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Someone
once said: 'If a program bears the US Gold label, you
can bet your joystick it'll be good.' Judging from this
program, someone has just lost a joystick.
Buck
Rogers is a plain and simple shoot-em-up spread
over several screens. The action takes place on a distant
planet and in the far reaches of outer space.
You
start on the planet itself, and must fly through, or
avoid, two electrified pylons hurtling their way toward
you in 3D (it says here). In order to score any points
or move onto the next level though, you need to actually
fly through the pylons.
In
the top right hand corner there are a number of planets
representing the number of pylons still to fly through,
or the aliens left to kill. Once this counter reaches
zero you move onto the next screen.
This
doesn't differ much from the previous screen, except
that spaceships can also be shot. These can either come
from behind you or from out of the screen, as do the
pylons. The third screen adds bouncing aliens to your
quota.
Doesn't
look all that much better in colour! You
have to fly between the two poles while avoiding
the three attacking craft.
On
the fourth screen, you actually leave the planet and
blast off into deep space. Moving stars, as in Gyruss,
form the 3D effect in space, emanating from the centre
of the screen. Here a certain number of aliens must
be shot before meeting the mothership -- which also
must be disposed of in a similar fashion.
After
this brief encounter with the mothership, it's on to
level two, and not a lot of difference. (The pylons
fire to the sides, so you need to fly through, instead
of around them).
There's not a lot to say about the graphics in this
game, except they're bad. The crude, expanded multicolour
sprites made me cringe, and the pylons literally jerked
out of the screen at you -- some 3D effect!
The actual 3D on the planet's surface was reasonable.
The bands of colour coming out of the screen looked
good, and the stars gave a fair feeling of 3D in space.
The mountains in the background were unimpressive and
impassive and there was an annoying split screen glitch
that gave them a seismic effect.
Apart
from the short introductory tune, the sound was weak
and simple.
GP
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