Datastorm (Second Review)

Title 		Datastorm (Second Review)
Publisher  	Visionary Design Technologies, 1989
Game Type 	Shoot-em-up
Players		1,2 and 2 player simultaneous (team)
Compatibility   All (With WHDLoad Patch)
HD Installable  Yes (With Patch
Submission	Scott Williams

Review
Datastorm is dual-direction, horizontally-scrolling blasting game, where,
as in the coin-op classic Defender, you fly back and forth destroying
alien ships intent on capturing your friends from the planet surface.

Presentation 9/10
Opening speech, colourful title screens, credits, hi-scores, playing
instructions and scenario all follow in a lovely presented rolling loop.
Once the fire button is pressed the main option screen appears offering
multiple joystick and/or player setups. Before the action begins, a short
animation is played, your pilot giving you the thumbs up to get ready,
then after you have died a picture of your smashed ship which shows a neat
heat distortion effect from your engines. Everything is cleanly laid out
and loads with a minimum of fuss.

Graphics 9/10
Although they can`t be described as ground breaking each and every sprite
is perfectly formed and most of the 128 enemies become memorable after a
few plays. Everything is smooth and very very fast!!!!

Sound 8/10
Bouncy tunes and spot-on fx mean you are never wanting more from a game of
this type!

Playability 9/10
The explosion of the planet Xerxes plunged its eight orbiting colonies
into deep space. Forced to rebuild their shattered civilization, they are
seeking out a new home planet. You must guide and protect the eight
survival pods through their dangerous voyage and lead them to sanctuary.

Yes, its a variation on the classic Defender theme and more than a direct
rip-off of a Commodore 64 game called Dropzone. Fast and responsive
controls are crucial to a game like this and there are no worries here.
Very addictive and near heart stopping on the later levels!

Hassle factors 1/10
If I really had to pick holes in this superb game it would be that it was
written in the heyday of 512k and doesn`t take advantage of using any more
memory to remove the occasional split-second disk accessing.

Its availability!, it was very hard to track down the original, although
it did re-surface as one of the tenstar bundle of games sold with some new
amigas.

Overall 9/10
A superb arcade style shoot`em up, better and more varied than Defender,
better presentation, graphics and sound than Dropzone. A  frequently
forgotten game which often sees the inferior Blitz Basic Defender take
its place in many top 100 games surveys.

Alphabetical list.