SPACE STATION ZULU (SSZ) is a fun space station defense strategy game. The Yargs are a peace-loving race who like to study and research the galaxy they inhabit. After discovering the Xhapthon Star Drive, the Yargs became deeply involved in space exploration. They established a series of outposts where their expeditions could resupply and relax without ever having to return to the planet Yarg. The Zulu Space Station is an outpost. You have a crew of 43 and you are the Captain. The crew goes on three-month tours, among which they are frozen in suspended animation. Shortly after a scouting ship left the station, the “Intrusion Alert” sounded. The sanctity of the Zulu Space Station has been violated by unknown life forms!
The computer reports that these aliens have three stages of growth: spore, larva, and adult. The creatures are scattered around the station and their numbers are increasing rapidly. His favorite dish is “Yarg”!
As Captain, your job is to rid the station of all adult alien life forms and larvae. There are 21 rooms with letters from A to U; four docks numbered from 1 to 4; and four passage tubes numbered from 5 to 8. Access between the chambers is through hatches represented as small niches in the wall. Rooms S and T contain suspension freezers for the crew not currently on duty. Scattered around the rooms are ten different types of weapons, ranging from hammers to rifles.
You start the game with four robots, 16 awake Yargs and 32 frozen Yargs. You can place the Yargs and the robots in any room. Yargs are peace-loving and not good at fighting, two or more Yargs should be placed in a room. Robots are good fighters and if all else fails, they can self-destruct by destroying everything in the room. But, you only have a total of four robots.
To unfreeze a Yarg in rooms S or T, an awake Yarg must be there with no alien spores, larvae, or adults in the room. Rooms S and T are critical because you need to add crew to fight the aliens. Until you use a weapon, you don’t know if it will kill the alien, have no effect, or worse yet “make it grow”! The best strategy is to use at least four Yargs to face an alien. Try as many weapons as you can to find out which ones do the most damage and use them only for the rest of the game. If all else fails, send a robot into a room full of aliens and self-destruct. The game ends when all the Yargs are dead or all the aliens have been destroyed.
The graphics are simple, but the close-ups of the individual rooms are very well detailed. Actions are represented with text declarations instead of graphical displays. For example: “YOU KILLED HIM or MISSED”; “KILLED AN ADULT – DAMAGE: – NECESSARY-“; “THE WEAPON HAS NO EFFECT”; or “WEAPON MAKES MONSTERS GROW”.
Despite this, the game is an excellent strategy situation. You won’t win the first time, but keep trying. If you start to consistently win at the first level, try the other variation of “Hidden Monsters” or the “Hard” or “Little Hope” levels.