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A once-peaceful planet is in the grip of advanced and malevolent aliens who are launching constant devastating attacks from their fleets of starfighters. A destruct code exists which eliminates their mothership, but it is fragmented and lying somewhere within the eight sectors of the home world.

The player's task is to collect the blueprints which make up the code by contacting sympathetic members of the invasion force. In order to do this, he must first fly through each vertically scrolling sector of the planet, scoring points by destroying any aliens who dare to cross his path.

Collectable icons appear periodically which bestow a short-lived force shield upon the ship, or give it a boost in speed. Shooting an end-of-level guardian allows the player to land and retrieve a section of the code. When all are collected, the mercenary can find the mothership and put an end to the aliens' plans.

After the brilliant Zybex, I was expecting great things of Zeppelin's Sabotage; unfortunately, the game is frustrating to the point of disbelief. It could be forgiven for being just another vertical scroller if the gameplay facilitated progress beyond the first level; however, when you manage to get that far you'll have torn all your hair out.

The format is tediously well-used: destroy all the aliens unless you can find a safe place to avoid them. The only help you receive is a limited amount of shield cover and an occasional speed-up, otherwise the attack formations are too quick and powerful to combat effectively.

The sound and graphics are both above average, the options are reasonable and the inter-level sequence does provide some compensation. Nonetheless, the action is too painfully unbalanced and the gameplay too unoriginal to receive recommendation.

I've a sneaking suspicion that Sabotageis the product of a group of guerrilla psychoanalysts in an attempt to instill multiple neuroses in decent, hard-working reviewers like ourselves.

At first the game seems ridiculously hard, but that's no more than you would expect for the first few games. The problem comes when you more or less master these difficult waves and get totally wiped out by the even faster and utterly invincible hostiles which appear further up the level.

The game only really scores on good music and options (a simultaneous two-player mode might have been a useful addition, though). Not the worst budget game around by any means, but you'd have to be verging on masochistic to buy it and love it.

Presentation 79%
Fine title screen, options and tutorial demo.

Graphics 52%
Good backgrounds but sprites are lacking in imagination.

Sound 65%
Some nice tunes let down by weak effects.

Hookability 64%
Mild frustration provides an initial hook.

Lastability 21%
Intense frustration provides the final put-down.

Overall 23%
Initially challenging, ultimately unplayable.