The story is set in the year 2103, in which Space Trucker Tully Bodine (played by Barry Primus) is looking to make one last big gig before finally retiring. Opportunity then presents itself: While on the Moon, he's approached for a job hauling a cargo of camels to Mars. However, he soon runs afoul of the local sheriff, who has an old grudge with him. It quickly becomes apparent that there's more at work with this last job than he might have thought...
The gameplay consists of rail-shooting enemies, selecting the routes to reach the destination, and managing the Loadstar's Deflector Shields to deflect any fire. The game is also notable for its live action cutscenes.
Loadstar provides examples of:
- Attack Drone: Most of the enemies are robotic police drones.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Each boss has several weak spots the player must destroy to defeat it. Most of them are its weaponry.
- Boss-Only Level: Level 4 consists exclusively of fighting the Scorpion while flying away from the Moon.
- Boss Tease: During each stage, the level's boss will sometimes appear in front of the Loadstar and fire a few shots at it before flying away.
- Deflector Shields: The Loadstar has energy shields to deflect any oncoming fire. They must be manually switched on by the player and recharged over time. This makes the timing of their activation and deactivation extremely important.
- Game of Chicken: In the third level, one of Tully's rivals constantly plays a game of chicken with him by showing up in front of the Loadstar and attempting to ram it head-on. If the player fails to switch lanes in time, they will instantly lose a life.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: At the end of the second level, as the Moon police search for him, Tully decides to take the Loadstar for refuelling at a police depot, reasoning that it'll be the last place they'll look for him. He's proven right, as there's nobody there when he arrives.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: When Tully expresses disdain for the robots performing maintenance on the Loadstar by referring to them as "things", Mort (who's an AI) asks him if he also refers to the latter as a "thing" when he's not around. Tully answers that he never talks about Mort when he's not around, which causes the latter to display a shocked face.
- Inspector Javert: Sheriff Whompler has an old grudge against Tully, dating back to when they went to the academy together, because they used to be in love with the same girl. As such, he's all too happy to order Tully to be arrested when he finds out the latter is hauling stolen property.
- Left Hanging: The game ends with some plotlines unresolved:
- We never learn what caused the explosion near Charon seen in the opening cutscene, but it's hinted that Tully's haul job is somehow connected to it.
- According to Sheriff Whompler, the camels transported by Tully were stolen from a lab. It's implied that their theft is part of a larger conspiracy, of which we see nothing in-game.
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": Tully uses the password "Surrender Dorothy" to try to open the gates of the police depot. To Mort's surprise, it works. Tully then says the password is the same all over the Solar System.
- Schizo Tech: The use of camels on Mars baffles Tully. Mort then explains to him that their resilience and adaptability make them perfect for traversing the Martian terrain. He even shows Tully a picture of a camel wearing an EV suit in front of a Martian landscape.
- Sequel Hook: In the ending cutscene, the Loadstar successfully evades the police and leaves the Moon. The next scene shows it arriving at Phobos with the police in hot pursuit. Then, a "Stay tuned" message is shown on the screen.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Tully's job contact disappears suddenly, without any explanation, when Tully turns his back to him. This leaves Tully very confused.
- Stripped to the Bone: One of the death cutscenes shows Tully's flesh being stripped from his skeleton as the Loadstar explodes.
- What a Piece of Junk: Tully's job contact calls the Loadstar a "junk truck" when he first sees it. Tully takes offence at it and starts enumerating all the modifications he's made over the years, remarking how fast and durable it is. Considering that during the game, it goes against military-grade vehicles like the Scorpion and prevails, Tully's praise had a lot of merit.
