Deflektor

Copyright : Vortex Software | Reviewed by : Ritchardo

No Heroes. No Foes. Just skill and technology are all thats needed to complete the optical circuits of Deflektor! Guide your laser beam around each screen. Reflectors, refractors, mirrors, absorbers, polarisers and fibre optics are your basic aparatus. Your precise judgement of the angles and paths of your high intensity laser are the only means by which your beam can be directed towards the home reciever.

Deflektor was programmed by Vortex, the team behind Highway Encounter and Alien Highway and published by Gremlin.

Graphics

Undeniably a Speccy port, Deflektor suffers from all of the usual hang-ups associated with conversion from Alan Sugar?s second favourite 8-bit. Some nasty colour combinations and the fact that the background has almost literally nothing going on does make the game appear more static and generally less appealing than it could.

Having said that the sprites are easily identifiable and the items themselves are well drawn. It?s all perfectly acceptable for a puzzle game, if you can get your head around some of the more ?artistic? colour schemes employed on some levels?

Sound

A pretty catchy tune plays on the title screen and is one that is well worth listening to even if you?re not a puzzle game fan. It?s programmed by Ben Dalglish, one of the big names in the SID music field and is a real grower that runs for over three minutes before looping back to the start.

The sound effects are a little more basic but they?re pleasant enough to the ear and don?t detract from the game in anyway.

Gameplay

A truly original concept, Deflektor is a deceptively simple puzzle game requiring a neat blend of skill and reflexes. Refreshingly, luck plays very little part in this game and instead plays second fiddle to physics and intelligence.

The aim of the game is to connect the source of your light beam to the receiver and destroy all of the debris in the area using a series of mirrors that can be angled to deflect the beam in another direction. Timing can be crucial and if you move the wrong mirror at the wrong time, you can deflect the beam back on itself and destroy the source generator!

Each screen is well crafted and provides a natural progression for the player and each element is introduced in to the gameplay before you reach the higher levels were bedlam ensues! Amongst the hazards to deal with are gremlins which turn the mirrors and auto-rotating mirrors that deflect the beam in all direction and require pinpoint accuracy.

While the game seems easy at first and progress is all but assured, the difficulty level soon starts to crank up thanks to the fiendish layouts and tight time limits. Seeing all of the 60 levls is sure to be a challenge beyond most.

This is the rarest of things - a puzzle game that is absolutely perfectly implemented. If you give it a chance, youre sure to get hooked as it is as addictive as it is frustrating and in terms of gameplay I cant fault it in the slightest.

Highly recommended.