Powerdrome
| Developer: M. Powell | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Electronic Arts | Sound: |
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| Year: 1988 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Racing | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 2 by modem | Rating: |
5/10 | |
“Hey! Doc, I think we’ve gone back to 1988.
— Great Scott! The DeLorean’s flux capacitor must be malfunctioning!”
Powerdrome is a futuristic shuttle racing game developed in 1987 for the Atari ST. This Amiga version, if I’m not mistaken, received a few minor improvements as well as an extra race.
The ultra-sensitive controls render your craft practically uncontrollable. To make things even more interesting, you constantly have to monitor your altitude to stay within a narrow range. Too low: you crash; too high: you hit an invisible wall. The designers didn’t hold back in taking full advantage of this vertical axis, literally stuffing their tracks with winding tunnels. Imagine a flight simulator in a space reduced to a tube a few metres in diameter. Remember those Ace Combat levels where you slalomed through a canyon?
“We’re in 1988, Doc.”
Oh, well then Star Fox, those narrow tunnels inside cruiser-ships…
“The Super Nintendo didn’t exist, Doc…”
Damn! Did these people only know the flight sequences of Captain Blood?
Well, the spacecraft can be steered with a controller, but the manual advises using the mouse. I’ll give you the main controls to avoid wearing out your patience too quickly—you’ll need it!
With the mouse: right button to accelerate, left to slow down, both simultaneously to activate the turbo (and hit a wall in the following second). On the keyboard (Azerty): “E” to turn the engine on or off, “Q” to reposition in the middle of the track, “B” to call the safety shuttle (in case of a “breakdown”), “X” and “C” to decrease or increase the centering field, a sort of automatic stabiliser, very useful for beginners but considerably reducing speed, and finally “Shift +Q” to quit—you’ll thank me later! In “repair” mode, to change parts, overlay the numeric keypad on the screen image: keys “4” and “6” for left or right wing, “8” for the cockpit, “1” and “3” for left or right engine, and the space bar serves to exit.
Powerdrome includes seven circuits spread across several planets. You compete in a championship comparable to Formula 1, opposed by four contenders. A small part of strategy involves adjusting different ship parameters to suit your driving style, or choosing fuel type, or the nature of the filter (some shield supposed to change according to the type of atmosphere encountered and weather conditions: a poor choice exposes you to material degradation). And like in Formula 1, the races are long, too long… Expect a qualification phase, then 20 to 50 laps, with the ever-present pit stops to refuel and repair.
And like Formula 1, the races are long, far too long… Expect a qualifying phase, then 20 to 50 laps, with the inevitable pit stops for refueling and repairs.
“This is heavy.”
In any case, the sense of speed is good … for about a second. Then, you experience a second sensation: that of going through the windscreen head first, or what a ball must feel like in a pinball machine!
You’ll have understood that we’re dealing with a very demanding game that required much time and perseverance before deriving any enjoyment. I think this was intentional. After all, we need technical games too. Besides, you were given seven years to get your hand in before the release of the famous Wipeout (PlayStation, 1995), which would definitively eclipse all competitors in the genre.
Today, it obviously seems difficult to get into, but placed in the context of the time, there wasn’t much comparison.
Note: A homonymous remake was released in 2004 for PC and consoles (PlayStation 2 and Xbox).
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