Star X Game Boy Advance

Featuring 3D polygon graphics on the Game Boy Advance, England-based Graphic State Games' flight combat shooter offers a mission-based story of human survival against marauding aliens from the planet Karask, who are planning to mine the galaxy for slaves. As an escort pilot sent with the initial contact group to the alien planet, you discover the plot and must escape their forces in order to warn your home world.

Two training modes, ground and space based, provide a means for practicing controls before entering the full game, which features 22 missions and nine alien worlds from a behind-the-ship third-person perspective. Weapons (lasers, plasma shooters, and bombs) and equipment (shields and weapon systems) upgrade as you progress through the levels, with power-ups for power and speed. A half-dozen types of enemy craft fill the skies as you dogfight, evade, and destroy targets on the ground, at sea, and in the air.

Star X offers three difficulty levels (easy, medium, and hard), adjustable auto-centering options, password saves (you'll need pen and paper), an on-the-fly pause function, and gameplay in six languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch). ~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide