Previous Next

Edward Egg, from the planet Egg, leads a hassled life. Living on the planet Egg is a real headache since all the inhabitants are called Edward and also look lust like eggs. Edward Egg's life is particularly hassled at this moment in time since it's he who's name has been chosen from a list of thousands (all of the names on the list being Edward Egg) to defend planet Egg from the Space Warriors who have recently returned. So, he climbs into his egg-shaped craft to do battle against the Space Warriors whose spaceships, by some very strange coincidence, are also shaped like eggs.

The battle takes place on Egg Battle Platforms of Egg, an arena of ledges specially designed for such combat. For Edward Egg the stakes are high; if the ovoid creature is thwarted by the attacking Space Warriors then they claim the planet Egg as their own by forfeit. Oh no! Amongst the attacking hordes of warriors is a Colonel Warrior, a man of distinction who is of the particularly vicious variety. He's easy to pick out from the riff raff Space Warrior troops because he flies one of the prestigious Blue Eggships.

The main disadvantage of trying to battle with Colonel Warrior is that his ferocity increases during battle; he's a tricky customer so Edward had better look out. Protocol calls for Egg battle to be played out under strict rules; of overriding importance is that no weapons are to be used. On the top of each Eggship is an Egg destruct pad. Bumping this causes the warrior's Eggship to blast into smithereens and leaves the combatant's Yolk Helmet to drop until it reaches a ledge. If this Yolk Helmet isn't collected within a time limit then it regenerates into Colonel Warrior. To make the combat fair, Edward's ship also has an Egg Destruct Pad and if he's hit then a life is lost.

Another nasty to look out for is the Grand Egg. Once proud leader of the Planet Egg, this formerly respectable being turned mutant one night after falling into a radioactive frying pan. Now he roams the Egg Battle Platforms in his denatured state, seeking out inhabitants of Egg with his deadly touch.

Each wave is completed once the platoon of Space Warriors has been vanquished by Ed. After a couple of waves have been dealt death, a bonus wave is awarded where Ed has to collect a number of Yolk Helmets before they turn into Colonel Warriors.

Return Of The Space Warriors is Joust with Eggs instead of birdies and playability wise it's about the best version of this arcade smoothy for the C64 to date. It's the playability that really keeps Return of the Space Warriors going, since the graphics are really quite horrible. As for movement, everything's fairly au fait and the sound effects are quite neat as well. Return of the Space Warriors is a good game and definitely worth what CRL are asking. Worth a look.

I couldn't agree more: Return of the Space Warriors is a great little game and worth every penny. Shame about the graphics, though.

Although the game has a really tacky sounding title, it's in fact a very good version of the Williams arcade classic Joust. The graphics are pretty crummy but the game plays very nicely, with just the right amount of inertia to make flying tricky. I would have loved to have seen proper flying ostrich sprites rather than the rather bland eggs, but I suppose that'd have been too much to ask for. If you liked Joust then give this a whirl - it's about the closest thing to it on the C64.

Presentation 81%
Generally neat; some good options available.

Graphics 38%
Eggs, Eggs and platforms, blocky platforms at that.

Sound 77%
Nice sound FX though they do clash at times with other audio bursts.

Hookability 81%
Very Joust-like indeed and dead playable.

Lastability 76%
Egg bashing can get a wee bit repetitive, but a good blast all in all.

Value For Money 82%
A rather neat bargain that stands up quite admirably when compared to other budget offerings.

Overall 80%
A respectable release well worth the attention of anyone.