Stellar 7 is a pretty good game for its time. There are only seven levels in it, but each one is relatively challenging at the default difficulty setting. The story is very basic and seems to be there only as a simple incentive to shoot at all of the enemies. You can even opt to turn the story sequences on or off in the menu. You play as the commander of the Raven, the most advanced vehicle that mankind has ever developed. You have to stop Gir Draxon's Armada from taking over the Earth, and eventually, you must defeat his flagship at Arcturus. You simply shoot all of the enemies that you see, while avoiding the obstacles, but there are multiple types of enemies, and there is a boss at the end of each level once you have destroyed everything else. Most obstacles don't actually harm you if you hit them, but if you get stuck against them, you will be much more susceptible to your enemies' attacks and probably get killed quickly. You have 3 continues, but your score is reset after each time that you die, so if you want to get the best high score possible, you'll need to stay alive throughout the whole game. There are also fuelbays that you can fully replenish your health in every three levels. There are several different types of bosses, but some star systems share very similar bosses that seem like upgraded versions of previous ones. The bosses generally are susceptible to an attack while you are using a certain power. If you use the right power, you can beat them in mere seconds, and they become a piece of cake. Otherwise, it may take you a while to take them down, but some of them are still easy to beat regardless of whether you use your special powers or not. Once you defeat the end level boss or guardian of each star system, a warplink appears to take you to the next level. There are seven different powers that are at your disposal. You can use each of them these powers three times before they are drained completely until you start a new game. Two of the most useful ones make you invincible temporarily and allow you to fire very rapidly for a certain amount of time. Another one lays a bomb that destroys anything that passes over it. One also allows you to move very rapidly for a designated amount of time. You can also use them to boost into the air for a few seconds, see all of the cloaking enemies, and warp into another type of dimension. Using these effectively will greatly increase your chances of survival and victory. There is also a radar that consists of different colored dots that can become very helpful for avoiding the obstacles, the enemies, and the enemies' shots. The graphics are pretty basic and nothing is very detailed. You can identify the enemies well enough, and you can distinguish between obstacles and enemies quite easily, though. There is never any slowdown, and the game runs very smoothly. The sound is very basic, and there really aren't many effects either. The music fits the game fairly well, but the sounds of your weapons and your enemies' weapons firing are only slightly more advanced than the bleeps and bloops of older games. Stellar 7 is a game that you can play in short spurts, but it doesn't have much replay value. It can be beaten in less than an hour if you know what you're doing. You can always try to beat your high scores, though. Overall, Stellar 7 is a pretty good game that will give you some fun for an afternoon or so.
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