Time Soldier

Let's kill people!

The conversion of Time Soldiers was released in 1989 by Electrocoin and is based on the vertically shoot 'em up not too dissimilar to something like Ikari Warriors. The story goes that Gylend has captured a few of our friends who are held captive in different time periods. So it's up to us to rescue them - gotta say I like the idea of the time zones.

I've not played the arcade game, but I see there is a slight name change - that means we're running solo. This would be understandable but we are given only one life which should make the quest rather difficult - unless the game is rewarding during play. Before beginning, we're given the name and location of our captured warrior - but the teleporter can send us somewhere different. Which is odd and means you gotta plough through to the correct portal.

So initial impressions are a little worrying? Let's take a peep at some screenshots...

I love the colour schemes throughout which nicely represent the original game.



Lots of action and even more death and destruction. I love it!

Shoot. Kill. Kill even more!

Each of the time periods has a change of graphics but basically follows the same format as you might expect. These areas are stuffed full of enemies that need killing, which is most satisfying. Those slain in battle leave goodies that should be collected for a power boost. Health can also be replenished that is needed because every contact drains you dry.

A boss is featured at the end of level and most are rather easy to kill. However, my power-ups sometimes ran out during the lead-up to this fight, which then makes it nigh on impossible to win!

There's nothing mind-blowing about Time Soldier; the gameplay is a cross between something like Wanted or Commando. I wasn't sure about the scrolling which often left me vulnerable to any baddies off-screen. I was never going to like the one-life aspect too so I'm beginning to pick flaws and I wonder who beta-tested this arcade conversion?

A good game that needed a little extra thought but that won't stop me from pushing some more screenshots...

Even Rambo wouldn't be able to survive this onslaught!



Those higher up have an advantage. But I'm still going to kill them.

Aesthetics

I like the graphics in Time Soldier; from start to end, it's colourful and detailed. The backgrounds are great but we also have some of the silliest sprites. Not so much their appearance but how they attack in waves which means the screen is often cluttered with bullets and explosions- which I loved! It's maddening and frantic and chaotic. Loved it.

Heck, the game is even making use of overscan without any negative impact on the scrolling. Which always remains smooth so I am very impressed with the technical efforts that went into making this action shooter.

The music is well-balanced against the sound effects and suits the gameplay well. Zero complaints.

Hey, one final run of screenshots...

The purple works a treat providing another environment that is unique and fun.



This looks scary and tough. Well, more tough than scary but hey, what more can be said about it?

The CryptO'pinion?

This game was fun to play! However, I had mixed feelings: I wasn't too keen on the scrolling method which can sometimes fail to keep up with the player. Also, having one life is very restricting and forces you down the road of a trainer. Don't get me wrong, it's quite an authentic conversion in many respects but this insane design makes it very difficult.

Having said that, Time Soldier is actually an entertaining shooter in its own right. The levels are always interesting and brimming with lots of meaningless gameplay. This is pure gun love and will provide a few hours of fantastic action. For all its flaws, I enjoyed this peculiar conversion a bunch. Just be prepared to play with a trainer for extra lives!

Time Cops can download for floppy or hard disk.

Commando

Elite did it again!

I remember trying to conquer this arcade shooter on my ZX Spectrum long before I got an ST. However, no matter how much I loved it, I sucked because it was so difficult. Thankfully, I've improved with age because I've finally beaten the first stage with its tricky soldiers. It's small victories like this that keep me going!

Unsurprisingly, our conversion has more glam compared to the Speccy. I think we received an authentic conversion with responsive controls, gorgeous smooth scrolling and everything is as spritely as it should be. The one-joystick/button method to control works well compared to the original arcade controls.

Commando is something I love and hate with equal measure so it's a good job this shooter is infuriatingly addictive. Highly recommended - if you can master its hideous learning curve!!

Grab a BB Gun and download Commando for floppy + hard disk.

Fernandez Must Die

Let's kill everyone!!

ImageWorks released this cool shoot 'em up in 1988 and is pretty much another Commando/Ikari Warriors clone designed to unleash our inner combat soldier. Every time I play, I'm reminded of those A-Team episodes in a dodgy part of South America. Just like the TV show, an evil dictator is causing havoc but B.A. Baracus refused to get on the plane! So we're on our own; grab a weapon and head out to the killing fields, soldier!

The war zone is stuffed with enemy soldiers and their slow-flying bullets that we can easily dodge. Our weapon of choice is a machine gun with unlimited ammo but we have a rocket launcher for extra firepower. Some buildings can be plundered by blowing off the door with dynamite which is useful in ammunition depots! We're not only on foot as vehicles can be utilised. And what's better than the option of mowing down a few soldiers?

The visuals are 1980s using a clean cartoon style for the soldiers and buildings. It's colourful and interesting to explore the terrain looking for enemies to blast. Not only that but ImageWorks didn't wimp out and employ smooth scrolling. The audio is great with sampled sounds used for the effects. No complaints from me.

This is one of those games I'm glad I bought because it's fantastic fun and highly addictive without ever taking itself seriously. Fernandez Must Die might have zero originality but it makes up for that with bucketloads of gun-love action. This is an awesome Commando shooter and possibly my favourite for the Atari ST!!

Get out on that battlefield, soldier!
Arm yourself with a floppy or hard disk.

Bullets flying and armouries to loot. This is just like being part of the A-Team!!

Watch out for sneaky soldiers hiding in the trees and also those operating gun turrets.

The action comes thick and fast and the onslaught of soldiers never ceases. Oops, I died!!

War Zone

Corr, another shooter!

War Zone is Core's attempt to take on the Commando genre by releasing a frantic shooter Rambo would be proud of. Sadly, it doesn't work because of its extreme difficulty - it's too darn easy to die thanks to poor mechanics. This is one of those moments when something looks and sounds better than it actually is.

What we have is nothing more than an average shooter which is disappointing because it looked great from the screenshots I saw before playing. The problem is the horrendous difficulty and I'm sure nobody tested before releasing it - what a shame. I'd stick with the likes of Fernandez Must Die, Ikari Warriors, and Commando.