Highway Encounter - Taking the robot for a walk
The year is 1985 and a copy of Highway Encounter by Vortex Software has found it's way into my house.
This is a graphically beautiful game, it features robots called Vortons ( which are not Daleks..hmm..according to my mother they were salt and pepper pots). Your little team of Vortons get to take a bomb for a pleasant stroll , through really good scenery (thirty screens of it ) , to blow up an alien base. Alien creatures and various bits of scenery will attempt to stop you. Lose one Dalek , whoops Vorton and the next in your little team steps up to continue the journey. It needs logic skills as well as fire button skills , as you can block certain aliens by the clever use of pushing an oil drum in their path. Or if you are Julie, you can attempt to traverse the whole game pushing an oil drum in front of you. (That doesn't work , well not for me anyway.)
My first memories of this game are being blown away by the graphics, not just the dal..whoops Vortons, but the landscape. Although the highway itself looks post-apocalyptic the plants underneath are beautiful and contrast really well with the stark white of the road way. But it's not too long before we meet the bad guys.
Now, for those of you of my age, you may notice another , possibly not so well known sci-fi character on this screen. (I'll give you a clue Benji, Zax & the Alien Prince ) . But of course this wasn't Zax, must have been a case of mistaken identity, just like those Vortons!
I loved this game, it had an element of puzzle logic, trying to work out how to get that bomb pushed across those screens. Plus trying to make sure at least one Dalek , oh okay , Vorton, was left to do the pushing so that the main character could make sure the path was clear. The grid on the highway enabled you to line up obstacles very nicely as well , no squinting required!
I loved this game, it had an element of puzzle logic, trying to work out how to get that bomb pushed across those screens. Plus trying to make sure at least one Dalek , oh okay , Vorton, was left to do the pushing so that the main character could make sure the path was clear. The grid on the highway enabled you to line up obstacles very nicely as well , no squinting required!
But what attracted me to this game ? Was it the gorgeous graphics ? Was it the puzzle solving element? Or was it the fact that I was quite simply mad about robots? I have a feeling that although I was blown away by the graphics and enjoyed the game play , it may have been the robot theme that kept me coming back. I always wanted a robot and as a child would always be on the side of any robotic character (Twiki from Buck Rogers, Rem from Logan's Run , C-3PO etc.) Even the Daleks from Dr Who fascinated me ( on the other-hand K9 the dog terrified me !)
Here was a game where I could control my own little team of robots , that did actually look like real sci-fi robots.
But locked in the memory of this particular game are memories of the science-fiction I was watching or had watched on the television. This game reminds me of The Tripods ( due to the game scenery) , Doctor Who (due to the Vortons), Benji Zax and the Alien Prince ( the aliens) , Day of the Triffids (some of those plants)...I could go on ....
I may have been getting my little Vortons to take a bomb for a walk to an alien base, but for me it is always going to be a walk through some of the best television memories a kid could have!
Here was a game where I could control my own little team of robots , that did actually look like real sci-fi robots.
But locked in the memory of this particular game are memories of the science-fiction I was watching or had watched on the television. This game reminds me of The Tripods ( due to the game scenery) , Doctor Who (due to the Vortons), Benji Zax and the Alien Prince ( the aliens) , Day of the Triffids (some of those plants)...I could go on ....
I may have been getting my little Vortons to take a bomb for a walk to an alien base, but for me it is always going to be a walk through some of the best television memories a kid could have!