Space Cruiser

Space Cruiser is a vertically scrolling science fiction shoot-em-up consisting of five stages, spanning your journey from Earth to destroy the planet of the unfriendly aliens.

In stage one, you discover a large force of UFOs which you must destroy. There are two waves of saucers that move back and forwards in erratic arcs, and fire missiles both straight down and diagonally. These are accompanied by a much larger saucer which takes many hits to kill, and occasionally unleashes a spiralling fiery orb that destroys all in its path.

Stage two has you dodging large rocks as you pass through the asteroid belt. Part of the way through, you enter the attention slip zone, where the background wildly changes colour making it more difficult to concentrate on the incoming meteors. In stage three, you have to dock with a space-station after destroying some encircling UFOs. This allows you to refit your ship with an upgraded weapon where every second shot is a twin-shot. Stage four pits you against two waves of a new alien foe that can turn insubstantial, so that bullets pass harmlessly through them for short periods of time.

The final stage takes place at the alien's main bases. These are guarded by some fixed number of UFOs. Many of these fire the same type of missiles as seen in stage one. The aliens that resemble a bulls-eye target can also produce a traction field, which will temporaily hold your ship immobile should you be caught in it. After removing these guards, you are pelted by missiles launched from craters on the alien's second base. Destroying the launchers gives you the opportunity to launch a planet-busting bomb and end the alien menace. Until the next loop which starts you back at stage one, but at a slightly higher level of difficulty.