Atomic Runner (MD, 1992)
Graphics-7 Sound-8 Control-5.5 Challenge-8 Story-5
Level Design-7 Frustration-9 Fun-6 Originality-6
Overall Score-6
+ Interesting concept (platformer+scrolling shooter), some fun weapons (homing missiles, rygar-like spike ball weapon), good art direction overall (well made Incan=Aliens theme, intro scene before the title looks pretty bad though as does the level map), story is cheesy fun, very clean drum samples, some good bosses, difficulty options, fairly evenly placed checkpoints, bounce on enemies' heads (some interesting parts where you need to bounce to not fall into pits), some large sprites, mostly improved graphics and sound over the arcade version, pretty intense action at times
+/- Auto somersault by pressing a direction when jumping (could've been more intuitive by letting you double press jump instead), homing missile is the best weapon in most cases, one hit kills (no shields or armor)
- Control issues (can't adjust jump height, can't move left (easy to miss power ups because of this), default controls aren't the best (C+direction to turn, when it can be just C), no diagonal downwards fire), trial & error (quick attacks from behind or above, you can actually jump through the lightning on the lightning traps, hard to tell if you're damaging the robot boss in its first form, final stage, boss patterns, boss entries and the wall that falls down behind you before some encounters), no weapon inventory or way to drop weapons at will (at two points if you have the homing missile you're pretty much screwed), repeats enemies a lot
Level Design-7 Frustration-9 Fun-6 Originality-6
Overall Score-6
+ Interesting concept (platformer+scrolling shooter), some fun weapons (homing missiles, rygar-like spike ball weapon), good art direction overall (well made Incan=Aliens theme, intro scene before the title looks pretty bad though as does the level map), story is cheesy fun, very clean drum samples, some good bosses, difficulty options, fairly evenly placed checkpoints, bounce on enemies' heads (some interesting parts where you need to bounce to not fall into pits), some large sprites, mostly improved graphics and sound over the arcade version, pretty intense action at times
+/- Auto somersault by pressing a direction when jumping (could've been more intuitive by letting you double press jump instead), homing missile is the best weapon in most cases, one hit kills (no shields or armor)
- Control issues (can't adjust jump height, can't move left (easy to miss power ups because of this), default controls aren't the best (C+direction to turn, when it can be just C), no diagonal downwards fire), trial & error (quick attacks from behind or above, you can actually jump through the lightning on the lightning traps, hard to tell if you're damaging the robot boss in its first form, final stage, boss patterns, boss entries and the wall that falls down behind you before some encounters), no weapon inventory or way to drop weapons at will (at two points if you have the homing missile you're pretty much screwed), repeats enemies a lot
