Hi there!

 

Finally I'm coming to another 16>8-Bit conversion of a Psygnosis game:

 

 

After writing about Barbarian and Menace in previous entries, I skipped some others, like Terrorpods or Baal, but this one looked playable again

 

Hm... how to explain the game, as it has two completely different faces, depending on wether you're playing alone or with a friend...

 

Let's start thinking of Air Hockey. That's it basically for two players. Both then control small arrows shooting little balls against a big ball. The first to score three times, wins.

 

There's all kind of stuff on the playfields, like beamspots, bombs, tunnels, walls, bumpers, etc.

And there's some extras laying around, although they usually don't do much.

 

Now to the solo player. There the major difference is added gravity. This essentially turns the game into some kind of flipper.

 

The major problem of the solo mode is that after 3 fields you've seen it all. And it's neither really challenging nor interesting to play.

 

The dubious ball physics don't help it either, so your progress way too often feels luck driven.

 

The rounds are short, maybe 1-3 minutes per level. Still it required all my will-power to bite through the 64 levels. Which was all for nothing in the end, as the game then just looped back to the first

 

Some future day the "Playing..." series may see another Psygnosis game in the form of "Blood Money", but first it'll continue with something else.

 

Greetings,

Manuel