Lander

The year is 3032. You own a hovercraft type spacecraft and earn your living by piloting it around the solar system, hired by large corporations and other entities to perform various tasks for a price. The more difficult, risky or illegal the mission, the higher the pay off.

Lander is a small, lightweight, maneuverable machine designed for tight above and below ground flying, controlled through a set of thrusters on the corners and a single main engine on its belly. With the money you earn, make needed repairs or improve Lander with better weapons, engines, armor – or even replace it entirely. There are five grades of armor, four pulse energy weapons, three missile systems and four engines available when you have enough cash to purchase them.

In order to succeed, you must master intricate flight dynamics. Learn to maneuver your Lander through a series of traps and other obstacles, all the while handling gravity, wind, and other atmospheric interferences.

There are 30 increasingly difficult, non-linear single missions covering 15 different planets and moons. In the early stages of the game, they involve finding and retrieving objects with your tractor beam, searching and destroying a specific target or stealing an important object. Later operations take on a covert military flair, some of which are puzzle based, and you find that other factions are determined to stop you at all costs.

Two multiplayer levels support deathmatch play over IPX or TCP/IP internet connection. CD-Rom and DVD versions were shipped in the same package. The DVD version (Psygnosis’ first release in that format) boasts high-resolution MPEG 2 video sequences and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. The PC version offers Dolby Surround Sound and MPEG 1 video (in shorter length) on a single CD-Rom.