Splaymaster - MS-DOS

Splaymaster2.txt Splaymaster "Tournament" type flying from the top; developed by a man named Chris Elsbree, it has no plot and is said to be a kind of "tribute" to Space War - one of the first computer games. Before you start, you have to choose one of eight spaceships, differing not only in colors and form, but also speed and the power of weapons (although in fact the difference between them is not so great). You can play against the computer (in this case the enemy, as the protagonist, you can "rewrite" yourself) or another person; watching the clash of artificial intelligence with each other (ordering him to speak on behalf of both sides) is not prohibited. The fights are one-on-one and consist of three rounds; to win the competition you have to destroy your opponent in two of them. The battle is in outer space and the available space is formally endless; there is a considerable amount of "health" (expressed on a scale at the bottom of the screen), but "life" and all bonuses are available. Each boat has two types of weapons - photon beams and missiles (spare both seem to be infinite) and a force shield. Engaging the latter allows you to repel enemy attacks, but also leads to a loss of health, which, however, regenerates slowly after turning off the aforementioned devices; the same, incidentally, happens when "acceleration" is used (see below). After winning a participation in a "tournament", he goes alone as an enemy fighter of a different type (the image of what was destroyed will be crossed out on the appropriate screen, and the current "group" to fight this opponent will not be revealed). Unfortunately, the implemented controls are not very comfortable: turns in the parts responsible for the "S" and "F" keys for acceleration and braking - "Graphically, the SplayMaster looks - especially the free stuff - pretty good: the ship models are drawn very clearly and look really different from each other; the same can be said for the visualization of the use of different types of weapons, especially the bright and colorful outbursts of fallen fighters. On the other hand, space, unfortunately, looks quite similar and "lifeless": the stars in this batch, but they are completely identical and no other objects are observed. Overall - basically simple, but in terms of the process it is not so simple to play, suitable primarily as a means of "active recreation" for five to ten minutes.