STARGOOSE

 STARGOOSE is an arcade-style game from Spinnaker. The plot is this: A
voluptuous woman propositions an ex-starfighter pilot; she wants him to take a
brand new fighter to the land of NOM, in order to obtain all of the power
crystals in the land. Of course, "the land" is studded with machine gun nests,
laser pillboxes, automatic rocket launchers, and robotic attack vehicles. (This
review is based on the IBM-PC version.)

 The game's instructions are terse, but after one play session, they're easy
understand. The STARGOOSE screen consists of two parts: Above is a top-down view
of your ship, and a quasi-three-dimensional view of your opponents and the
landscape. The bottom section displays a status panel. On the left, the words
"Fuel," "Ammo," and "Shields" are colored in; as you expend these items, they
change color proportionally to indicate their values. Missiles and lives
remaining are graphically portrayed on the right. In addition, your score
appears constantly on the bottom.

 Essentially, you guide your ship using the cursor keys (up arrow to accelerate,
down arrow to brake) while firing lasers or missiles. You begin with six
missiles and a certain amount of fuel, laser power, and shield strength. You can
replenish your fuel, ammo, and shields by entering an appropriate supply tunnel
(watch out for rocket launchers when you leave the tunnel!), and by flying into
the approaching blue eyes. To amass more missiles, you need to fly through the
missile gates. You gain points by picking up the power crystals, and by
destroying the enemy: You get a new STARGOOSE for every 100,000 points.

 The PC version of STARGOOSE runs on IBM PC/AT/XT and true compatibles. It
requires 384K for CGA graphics, and 512K for EGA. Inside the game box are two
disks, one each for CGA and EGA. The disks are not copy-protected. Also included
is a four-page instruction/plotline folder.

 The EGA graphics are good, and the game plays fairly smoothly. For those who
are relatively ambidextrous, the game controls are easily manipulated. Others
may have a bit of trouble quickly coordinating missile fire, laser fire,
movement, and speed. Joystick control (available in the Commodore, Atari, and
Amiga versions) would probably work better, but the IBM-PC edition allows you to
use only the mouse or the keyboard for play. I tried both: The mouse action
seemed sluggish, and the ship tended to skate when moving laterally; otherwise,
all other mouse controls were equivalent, except for the firing of the left
missile, which still required the use of the keyboard. You can toggle the sound
using the F2 key, and pause or continue the game with the F3 and F keys,
respectively.

 STARGOOSE is published and distributed by Spinnaker.

*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253