Reviews

Classy shoot-em-up/puzzle game sequel to the earlier Highway Encounter. You play a sort of dustbin shaped dalek that has to guide the ultimate weapon along a highway to its destination at the baddies base. On the way there are various aliens that will drain your energy if you don’t shoot them first, and there are 7 Terratons that you have to shove the bomb into that both activate the weapon and boost your energy. In addition, fiendish puzzles block your way which involves the use of barrels found strewn on the highway. The sides of the highway are electrocuted to further drain your power and the route randomly generates itself each time you play to make it more interesting. The trick is in manoeuvring the bomb and the Dalek which takes some getting used to. The instructions recommend the keyboard, but I used a joystick and sort of got the hang of it. The graphics are excellent, fast and flicker free and while it suffers a bit from the dreaded monochrome, the sides of the highway at least have a bit of colour. Sound is just a few spot effects. A difficult but entertaining game worth a look.

1986 Vortex Software (UK)
by Mark Haigh-Hutchinson

By continuing the work of Costa Panayi I was expecting that Mark Hutchinson would put is own personal touch and ended up with at least a slightly different game. But if you have played Highway Encounter you notice there isn't much difference between both games. They look the same, play the same and sound the same. Of course there are a few improvements and the story line is slightly different. For instance, this time you don't have to guide a train of extra lives, only the Terratron.
But overall it's almost a copy of the prequel. Which isn't a bad thing, taking into account the quality of the game. Both games are excellent, I only wished they weren't so alike.

4,5 points

Good . . . but I see no serious improvement regarding the first part ! ! ! 4 / 5 .

by Mark Haigh-Hutchinson

Just like Fairlight: Trail of Darkness, this was another sequel of a classic released in 1985, and another one that didn't differ very much from the original, if not even less. Strangely, though, this is not from goold ol' Costa Panayi, who was the sole responsible for Vortex Software output up to this point, but he lent Highway Encounter engine to Mark Haigh-Hutchinson [who later programmed Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, among other things], who anyway applied some minor changes to make it slightly faster and more playable: now the detonator can be moved diagonally from the center of the highway, and you haven't a queu of robots ready to substitute you when you die, but limited energy drained by aliens or even by touching the sides of the road, which previously were safe. As for Fairlight II, its similitarity with the source doesn't stop it from being very good.
4/5

It's pretty much the same as Highway Encounter, though more controllable and easier to navigate through the level. But replacing lives with an energy bar that saps quickly is a big step backwards for me. If not for that, this is perfection.

Very very decent sequel of Highway Encounter.
I'm with the other reviewers. Fairlight I / II comparation is OK. Straightforward but with a bit of tactic elements