Disposable Hero

STORY
The date is 2879 AD and mankind already discovered strange and, sometimes, dangerous new worlds. A new alien threat is about to attack and vanish mankind. A group of men forms a new task force called D-Hero to resist and combat the threat. You start defending mankind with three spacecrafts, a default set of weapons (laser cannons) and a full energy bar.

GAMEPLAY
The gameplay is very common to shooter fans with the basic idea being to blast your way through many alien swarmed to complete the game and thus save the world! Typical and nothing new here. Apart from shooting you must also collect small capsules in order to get hold of the alien weapon blueprints they contain! Once you have them you may re-design your ship's weapons based on the aliens' specs. Be warned though since the use of those alien advanced weapons will drain your ship's energy easily and thus your new gear will not function. The game is hard to play as you can easily crash onto alien ships or even walls and terrains when trying to pass through narrow passages. But as long as you master the controls, Disposable Hero becomes increasingly addictive. Although I found some levels reminiscent to early classics such as R-Type and Salamander (and some more) but this doesn't detract from the game's addictive gameplay, especially for a shoot 'em up freak (like me). But someone may say that, the "endless" flying across the screen from left to right is a little too linear, a different perspective now and then would have been much appreciated, just to break up the monotony.

GRAPHICS
Not many shooter games released for the Amiga have so beautiful graphics. Disposable Hero's visuals are stylish with many details at the backdrops and sprites while there are a few impressive touches such as when your spacecraft casts its shadow across the moving water! The alien ships are well designed, especially the large ones that appear in specific "continue" points of each level.

SOUND
The game's sound is equally impressive and offers fantastic intro and main menu tunes, some catchy in-game music and a variety of blasting and zapping sampled sound effects!