SPACE STATION ZEBRA spins silently in space and you, the pilot and sole survivor, look out into the void until your radar screen warns you of approaching craft. As the space wheel shudders from the first alien onslaught, you attempt frantically to slow the spinning speed of the station to aim your lazgun at the approaching extra- terrestrials. Before you can even pinpoint the enemy in your wandering sights the attack is over and the station destroyed. Press any key to continue, the computer suggests, hopefully.
The graphics in Space Station Zebra, for the 48K Spectrum, are excellent, depicting the control panel and the starry blackness beyond, dotted with the hulks of dead spacecraft and lifeless planets. The aliens, too, appear suitably fearsome in the brief seconds they take to zoom towards you.
Keyboard operation, however, is fiendishly difficult, and firing the lazgun involves the simultaneous operation of five keys, four to aim and one to fire. Destroying the aliens requires more luck than judgment and high scores are difficult to obtain.
Space Station Zebra, from Beyond Software, is certainly challenging and not a game for the novice.