This issue's something different is ...

                           Raptor

                  Review by Michael Raven.

Raptor is a registered version of a shareware shoot-em-up that I
have returned to recently. You shoot your way through 27 levels,
sub-bosses and bosses, upgrading your weaponry and defensive
systems. Your style of combat can fit the weapons, and they do
differ in many ways. You start off with a pair of machine guns -
nothing great, but they're strong enough to take out the weakest
enemy ships.

Then, you can pickup different types of missiles throughout the
game, air-2-air, air-2-ground, dumbfire, which hit both and spread
out, and highly destructive missile pods too. You can also buy
other weapons, from plasma cannons, secondary machine guns, to
turreted laser and machine gun add-ons so that you can hit enemies
from an angle, up to the super-powered deathray and twin laser. My
favourite weapons are the ones that hit both ground and air
targets, but it depends what combat you're into.

Your fighter can have up to 100 points of 'blood', which keeps it
alive - if it drops too low, you lose all weapons but your machine
guns, and if it drops below that, you die.  You can also buy up to
five shields, each equivalent to 100 points of blood, so that a
fully-armoured fighter can take up to 550 points of damage before
becoming losing weapons.

The enemies you face also have a greatly varying force at their
command - from slow moving craft with twin bullets, to heavy
fighters with their own version of a deathray!  Ground turrets
shoot at you, and enemy buildings also wait to be blown up. This
is one amazing shoot-em-up, one to be recommended to just about
anyone who likes shoot-em-ups.

PRESENTATION 85% Very good start up screen, help and instructions.
PLAYABILITY 91% Very easy to control.
GRAPHICS 82% Good for its time.
SOUND 77% There isn't much sound, but it is good what is there.
LASTABILITY 69% Once you complete the missions, that's the end of
the game.

OVERALL 75% Great fun to play, but I'm not too sure about how long
it will last.













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