Copyright 1988 Thalamus
Programming and Graphics: Cyberdyne Systems
Music and Sound effects: Martin Walker

fter the Damocles force destroyed the hostile Hsifian Khanate, the spatial backwater known as Delta became a wasteland littered with disintegrated spacecraft. The few pilots who entered Delta returned with tales of hulks bearing artifacts of tremendous technological advancement.

Many disregarded the stories as jokes or legends, but one man believed. After a particularly crippling Stock Market crash, Woodward, the chairman of a Terran mega-corporation sought out the nearest bar where he could drown his sorrows. Three Andromedan Wilt-wines later, he found himself being talked to by a bewhiskered bar-fly whose tongue was obviously oiled with liquor. He was an ex-member of the Damocles force, who was court-martialed and drummed out of the service because of his drinking habits. Yes, he said, he had often been through the Delta and seen the hulks and their treasures, but heavily-armed robot defence systems prevented anyone from looting the ships.

Then the man grinned a drunken grin and drew out a metallic cylinder from inside his oily raincoat. This, he told Woodward, was the only piece of Hsiffian technology anyone had managed to bring out of Delta. Woodward had heard rumours of the treasures, and though the wine had long-since taken effect, he was sober enough to know that this was the key to his company's financial problems. He bought the man a drink: he had a plan that couldn't fail.

Yeah, that's what he told you as well, but now it's your butt up in Delta, flying your tiny fighter into the jaws of eight levels of Hsiffian defences, on your own apart from the highly dubious-looking guy they picked to partner you. You have to admit, these Hsiffies may have been treacherous sons-of-bitches, but they sure knew how to build spaceships, and these structures are incredible... it's gonna be a shame to blast them to pieces.

And there's bound to be plenty of that - blasting, that is. Woodward had your ships kitted out with the latest in laser armaments and rechargeable super-weapons. But then he would, wouldn't he? He won't make any money if you don't come back.

This is going to be easier than you thought... Or maybe not...

From - November 1988

he aim of the game is simple. Take control of your spaceship and blast everything in sight along the eight increasingly difficult levels.

Two players may play at the same time, each with its own ship. If you prefer to play solo, you will be followed by a droid that will automatically fire each time you do. You can detach this droid by pressing the space bar at any moment.

By keeping the joystick button pressed for a while, you can fire one of three possible super-weapons in a devastating salvo. You can toggle between these special weapons at any time by pressing the Commodore key. Keep in mind that each time you use your super-weapon your energy level drops and you must wait for some time for it to recharge before using it again.

You will often encounter flying crystals on your dangerous journey. Collect them for temporary invulnerability. By repeatedly shooting at them, you can make them change to a number of power-ups. These include enhanced fire power, rear lasers, vertically firing lasers, triple lasers, converging lasers, a battery and a generator to recharge the super-weapon faster. By collecting two forward laser units you will also increase fire speed.

ne of the best looking shoot'em-up ever to appear on the Commodore 64. Enemies use breath-taking attack paterns. Dozens of marvelously drawn sprites are hurled at you each second. You almost won't have time to look at the incredible backgrounds, which is a shame, because they are really impressive.

The only drawback for me is the frustrating difficulty level.