Laser Ghost

If there's something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? No, not those guys. This time call Bill, Max, and Carol, the Laser Ghost team.

Laser Ghost, Sega's latest supernatural shoot-em-up, enlists you in the noble war on psychokinetic terrorism. An alien life force has infested your city, taking on the appearance of horrific ghostlike apparitions. One of these forms, a hideous, winged blue demon, has abducted a little girl and is holding her captive on a dark world.

Conventional weapons have no effect on the monstrosities. It's up to you and the Laser Ghost team to attack with your ectoplasmic assault beams — devastating laser guns that can turn scary monsters into ghost toasties.

Laser Ghost is a one- to three-player game, with seats for two of the players. Each laser gun is equipped with an angled plate of glass that works something like a jet fighter's Head-Up Display (HUD). By looking through the glass, you can see the beam of laser light. There are separate triggers for the lasers and special weapons.

Six missions take you through city streets, slime-covered sewers, haunted hotels and cemeteries, and even aboard a ghostly pirate ship. The action is viewed from a first-person perspective (as in Operation Wolf or Space Gun) as you search for enemies at the top, bottom, sides, and even into the screen. Although some of the creatures are gruesome, others are pretty amusing, like the wacky pineapple heads and dancing turkey carcasses.

Some of the supernatural sleazoids seem to be kind of desperate. They'll throw anything and everything at you. Food carts, furniture, sharpened wooden stakes, knives, bricks, and garbage are all considered fair weapons by the zomboid legion. When you're too greatly outnumbered, simply thumb the Special Weapon button — a huge cannon barrel appears and promptly microwaves the monsters. When at last you find the kidnapped little girl, you'll discover that she's possessed by demons. She mutates into several hideous boss monsters before the divine light of your laser exorcises the evil forever. The city is safe again.

News flash! Be on the lookout for Sega's R360 Super Rolling Simulator. It's a spherical cockpit supported at two axes, allowing complete 360-degree movement in all directions—even upside down! The R360 can be reprogrammed for different arcade games and is currently configured for Sega's G-LOC, an F-14 Tomcat simulator. (See "Arcade Action," Game Player's, October 1990.) State-of-the-art technology and extensive safety features promise to make this an experience not to be missed. It's more like an amusement park ride than an arcade game. Stay tuned!

And remember Exterminator, that really odd bug-bashing game from Premier Technology that we covered in the May 1990 issue? Well, a couple of British companies (Audiogenic and The Assembly Line) are putting the finishing touches on conversions for the Amiga, Atari ST, and PC compatibles. All of the original arcade graphics have been retained, and there are even a few nifty additions. It should be available by the time you read this.