Global defence

Anyone who spent many a ten pence piece blasting away on the arcade machine SDI, should immediately get the suss on Global Defence, 'cause they're practically one and the same.

An unknown enemy operating from somewhere within the solar system has decided that the humans are a bunch of wimps and deserve a good thrashing. Swarms of deadly missiles have been launched towards Earth and it's only moments before the product of millions of years of Terran evolution is reduced to a large and glowing cloud of dust...

'So what do I do?' you bravely ask (apart from book the first Pan-Space shuttle to the moon?). Fortunately for mankind, Terran scientists have developed the Global Defence satellite - a high-tech gadget which comes with a five-year guarantee and a supercharged laser cannon.

The battle takes place across ten scenes, alternating between offensive and defensive sequences. Starting from Earth, you then have to fend off attacks against the Moon, the Asteroid Belt, Saturn and, finally, the enemy's hidden planet.

When you start getting offensive, the planet surface glides past as enemy missiles cruise on screen. Joystick control is toggled between moving the satellite and directing the laser's crosshair (you can’t move the satellite AND the crosshair at the same time!).

Your laser fires an expanding ball of energy which engulfs and destroys any enemy hardware in the vicinity. However, any missiles which have escaped your attention plummet Earthwards to destroy large sections of the planet surface. A damage meter at the bottom of the screen shows just how icky things are getting groundside.

If (by some amazing fluke) you destroy all the missiles in an offensive section, you are transported directly to the next location. But should you let a few missiles off-screen, you then enter the defensive section, picking off the remaining 'bogeys' (eurgh) as they hurtle towards the Earth.

VERDICT

The dual-action control method is tricky to get to grips with, and when things start to heat up later on you don't know whether to shoot or move. Inevitably, you end up trying to do both, nothing happens and you get wasted!

A tuneful little jingle starts the proceedings, and then a decent soundtrack keeps the toes tapping and the trigger finger triggering.

If you prefer a good slice of variety in your games, you'll soon start pushing out the 'z’s, and it probably won't take too long to finish, once you've got the hang of the controls! Still, it's not a bad 'un, and for chums of the arcade machine, it's a steal

GRAPHICS

71%

SOUND

74%

DEPTH

25%

ADDICTION

79%

S-FACTOR

78%

Innovative, unusual blasting action with a good dose of quality.

Rating

78

Reviewer

S: The Sega Magazine

Region

UK

Scans

STheSegaMagazine-Magazine-Issue08?gallerypage=12

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