FIRE HAWK: THEXDER THE SECOND CONTACT 

 Thank goodness for Sierra On-Line. They seem determined, almost
single-handedly, to turn back the tide of competition that the
microcomputer games industry is facing from dedicated video game
machines. Instead of capitulating to the inevitable and cranking out
games for an entirely different audience, Sierra (with a little help
from its Japanese friends at Game Arts) is producing genuine
joystick-twitching arcade games for PC compatibles, something you
don't see much of these days. Unfortunately, the awkwardly titled
FIRE HAWK: THEXDER THE SECOND CONTACT (THEXDER II, since it's a
sequel to the earlier THEXDER) is more likely to whet the PC game
player's thirst for a real video game machine like a Sega Genesis or
NEC Turbo-Grafx. (This review is based on the IBM-PC version.) 

 Which is not to say that this is a bad game. Far from it. If you're
looking for a fast action arcade shoot-'em-up that you can play on
your PC, you need look no farther than this game. But the graphics
are bargain-basement EGA, and the sound, at least on my Sound
Blaster, is adequate but nothing to work up a lather over. Perhaps
if Sierra and/or Game Arts had made the decision to go with genuine
256-color VGA graphics on this one, I'd have better things to say
about it. But for that, we may have to wait for THEXDER III. 

 The premise of THEXDER II is that space colonies launched into
orbit sometime in the near future by an overpopulated Earth are
under assault by mysterious magnetic asteroids. The manual sketches
the details of this premise with comic book pulpishness -- and, 
indeed, some of the story is told in (rather crude) comic book
form. You are sent directly into the heart of one of these
aggressive asteroids wearing a powerful battlesuit (or, in the
manual's terminology, "dual-mode armored exoskeleton") known as a
THEXDER, which has the remarkable ability -- shades of The
Transformers! -- to convert itself into what looks like a jet
plane. Needless to say, this marvel of postmodern technology is
armed to the teeth with guns and missiles -- and you can pick up
more weapons, plus refills for existing armaments, as you go. 

 All of this is depicted via sideways (and occasionally
up-and-down) scrolling graphics, as you make your way -- first
through caverns, and then corridors -- into the heart of the
asteroid. Alien machines, both flying and crawling, fling themselves
at you suicidally as you zap them with your armaments. Weapon firing
is fast and furious; when in suit mode (as opposed to flying mode), 
the THEXDER can fire multiple shots in multiple directions at a
dazzling rate. Anyone who isn't thoroughly exhausted (or suffering
from a severe case of joystick cramp) after fifteen minutes of this
is either very fit or very young. 

 THEXDER can be played via keyboard or joystick. I found a
combination of the two to be most efficacious, though my joystick
kept de-calibrating as I moved; players with better behaved
joysticks probably won't have this problem. Switching the THEXDER
between walking and flying modes is tricky and difficult to master, 
and _staying_ in flying mode after switching into it is even worse; 
I never did quite master the technique. Shooting aliens, on the
other hand, is pretty easy: Just hold down the fire button and point
yourself vaguely in the alien's direction. As long as the THEXDER is
in walking mode, aiming is pretty much automatic. 

 Although the installation program offers a 256-color MCGA mode in
addition to the 16-color EGA mode, I can see no difference between
them; they appear to be identical. The graphics are flat and
garishly colored, a throwback to a much earlier generation of
games; I've seen better on the Commodore 64. Fortunately, the
animation itself is sleek and efficient and keeps up quite well with
the hectic pace of the gameplay. 

 THEXDER II is available for IBM, Tandy, and MS-DOS compatibles with
512K of RAM and an 8Mhz or faster processor; it supports EGA, VGA, 
MCGA, or Tandy graphics. (CGA and Hercules Monochrome are not
supported.) Hard drive and joystick are optional, and sound is
output via Roland MT-32, AdLib, Game Blaster, Sound Blaster, or the
PC speaker. Both 3-1/2" and 5-1/4" low-density diskettes are
supplied in the same box. THEXDER 2 has no on-disk protection, but
uses a look-up protection scheme: You're prompted to type a word
from the manual before the game begins. 

 If you don't own a Sega Genesis or NEC Turbo-Grafx and lust after
Japanese-style video gaming action, THEXDER II will probably fill
your needs; certainly the gameplay is there. But if you want
state-of-the-art graphics and sound, you might consider -- dare I
say it? -- buying a dedicated video game console. At least until
Sierra and Game Arts bring their arcade offerings into the era of
256-color VGA. 

 FIRE HAWK: THEXDER THE SECOND CONTACT is published by Game Arts and
distributed by Sierra On-Line.