The game begins with a fairly impressive (and long) introduction sequence, not using any HuVideo, but actual sprites that the machine generates - "So what?" you may ask, well, for a start, the PC-Engine has no rotation or fancy effects built in, and during the intro, there are several examples of scaling; as the enemy ships head to the planet. Also, the speed at which the huge sprites 
of the enemy ships speed through the canyon and past the tall buildings is quite impressive for a machine with a 'puny' 8-bit processor.   
We get to see the hero of the game getting into his Police starship, and setting off to the rescue....   
By the way, the music during the intro ROCKS! 

After the introduction sequence we are presented with the game menu, showing the player's fighter ship and several options. From here you can start the game or set the difficulty levels, listen to sounds etc. The best option is to start the game!  You start off right in the deep end, in this game you have to react fast. You find that your ship has a single weapon, a rapid fire laser. Keep an look out for the occasional supply ship that flies overhead and will drop a upgrade for you. The first weapon upgrade you will get is a homing missle (level1), this will help you out.  Soon another ship will fly overhead and release a power orb; this is another main weapon - the pulse wave. It has a wider radius of damage, though it is not as powerful or rapid as the laser. Remember that all this time that the enemy are coming thick and fast! Just remember to collect everything you  can get - but don't risk your ship! 

There are three primary types of weapon; the laser, the pulse wave, and the devastating earthquake gun.  The laser, as said earlier, is a rapid fire weapon, and is the one that is used most often. In level[1] mode it shoots out many single bursts, much like a machine gun, but in level[2] mode it is far more impressive - firing solid 
beams of laser energy that slice through the enemies.   
The pulse wave is does wide spread damage, and is a good choice when there are many weaker enemies on screen; it's damage is the weaker of the 3 weapons, but makes up for this with it's range. Level[2] of the weapon increases the size and power of the energy waves.   The earthquake gun is the most damaging weapon available; because of this, it's damage spread and rate of fire are not as great. For destructive power, it is the best. Level[1] of the gun is powerful enough, but level[2] brings really destructive power to the player.   
As well as the main weapons, the player collects the drones that fly with him, when he picks up a weapon power up for the first time, these also fire when he does, tripling your firepower. Homing missiles can be powered up three times. 

The player has only one defensive armament, that is a sheild that the supply ship drops every so often. it can protect you from upto 3 hits. The status of the sheild is shown by it's colour - green - blue - red - none.   
It is vital that you pick this item up whenever you see it - it is essential in getting far into the game.   
An interesting feature of the power-ups of the game, is that with a quick double tap of the fire button, the drones reverse, and continue firing behind  the ship; an excellent idea, especially when there are as many things coming  your way as in this game!   
One criticism that I can make, is that there are not many different power-ups, only three main weapons, with 2 levels of power is not much for a game of this quality, and is probably the only area where the game lets itself down, slightly.   

The enemies in the game are many and varied, there are some quite huge sprites flying about in this game, and from what I have seen, there is no  flickering or slowdown at all, at least on a Duo. 
The game also contains one of the most important ingredients for a shooting game; boss enemies - both mid-level; on some stages, and the essential end of stage bosses. The first level, and second level bosses can be quite easily overcome, but they become progressivlyharder, and more graphically impressive the further through the game you get.  
  
This game comes on a Super-CDrom2 and is, therfore, only playable on Duo's, or machines with a CD and a System3.0 card. This game was created for the Duo, and it shows...  
The graphics in this game are simply amazing considering the age of the hardware - they are easily comparable to any Sega Genesis, Megadrive or Snes shooting game. Many levels have multi layered parallax scrolling, there are huge sprites zipping around all over the place, and there is no flicker. There are sections that are at sucha speed that you would not think possible - your craft flying through emplacements that you barely have time to react.  
Sound is another area where the game scores highly, aswell as really great booms, explosions and special effects - the game has rocking great music to accompany the action - it really adds to the atmosphere of the game. Though some more speech would be a welcome addition.  
This game borrows ideas and themes from many games, adds some new ones, stirs them all around, and creates something delicious!  It truly is a tremendous game - possibly the best shoot em up for the PC-Engine.... well, maybe apart from 'Saphire' - but thats in another league entirely ... now where can I get a copy of that ?  :)  

Read the Turbo mailing list review.