Unlike other games, Zaxxon puts you on the offensive, bringing the war to the aliens. Destroy the enemy's equipment and weaponry, both among the asteroids and out in space, and then face off with the Zaxxon robot itself!
Each level of Zaxxon takes place across two asteroids, with a space battle in between. The first asteroid is full of enemy placements to blow up, including fuel tanks, laser cannons, radar dishes, and even parked enemy ships. The first time through, only the forward-facing laser cannons will fire back at you, but everything is deadly to crash into, including the rockets that continually fire upward into space. You must also keep low to the ground, otherwise you might find yourself on the business end of a homing missile! In higher levels, the side cannons and the parked ships will also fire at you, requiring you to navigate even more carefully.
With the first asteroid left behind, the enemy fleet, or what's left of it, will come after you in space. Avoid enemy fire and collisions as you wipe out the fleet, along with any satellites that happen to cross your path. Altitude is important here, because the enemy ships will attack at all heights, and often change heights as they zip through space. Fortunately your ship comes with a targeting system that will chime when you have an enemy ship in your sites. Just remember that also means they have you in their sites!
The second asteroid has the same enemy placements to destroy as the first, but here, each section of the asteroid is divided by a wall and force field, with only a small gap in the wall allowing passage. Make sure you don't let the wall get too close as you're blowing things up, or you might not reach the gap in time!
At the end of the second asteroids waits the robot Zaxxon, a near-invincible hulk of machinery armed with a homing missile. Zaxxon does have one weak spot, in the arm that holds and fires the missile. If you can shoot that spot often enough before the missile launches, Zaxxon will be destroyed! But if the missile launches, you at least have a few seconds to destroy the missile before it destroys you! Either way, the level will be complete, and then you're off to the next level and the next pair of asteroids, where Zaxxon will wait to duel with you again!