Rubicon

16-Bit games are tough!

21st Century Entertainment released Rubicon in 1992 and it's something I've enjoyed playing for years. It's simply my kinda game as it's a ludicrous mix of platformer and shoot'em-up genres. However, I admit that I'm rubbish and fail to reach the third level - sometimes I cannot beat the first!! So, I've whacked on the trainer and played through to the end.

Developed by the Fingerbobs who certainly had a grim view of the future - by 2011 there would have been a nuclear accident which transformed the local wildlife into vicious mutations. Apparently, the situation is so bad that Finland and Russia were evacuated. Okay... it's our mission to kill everything before these creatures find a way to blow us all up!!

Hey, wanna see some amazing screenshots? Well, whatever you said, here they are...

Level one introduces us to the unfair mechanics so it's not long before infinite lives is enabled!!

But it's also now that you realise the beautiful artwork too.

I love level two with its enormous enemies and trapdoors which host something silly.

Oi, pick on someone your own size!!

Right, I'm impressed

The first thing that hits you is the tracker music which is stereo on the Atari STe and very nice. Why couldn't other developers go that extra mile? Anyhow, the aesthetics keep on getting better with superb in-game graphics: smooth scrolling across gorgeous landscapes with a wide variety of mutated monsters. The attention to detail is outstanding but animations are hit-and-miss because some are great whilst others are oddly void of any extra frames.

Sadly, slowdown occurs when particular (ie, ginormous) enemies are displayed. I must admit that I'm disappointed they didn't also utilise the Blitter along with the DMA - that would have helped! Curiously, this framerate drop occurs for unanimated sprites like the Ceratopia which is surprising after battling a screen-sized skeleton and a squid!

Anyhow, I can live with a little slowdown so let's check out more outstanding screenshots...

Level three continues the theme but in the snow! That tank driver should have ducked down...

Get out of that tank and fight like a man!

We're Pitfall Harry for level four with sinking stepping stones, spikes and lots of monkeys!

That is gonna hurt...................

I need a big gun!

This game is fun but throughout the seven levels, each is pretty much the same but with different graphics. However, I absolutely loved the last two levels which reminded me of Thunder Jaws and, of course, Aliens. Our hero has access to lots of weapons and the single-shot gun initially does the trick well but it's not long before you need to upgrade to something with a little more muscle because those bigger enemies are nigh on impossible to kill with your peashooter.

Weapons are generally excellent but the laser sucks. Thankfully, there are many other great weapons to choose from like the "Scatter" and "Napalm" (my fave). However, we start with zero ammo for everything other than our basic gun so must instead collect ammo boxes which are periodically dropped in. This isn't too bad but is made awkward because you must first press the required Function Key to choose your desired weapon before making the pickup. I would have preferred random types of ammo dropped which would save us from fumbling for the right key before it frustratingly disappears!!

Nothing makes more sense than a fun and senseless game of killing so let's so more of it now...

Level five is incredible with many obscure enemies so upgrade your weapons!

Check out my flame thrower. Take a closer look!

Level six takes us into deep waters and I dare anyone not to love every second of this.

I'll kill you and eat you for my dinner. Well, no I won't but I sounded macho!

The CryptO'pinion?

Rubicon is great fun but doesn't break the mould and is also stupidly hard at times, especially on levels two and three. Also, the gameplay is pretty much the same regardless of the beautifully designed environments. Having said all that, I really love this quirky platformer with its freakish enemies and huge monsters - levels six and seven are my favourites.

Yup, Rubicon is far from perfect but it's still bucket loads of fun and is definitely worth your time playing.

If you fancy going shirtless and flexing those rippling muscles before taking on the mutated hoard then you have a good choice: grab either the floppies or one of these versions for your hard drive: 8BitChip or D-Bug.

The final level has us battling Aliens, Facehuggers, giant eggs, and even the queen herself!!

Alien queen beast! What?? Yowzers!!

The ending wasn't exactly worth the effort and hmm, where have I heard that line before? ;)