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Title Laser Squad
Game Type Combat simulation
Players 1-2
Compatibility A500
HD Installable No
Submission Truls Rostrup

UFO - Enemy Unknown and its sequels owes a lot to Laser Squad, which was
produced by the people behind UFO. The very first game of this type was
Rebelstar Raiders, which was released on the Spectrum. Laser Squad is a
sequel to Rebelstar Raiders that was graced with an Amiga release.
Graphics are above average for the genre, and the sound is quite good with
music and sampled sound effects. The game is a squad-level strategy game
like UFO, where you kit out your troops with different guns and grenades
and take them around a turn-based mission. There are about 5 or 7 missions
in the game, of which most are brilliant and varied. For example, the
first mission is an assassination attempt on a house of a drug lord
protected by droids, whereas the second mission is an infiltration mission
to free prisoners. Later missions involve defending a base from an alien
attack. Many elements seen in UFO are included in Laser Squad; morale,
armour, opportunity fire, movement points etc. The game even has some cool
details not seen in UFO. In one memorable instance, one soldier of mine
panicked due to increasingly lonely (his mates all down and out), and duly
dropped his pistol to the ground. An enemy soldier turned the corner and
lobbed a grenade at my panicked fellow, who them caught the grenade in his
hands and on his turn threw it back in the face of the enemy, blowing him
up!

Finally, there is one area which makes Laser Squad so much better than
UFO - it has a two-player option. The AI of the computer is good, but as
usual much more fun is had defeating another person. One good balanced
mission for this is the first assassination scenario. One player controls
the drug lord and his bodyguard robots, the other player takes over the
assassination squad. Hint to the assassins - buy a rocket launcher, who
needs to go through doors to enter the house when you can blow it all up
and maybe catch some inhabitants in the blast! Hint to the drug lord -
hide in the toilet, no one will look for you there. Keep the robots
aiming out the windows and target that rocket launcher.

In conclusion, Laser Squad is a great little two-player game and one that
can be finished in an hour or two for the shorter missions. Great
playability.