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This is a Lucasfilm title, so you might expect something epic from the company responsible for the Indy mega movies. A piece of software that uses 'fractal graphics' sounds pretty impressive too. Fractal graphics are what they use in flight simulators (the real pilot training ones, not the toys) to produce random 3D landscapes.

In fact, Rescue On Fractalus is nothing special, neither are its graphics. Your mission is to fly over a rugged, rocky landscape and rescue downed pilots. The terrain is also inhospitable because aliens lie in wait for you, zapping from gun turrets built into the rock. Flying saucers intermittently make suicidal runs at you just so's you don't get too cocky.

The instrumentation at your fingertips is all very necessary. You must refer to the long and short distance scanners, altitude meter, energy levels and compass. Keep your ears open as well for the blipping sounds. On denotes a pilot in the vicinity, the other tells you that the gun turrets are locking in on you and that it's time for evasive action.

Once you've found a pilot you descend carefully and land. He should run towards you and bang on the door. Make sure you've turned your engines off otherwise he fries. You might be unlucky and have been duped by an alien, then you get a horrible alligator-like creature who hammers on the cockpit until it breaks. Destroy the ship before you leave or the technology falls into the hands of the aliens and we wouldn't want aliens making perfect toast, would we?

Fly your rescue voyages through sixteen levels of difficulty which consistently give you shorter times of day so you end up flying on your instruments.

Rescue On Fractalus provides reasonable, if unchanging, gameplay with a good flight simulator, but it lacks something, probably a proper identity.