Space Hawks

Copyright : Amsoft | Reviewed by : Ritchardo

Fast colourful galaxian type game. Eight different alien life-forms to combat. Indestructible space mines multiply on contact with plasma bolts. One or two player modes. High score hall of fame to honour great cybernauts. Theme tune to revitalise flagging spirits. Extra lives and bonus scores for gutsy fighters with cool android action and a pathological hatred of the screen meanies. Hang in there. Go blast â??emâ?¦

Graphics

As the inlay card blurb says, the action is fast and colourful! The variety in enemy craft is striking as each stage reveals a different looking ship with its own colour scheme and design. The visuals, although primitive, do help give Space Hawks its own sense of character and they do their job effectively if not brilliantly.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for your own ship, which is a little too big in comparison with the other sprites, has no real definition and the explosion effect is dodgy to say the least.

Sound

The title tune is a nice throwback to the days when George Lucas wouldnâ??t sue your ass for breach of copyrightâ?¦ Yes, Space Hawksâ?? title tune will be familiar to anyone who has ever watched a film set in a galaxy far, far awayâ?¦ Itâ??s quite a good if fast version and sets the scene well.

The sound effects do not live up to the tune and are very poor.

Gameplay

Space Hawks is a real challenge for anyone who likes old school blasters and the game plays fairly well as a Galaxian homage and, at first, is both fast and infuriatingly addictive like itâ??s arcade predecessor.

The downfall in gameplay comes from the shooting action. Your craft can only fire one shot at a time and until this shot hits something else or sails harmlessly out of the top of the screen, youâ??re a sitting duck. This greatly raises the frustration factor and youâ??ll find yourself spending more time avoiding swooping attacks and debris than shooting the invaders.

Other than the change in graphic of what you are shooting at, the aliens are the exact same in terms of movements and formations making it possible to come up with tactics that are generally infallible (until the bouncing mine shows up and the whole thing goes to pot!)

The mine makes gameplay border on impossible as you try to avoid that and the swooping attacks of the enemyâ?¦ the whole thing becomes overwhelming and progress grinds to an abrupt halt.