Gameplay
Hover Strike is a futuristic semi-open 3D shooter game similar to Battlezone and T-MEK in which players pilot an armed hovercraft vehicle in order to complete a series of 30 missions, each one taking place across on different terrain types, as attempts to overthrow the Terrakian Pirates from a colonized foreign planet and rescue the remaining captured colonists before the Federation's armada arrives into the location to decimate the invading alien forces.[12][13]
Before starting, players can choose between three difficulty settings and tackle either mission in any given order at the selection screen, which involves destroying a number of enemies and structures that are specified as main objectives at the briefing screen, however pressing the Option button during the mission selection brings the setup menu where various settings can be adjusted such as controls and sound configurations, in addition of saving their current progress.[12][13]
After choosing a mission, players are immediately dropped into the playfield to fight against the enemies and destroy the main objectives to clear the mission, while power-ups and ammo can also be found by destroying carriers to restock their arsenal and the hovercraft's energy and shields respectively.[12] If the players does not re-energize the hovercraft, it will self-destruct and it can also be destroyed by enemy fire if its shield are not regenerated and once all lives are lost, the game is over, though players have the option of resuming progress by loading their saved game into the last mission reached, but the number of lives used is also kept.[12]
During gameplay, the action is viewed inside the cockpit of the hovercraft and controlling it is done by pressing A to accelerate, B for shooting photon energy and C for braking, while pressing left and right rotates the craft to the respective direction.[12] Most of the enemies in the game are low flying aircraft that follow and shoot at the player. Moving the reticle is done by pressing up or down to shoot the photons, while pressing Option during gameplay alternates between each of the available sub-weapons and pressing either 1 or 3 on the keypad fires them.[12] Pressing 2 will lock the reticle onto the closest enemy and pressing 5 cycles between multiple targets, while pressing 7 or 9 changes between different camera angles.[12] Pressing either up or down with both A and C engages the vehicle into forward or reverse modes.[12][13]
Terrain plays an important role in the game, as the craft automatically hovers over it and surroundings like the hills are useful for cover to avoid enemy fire, although falling off or colliding with high mountains or ledges are harmful to the vehicle.[13] Most of the enemies in the game are low-flying aircraft that follow and shoot at the player's craft and there are also turrets and enemy hovercraft placed on the battlefield, in addition of environmental hazards. At any given time, players can abort the mission they are currently in by pausing the game and pressing any fire button to bring a setup menu, but collected power-ups will be removed and items collected during the mission are restored to their previous level upon doing so.[12]
The game also has a two-player cooperative mode that is accessed by plugging in a second controller into the console, with one player controlling the hovercraft while the other player becomes the gunner, as they have full-range when controlling the reticle but only has access to weapons controls.[12]
