Project-X Longplay (Amiga) [50 FPS]
21Developed and published by Team 17 in 1992.
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Al82_Retro
Add me on Google+: http://bit.ly/1tPwL1u
Note: I found a duplicate segment of video during the first bonus level. This is a new encode with the segment removed.
Link to Project-X Special Edition 93 Longplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tih1QIUG2WE
I remember seeing the first preview images of Project-X in Amiga Action magazine and thinking that they looked insanely good. I still remember the image in particular; it was one of the large missile-firing craft that was basically a windscreen and a massive set of rocket tubes underneath, resembling something out of Warhammer 40k.
There were high expectations and a fair degree of hype for the game as it was billed as the premier shoot 'em up on the Amiga, understandably so because the visuals were better than most of the dedicated arcade machines out there at the time.
I won't waste time on the game's story since it's covered in the video, so let's get straight on with talking about the actual gameplay.
Before play begins, the player has the choice of three different craft; each differs in speed and the maximum number of weapons that can be carried. The most heavily armed ship is also the slowest as you might expect, but there is a problem with this approach that we'll address later.
Unsurprisingly, Project-X is a horizontal shoot 'em up that pays homage to R-Type and similar arcade games, requiring the player to blast through wave upon wave of alien craft before doing battle with a boss at the end of the stage. Speaking of stages, there five in total (not including the bonus levels and the final trench run), each fairly lengthy in duration and packed full of enemies to destroy.
The game has an extensive power-up system where tokens can be collected from enemies and saved up until the desired item is highlighted at the bottom of the screen. A whole range of front cannons, missiles and goodies is available but the the most useful is undoubtedly the plasma. Unfortunately, the developers implemented a control scheme that purchased an item when the joystick is waggled from left to right; considering this is a fast paced shooter where the player is moving all the time and there is a huge amount of frustration caused by inadvertently purchasing unwanted items (I used a WHDLOAD version that allowed this to be disabled).
Another complete faux pas (in my opinion) is the fact that adding weapons to the ship decreases it's speed and also adds horrid inertia so you don't stop moving immediately. I can see logic behind making the craft more unwieldy as a result of attaching extra bulk, but this is an arcade shooter and not a simulator. The default craft ends up handling like a complete barge and avoiding enemies and bullets becomes an even greater challenge than it would normally be.
As if sluggish controls weren't bad enough, the rest of the game is bone-crushingly difficult. Even when fully armed, the sheer number of opponents can be overwhelming and will result in a quick and painful death. On the subject of death, you lose all your weapons after dying and get kicked back to the beginning of the last attack wave. It's probably this that breaks the game completely since there's simply no way to beat the enemy craft once you've lost your weapons and you might as well start over.
All of this combines to make the game a crushing disappointment in my view as the presentation, design and aesthetics are generally flawless; it's simply no fun to play and that's not good for any game.
As already mentioned, the game is a visual treat. The quality of the sprites, background art and graphics are phenomenal, each ship exploding in a fireball looks amazing; Rico Holmes was on top of his game here! The game also boasts silky smooth scrolling without slow-down and also features one of the biggest play areas (in terms of pixels) that I've seen on the Amiga.
As usual, Allister Brimble provided the majority of the music and sound effects with additional content from Bjorn Lynne. The music is good, but it's the sound effects that stand out this time as phaser bolts zap zing and explosions boom constantly from your speakers.
To give Team 17 credit, they listened to the criticism and released a revised version of the game called Project-X: Special Edition 93 a year after the initial release. This version allegedly tones down the difficulty considerably, removes some of the most awkward enemy waves and only reduces your weapons by one power level when you die. Even so, this wouldn't have been much consolation for those who bought the original version and would have had to pay for the special edition if they actually wanted to get past level two!
In summation, Project-X dazzles with stunning looks before kicking you mercilessly in the crotch with steel toe-capped boots.
#retrogaming