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Zaxxon is a 3D space game that takes you across alien asteroid fortresses on a special mission. The evil robot Zaxxon and its fierce armies have conquered an asteroid belt. You must stop them before they enslave the galaxy.

There is a one or two player option with four skill levels each. Each player receives five fighters per game. After you have chosen the option desired, the screen will show the asteroid floor, your fighter plane, any enemies that are out to get you, including enemy planes and robots, radar towers, fuel tanks, walls that you have to guide your plane over or around, along with altitude, fuel and score indicators.

Your fighter can be controlled like a real aeroplane - push the joystick away from you to make it move down and towards you to make it rise. Press the fire button to fire an energy blast, the screen will flash when you score a direct hit. You must make your fighter swoop low to attack enemy targets and to hit fuel tanks so that you do not run out and lose a life. Once you are out of the first asteroid your fighter is attacked by Zaxxon's plane. In space you are unable to go up or down.

Next, your fighter comes up against another asteroid and you are once again allowed to rise and fall. In games played at skills two to four, some targets are protected by electronic barriers. Your fighter has to slip through gaps in the barriers to avoid the deadly electronic beams. The following task is to eliminate Zaxxon's missile. A force holds you back, so your plane can only move up, down and sideways, and the only vulnerable spot on Zaxxon is the missile under its arm, so this is the most difficult task your fighter has met so far - a great deal of accuracy and skill is needed. To eliminate Zaxxon you have to repeatedly shoot the missile, if you miss, your fighter will blow up.

Once you are past the robot Zaxxon another asteroid challenges your skill and co-ordination, and then onto another wave of enemy fighters in deep space.

You must keep defending the universe until you run out of fighters, scoring as many points as possible by hitting the targets. A bonus fighter is awarded when you reach 10,000 points.

This version of Zaxxon is much more difficult than the Colecovision version, but the graphics are not nearly as good, although there is plenty of colour and a nice touch is that all the ships have their own shadows.

Zaxxon is a fairly average, zap-the-enemy arcade game.