Mastering Morpheus

How to beat Andrew Braybrook’s tactical shooter

CRUISE CONTROL

The ships available to players in morpheus have differing capabilities, but they all suffer from a lack of manoeuvrability. They’re certainly fast enough, but getting them to stop or change direction takes practice, and since exact positioning is required in order to hit anything it’s vital that you learn how to control them.

ON THE RADAR

The stages in morpheus are big open stretches of space, and there aren’t many landmarks, but you need to navigate from one orbital to another. As luck would have it, nearby orbitals are displayed on your on-board radar system, as are nuclei, so finding your next target depends on keeping a constant eye on your radar display.

BOUNTY HUNTER

Your mission in morpheus is strictly for the money.

There’s a tidy bounty on every alien you dispatch, although relatively harmless floating rocks net you far less than armed and aggressive opponents. The aliens that spill out of collapsing orbitals are worth a fair bit of cash, but the ones that dying nuclei expel are far more valuable.

ON COMMISSION

Power-ups are typically free in shoot-’em-ups, but that’s not the case in morpheus where upgrades have to be paid for, waited on and delivered before you can install them. Enhancements are split into system and weapon upgrades, with new guns, shields and navigation devices being introduced as you progress through the game.

SIZE MATTERS

The basic player’s ship in

morpheus is pretty big, but it’s small in comparison to the game’s upgraded models. As well as being able to accommodate more system and weapons upgrades, the bigger hulls have more effective shields and plasma beams. They also have price tags to match, and they give your opponents a bigger target.