Previous Next

Have you ever heard of lions in space? Monkeys yes - the Russians sent a couple of them up. Pigs, yes - if you remember the Muppet Show. Lions, no (unless you count Thundercats, but then who does?). It must be hell finding a spacesuit that fits and doesn't make your mane go all saggy. But lions it is for this horizontally-scrolling R-Type-style shoot-'em-up.

Your job is to pilot a twin-engine spacecraft through one of the most dangerous corners of the universe. The fearless beasts that inhabit this particular corner don't particularly appreciate visitors, though, and you soon realise that the hordes of alien aircraft that fly out to meet you are a little bit more than just a welcoming party - they're after a new rugs to place in front of their open-hearth fires.

Wave after wave of the alien craft fly towards you, laser cannons firing away like they've got their paws superglued to their fire buttons. And some of them are just as happy to crash straight into you - life is obviously cheaper than an episode of Prisoner Cell Block H in this part of the galaxy.

Using your laser weaponry you've got to blast a way through the hordes, whilst trying to avoid the shots emanating from the ground-based cannons. This is a bit of a tricky business, so it's a good thing that despite the fact your craft is constantly spinning (looks great, not sure about the practicality of it, though, unless the pilot's tumble drying some washing at the same time), it's still extremely agile in the air.

Various pick-ups to aid your progress litter the perilous path. The best ones nip on and off the screen in seconds so you'll want to move pretty sharpish if you're to get hold of any of the goodies.

Your task is, even at the start, a difficult one, and as you progress through this corridor of death it becomes steadily trickier. The alien sprites get bigger and more difficult to avoid, and the big end-of-level baddies take ages to destroy. The alien attack formations, which at the start displayed some semblance of traditional military thinking, become ever crazier and less predictable. Your reflexes will need to be at their sharpest to avoid the nutty aliens darting mindlessly around the screen.

Lions Of The Universe is undeniably very well coded. The sprite animation and the scrolling are impressively smooth and fast, and there's always plenty of action going on. The graphics are nicely-detailed and colourful though they rarely rise above slightly-better-than-average to produce something truly awesome (the main exceptions being two beautifully-drawn end-of-level monsters). The sound, however, is an aural delight, with the pulse-pounding music complimenting the zapping of your laser gun perfectly.

Most important, however, is the gameplay, and it's here that Lions Of The Universe really shines. The R-Type-style shoot-'em-up is, of course, a tried and tested formula, and while this game doesn't offer up anything startlingly new, the smoothness of the sprites and the speed of the action ensures that Lions is one of the better example of the genre on the Commodore. Best of all is the simultaneous two-player mode, which doesn't seem to slow down the hectic pace of the action. The only major fault with this game, which seriously mars it for all but the best of gamers, is the difficulty level. You start with just four precious lives and they prove very difficult to hang on to for any length of time. Even playing in two-player mode it's ridiculously difficult to progress. It'll take a lot of skill and patience to get very far in this game, but if you can manage it you'll have a lot of fun along the way. Maybe not a Lion King, but a pretty good pretender to the crown.

1. Fast, furious, frantic, feverish fun.
2. The action never stops.
3. It's even batter in two-player mode.

1. But there's nothing startlingly original in it.
2. And it's far too difficult...