Producer: Visions
Memory Required: 16K
Retail Price: £6.95
Language: Machine code
Author: John Edwards

It would be true to say that the prime objective in this game is to stay alive - not an easy task. Three interdependent screens make up the action.

In the first, you are in your space craft at the bottom of the screen and you must shoot all the alien craft which travel down the vertically wrapped around screen dropping showers and showers of pixel sized bombs at you. Vertical movement to about half the screen height is allowed and your craft may wrap around horizontally.

In the second screen you start at the top and must land the space craft at the bottom, navigating through a dense shower of asteroids which move in various directions.

On landing you proceed immediately to the third screen. Your ship is landed at the top left and there is an entrance to the underground maze in the centre. The main problem is the cyborg which follows your every move, firing continuously. At the bottom of the caverns a crystal is located which will refuel you ship so it can take off again, but getting down there and collecting it, and getting back safely is an extremely tough task.

With all three screens completed the game repeats with different aliens and a much more intelligent cyborg.

COMMENTS

Control keys: 6/7 left/right, 0=fire, M/K=up/down, K=thrust as well
Joystick: Kempston
Keyboard play: highly responsive
Use of colour: good
Graphics: fast, smooth and very detailed, generally good
Sound: reasonable although very low key
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 3
Screens: 3 and 5 different alien levels

Each alien protects the other on the first screen of this game. It has great graphics with scrolling star background, good explosions with sound and is very addictive. The one drawback might be the tiny bomb showers which can only be seen close up to the screen. Otherwise the best game from Visions. Recommended!

The wrap around screen can be quite useful for avoiding stray bombs on the first stage. In the second, the longer you stay on it, the less points you get. The third board is the worst because the graphics of the maze are poor and the cyborg is impossible to get past. A good concept, a pity about the graphics and keyboard layout.

Star Warrior is an unusual looking game, apparently simple graphics turn out to be quite complex, with shifting colours and fast movement. The aliens explode satisfyingly; you explode wonderfully. Getting past the cyborg is very difficult and requires careful timing and the use of the wrap around screen to draw the beast away from the entrance for a second. Fortunately the fact that you can get in seems to drive it into a mindless frenzy for a moment - your only saving grace. A quite original game, tough and addictive in playing.

MACHINE: Spectrum 16/48K
JOYSTICK: Optional
CATEGORY: Arcade
SUPPLIER: Visions
PRICE: £6.95

Space game with three different pieces of action: straightforward shoot-'em-up, an asteroid storm, and a maze from which you must collect a crystal.

For some strange reason you are sitting in space with various coloured aliens moving towards you down the screen. The aim of this part of the game is to kill off all these alien ships without you yourself being hit by one of their swarms of bombs. Once this has been accomplished, your ship is placed at the top of the screen and you slowly start to drift downwards through a meteor storm. Unfortunately, it is impossible to blow up the meteors, rather, it is necessary to avoid them.

Once you have guided your ship to the bottom of the screen, you find yourself on the outside of a small 2D maze. A little man (you presumably) jumps out of your ship, and he/she/it must be guided to the other side to where a crystal lies and then back out again. Progress is hindered by a sort of alien blob, which wishes to shoot you, though he is unharmable. In fact, this particular alien can make life very difficult, simply by sitting next to the entrance to the maze. As soon as you make it back to your ship the game restarts, but with different shaped and more ferocious alien beings.

Verdict: Action is reasonably fast and smooth but yet again the game is rather repetitive. The three different basic concepts do make the game more fun than the straight 'Space Invaders' type scenario from which the first stage is taken. The graphics themselves are quite good but nothing particularly exciting by today's standards. One asset it does possess above some of the flashier games is that it is addictive and fun to play and that counts for quite a lot.