Strikeforce

Strikeforce © 1991 Midway.

Strike Force is a side-scrolling shoot-em-up and is the third game in Midway's seminal "Defender" series. Saurian lizard men have overrun all twenty-two planets that form the New Earth Solar System colonies, capturing and mutating the resident humans into reptiles to use as slave labour at their stronghold base, the Saurian 'Mega-Star Apocalypse'.

Players fly a spaceship over the surface of the of planets, destroying enemy waves and rescuing humans from the alien invaders, with rescued humans hanging from the underside of the player's ship. Once these tasks have been completed, the mothership arrives to pick up the player's ship, together with any humans they have rescued. Players can decide which planets to attack, when to purchase additional firepower and when to attack the Apocalypse.

Strike Force adds several new features to the series. Two players can now share the screen at one time and the surface of each planet is littered with various special weapons that can be picked up and deployed. Humans can be 'mutated' into small green creatures that will fight against the player (although players can still pick them up for points as, with the unmutated humans). The mutants can also use vehicles found on the planet's surface against the player.