Classification:	Game / Arcade	vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Publisher:	Commercial Data Systems
Programmer:	Cleveland M. Blakemore
Music/Sound:	n/a
Year:	1983
Rating:	★★☆☆
Disk:	Pegasis.d64 Pegasis.cjm
This game is compatible with the Comet64. more info...

After my recent review of Frantic Freddie II, I thought back to the original and it's publisher Commercial Data Systems (CDS). They were a small software company based in Saskatchewan, Canada, which only seem to have published a few games for the C64. I would speculate that, even though Frantic Freddie wasn't a well known game, it was probably their most popular. But, there was an ad within Frantic Freddie that did mention another CDS game that was “coming soon”, and that was the game Pegasis.

Until just a few years ago, I never did get around to playing Pegasis. But, I finally took the time to look it up and give it a try. It's a pretty respectable Joust clone, in which you ride a winged horse and attempt to knock your opponents off of their winged mounts. Of course, they're out to do the same to you. Pretty straight forward, if you've ever played Joust, by Williams Electronics.

In Pegasis, the playing field is completely open, with no levels or platforms to stand on. To fly, you simply hold down the fire button to flap your wings and use the joystick to direct your movement. If you fly to high, you'll bounce off the upper boundary of the screen, which can put you in a easy position to get picked off by your opponents. To knock your opponents off of their steeds, you need to hit them slightly from above. If you collide with them at either a level or lower position, you get knocked off your pegasis and lose a life.

Similar to Joust, once an opponent is dismounted, he will wait on the ground for a replacement pegasis. Fly over to him and knock him out before he remounts for some bonus points.

The first level is a good way to get your bearings with the game. But as the levels progress, the game really starts to get tricky. In Level 2, you need to watch out for these (what appears to be) little winged crab-like things that fly off, once you dismount an opponent. In Level 3 and onward, you really need to knock out the dismounted opponents quickly, as their replacement steeds show up almost immediately. There's also more opponents on screen at one time, as the levels progress. So, you'll find that the sky gets very crowded very quickly.

The game-play and mechanics of the game are adequate, but overall the game could have benefited from a little more attention to detail. The play field never changes (at least from what I've seen up to level 5). Apart from a couple of moving clouds, it's static and sterile. Some variation of some type would have been nice. Also, apart from the flapping of wings, the character sprites are also static. Rather than have your pegasis walk along the ground, when trying to knock out opponents, it just slides. Some sort of animated movement here really would have gone far.

One of the more unique features of Pegasis is that you can play two players simultaneously, which brings some welcomed variation to the game. You can combine your efforts at dispatching the other riders and you don't have to worry about knocking each other out; although you do bounce off one another if you do collide. Playing two players adds some much needed excitement to the game.

All in all, Pegasis is an adequate Joust alternative, but really needs some variation to keep it interesting and engaging. Simply adding more opponents on the screen isn't quite enough. I do enjoy playing it, but only for a limited time. Playing two players is the best way to enjoy this game.

★★☆☆ - Some sort of variation with different levels/backdrops would have really given this game some legs. And it really could use some more animation for the players. Playable, but would be more so with some improvements.

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