DESCRIPTION

Earth is in danger. The Russo-American Mercantile (RAM) has activated the Doomsday Laser and plans on pointing it directly at the planet! The New Earth Organization (NEO) has learned of this situation and calls on you to disarm it. Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday is a science-fiction role-playing game in the tradition of Strategic Simulations Inc.'s Advanced Dungeons & Dragons "Gold Box" series on the computer (Pool of Radiance, Treasures of the Savage Frontier and several more).

Choose a party of six adventurers from three races (human, desert runner and tinker), select their gender, career (rocket jock, medic, warrior, or rogue) and "roll" for various attributes such as strength, dexterity, constitution, charisma and technology. Characters can also specialize in skills that can help the party as they embark on their intergalactic adventure. Some of these skills include programming, first aid, repairing rockets, zero-gravity maneuvering and various others.

There are two main viewpoints used within the game: an overhead land-based and first-person ship perspective. Combat on land involves moving a limited amount of spaces (depending on your character) and choosing to either attack, defend or use one of fifty different items found in the game. This 8-Meg cartridge also features battery backup to save up to three games in progress, and includes an eighty-page manual complete with hints and maps. Is the game moving too slow for your tastes? Players can increase or decrease the game's speed to one of five different settings. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide