|
Paradroid!
Maybe my bad English is unworthy for describing my favorite
shoot'em up game of all time, but this fantastic game
from Andrew Braybrook (Hewson) is an absolute miracle
of playability, challenge and thrill.
The
theme of the game is a robot revolt due to a malfunction.
All robot personnel on a fleet of spaceships have gone
crazy shooting everything in sight. There is only one
solution: all robots have to be exterminated. A parasitic
droid 001 has been boarded which, weak in itself, is
able to overrule other robots' circuits and control
their weapons for a limited time! Remote controlling
from the C64 you have to exterminate all robots on each
deck of the ship, by letting the 001 hop on and off
stronger and stronger robots and use increasingly more
advanced weapons.
Why
is the game is so good? The graphics aren't that appealing:
limited by the processor power, the robots are depicted
by single colored sprites (white for you the good robot,
black for the bad guys), indicating the typenumber of
the robot. So you'll have to use your imagination, and
also the playfield is shrinked to about half of the
screen. Soon though the numbers will come to life. There
is power in the great feel of speed, momentum and freedom.
You are able to steer your robot in all directions,
and meanwhile shoot in all different directions. You'll
be chasing robots through the ship, bumping into annoyingly
fast droids (302), being attacked by 6 others! You'll
control the power of heavy weapon power of top ranked
robots, or be on the run for them being rejected to
a 001 with low energy.
Paradroid
is a game with no compromise: if your 001 is dead, the
game is over. You'll have to switch from robot regularly,
before your energy is depleted! The unwillingness to
leave your war robot for a lesser model like a weaponless
servant often leads to an early end.. This is perhaps
the magic of Paradroid: it is almost impossible to complete
this monstrous game (I couldn't - not until the freeze
function on the PC-emulator), but each time you get
killed it somehow always is your own fault! You'll come
back over and over.. The numbers 476, 614, 742 and 821
will carry meaning for the rest of my life!
Submitted
by Ferdie
van Assche (15 July 2000)
Other
"Games of the Week!"
Home
|
