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### Saucelifter Preview [PC]

#### Paul Pridham

#### Previewed By J. Monkman

Coded by one-half of the development team behind the excellent (and authorised) PC remake of Sword of Fargoal, Saucelifter is a stunning preview of what could potentially be a fantastic game. Essentially a modern day re-interpretation of Brøderbund's 1982 Apple classic Choplifter, Paul Pridham's remake puts you in command a UFO on a mission to rescue your fellow aliens from imprisonment on Earth.

All the classic Choplifter elements are present and correct (as well as many taken from the arcade port), and fans of the original will soon feel at home battling against the computer controlled tanks, jets, helicopter-cannons, anti-aircraft guns and missile silos. Aside from making minor improvements to the already excellent game-play, Paul has also succeeded in giving the game a graphical over-haul through the use of polygons instead of regular sprites. As a result of this, Saucelifter actually looks quite similar to Delphine's 'Another World' in terms of graphical style, and the in-game action is both faster and smoother than you'd expect from a sprite/tile-based graphic engine. Another feature that was made possible due to the choice of vector/polygon graphics is that the player can move their point of view in-and-out of the game (by using the Page Up and Page Down keys) - in fact, you can actually zoom right out and see the whole level on the screen at once, which can be very useful for gauging the distance between your craft and the attacking Earth defence forces while rescuing your bug-eyed pals.

At present the preview consists of just one full level, but the game appears to be fundamentally complete so it shouldn't require a great deal more work other than implementing a series of progressively harder levels or stages. The audio is especially well done, with synthesizer sound effects that would sound equally at home in a 1960's B-movie. The only omission that I've noticed is the lack of joypad support, which given the arcade-nature of the game is something that I really hope to see added before it gets a final release. As it is, the game is controlled via keyboard only (cursor keys for movement, and z, x and y to fire left, down and right respectively). With regard to the game mechanics, another point worth noting is that shots fired horizontally and vertically have different depths within the pseudo three-dimensional playing field - you'll notice that when your saucer is tilted forwards the horizontal and vertical shots hit different areas of the ground. Although this decision was clearly made to balance the game-play (with different modes of attack used to destroy different enemies), it did take me ages to work out that I could only blast open the alien confinement cells by tilting my craft forwards and firing horizontally(!) In the final release, perhaps an attract-mode demo or tutorial could explain this to new players? It would also be beneficial to explain that in order to drop off rescued aliens you need to land on the *right-hand side* of the landing/teleport pad.

In conclusion, Saucelifter is a very promising remake that could be further improved by a few minor additions. The game is enjoyable to play and the presentation is very professional, but most importantly (for a remake) it is also a faithful tribute to the classic on which it is based.