On a clear night go outside and look low, close to the
horizon, just below Orion's sword. Depending on how
clear the sky is you may see a very dim star standing
alone, the star of Jaraloba. Circling this lonesome
heavenly body are three planets, one hot, one cold and
the other enshrouded in a poisonous gas unable to support
life of any kind.
In
this system, many years ago when mankind was but little
scuttling rodents hiding in the crevices of a still
turbulent Earth, lived two alien races. On the hot planet
the Jaralobians, a harmonious reptilian race who had
lived for centuries without conflict, while the cold
planet supported a race of mammalian descent who spent
their time locked in bloody planetwide wars, fought
with powerful and destructive nuclear weapons. Largely
ignored by the Jaralobians they fought until only one
tribe, the Gorganitors, remained.
Unopposed,
the Gorganitors spent the next century channelling their
nuclear power into developing new types of fighting
machines, space fighters, to enable them to shed their
gravitational chains and conquer the planet of their
peaceful neighbours. This happened unbeknownst to the
Jaralobians, who had assumed that the stupid race were
eventually going to destroy themselves. Imagine their
surprise when the skies suddenly became black with many
Gorganitor fighters!
The
Sector Map. The globe in the centre of the screen
is Jaraloba which is surrounded by Gorganitor craft
(the small diamonds). Unfortunately your Motherships
(the blue oblongs) are also in dire trouble...
Being
a peaceful race, the Jaralobians had done away with
weapons and only one space tighter, a museum display
piece, remained. This was hastily refitted and the planet
scoured to find a volunteer to take on the might of
the Gorganitor army single handed, but from this search
only one fruit was borne, a young Jaralobian called
Robert Reptile. Naturally he'd had no training in space
combat but had spent most of his youth in the arcades
knocking up immense snores on battle simulators and
it was he who slid into the seat of the space fighter
and took to the spaceways on a desperate and suicidal
mission...
Sentinel
is a 3D point-of-view Star Raiders type game
which puts you in the position of Robert, in the seat
of Jaraloba's last starfighter. The spacecraft, although
ancient, is still a pretty neat affair and is equipped
with a scanner, twin lasers, Proton Helix Missiles,
auto tracking, hyperdrive and layers of Ybbitium Shielding
for the ship's defence. When an enemy missile or asteroid
hits home, one layer of shielding is knocked off, and
when there are none left the next collision destroys
the ship.
The
craft is controlled in flight simulator style and a
cursor is used to shoot offensive laser bursts in similar
fashion to the arcade game Star Wars. You're
not completely alone when fighting and there are four
passive motherships you can return to every so often
to get repaired and gather new supplies. These have
to be defended though; if they're destroyed by the Gorganitor
craft then you'll have to ride out the rest of the attack
with what you have on board your ship. When a mothership
is completely surrounded by enemy craft you'll be alerted
via an on-screen message and if the enemy in question
isn't swiftly disposed of, the mothership is destroyed.
Whizzing
through hyperspace, watching the
asteroids go by.
The
Gorganitors are very determined to destroy the Jaralobians
and are using three types of enemy ships in their invasion
task force: swift, stealthy and unshielded gamma fighters,
Xanthallian shielded cruisers, and four huge warships
armed with the latest in Neo-Sophoric Demi-Shields.
The two smaller classes of ship fly around in packs
of three while the warships are content to sit on the
edge of the Jaralobian system, launch sets of fighters
and orchestrate new attacks.
When
the game starts you're asked to select one of five difficulty
levels (skirmish, attack, battle, invasion, armageddon).
After being given a message of encouragement from the
hastily formed Jaralobian Cabinet of War, Starfleet
Command, then the battle begins. Immediately a 6 x 10
grid with the planet of Jaraloba in the centre is overlaid
on the screen, showing the sixty sectors of space immediately
around the home planet. Any alien intruders are shown
on the grid as pixels so you know their current location.
During this period you can move a cursor anywhere on
the grid. Move it over a sector and press the fire button
and the ship automatically goes into hyperspace and
heads towards the selected area. During hyperspacing
you have to negotiate a tricky asteroid field for a
certain period of time (depending on how long the journey
is from one sector to the other).
If
you jump into a sector occupied by renegade craft, you
are alerted to their presence by an audio warning and
auto tracking comes into effect -- your on-board computer
selects a craft or group of craft and tracks them for
you. The selected craft are highlighted on your scanner
with a cross and you can steer your way towards the
target using the cursor. Other on-screen information
includes a distance-from-target figure shown under the
cursor and an enemy heading/bearing/speed indicator,
displayed under the main scanner. An audio signal warns
you just before you reach the craft and your ship automatically
goes into combat mode, a dogfight situation where you
must blast the craft to kingdom come while avoiding
their offensive fire. When the sector is cleared, the
stellar grid map is printed up on screen again allowing
you to proceed to another sector.
Approaching
an enemy warship through its shields.
Watch out for that mine!
The
primary targets are the four warships, shown distinctively
on the stellar grid. A sector occupied by one of these
overweight hulks is complexly filled by its shielding
system, consequently when you warp into such a sector
you immediately run into the shield, which is similar
to flying between two horizontal planes. In between
these planes is a congested minefield which you have
to fly through to reach the target. Hitting a mine depletes
your shield but the mines can be shot with well aimed
missiles. The distance from the mothership is displayed
underneath the aiming cursor and using this you have
to guide your ship through the minefield to the target.
When you get near the mothership the shield disappears
to show the warship, its exposed exit/entrance cycling
in colours. When white, press the space bar to launch
one of the ship's limited Proton Helix Charges -- if
this deadly missile is successfully guided into the
portal during the white period, it destroys the warship.
Getting
back to one of the four motherships involves a similar
process of dodging shields and minefields (although
why a friendly mothership has a stonking great minefield
around it is a complete mystery). When you reach the
mothership it extends a tractor beam, draws your ship
into its warm and comfortable interior and repairs any
battle damage received during your galaxy-saving quest,
along with replenishing your shields.
When
the game finishes you're given a rating depending on
your performance and if you manage to successfully boot
the Gorganitors from whence they came you are treated
to a complete breakdown of the mission, amount of shots
fired, shields used etc.
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