The Killing Game Show

A fabulous looking, fast-paced platformer on Amiga from the creators of Project Gotham Racing and the XBL classic – Geometry Wars.

The protagonist is a little robot, capable of running (duh...), jumping and climbing, as well as shooting things with its twin cannons. There are 8 levels – 2 stages each – and your goal is to make your way from the bottom to the top of every one. There is a time limit in a shape of water (according to the story that thing is actually some ultra-destructive liquid, but... who gives a spit, anyway?). At the beginning of each stage, you have about 10 seconds and then the water level begins to rise. Needless to say, the robot is not waterproof, so all it takes is one badly-timed jump or just running around a little too long and it’s over. Obviously, the creators thought that jumping on the platforms alone would be too easy, so they imbued the game with all kinds of puzzles – you need keys to unlock passages, press switches, avoid malicious traps. On the seventh level jumping is not allowed, so you need to utilize elevators and teleports to move around. Moreover, most of the second stages feature collectible items, for example gems, which give you additional scores. The really cool feature is the replay you get each time you die – while watching it, you may press a key to resume the game from any point you are currently on.

I did mention shooting things, didn’t I? The enemies come in formations (lines, actually) and shooting down the entire line awards you with a score bonus and some additional health represented by a tiny winged heart. Be careful though, as the heart is sometimes replaced with skull which is a health penalty. There are multiple types of ammunition scattered around the stages – each one is limited, except for the most basic one you begin the stage with, and you can carry only one ammo type at a time. The same thing goes with “tools” – these are various bonuses like the water freezer (it temporarily stops the water level from rising), the oracle (gives you good advice), health packs and keys. Again, you may carry only one of them at a time (each time you pick something up, it trades places with the thing you already have) so hunting for a certain shape of a key while having to open five different locks on the way can be a demanding memory and orientation exercise. The only, and I mean, ONLY thing to help you is the overall map of the stage which you can bring up any time and plan your route.

The game may look like a mindless shooter, but in fact, it concentrates more on thinking and taking quick decisions. It’s not particularly easy (the first time I played it, I was nine years old and it destroyed me), but is actually very fun to play. The graphics are outstanding on Amiga, especially the water reflections, just a little worse on Atari and Genesis; the music is decent and the sound effects are both strange and funny. Too bad you have to pick either sounds (the levels seem unusually silent) or music (just one tune on all the levels, which may get boring), not both of them, but well, the technology wasn’t there yet. One other thing to catch your attention is the opening cinematic introducing our cute little robot – very grim and of high quality, it reminds me of Walker.

There is some crazy story behind the game, but who cares? The point is, if you feel like playing something old-school, which requires more than just constantly tapping the “fire” button, look no further.