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Lightforce is the first release from the new Gargoyle label, Faster Than Light, and it's a shoot 'em up. Remember Imagine's Arcadia? Well, this is the same thing three years on, with the addition of vertical scrolling and super-large characters.
You start the game in an asteroid shower, which should warn you that things can only get worse. Your simple choice is to dodge them or blast them. The way to survive is a combination of these two, which should get you through to the first alien craft. You then have to score multiple hits on its control chambers if you want an extra life.
But, of course, the enemy is well protected, with craft that drop down - only you can't blast these! And things have hardly started to get difficult yet, because the enemy fighters perform elaborate little dances. Before you can say Red Arrows, they're weaving all over the place dropping bombs on you.
Nobody could deny that Lightforce looks nice, and you'd expect nothing less of a Gargoyle game. But it doesn't quite seem to have captured the elements that make a shoot 'em up totally addictive. Instead it becomes frustrating and though the graphics move fast for their size, they seem rather sluggish on-screen. So though it's definitely not a 40 watt bulb on a snail, it's not Faster Than Light either.

7/10

Rachael Smith

As programming skills rapidly improved through the early eighties, one of the first types of game to benefit was the shoot 'em up and this is one of the best looking scrolling shooters ever made on the Spectrum. Considering the programming talent behind it, it ought to be too. Roy Carter and Greg Follis were responsible for Gargoyle Game's graphical adventures Dun Darach and Tir Na Nog (Faster Than Light was in fact an offshoot of Gargoyle set up to release arcade titles). Despite their adventure roots they were more than capable of turning their hands to the world of shoot 'em ups, as they had already proved with Ad Astra a couple of years earlier.

Lightforce is the Punishment Arm of the Galactic Fighter Command. If a law is broken then Lightforce is on hand to ensure the penalty is paid. And nobody escapes.

Lightforce is also the first game from the Faster Than Light label. This is an off-shoot of Gargoyle Games, the people responsible for the acclaimed scrolling graphic adventure quests Tir Na Nog, Dun Darach and Heavy on the Magick. The new label allows programmers Greg Follis and Roy Carter to depart from a game style which they have made their own, and to take on mainstream arcade entertainment.

The Terran-settled Regulus system, set in an unobtrusive corner of the galaxy, is in trouble. Inoffensive and ignored by most races, it becomes the unusual target for marauding aliens. These aliens are very tough cookies and in no time at all have taken over the peaceful Terran system, culling many of its inhabitants and enslaving the rest. Vengeance is obviously called for.

The GEM council's reaction to this invasion of one of its colonies is predictably swift and violent. They order all Lightforce fighters in the Regulus sector to attack. Unfortunately, your fighter turns out to be the only craft in the vicinity and, though daunted by the prospect of taking on umpteen aliens on your tod, you prepare to engage the enemy. Yours is not to reason why...

The game is split into five sections. Emerging from the lightdrive tunnel, you find yourself in the thick of an asteroid be it. Blasting a path through the debris you see below vast alien installations of weapons systems, armament pods and energy domes circling every planet. The odds are ridiculous. In a nano-second the aliens have registered the arrival of an intruder and despatch ships to intercept. Cool, calm and collected, and chanting the motto 'Lightforce is for REVENGE', you set the lasers and start blasting.

Before descending to the planet surface the massive orbital stations must be annihilated, and then there are further alien control stations to be destroyed in the jungle below. After the jungle section play progresses to the ice planet, then the desert planet, and finally the alien factories. For every four control stations destroyed a bonus is added to your score.

The screen action scrolls downwards and the aliens swoop in from every conceivable angle, each type of alien craft attacking in separate waves. The Lightforce fighter has sensitive controls and can move upwards, from side to side and downwards if you want to beat a hasty retreat.

Producer: FTL
Price: £7.95
Author: Greg Follis, Roy Carter



An orbital alien installation gets its come-uppance, with the control centre disintegrating at bottom centre. You're the white space craft

CRITICISM
"My first sight of this game at the PCW show turned me into a gibbering wide-eyed heap on the floor. Lightforce has been in the office for quite a while now and so far it hasn't been left alone for longer than ten minutes - almost a new office record. The graphics are THE BEST that I have seen on a Spectrum shoot 'em up, if not in any game. The characters are large, colourful and very fast, and the background scrolling is excellent. Sound is a touch disappointing, as there are no tunes, but the effects more than make up for that. Gameplay is extremely compelling but very hard, which can be a little disheartening. I'd recommend this to everyone who likes a good shoot 'em up as you won't find one better for a long, long time."

"Gargoyle's first release on the new Faster Than Light label is a definite winner. The game is extremely playable and features lots of colour that is well implemented in the large and detailed graphics. Sound is weak, but there are some nice spot effects. Lightforce is easy to get into and contains all that the average shoot em upper would like, with a play area which scrolls smoothly and contains lots of things to blow up. However, as with other games of this genre you may find yourself bored after a time and £8.00 is quite a lot to pay."

"After thrilling to the PCW Show preview, I eagerly awaited the ar