Zone Ranger 3 (Wanderer) Commodore 64 game

Set in the multi-dimensional realms of space, you play an intergalactic Good Guy, shooting out malevolent satellites - despite the name of the game, you're firmly on your own: there's no futuristic Tonto to help out. Piloting a craft with unlimited reserves of fuel and ammunition you have to destroy a set of sixteen satellites that form an alien com- munication network before prog- ressing to the next level where a similar task awaits..
Space is a relatively empty place on earlier levels - the target satel- lites drift gently, pulsing out light beams in four directions to main- tain communication with their col- leagues in the network. Chunky brown meteorites drift around aimlessly, doing no-one any harm as they follow the solar winds, and

This is a very slick two-element game that has you haring around open space on the trail of targets - or bouncing around inside a maze looking for a short-cut to satellite destruction. The
graphics and sound are well- polished, as you would expect of what was originally a full- price game (even if it several years old), and the game-play contains enough to keep you hooked. You can't really go wrong with your two quid, especially if space shoot 'em ups have any appeal for you. Well done Firebird - what's next on the menu?
circular warp-holes created by the alien space engineers allow a canny pilot to hop from one part of space to another, painlessly and quickly.
Your task is to destroy all the satellites on a level, and it can be

This might be archaic, but it's one of the best budget shoot 'em ups around. The instructions are deliberately sparse, leaving it up to the player to discover all the hid- den features- and there are quite a number of them. Any- way, a lot of the fun is derived from suddenly being dumped into a situation and having to work out what to do next. I liked the variation between the frenetic blasting and dodging in the main section, and the slow bouncing around within the inner sanctum. The graphics are really odd - very unlike a 64 game in fact - and the sound effects do a good job in adding to the strange spacey atmosphere. Great stuff-put it high on your 'must buy' list.
completed in one of two ways. The most obvious solution is to zoom around space using the pulses of light generated by your targets to locate them, dealing laser death to the mechanical creations on an individual basis. Alternatively, locate the Super Portal which gives access to an Inner Sanctum -amaze constructed of force-field walls and moving barriers. Inside the maze you can pick up glowing dots by driving your craft into them - a tricky task, as the walls of the maze and circular field generators bounce the space cruiser around if it hits them. Contact with a mov- ing red barrier or one of the yellow exit warp gates returns the cruiser to satellite-ridden space with a cargo of dots on board. If you can then find the Skyway Patrol craft, piloting the cruiser into it causes a satellite to be automatically destroyed for every dot collected in the Inner Sanctum maze.

On early levels, the bolts of light emitted by satellites are green and harmless, but on later levels deadly red laser bolts are also encountered. Other hazards encountered more frequently on later levels are meteorites, and alien defence craft which

For something that's nothing more than an old variation on the Asteroids theme, Zone Ranger has stood the test of time well. This is mainly due to its fast, exciting and addic- tive qualities. The graphics aren't astounding, in fact they're a slightly weak in places, but with game-play as good as this, you don't have to worry about little things like that. The frequent appearance of the Inner Sanctum maze provides a relaxing break from the otherwise hectic blasting. However it's never long before you're back into the action. The great thing about Zone Ranger is that it can be picked up and played at any time-it's a good, straightforward blas- ter that stands up well today against so many complicated games.

materialise at random and give chase, firing laser energy in your direction and attempting to collide with you. To gain some respite, it is possible to drive into a Sonic Sparkler a twinkling clump of dust that confers temporary invin- cibility.
Original equipment consists of four space cruisers, with an addi- tional craft added for every 1,000 points earned. There is a set time for each level to be completed, and failing to destroy all 16 satel- lites within this limit results in the loss of one ship. When a complete network of targets has been destroyed any remaining time units are exchanged for bonus points.
Just to make life for a would be Space Hero that bit more frustrat- ing, the aliens left behind an automatic robot repair system that sets about fixing up damaged satellites. The space cruiser's sen- sors detect robot activity, and when the alert sounds it's wise to seek out and destroy the offending android.

Elegant game structure, enough relevant on-screen information, and an attract mode. GRAPHICS 81%
Little variety, but different, characteristic and very effective with it.