Previous Next

The mission in Space Station Alpha is for you in the last remaining space station to destroy incoming Cylons, preventing their deadly lithium torpedoes from reaching Earth.

When loaded, the screen went blank for about ten seconds while it drew stars and other objects. There don't appear to be any instructions on what keys to use, so I defaulted to Killer Gorilla keys and they seemed to work.

Unfortunately the screen never changes from a well-drawn view of Earth, the moon and the front of your space station. The enemy ships always come one at a time from the top right-hand corner, making it easy to hit them. Occasionally one slips through, and unless you're good at following Cylons with the sights, its ammo will hit Earth and lower the shield power.

The graphics are good if a little monotonous, and when the Earth-shields are fully drained a very impressive explosion takes place, with bits of planet spinning off in all directions and very realistic sound effects. Your laser consists of a white line briefly flashing on the screen, accompanied by a zap sound, but with good explosions.

To sum up, Icon has come up with quite an addictive 'annihilate the nasties' game, with fair but slightly flickery graphics. Sound is adequate and presentation colourful, but Space Station Alpha seems to have an amateurish feel.