Overview
Hunter's Moon is a space shooter/puzzle hybrid game released for the
Commodore 64 by
Thalamus Ltd. According to the gameblurb on the back of the box, you play as a character called "Psychoblaster". Psychoblaster flew his ship, the Hunter, into a black hole and has now become lost in space and is trying to get back to his home, the titular Hunter's Moon. To get home, Psychoblaster must collect Starcells from each level to jump from galaxy to galaxy. The story is not a major component of the game however and besides on the box and in the manual has little to no bearing on the game.
Gameplay
Hunter's Moon is unlike most shoot 'em ups. Instead of being on rails like other Thalamus releases such as
Sanxion and
Delta, Hunter's Moons levels were arenas which looped infinitely. Also, the objective of each level is not to defeat enemies, but to collect Starcells. Starcells are housed inside hives; constantly regenerating organic shields which must be destroyed and then passed through before the damaged hive is repaired. Once a level is cleared of Starcells, the player chooses a linked level within the star system they are in and once enough levels in the system are completed, the player moves on to the next system. The approach needed for each level changes as well, some needing fast reflexes and skill to avoid regenerating walls and projectiles, whilst others need more puzzle based solutions. There are 128 levels overall, over 16 star systems. After each star system a bonus game, in which the player has to destroy Workers (the blobs which rebuild the hives), should the player destroy all the workers then they are awarded an extra life.
Another interesting mechanic is that the game allows the player to skip levels. Should the player collect four flashing Starcells in the time alloted at the start of each level, then they can bypass the rest of the levels in the system and move directly to the bonus Stage.
Music
The music for the game was composed by Matt Gray, whose other works include the music from
Treasure Island Dizzy,
Quedex and
Last Ninja 2.
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