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The 18th of April saw the Eagle comic celebtrating its 40th anniversary, featuring the most famous space adventure pilot in history, Dan Dare. To celebrate this event, Virgin have released a third Dan Dare game.
The first game was very much a ‘search and find’ adventure, feating a comic style windowing system using many of the characters from the original strip. Digby was there, along with Dan’s pet dog and the Treens led by the evil Mekon. The second made a departure from this format and plumped for the more standard scrolling shoot-em-u;, with Dan flying around a maze-like Treen complex.

Dan Dare III follows the style set by the second game, being a multi-directional scrolling blast with a fair amount of searching to be done. The game starts with Dan being held by the Treens and about to be tortured with all manner of dastardly implements. Dan manages to free his bonds and give the Treens a good biff in the face to make a dash for it. After finding a jet-pack and a plazma-rifle, he heads off to the hangar to find a ship to make good his escape. Unfortunately the only ship in the dock has no fuel, so Dan must search the Treen complex, find enough fuel to fill the tank and blast off.

This is where you come in. You take control of Dan as he starts his quest in the Treen stores.You must fly around collecting additional weapons to take on the mutant forces the Melon has sent out, which include bouncing bombs, homing missiles, energy shields and even nuclear devices. The end of the stage has a large guardian, either a giant Treen or a gun emplacement, which when shot gives you a pod to gain access to higher levels via the large transporter in the main cavern of each level.

On the higher levels the guardians sit in front of fuel canisters, each of which contains 10 pounds of rocket fuel. If you manage to collect 50 pounds of fuel, then you can refuel the ship, return to the stores and start up the blast-off sequence. But hurry! Dan has an appointment and it would not do to be late!
Maff Evans


DAREMANIA
The 40th Anniversary of Dan Dare has sparked off a lot of interest among the Science Fiction community. The Eagle has relaunched the character in the new look Eagle coic. Gone are the days of the peak-capped, pipe-smoking hero and in comes the new hgh-tech, weapon-loaded, green, non-smoking vegetarian soldier. Fans can visit the Dan Dare Exhibition in Southport, home of Dan’s creator Frank hampson, and take a look at how the character has developed. Even a radio series has been broadcast by the BBC. If you missed it, do not worry – the stories are available on cassette.

GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Dan Dare’s loading sequence starts with a series of colourful and well drawn comic frames detailing the capture and subsequent escape of our hero along with some well-sampled pieces of speech. The feel is very much that of the original comic, down to the style of the scenery. Unfortunately, this atmosphere is not carried into the game.
The sound is pretty standard, with blasting effects and a bouncy background tune, and the graphic are nothing to shout about. The sprites are small and rather flat-looking and lack the animation quality needed to bring a comic strip to life. Dan skates around the blocky scenery rather than running in a macho manner as he should. The appearance is, in all, dull rather than as exciting and vivid as the original strip.

LASTING INTEREST
The game is tough from the outset, killing you off time after time in succession. This situation is not helped by the fact that your weapons run out very quickly and treen forces take a lot of shots before they die. Progress is rather slow and frustrating – many players will give up in exasperation before the final objective is reached.

JUDGEMENT
The intro sequence is full of character and gives the impression that you are about to embark on an involved interpretation of the comic strip. Unfortunately, the game is just a standard hunt and blast episode, with very little to justify the Dan Dare link other than the Mekon sprites at the end of the levels. If shoot-em-up maze games are your ‘thing’ then you may find some enjoyment in Dan Dare III, but if you just enjoy the comic strip character then stick to buying the Eagle.

GRAPHICS 5
SOUND 4
INTELLECT 3
ADDICTION 6
OVERALL 67%