Trailblazer
| Developer: Vision Beyond | Graphics: |
 | |
| Publisher: N/A | Sound: |
 | |
| Year: 1992 | Difficulty: |
 | |
| Genre: Arcade | Lastability: |
| |
| Number of players: 2 simultaneous | Rating: |
5/10 | |
I felt like mentioning this classic from the 8-bit computers (1986). It turns out there are several adaptations on Amiga, from the public domain. This one is very faithful to the Commodore 64 version and bears the same name, making it the perfect excuse.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away … a ball rolling at full speed on a checkered road, riddled with holes.
Reach the end of the course before the countdown hits zero. If your ball falls, it’s replaced endlessly at the cost of a few seconds. Some “squares” trigger special effects, like speeding you up/slow you down or reversing the controls… Be careful, jumps are limited in number!
It’s a very fast, highly repetitive, and brutally difficult game that requires memorising the tracks by heart. I’m not too fond of the split screen in “single player” mode, but I suppose they wanted to stick to the original version. However, of course, the fun is multiplied with two players.
Note that the bonus sequences present in the Commodore 64 version are gone. They involved repeating the ball’s movements, jumping from square to square, on a 5x3 grid. A variation of the Simon game.
Other clones on Amiga: Star Ways (1988, featuring a baby instead of the ball), Jump ‘n’ Roll (1990), RollerBall (1994). On PC-DOS: Kosmoaut (1990) and Skyroads (1993).
|
