Lethal Zone Longplay (C64) [50 FPS]
38Developed by Double Density/X-Ample and published by CP Verlag in 1991.
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As one of the most prolific genres during the 80's and early 90's, gamers were spoilt for choice with the number of horizontal shoot 'em ups on offer. Some were exceptional (Armalyte and anything from Manfred Trenz), many average and some down-right awful.
Having played Lethal Zone, I'd put it somewhere towards the lower end of the scale. This might look like a Trenz game, but it sure as hell doesn't play like one. There is very little to recommend here in terms of gameplay.
My chief complaint with the game is the fact that the player's ship is so sluggish to control. The vertical movement speed is far too slow, which makes it practically impossible to avoid oncoming enemy ships unless you've memorised the spawn patterns and know where they will be appearing from. Many of the enemies move extremely quickly too, thus making avoidance tricky.
One of the most important features of a decent shoot 'em up is the power-up system; everyone loves collecting new weapons with which to make their ship more powerful. There is a single weapon power-up in the game that increases the number of shots the ship fires from one to two bullets and that is it. The frequency at which this power-up appears seems to be predetermined and, should you miss the enemy that drops it, you won't get another chance for the whole level. If that wasn't bad enough, the game actually removes the power-up between levels and sets you back to the default single-shot cannon!
Holding down the fire-button will charge up the ship's super-beam weapon, but this has limited ammunition so can only be used sparingly. It's possible to collect additional charges by collecting the red spheres that are left behind by destroyed enemies and this does help with destroying some of the tougher enemies, especially the bosses.
The developers thought it necessary to implement the "fuel" system, represented by the bar at the bottom of the play-field. Your fuel decreases at a constant rate and must be replenished by collecting green spheres dropped by enemy ships. The coders obviously forgot the need to provide the player with extra fuel on the final level as none of the enemy ships dropped any; the only thing they did drop was extra beasm charges. Therefore, the only way to beat the game is to have enough spare lives to deal with the lack of fuel. Given that your ship handles like a barge and that colliding with the scenery will cause you to explode instantly, you'll need an exorbitant amount of skill and luck to beat the game.
Should you manage to complete it, you're greeted to some static text that announced that you have "kicked the evil out of the world". I'm so glad I played it to the end just to see that...
On the plus side, Markus Schneider penned some great music for the game, but it's not enough to redeem what is a lacklustre title. Go play Armalyte or Katakis instead and you'll see how a shoot 'em up should be made.
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