors is more of a 'Centipede' game than a 'Galaxian'. Your mission is to save Earth by manning the last missile base. An alien mother ship (can be shot if you're quick) spews out a row of smaller attack craft which then descend the screen in zig zag lines just like a centipede. Above your head the sky is littered with small asteroids. When the train of alien craft hit one, they reverse direction, and the line is split into segments whenver you hit one of their number. The asteroids can be blasted out of the way by your laser - magenta ones take 2 shots, red ones only one. When hit, alien craft turn into magnets debris. As they traverse left and right, the aliens drop bombs on you in a continuous shower. Apart from dodging them, there is a force field which is effective against contact with aliens and missiles, but blows you up if you use your laser. Excellent 'attract mode', good keyboard positons, joystick: none. Overall CRASH rating 67% M/C.

Producer: Abacus, 16K
£5.95 (1)
Author: Michael Lee

Difficult to decide whether this should be under the Galaxian heading or the one we've put it under, but at the end of the day Galactic Warriors is more of a 'Centipede' game than a 'Galaxian'. Your mission is to save Earth by manning the last missile base. An alien mother ship (can be shot if you're quick) spews out a row of smaller attack craft which then descend the screen in zig zag lines just like a centipede. Above your head the sky is littered with small asteroids. When the train of alien craft hit one, they reverse direction, and the line is split into segments whenver you hit one of their number. The asteroids can be blasted out of the way by your laser - magenta ones take 2 shots, red ones only one. When hit, alien craft turn into magnets debris. As they traverse left and right, the aliens drop bombs on you in a continuous shower. Apart from dodging them, there is a force field which is effective against contact with aliens and missiles, but blows you up if you use your laser. Excellent 'attract mode', good keyboard positons, joystick: none. Overall CRASH rating 67% M/C.