Producer: Software Supersavers
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £2.99
Language: Machine code
Author: Nicholas Williams & Robert Maynard

Loony Lander is a title that describes the game type quite well - indeed a 'Lunar Lander' game. What makes this one different is that each screen is different graphically and has different hazards for the shuttle craft to descend through. Eleven screens in all, each with a different title. On the first - The Research station, layers of clouds bar the route down to the landing pad. Then there's the Subway, with tube trains crossing from tunnels, The Oasis, Underwater Scenario, Park, Arcade Machine, Cassandra Crossing, Hell, The Worm's Hide Out, Pacman's Revenge and the Cloning factory - all make an appearance.

In every other respect, the game plays quite traditionally, with you guiding the shuttle down through the transverse hazards to land softly on a pad.

COMMENTS

Control keys: 1/2 accelerate up/down, 2/9 hover vertically/horizontally, 8/0 accelerate left/right
Joystick: none
Keyboard play: totally unresponsive, although well laid out - too many keys though.
Use of colour: above average to good
Graphics: smooth, small but effective and varied
Sound: poor
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 5
Screens: 11

This is the hardest 'Lander' type game I have ever played. The ship has so much 'inertia' that control is really difficult. A challenge up to a point, but this one goes a bit beyond the point. Generally this game is average, but it you are a 'Lander' expert then try it!

The thing that makes this game fail is that you cannot respond quickly enough to the directing instructions. I'm sure that with hours of practice one could, perhaps, become quite good. The only sound is an apologetic burp when you die. Colours are bright and cheerful. The keys don't respond very well, though, and this makes navigation almost impossible.

This game is one of the cheapies on the market produced by SSS (really Software Projects), but being cheap won't be able to sell it because the game is of extremely low quality. WHAT'S SURPRISING (and rather sad) is that the graphics in this (and some of the other SSS games) are designed to a high standard, usually smooth and quite fast with plenty of detail. But the real problem seems to me to be the lack of playability. It's as though the games haven't been really thought through property. In the case of Loony Lander, it is almost impossible to get through the hazards - nice, therefore, to have a demo of the screens - at least you get your money's worth there.