Terrestrial (Icon64) £9.99 - £44.99
Game title: Terrestrial
Game description: Captain Havoc is returning to his planet from the outer reaches of the solar system when he suddenly receives a transmission informing him that his homeworld has been invaded by an alien force. The planet’s only hope is a hidden base on one of the nearby moons that happens to be home to an elite group of soldiers. Captain Havoc is ordered to head to the hidden base and make plans to win back his homeworld. The game starts off in the space hangar where you board your attack craft and attempt to launch it out into space successfully. To do this, apply the thrusters while aligning the rocketship towards the hatch at the top. As you get closer to the hatch, it will open up and off you go. In order to take down the enemy command base, you need to destroy 3 shield generators beforehand. As you start making our way to one of the shield generators - the enemy sends out an attacking fleet. This takes you to stage 2 of the game where you need to take out the enemy fighters by blasting them to smithereens. Having dealt with the initial enemy attack, our craft is able to go into the city with the shield generators which then kicks off stage 3 - the canyon level. Here you need to destroy enemy units hurtling in your direction while avoiding obstacles such as asteroids. Eventually you will come up against the Protector Ship. Blast it with everything you have while avoiding the missiles raining down on you. Stage 4 brings us to the Cabal style of game play where your aim is to clear all structures in order to secure a landing zone. Temporary weapon upgrades are available that will make the process of bringing down building structures a little easier. Once the area is cleared, you move onto stage 5 which sees your tank being dropped off and your job here is simple - blast everything in sight in order to get to the shield generator. Once you get to the end, get ready to take out the shield generator. Once you have done this, you need to repeat the same process again two more times before you can take on the enemy command base. So it's back to launching another spacecraft and then repeating stages 3 to 5 again albeit with a slightly increased difficulty level. Once all three generators are destroyed, it is time to take on the enemy command. Again, you launch off in a spacecraft and go through more difficult instances of stages 3 to 5 with the completion of the tank round, this time seeing you do battle against the heavily fortified alien command base. Getting past this takes you to stage 6 where you battle the enemy guardians in a laser disc battle. Here we need to time our disc throw so that it bounces off the wall and into the back of the guardian. Completing this stage will take you to the final stage involving the big alien brain There are three difficulty settings on offer with the difference being the number of lives you start off with.
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Production - 85%
85%
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Fun - 50%
50%
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Depth - 75%
75%
Summary
In some respects, Terrestrial can be viewed as a greatest hits of 8-bit gaming with its mini-games paying tribute to classics such as Beach Head, Buck Rogers, Cabal and Raid Over Moscow. With a good deal of variety within its collection of mini-games, Terrestrial will contain something for everyone but you can’t help but feel that each of the mini-games fail to reach the heights of their inspiration title.
The game is well structured across its 7 stages and though stages 3 to 5 are repeated multiple times. The Canyon level is perhaps the most fun to play but some of the mini games (cannon battle against enemy fighters, cabal style and tank mission) feel like they lack the urgency of a battle taking place and can feel a little pedestrian.
Visually, the game is strong. Graphics are vibrant, detailed and everything moves about quite well, though I can’t help but feel that the art style is not necessarily consistent all throughout. Sonically, the game is let down by weak blasting SFX that sound more like shots are coming from a squeaker gun rather than booming cannons. To its credit, I do like the subtle background noise that some of the levels exhibit – it does add atmosphere to the overall experience.
At its easiest difficulty setting, the game offers a generous amount of lives which will ensure that all players should be able to experience at least one round of the first five stages, making the game accessible. It is quite a polished production featuring a some highlights but I feel it could have been much better if the pacing of the action was maintained at a high level throughout.
Overall
70%User Review
( votes)Pros
- Good variety of mini games
- Vibrant and detailed graphics
- Accessible game play
Cons
- Most blasting SFX lack punch
- Some mini games are a little slow paced and lack punch
- Each mini game is inferior to its inspiration game
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