The Galaxy’s Your Playground

At last, an equal opportunity adventure.

Electronic Arts’ “Hard Nova” is a complex, liberated sci-fi adventure game that lets players decide if they prefer the personae of Nova, female mercenary extraordinaire , or Stark, the regular old male brand.

Flying your new, state-of-the-art ship, the star systems are your playground. And boy, do you play hard. Enemies are everywhere and they don’t care about your sex, just your booty. It’s a good thing you love your job.

Your traveling buddy is A’rki Janr, a friendly alien. This faithful crew member is an excellent navigator. Now all you have to do is find a crew and make some bucks.

Played on multiple screens, the game has a complexity that will give experienced game players a real challenge. When you are indoors, players move across a grid-like map in miniature scale. Everything you’ll always want to know but won’t have time to ask is tucked into efficient little windows around the screen. Scary looking mutants will appear if they want to talk to you; crew members and their inventory are available; and the health status of combatants is regularly updated.

While transportation on land is accomplished the old-fashioned way (walking), air transportation is nothing less than the best. A hovership shuttles you and your crew between land and your spaceship. Many of your most critical battles will depend on your mastery of these vehicles.

While the game can be played with keyboard or mouse, it doesn’t seem fair that Nova/Stark gets a whole crew to help with navigation and battle. Beginners will probably wish they had an interstellar mutant of their own to lend a hand.

HARD NOVA Rating: ****

IBM & compatibles, Tandy; hard drive recommended; List price: $49.95

Computer games are rated on a five-star system, from one star for poor to five for excellent.