Dan Dare

Copyright : Virgin Games | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

One of the most infamous comic book heroes ever comes vividly to life in this arcade adventure.

With your faithful companions you must defeat the Mekon and save the Earth.

"Dan Dare is a super-cool game which deserves all the credit it gets" - Computer & Video Game Hits.

Lets take a deeper look.

Graphics

Dan Dare was one of the titles you had to take a second look at when it first appeared on your CPC as back in the original time of release it would have pretty much blown your socks off but not enough to knock you out of your seat.

Based of course in space the game itself uses a limited number of colours to get the point across but it does so very well indeed. The inside of the Mekon ship is well drawn and extremely well thought out given the limitations at the time.

Our main hero is very well drawn and animated but our enemies are few and far between, for example the evil Mekon will make his appearance on numerous occasions, as will the lazers mounted to each wall but there isn?t much scope for change throughout the game.

Sound

Sadly there is no introduction or in-game music to listen to as you blast around the corridors and the posh Dan Dare and the sound effects are very dated indeed with little to no atmosphere being added to the game. It?s a long way from being dead but you can?t help feel they could have done better with this one.

Gameplay

Based on the comic book hero of the time, Dan Dare is a story of good against evil in which you must destroy the evil Mekon and put a stop to his evil doing to save planet Earth.

The game itself takes shape as your average every day platform shoot-em-up in which you simply walk around the corridors, avoid the occasional enemy and shoot those nasty roof lazers before having your head zapped. I think it?s safe to say that any level of gamer could pick up a copy of Dan Dare and instantly play without any worries about difficulty or controls, it plays perfectly.

Those looking for a challenge however won?t find much of one in Dans first outing on the CPC as the game is pretty much straight forward but for those that want a quick blast on a good platformer, we can?t recommend this one any more!

Grab it!