G.Nius
| Developer: N/A | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Lankhor | Sound: |
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| Year: 1989 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Action | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
4/10 | |
A port of an Atari ST game released a year earlier.
You control a small robot trying to escape the wreckage of a multi-level spaceship (how many levels, you ask? I stopped on the 13th). You’ll encounter patrolling robots eager to dismantle you and a host of traps (pitfalls, trampolines, falling rocks…). It’s a sort of mash-up between Vampire’s Empire (for the trapdoors) and Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters (minus the bikini-clad damsels).
To climb to the next level, you’ll summon elevator robots by destroying all the “glowing beacons” (the only things that won’t attack you).
The isometric 3D perspective introduces some classic headaches: judging distances, dodging enemies (especially since your character moves only in four directions), and spotting exits—particularly those buried in the depth of field.
Limited ammo, poor visibility, endlessly respawning enemies, and the perpetual sense of running in circles are already frustrating enough. But what really gets me is the game’s cruel tendency to dump you one or two levels down every time you fall into a hole.
The level design is procedurally generated. It’s a jigsaw of about a dozen predefined room shapes, copy-pasted one after the other. Each room is populated with random bits of decor, and the walls change colour depending on the level. Clever, sure, but it quickly feels like you’ve seen everything the game has to offer.
Press “Escape” to start, use the joystick to move and shoot, and the space bar to jump (ah, the infamous keyboard-joystick hybrid standard).
Wait a minute—aren’t those first samples of the music lifted straight from Rody et Mastico?
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