Players Software
£2.99

No, this game is not a variation on the 'raining cats and dogs' theme, the Hawk Storm is in fact you! You're a brave warrior of the planet Edos and the only hope your people have of survival.

The planet Edos has only one source of life energy: giant capacitoid crystals that store energy by day and regenerate it during the icy cold nights. The evil Neviks have stolen all but two of these crystals making it impossible to sustain normal life on the planet. All the people but you have gone into a Life Suspension Program - you must succeed in your mission to retrieve the crystals or your whole world will be destroyed!

Hawk Storm looks good with its highly coloured graphics and animated backdrops but don't be fooled by appearances. The game plays like a wet sock. Your character attempts to move across the screen but is stopped by invisible blocks. This makes the game exceedingly annoying. When you realise you can't move normally in the game you adjust the way you play and start to actually get somewhere. Running about carelessly is impossible: you have to save every drop of energy you've got and plan each move before you try to move on. Hawk Storm is really about trial and error. You do something, find out it kills you, and try a different move next time round.

Hawk Storm needs perseverance it you're to get anywhere. You may find the movement annoying but don't give up, there is a game in here somewhere.

BARGAIN BASEMENT

RICH PELLEY and JON PILLAR are at it again and they want us to join on. Oo-er. (So bring along an extra lightbulb just to be safe.)

Players
£2.99
Reviewer: Rich Pelley

"Hawk Storm - last warrior hope of the planet Edos. Many moons ago, the evil Neviks stole the Capacitoid Crystals that were all that stood between the Edosians and destruction. All the Edosians have gone into suspended animation apart from Hawk Storm who must retrieve the 32 missing crystals to save his people."

Sounds familiar? Probably because it's the plot to this game. It's a scrolling runaround- the-landscape-and-collect-the-various objects game, but it's one of the most beautifully crafted collect-and-shoot- 'em-ups I've seen in a long while, which is a jolly good thing for a new-release budget. It's colourful, it's fast, and it's challenging without being too difficult. You must avoid various Nevik soldiers, firepits, slimeballs (what these look like is anybody's guess), spikes and gun turrets (shaped like death-spitting llama skulls) or simply blast the bytes out of them - if you have a gun. Your first priority is to get one and your second is to make sure it's decent (there are 3 different death-dealing pistols). Not only that, but you can also collect 3 different special weapons - shields, mines and stryders (a bit like swishing a sword your own length again back and forth) - to make life for the enemy a real misery, not to mention extremely unlikely. Once you'vbe built up a decent armoury of death, then you can go crystal hunting - and good luck! There are also such things as lifts, enenmy pods, electric barriers and teleports to deal with, so you'll have your work cut out.

On the minus side, the scrolling is very jerky, and the program won't allow you to jump on the lifts. Still, it's a small price to pay for something as refreshing, complex and enjoyable as this.

If anyone sees a slimeball. let me know, won't you? (Eh? Ed)

Label: Players
Price: £2.99 48K/128K
Reviewer: Chris Jenkins

It's a pity when a decent looking game is spoiled by some careless programming; in the case of Hawk Storm, a nice-looking, colourful, challenging arcade adventure is relegated firmly to the remainder bin by some crappy sprite masking and collision detection.

The plot's the usual guff; intrepid warrior Hawk Storm searches the planet of the Neviks for the 32 stolen energy crystals which will regenerate the planet Edos. On the way he has to find guns and ammunition, zap Nevik warriors, blast his way through force shields, avoid disintegrating platforms, leap over pits of fire, and use teleports to jump to other parts of the planet.

Though the backgrounds are colourful, the animation is jerky and control poor; it's hard to get your hero to leap diagonally, and he quite often ends up suspended in mid-air half on and half off an object due to poor sprite masking.

Good fun in parts, but not an exciting enough game for it to be worth overlooking the sloppy programming.