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SOFTWARE REVIEW: HADES NEBULA by Richard Karsmakers

You  hold on tight to your pilot's seat;  your hand  is  clutched
around  the  control stick - your trigger thumb  positioned  just
above the red button labeled 'FIRE'.  Before you, the first level
of "Hades Nebula" takes shape - its vicious traps,  its buildings
and the enemy crafts that try to blow hell out of you.  You start
shooting  and blast your opponents sky-high.  Oouff.  Nothing  to
worry about for at least a few tenths of seconds - then all  hell
breaks  loose again.  Once again you perceive your  thumb  making
rapid pressing movements...

The package of the game does warn you - it says you need quite  a
tough  trigger finger for "Hades Nebula",  and right it  is!  You
cannot  stop  shooting for long,  because the enemy  crafts  keep
popping  up  on different sides of the screen  while  the  ground
slowly scrolls by. The actual speed with which you move makes the
whole  even more difficult (just like with the  older  U.S.  Gold
game "Xevious") - it is actually a bit too slow.

The game actually looks a bit like "Xevious",  but I must confess
that  the graphics are better,  and the music too.  No  digitized
stuff,  but  quite well programmed music (as well as  good  sound
effects) in this product.  The vertical scrolling is very good as
well  (though,  again,  not  as  good  as  the  one  included  in
"Goldrunner").  The  explosions are very unreal,  but a  sign  of
programmer's craftsmanship - and so is the hiscore-entry, too (as
a  matter  of  fact,  I have never seen a more  original  way  of
entering  your  hiscore than the way it is done in  this  game  -
you'll just have to witness it to believe it).

Although  I  think "Hades Nebula" is a bit too  difficult  (which
means:  Exactly  difficult enough or the  dedicated  blast-'em-up
freaks),  the  whole  game  can be called  a  good  product.  The
graphics are well done,  and so is the sound. It can be bought at
a price of 79.50 Dutch Guilders.

Game Rating:

Name:                              Hades Nebula
Company:                           Nexus
Graphics:                          8
Sound:                             8.5
Setup:                             7
Addictability:                     7.5
Lastability:                       7
Overall rating:                    7.5
Remark:                            Just a bit too difficult

Thanks to Homesoft in Haarlem for sending the review sample!

Disclaimer
The text of the articles is identical to the originals like they appeared in old ST NEWS issues. Please take into consideration that the author(s) was (were) a lot younger and less responsible back then. So bad jokes, bad English, youthful arrogance, insults, bravura, over-crediting and tastelessness should be taken with at least a grain of salt. Any contact and/or payment information, as well as deadlines/release dates of any kind should be regarded as outdated. Due to the fact that these pages are not actually contained in an Atari executable here, references to scroll texts, featured demo screens and hidden articles may also be irrelevant.