Brief Summery Of Info For Updaters Your member name Frodo Complete review (no less than three paragraphs, preferably more). See below Game genre (Adventure, Sim, Action, etc.) Arcade Up to 3 positive points Incredibly addictive, Lovely sound effects, Excellent graphics Up to 3 negative points Can't move when shield is on Rating, submitted as a decimal, e.g.: 3.7 4.5 Complete system requirements, including programs needed & system info, if available Windows 233 MHz 3D Graphics Card DirectX 9 Official game URL http://www.minionsoft.com/ Download location URL http://www.minionsoft.com/ Brief description of questionable content (violence, nudity, etc), for content rating purposes. Suitable for everyone. If a multiplayer game, multiplayer methods (Hotseat, LAN, and/or Internet). Not multiplayer PHOENIX REVIEW MADE BY: Minion & MinionSoft SIZE: 7.22 MB -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- STORY Earth is under attack. Alien forces are attacking, and it is up to you to stop them. You must jump in your ship, and defeat the enemy before they reach Earth's atmosphere. Standing between you and the Mother Ship, however, lies wave upon wave of enemy fire. The first thing you encounter are the scouts. They have been sent in 2 waves, and they have just one thing in mind - to destroy you. You must use all your firepower, and your shields to survive. Next come the soldier birds, who also come in 2 waves. They are bigger, and more dangerous than the scouts. The battle is fierce, but you know you must be brave if you want to save Earth. After surviving the soldiers, you finally reach the Mother Ship. This is it. The final showdown! You need to destroy the alien inside by gradually blasting through the ship's defences and break through the forcefield in the centre, all the while avoiding enemy fire. You FINALLY manage to blow up the Mother Ship. Earth is safe now, but for how long? GAMEPLAY Phoenix is an arcade game, where you must defend Earth against an invading force of alien birds. You do this by firing at the birds in order to destroy them. You can also use your shield to protect you when you are in a tricky situation. The shield can be very useful, but I must point out that although you can still fire when the shield is up, you cannot move. When the shield turns off, you can't use it again for 4 seconds. The game is controlled by keyboard, and the keys can be reconfigured to suit you preference. You can also change the difficulty settings between Easy, Medium, and Hard. There are 5 waves altogether. Scout birds are small and agile. They are either green & purple (Wave 1) or green & blue (Wave 2). Soldiers are much larger and a lot more aggressive. They start out as balls, but then they quickly turn into blue (Wave 3) or purple (Wave 4) falcon-like birds with large wings. You must shoot the body in order to destroy them. If you just shoot the wings, the birds can still fly around, and the wings will grow back. Finally, you reach the Mother Ship (Wave 5). Blast through the forcefields, and blow up the Mother alien inside. Not as easy as it sounds, when there are scouts, and the alien itself, continuously firing at you. When you destroy the Mother Ship, the game begins again from Wave 1. DEFAULT KEYS Move left & right - Left & Right arrow keys Fire - Space Bar Shield - Right Control GRAPHICS I love the graphics in this game. You see a different background for each wave, and it continuously scrolls down, giving the impression that you are travelling through space. Enemy birds move very smoothly as they swoop down to attack you. Each wave of birds was a different colour, which I thought was nice. I especially like how the soldiers pop out from the flying balls. They look so scary with those eyes and claws! The Mother ship itself is very impressive, with the alien inside guarding it. SOUND EFFECTS There are lots of amazing sound effects in this game. Things like firing at the birds, or your ship exploding are very effective. Birds flying around have a very 'spacey' sound. Using your shield has an interesting 'humming' noise that is very distinctive. Destroying the Mother Ship was my favourite. You hear a nice explosion as you finally break through that forcefield. SUMMARY This is a very polished game that everyone is sure to love. The idea is simple - just blast everything you can - but it is so addictive. The backgrounds are lovely to see, and really make it seem like you are travelling through space. Those soldier birds are very creepy, and I love how they dive down very suddenly. I love the sound effects, with all the firing noises, and hummings and explosions. The only thing I found strange was the shield. You can still fire, but you can't move. I would have preferred it the other way round so that you can move out of harm's way, but not fire. But that is only a minor gripe. Phoenix is definitely a 'Just One More Go' game that I highly recommend it. Why not download it and try it for yourself?