Pile-Up!

Energy reserves are low on Earth and more is desperately needed to keep the planet going. In a far corner of the Universe, various landscapes full of spheres have been discovered and when collected will keep Earth's energy levels high. You have been tasked to fly over the landscapes in a special craft to collect the spheres and place them in a transformer which will send them to Earth.

The landscapes are an isometric view with a part of the landscape shown on the screen with the screen scrolling in multiple directions when you move. Squares make up the landscapes and on various squares sits black spheres. As the game progresses, these squares will rise changing the colour of the spheres which then contain different levels of energy. You control the craft with a joystick and you have to be wary of the inertia as the craft will keep moving without a response from the joystick so a press in the opposite direction slows the craft and brings it to a halt. To reach the higher squares you are equipped with a boost to raise the craft in the air and this is done by holding the fire button. Let go and the craft falls to the ground.

To collect a sphere you must place the craft exactly over the sphere and when you are close to the sphere a target area of the sphere appears on the control panel and a dot needs to be moved on to the sphere for it to be collected. Once the sphere is collected you must take it to the transformer but if you touch the sides of any raised squares or the sides of the landscape then you lose part of a shield and when it reaches zero it is game over. Once enough energy has been placed in the transformer then you move to the next landscape. To add more to your shield, you can visit a service area but you cannot hold a sphere with more than 500 energy.