Laser StrikeAtari 2600 Port

An enhanced ColecoVision conversion of the Atari 2600 classic Laser Blast by Activision. Pilot a flying saucer over a hostile planet and destroy the tank squadrons rolling in below before their lasers find you.

Hold the fire button and aim with the joystick, then let go to fire. Your saucer holds still while you aim, so choose your moment: the tanks shoot at the spot where you were when they started charging. Keep moving, fly low and strike first. Every group you destroy raises the force field beneath you and makes the next tanks worth more, from 10 points up to 90. An extra ship arrives with every 1,000 points, and a falling ship can still take one last tank down with it.

Laser Strike keeps the original's rules, taken straight from the 2600 cartridge, and gives them the ColecoVision treatment: a three-layer saucer with spinning windows, tanks with turrets and rolling tracks, a twinkling starfield with shooting stars, and the wave number on screen. Every 10 waves the battle moves to a new world: Earth and its moon, a red planet with two moons, an ice world under a ringed planet, and an alien world beside a gas giant.

Four ranks set the pace, from Cadet, which gives each new ship a moment to get moving, to Commander, where the tanks reach full speed after the first group. With a Lundy speech module the game talks, calling out your rank, each attack wave, direct hits, extra ships and your final score; switch the voice off from the menu if you prefer quiet. Reach 100,000 points and it names you a Laser Ace.