Parsec

The Good
Excellent sound effects Terrific graphics with smooth scrolling Lots of action Varied enemies that require differing strategies to defeat Difficulty increases in many ways - enemies move faster, require more shots to kill, all while your laser overheats more quickly.

The Bad
The third type of refueling tunnel is very difficult, and once you encounter it once, that's the type of tunnel you will see throughout the game.

The Bottom Line
Parsec is an outer space battle. You fly your ship over a planet that scrolls at the bottom of the screen.

Enemies fall into one of two major categories - three types of fighters (swoopers, LTFs, and saucers) and three types of cruisers (Urbites, Dramites, and Bynites).

As if that wasn't enough, your laser can overheat, destroying your ship, so simply blasting away constantly will lose you the game.

Your ship as a limited amount of fuel, and when this runs low, game action stops allowing you a chance to fly through a refueling tunnel. There are three that get progressively longer and more difficult. If you make it out alive, you receive bonus points and action resumes. Your ship has three "lift" factors that control the speed of vertical movement. 3 is the fastest and 1 is the slowest. You must use lift 1 for the tunnels.

At the end of every level, you must maneuver through an asteroid belt. The speech synthesis REALLY helps here, as you get a verbal countdown towards completing the belt. Without speech, you have no indication as to how long you must remain in the belt.

After level 3, levels start with killer satellites, which track your ship closely and are very difficult to kill. You get verbal, auditory, and written warnings of approaching enemies except for the killer satellites.