Here is something different, plus its box intrigued me with screenshots that appear to be a mix of Toobin' and Mystical. It's almost like those games had a baby - then dropped it, picked it up, wiped away the blood, and then dropped it again. You might laugh, but I really, really don't know what to make of this one.
Liberator is a vertical shooter that throws you into the cockpit of a Tactical Hover Gun Craft on a mission to rescue captured Federation comrades from aliens. Each stage has you blasting enemies and smashing open prison cells to free the captives, before diving through a warp gate to the next battle zone.
It might look tacky, but how often have we played a corker with bad graphics? Exactly. Let's play...
Navigate by alien wreckages, remembering to collect the ammo caches...
...while you kill the ugly aliens, of course!
It looks like a bad dream!
Having never heard of Liberator, I was clearly unprepared for what to expect, as shown in my video recording!! We start at the bottom of the level, and, as the screen scrolls, aliens emerge from the ground or approach us. While they’re easy to shoot due to their slow pace, they can attack in hordes, so stay alert!
Liberator was coded by Tim Moore, who gave us excellent games like Verminator and also the legendary Beyond the Ice Palace. Okay, everybody has to start somewhere, so I can only assume he learnt many lessons from programming this shoot 'em up? Ahem... :]
Reaching the end of level one is easy, and then it’s a matter of freeing a captive by shooting the bars of his cell. You’ll then be whisked away into psychedelic gateways leading to the next level. Disclaimer: As guys, we’re not exactly known for reading the instructions, so here is my advice: aim for the square that's flashing. It’s the only way to progress; otherwise, you’ll be stuck repeating the same level. Which is ridiculous!
Wanna see more screenshots? Well, tough, because here they are...
The aliens might be slow, but they're determined to play chase.
Surely, this is the silliest game you've ever seen?
Aesthetics
Visually, the Atari ST is being pushed to its absolute limits. No, not really, as it's pretty lame with poorly designed backgrounds and wandering aliens that you cannot help but laugh at. The scrolling is smooth, albeit with some occasional slowdown, which is odd because there isn't ever a whole lot going on.
The sound effects are quite poor but serve their purpose for shooting, picking up items, and so on. However, the music was created by Wally Beben, and it's shockingly bad. No, terrible!!! I don't get it. Wally is incredibly talented, with a raft of excellent tunes to his name, but what was he thinking here? Turn it off!
We've reached the end, shall we rescue the caged guy and carry on scrolling...
Free your man and then get ready for teleportation.
Make sure you choose the correct square!
The CryptO'pinion?
Liberator is fun for a couple of games. I came away thinking, "Hmm, not bad for 1987". Which is daft, because that era gave us Oids, Gold Runner, Plutos, and Ikari Warriors. All of which destroy Liberator!! Also, I noticed poor collision detection and landscape objects that blocked my movement and firing - Grr!!
Still, nothing is perfect (Liberator certainly proves that), but I must admit I quite enjoyed this shooter. I don't know why! Possibly because it's something I've never played before? But it's weirdly entertaining. Sure, it's not the corker I might have hoped for, but it is worth booting up just to experience something rather odd.
Still, nothing is perfect (Liberator certainly proves that), but I must admit I quite enjoyed this shooter. I don't know why! Possibly because it's something I've never played before? But it's weirdly entertaining. Sure, it's not the corker I might have hoped for, but it is worth booting up just to experience something rather odd.
It's cheap, tacky, pointless, and downright rubbish. Go, kill some aliens. Enjoy!
Grab the funky Zuul floppy disk from Atari Legend.
