Previous Next

A few months ago while watching a friend of mine play through all the levels of Nemesis at an arcade I remember thinking to myself, "Wouldn't it be great if Nemesis was converted for the Commodore 64?"

Well, I was quite surprised when Konami actually did so, especially after the dreadful Jailbreak.

For those of you who know nothing about the game, the plot goes something like this: the planet Nemesis is under all-out attack from space and, being a peace-loving race, has found itself defenceless - only you can save it (Yawn, yawn).

The levels within the game represent eight different locations, e.g. the Easter Islands. They are all superbly drawn and faithful to the original arcade version. Both your ship and the alien's are well drawn and animated too. But onto the game itself. To progress in the game you need weapons and to get them you need credits (money to you); to get these you need to destroy waves of aliens who keep on dropping in on you.

The weapons are as follows: Speedup, which will turbo boost your engine; Missile, which is an air-to-ground missile (very handy); Double, this handy gadget allows you to fire upwards (good for tight spots) and the devastating Laser, which will rip through enemy craft like a knife through butter. Then there is your ultimate weapon - the Multiple, this is the big one; add this to your ship and you'll be away.

It is actually a little red pod which doubles your fire, but you can only have two at any one time (typical, eh?). Last but not least there's the ?

Whadayamean, what's that? It's a mystery, of course. Well, Konami has been a bit sneaky actually, because what you always get is a shield.

I found Nemesis highly playable and extremely addictive. It has good clear graphics, smooth scrolling, slick joystick response and excellent music which sounds just like the arcade version. What else can I say, except go out and buy it. Oh, and keep up the good work Konami.