Gaming

Classic Game Review: Zulu Space Station

SPACE STATION ZULU (SSZ) is a fun space station defense strategy game. The Yargs are a peace-loving race who like to study and research the galaxy they inhabit. After discovering the Xhapthon Star Drive, the Yargs became deeply involved in space exploration. They established a series of outposts where their expeditions could resupply and relax without always having to return to the planet Yarg. The Zulu Space Station is an outpost. It has a crew of 43 members and you are the Captain. The crew goes on three-month tours, between which they freeze in suspended animation. Shortly after a survey ship left the station, the “Intruder Alert” sounded. The sanctity of Space Station Zulu has been violated by unknown life forms!

The computer reports that these aliens have three growth stages: spore, larva, and adult. The creatures are scattered throughout the station and their number is increasing rapidly. His favorite dish is “Yarg”!

As the Captain, your job is to rid the station of all adult and larval alien life forms. There are 21 rooms with letters from A to U; four springs numbered from 1 to 4; and four passage tubes numbered from 5 to 8. Access between the chambers is through hatches represented as small niches in the wall. The S and T rooms contain suspended freezers for crew currently not on watch. Scattered throughout the rooms are ten different types of weapons, ranging from hammers to rifles.

You start the game with four robots, 16 awake Yargs and 32 frozen Yargs. You can place the Yargs and robots in any room. Yargs are peace loving and not good at fighting, two or more Yargs should be placed in a room. Robots are good fighters, and if all else fails, they can self-destruct and destroy everything in the room. But, you only have a total of four robots.

To thaw a Yarg in room S or T, there must be an awake Yarg with no spores, larvae, or foreign adults in the room. The S and T rooms are critical because you need to add crew to fight the aliens. Until you use a weapon, you don’t know if it will kill the alien, have no effect, or worse, “make them grow”! The best strategy is to use at least four Yargs to take on an alien. Try as many weapons as you can to find out which ones do the most damage and use them only for the rest of the game. If all else fails, send a robot into a room full of aliens and self-destruct. The game ends when all the Yargs are dead or all the aliens have been destroyed.

The graphics are simple, but the close-ups of the individual rooms are very well detailed. Actions are represented with text statements instead of graphical displays. For example: “YOU KILLED HIM or MISSED”; “KILLED AN ADULT – DAMAGE: – NECESSARY -“; “WEAPON HAS NO EFFECT”; gold “THE WEAPON MAKES THE MONSTER GROW”.

Despite this, the game is an excellent strategy situation. You won’t win the first time, but keep trying. If you start winning consistently on the first level, try the other “Hidden Monsters” variation or the “Hard” or “Little Hope” levels.

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