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### Enforcer 2 Preview [C64]

#### http://www.protovision-online.de/

#### Previewed By R. O'Toole

With a side-scrolling space shooter it's quite hard to put a foot wrong, and with a tightly, seamlessly written side scrolling space shooter, it usually becomes a matter of "How good is it?" rather than "Is it good?"

The two latest demos of Protovision's Enforcer 2 threaten such a game. Based on the original Enforcer, a Commodore 64 classic released in 1992 and coded by Manfred "The Master" Trenz, of Turrican fame, this new incarnation of the frenetic shooter is built on a similar template, and is already shaping up to be a very nicely realised game.

Both demos play slickly, with the same controls as the original Enforcer. A wealth of weapon pickups makes for button bashing fun, with storms of lasers shooting out from the player's ship in every direction. The original Enforcer's super-weapon, a Turrican-style crescent of energy launched when you hold and release the fire button, makes a return in this sequel, and if anything makes the first level a little too easy if it's abused.

The first level sees the neatly designed ship, which is sadly a little hard to make out when placed dead centre over the parallax space rift, flying through fields of asteroids and strafing gun emplacements, ending with a challenging boss battle. Level two, the most recent demo of the game, is a much brighter affair, with the little craft blasting its way through a colourful indoor construction to an irresistible SID chip soundtrack while lightning crashes in the eye-catching, gorgeous background.

Level two is where Protovision really show off their chops. Little touches of intricacy, like survivors from enemy waves looping back away into the multi layered background, missile ships holding back to fire at the player from long range, and that fantastic, catchy soundtrack all ram home the fact that this is a game a long time in the making, and an obvious labour of love for its producers. The attack waves are nicely designed in the first level demo, in the second they are improved upon dramatically, and it's so reassuring to see a game develop like this.

Enforcer 2's masterfully designed 3D backgrounds and great playability offset the fact that that the graphics occasionally go a little bit too far in the direction of Turrican homage, and a little too much blockiness on some of the sprites. With no more demos being released we'll have to wait to see how the final product comes out, but it won't be that tense a wait. Protovision would have to do something pretty spectacular to screw this game up, and even though it's only being released on cartridge, this skint correspondent is still going to fork out for a copy of the finished product.