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» Cybernoid
It's the future, and humans have spread through the universe. Unfortunately, so have the Zoggian pirates. And of course they stumbled upon some of Earth's storage asteroids, so now Earth is down a shitload of cash, supplies, weapons, gems, and more. And now these damn Zoggians have made bases inside the asteroids, so they're in full control.

As it turns out, Zoggians are pretty clever, and a normal attack is out of the question. Luckily the humans have advanced a great deal in space combat tech lately, so now's the perfect chance to try out the latest tech: the Cybernoid!
This baby comes equipped with a laser blaster and, well, nothing more, as all the extra gear is on the asteroids, which, as you probably remember, are now owned by the Zogs. Oh well, time to head in and kick some ass. And as it turns out, you're the chosen one for the Cybernoid's first mission. Duh... You get briefed that you'll find several enhancements for your Cybernoid inside the asteroids, so you should have no problem killing off the pirates and saving the day.

The game itself is best described as a space shooter-maze-puzzle. Just about the only room without constant action is where you start out, luckily. Upon flying down the first tunnel, you are instantly assaulted by Zog pirates of all shapes and sizes. They spin, whirl, and bob, all while pummeling you with all kinds of nasty weapons. The first few screens are fairly easy to get through, and you quickly find some enhancement weapons for the ship. Turning another corner, you notice they've begun setting up all kinds of traps for you. Some seem like big plants, while others are towers that endlessly hurl fireballs at you. You'll even stumble upon indestructible constructs that you'll just have to avoid. They are simply invincible. When you progress into the inner levels, it gets increasingly hard to get anywhere. You see, the Zogs have put a devious trap in each room, so if you spend too much time in one room, the Zog trap will blow up everything on the screen, you included. Luckily your ship will warn you ahead of time.

There are several weapons and upgrades scattered around the asteroids: Bombs, seeker missiles, bouncers, shields, mines, rear-firing blasters, and last but not least, the cyber mace. Bombs just blow up stuff. When using the bouncers, four balls kick out from the Cybernoid and bounce around to kill Zogs. The shield makes you invulnerable for a short time, and you can throw mines all over the place to kill more Zogs. The best of them all, though, is the cyber mace. The mace will spin around your ship and bash any Zog coming too close. It's a must-have!

The cybermace and the rear-firing blaster are used automatically, but the rest you have to choose and activate manually. It's pretty easy, though; just choose a number from 1 to 5 and hold down the fire button, and it's done.

Cybernoid is a game of strategy and reflex, and within a short while you'll probably feel like hitting something. Some of the rooms require really good timing and planning, and you'll fail a zillion times on some of them. I played this game countless hours, getting practically nowhere, on the old C64. Now, if you're playing by emulator, thank the creators for the save state functions (if present, get VICE or something like that). It's really a nice feature.

The graphics are simply great. Bouncing, whirling, spinning, and bobbing all over. Lots of sprites and lots of everything else. It just looks so good. And on top of that there's a great music score by Jeroen Tel. Cybernoid is the complete package: It's fast-paced, has lots of action, lots of puzzles, and great graphics and great music on top of that. Simply a must-have.

» developer/publisher
Hewson
» year
1988

» screenshots
screenshot 1 - Loading screen
screenshot 2 - Main menu
screenshot 3 - Game start
screenshot 4 - Difficult passage

» downloads
everything (445 kb) - Includes the game in d64 and t64 format, the map of the first three levels, the music, and a cheat file.
the music (5 kb) - 1988 Hewson. I love this tune. It's cool, very good composition, and it fits the game well. Composed by Jeroen Tel, who is one of the best c64 composers out there, imo.