Trex Warrior: 22nd Century Gladiator
| Developer: N/A | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Thalion | Sound: |
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| Year: 1991 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Action | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
8/10 | |
Forget about Speedball; that’s yesterday’s news. The latest craze involves spinning endlessly around an arena, piloting a flying saucer (or at least something that floats) while a pack of heavily armed killer androids tries to singe your eyebrows off.
You’re Riano Bolar, a former contender left for dead two years ago, now back with a vengeance against the reigning champion. Incidentally, you’re also a dead ringer for Tao Pai Pai, though that’s unlikely to strike fear into anyone.
Your road to glory begins in Division 5, on some backwater planet. Blast enough androids to restore your reputation, climb the rankings, and eventually catch the attention of the local champion, who’ll challenge you to a duel. Win, and you’ll secure your ticket to the next division…
This is a 3D first-person shooter featuring “filled polygons”, controlled with the mouse (right-click + “forward” or “backward” to move, left-click to shoot, space bar to brake). Up to three enemies can appear on screen simultaneously, showering you with projectiles, yet the animation remains smooth—even with a relatively large “active area” displayed. The actual playfield is fairly compact, bordered by a wall. Oddly enough, I didn’t find this limiting; quite the opposite, actually—it cuts down on escape manoeuvres or time wasted searching for targets, shifting the focus to dodging and shooting. Combat feels more intense as a result. The arenas are dotted with one or two structures for cover, but the bonus for fast kills encourages risky, aggressive hunting in open spaces. What’s more, there’s no noticeable clipping, which is rare enough to deserve a mention.
As you progress, new enemy types appear, each with distinct behaviours (some leap, some fly, others punch you out in a fraction of a second). Upgrades for your ship can be purchased from the local vendor (big laser, bigger laser, missiles, and so on), providing a satisfying sense of progression. A save function is also included. I was especially impressed by the polish: animated sequences between levels, ambient messages scrolling at the bottom of the screen, and flashy visual effects like explosions or enemies teleporting in. This is a game that’s technical, responsive, fast-paced, and varied. What more could one want? Well, perhaps the sound effects could be less generic, but I’m told it was much worse on the Atari ST (the game’s original platform). A two-player mode wouldn’t have gone amiss either.
Strangely, the Amiga version of Trex Warrior was only sold in Germany and given away for free in the UK as a magazine cover disk.
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