Paradroid.

Paradroid.

A legendary game for the C64. Created by Andrew Braybrook. You take control of droid with the HID (Human Interface Device) – a lowly “001” droid. Your task is to clear a fleet of spaceships of the enemy droids, by going from deck to deck. In each deck there are several rooms. These contain computer terminals (for information and mapping), energy restorers(for repairing your droid from the effects of enemy fire), lifts and doors.

You can either destroy the droids with your weapon (a low powered laser at first) or take control of the enemy droid. This involves a mini-game. It is where the fun really begins. You have to over power the enemy droid using the best side of a circuit diagram to provide more power to the droid. Failure when you are a “001” unit brings death. If however, you are a higher level droid, you revert back to the “001” droid. There are several different types of droid in the game – each with their own different abilities (weapons, power supplies for the mini-game, etc). Higher numbered droids tend to be more powerful and deadly. Look out for a Dr. Who inspired one. You only have control of the droid for a limited time (less if you take damage), if elapses you go back to the “001” droid again. This does make the gameplay quite frantic at times, but also engaging. There is no doubt that the difficulty level is set high, and it is a shame that the game has no ending just a repeat loop. Nevertheless, Paradroid has some addictive gameplay. Coupled with some good graphics (the multi-way scrolling beats the “Paradroid 90” version’s on the ST and Amiga) and memorable sound effects. You could do far worse than play Paradroid.

  • 9/10
    Gameplay - 9/10
  • 9/10
    Graphics - 9/10
  • 9/10
    Sound - 9/10
9/10

Summary

Difficulty level is set high, and it is a shame that the game has no ending just a repeat loop.

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