Enemies on the starboard bow!
Taking its inspiration from science fiction strategy games like Star Control and Star Trek, this is a neat little freeware title that packs in a lot of entertainment despite its low budget nature. It combines some clever ideas, and fast and furious action with some surprisingly deep strategy elements to create a cracking sci-fi experience. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of storyline here and instead the game throws you instantly its top down universe, where you'll basically spend most of your time exploring and engaging in fast-paced but very deep and tactical combat. You can start out by taking a few lessons to introduce you to the game's core concepts but after that you're pretty much free to roam around, taking on missions which see you going up against increasingly more challenging enemies, including capital ships, bases, freighters and so on. You've got a few options to tweak, including a choice of craft, with the best way to play being in networked mode if you can find someone else to take on, and which elevates the game to a whole new level. Many gamers are likely to be put off by Hell Fighter's rather basic look and it's true there's little here to attract eye candy fans. The gameplay also appears quite simple and indeed, it's not the most complex game out there, but after spending just a little time with Hell Fighters, you'll find that there's more here than initially meets the eye. The action comes at you at an intense rate and is pretty challenging, but never less than fun, so for a nice bit of blasting fun, this makes for a good bet.
