Previous Next

At the controls of an Exorcist space craft, the player uses seven forms of fire power and smart bombs to blast the minions of the evil Poltergeist off 32 horizontally-scrolling planets. Running into the aliens, or being hit by their shots, depletes the Exorcist's shield.

Extra weapons are obtained from the keyboard after shooting lollipop-shaped power transmuters on the ground. Completing each level entails the destruction of all the alien generators on the landscape, whereupon a landing pad is activated which warps the Exorcist to the next sector.

OK, so this isn't original in the slightest, and even some of the graphics look similar to those in other games. Even so, there's plenty of speedy fun on offer here for the mindless blaster, with plenty of extra weapons to collect and even more aliens to demonstrate their effectiveness to.

The fly in the ointment was the lack of displays for score, shield and lives during play. The shield gauge was particularly missed and led to some rather unexpected deaths when my defences ran out without telling me.

If you can stand that minor flaw, though, there's no reason why you shouldn't take this opportunity to take the weight off your pockets.

Poltergeist is fast! I spent most of my time on the first few attempts wrapping my spaceship around the multitude of obstacles and buildings that litter the playing area.

But once a bit of control over the ship was gained, the serious business of blowing the hell out of the variety of meanies could begin. Graphically, Poltergeist is good, colourful and solid looking sprites whizz merrily around the hostile landscapes. Sound is also good, with a decent title tune, but sadly rather ear-grating sound effects. Overall, an enjoyable 'blast anything that moves' type of game that gets my seal of approval.

Presentation 44%
No in-game displays for shield, score, or lives. Weapon select uses a clumsy block of seven keys.

Graphics 66%
Sufficiently swift-shifting but the design of both backdrops and sprites is unremarkable.

Sound 69%
Reasonably appealing title tune with good and raucous blasting FX.

Hookability 70%
Fast blasting action and several extra weapons promise much excitement.

Lastability 67%
32 challenging levels, made more difficult by the unnecessary distraction of the weapon select system.

Overall 66%
A limited but playable shoot-'em-up, well worth its titchy price tag.