STELLAR 7 

 In the never-ending quest for new games, we often run across
retreads of old games, all gussied up with new ribbons and bows in
an attempt to trick us into believing we have something really new. 
Case in point: STELLAR 7. (This review is based on the IBM-PC
version.) 

 In STELLAR 7, you find yourself at the controls of the Raven, 
Earth's most sophisticated assault vehicle. You have to fight off
the forces of Arcturus, and then pursue them throughout the galaxy, 
fighting them on a variety of worlds until you eventually get to
their home base, where you have the opportunity to wipe them out for
good. 

 You get a cockpit-eye view of the world, looking out the viewscreen
of the Raven as you're attacked by various types of land and air
enemies. A radar screen on the bottom portion of your screen shows
their positions relative to you, and you zoom around, blasting away
until you've destroyed everything in your path, at which point a
gate appears and you can warp to the next planet. 

 Gee, sounds an awful lot like the old arcade TANK game, don't it? 
The one where you're sitting in your tank, looking out the front
window, zooming around blasting away at everything in your path? One
thing, though, is that STELLAR 7 is a darn good version of TANK, 
with a few extra wrinkles added. 

 Those wrinkles include some of your armaments: You have a "cloak" 
to make you temporarily invisible, as well as a "Cat's Eye," which
allows you to see cloaked enemies. You have two types of cannons, a
thruster for short bursts of speed, and a "jump thruster" that
allows short periods of "vertical lift" (flight). 

 Perhaps a more interesting addition is the idea that if you destroy
three of the same type of enemies in a row, you can collect a "power
module" that recharges your tank's (oops...I mean your _Raven's_) 
systems. 

 Frankly, what won me over to this game were the superb introductory
screens, with excellent VGA graphics and animation. The screen of
the enemy leaving the mothership was worth the price of admission
alone. 

 STELLAR 7 arrives on four 5-1/4" and two 3-1/2" diskettes. An
install program is included that places the files onto your hard
drive, after which there is no copy protection. The 32-page manual
is well organized and to the point, and includes a fold-out
quick-start and reference card. 

 STELLAR 7 can be played with a joystick or a mouse, or from the
keyboard. In this case, the keyboard is perfectly adequate for
maneuvering your Raven. 

 Graphics modes supported include 4-color CGA, 16-color Tandy or
EGA, and 256-color VGA or MCGA modes. The screen shot on the front
cover, and the two screen shots on the rear of the box, faithfully
depict the superb VGA graphics. Animation is smooth and quick. 

 Every possible audio board seems to be supported here, including
Roland MT32, AdLib, and Sound Blaster, for sound effects and for
music. If you have either the Tandy TL or SL, or the Sound Blaster, 
you'll also get digitized speech effects. 

 STELLAR 7 may not be all that new, but it does update a classic
game with state-of-the-art visuals and sound. If a lot of work
didn't go into the conception of the game itself, at least a ton of
work seemingly went into the look and feel of STELLAR 7, with the
result being an exciting, fast-paced shoot-'em-up that devotees of
arcade-style games should greatly enjoy. 

 STELLAR 7 is published by Dynamix and distributed by Sierra
On-Line.