Lethal Zone

STORY / GAMEPLAY
The game's story is set somewhere in the distant future and the action is divided into four levels of intense gameplay! Lethal Zone is one of the few shooters back then that didn't try to "copycat" Katakis, Armalyte or the R-Type series. Each level has its own level design and you must fly through a variety of Sci-Fi landscapes shooting enemy ships and trying not to crash on any of the foreground obstacles. The enemies vary from huge alien ships to mounted laser turrets and ground troops. Destroyed enemies occasionally leave power-ups that can be collected to increase your firepower. There is no energy bar, so a single hit will take you down and you'll start again at a certain point of the level. An extra life can be gained by reaching 50.000 points and at the end of each level there is a huge boss waiting! Lethal Zone is a quite addictive but difficult shooter to play since everything moves fast and the enemy AI is well placed as they shoot and perform deadly maneuvers at the same time. Loads of aliens, loads of weapons and tough levels make for one immensely challenging game. Unfortunately, the game is short since only 4 levels are available.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The graphics are appealing, with detailed backdrops that differ from level to level. There aren't any special visual effects like multi-parallax scrolling, but everything looks and moves in an almost flawless manner while the sprites are nicely designed and move pretty fast on your screen. The game's sound is impressive and it does its purpose well. Each level has a unique tune and there are several high quality sound effects including awesome explosions, laser firing and more. The intro music theme is among the best I've ever listened to, on an Amiga game.