Cosmic Crusader is the best space shoot-'em-up arcade game I have ever seen for the Dragon. You are in charge of a space ship flying through the galaxy trying to kill all the enemy forces.
The game plays in a strange mixture of 2D and 3D with a ship at the bottom of the screen which doubles as a laser gun on the overall view.
There are 34 screens according to the author. To give some idea of their merit I will detail those I have completed (this may be a short review - the game is very difficult!!)
Screen one consists of happy smiling faces which beam in until three are present and attempt to cheerily blast you to high hell! They're nice graphics, and they move smoothly and pleasantly.
The second and, so far, most graphicaily impressive screen contains Tie fighters from the Star Wars trilogy spiralling in and out in 30 towards and away from your
ship, dropping pulsating laser balls at you.
The third screen is a meteor storm - simply avoid the meteors - in 3D. Some find this screen very graphically impressive but I feel that it's a little disappointing.
The fourth screen has millions of indescribable space invaders swarming you, whilst screen five is similar but with rotating and gliding flying saucers.
If my memory serves me correctly (I have only got this far once) screen six is an anti-matter storm which is a meteor storm in 20 with the meteors shootable.
Screen seven gives the player flying saucers which hover just above the sight limit, swoop to drop a burst of bullets, and run away again (space guerrillas?).
And that, I confess, is as far as I've got. But this is not a game that makes me want to stop playing. I will survive, I will win. And all that.
The controls are either simple or complex depending upon your style of play. There are controls for left, right, and fire which are essential. But there is also a sight which can be moved up and down for those who love Stargate complexity on a game.
There is an added twist in this game in that the player has a continually decreasing fuel supply that needs to be regularly replenished. Although the refuelling is a
simple procedure, keeping one eye on the fuel gauge is difficult when fighting off half of the galaxy's enemy forces.
Cosmic Crusader is a very good game, which should be a part of everyone's collection.