URIDIUM

chaosmongers · May 2004

Does anyone actually like the Spectrum version of this game?

Or was it some sinister plot to make the Spectrum look silly trying to compete with the C64 version.

judasEZT · May 2004

I likes, and a lot infact.. I guess its less desesterately difficult than C64 version.

More over is fast and manta-fighter sprite is much better and beauty than C64 sprite.

_________________
it smelled like slow death in there.

[ This Message was edited by: judasEZT on 2004-05-15 19:34 ]

Bluce_Ree · May 2004

Funny you should mention it. This game got great reviews but I really hated it. It was too fast, graphics were poor and it was literally no fun.

chaosmongers · May 2004

I thought it looked very smart as a 'still' image when reviewed in magazines, but it just seems to play terribly.

judasEZT · May 2004

Im biased. my idols are ClintEastwood, HristoStoichkov, JoePesci and DominicRobinson.

chaosmongers · May 2004

Yes, Clint Eastwood is my favourite Spectrum programmer also :)

hehe :) only joking!

Graftgold did some corkingly good stuff though. Rainbow Islands is a great game.

Neil^P · May 2004

I thought I was the only one - when Uridium came out everyone else seemed to love it, got great reviews - but I didn't like it at all.

Hard to identify quite what is wrong with it - good graphics, smooth scrolling - i think it's just something about the way it plays that stops it being fun at all.

chaosmongers · May 2004

Yes - it's that undefinable something that makes the game no fun to play.

Andrew Braybrook was a damned fine programmer.

I also love his game ALLEYKAT too - shame that never made it across to the Speccy, though i guess the ridiculously fast hardware scrolling may have had something to do with it.

Spector · May 2004

I don't think the game itself is that great, whatever version. The Spectrum version plays quite well in fact. The C64 version is the main one though, and that's the one I've played most recently. In saying that, the C64 version is so bloody frustrating. I just think it's too fast - I was ready to throw my control pad at the screen after being killed while trying to land for the 20th time.

Alessandro Grussu · May 2004

Uridium rocks. Period.

TMR · May 2004

Hmm, i'm the token C64 guy but i liked Speccy Uridium quite a lot, it's a good bit of brain off blasting and, although it's a little slower to play than the C64 version, it still feels nice. Not the best Speccy shooter going but certainly one i'd put a little time into playing every now and then.

thx1138 · May 2004

I gotta say I prefer the C64 version, in fact I did a temporary trade of my BBC Master with my brother so that I could play the C64 version at the time.

Refrenz · May 2004

<Cast mind back to Nov 1986> I made a double purchase of Thrust for ?1.99 and Uridium for ?8.95 Littlewoods, Cardiff (when they actually had a decent computer section) and enjoyed it, although it was quite difficult. Sigh, them were the days.</Cast mind back to Nov 1986>

Neil^P · May 2004

I remember going around all the computer shops in Cardiff - back in the good old days when games used to sometimes appear on the shelves without months of previews in magazines/tv etc - so it was actually exciting to go shopping for games cos there would be loads that I'd never heard of.
Best speccy game shop in cardiff was the one on the Hayes called The Computer Shop - i think it's a camera shop now.

Arjun · May 2004

I liked Uridium on the Speccy compared to the C64. It's pretty fast and has clean graphics but is damn tough. Nice conversion but it's not really one of my fav side scrollers.

Yednab · May 2004

I loved Uridium on the speccy, a damm fine game imho. Hard game though as some of the twists and flips you needed to do on the later levels to gain enough height to get over the walls was very tricky. You need fast reactions and a good memory for what was coming next.
One game you couldn't fly through at full speed!!

MartinUK · May 2004

The C64 version was defiantely better, even considering the differences in specifications. The controls on the Spectrum version were sluggish. Apparently the Amstrad version was the best one, but I haven't played this.

judasEZT · May 2004

if you want smhing similar to Uridium you could try Zanthrax .. its like Uridium but in vertical format. It moves quite well.

If you discover how to past the levels tell me please, becoz I have no clue.

_________________
it smelled like slow death in there.

[ This Message was edited by: judasEZT on 2004-05-18 11:23 ]

Alex_Lux · May 2004

On 2004-05-16 09:45, Alessandro Grussu wrote:
Uridium rocks. Period.

As you've read, if you're into an challenging game, if you'd like to build your skills through gameplay (good learning curve) -

Uridium ROCKS. Period. [1]

[1] I still remember that my girlfriend from that time, called me once after school, and tell that she have some difficulties on 10th level (!!!) of Uridium (she bought Speccy one week before that!!) and asked me for help... I was curious to see that (as my 'so far' best score was 8th level)... and she had show her capability to reach there (L10)... now it was my turn to show 'champion skills'... ummm, errr, somehow I managed to change topic ;) [2]

[2] and by that, defend my gamer's reputation :)

TMR · May 2004

On 2004-05-17 14:21, MartinUK wrote:
The controls on the Spectrum version were sluggish. Apparently the Amstrad version was the best one, but I haven't played this.

i gave it a try in an emulator a few months bac, it's graphically a dump of the Spectrum version with a bit more colour but it's less responsive on the controls. Speccy version in preference any day...

Refrenz · May 2004

Well there's a surprise - an Amstrad game that sucked! :lol:

Tom-Cat · May 2004

What did you expect of the CPC version? It uses scrolling - still haven't seen ANY CPC game that has smooth scrolling. Basically it has to move A LOT more memory around to make the screen scroll than the Speccy version (the C64 one, ofcourse, uses hardware scrolling - also the reason why Uridium is the best on the C64).

TC

TMR · May 2004

On 2004-05-19 07:34, Tom-Cat wrote:
Basically it has to move A LOT more memory around to make the screen scroll than the Speccy version

An extra 9K give or take, it uses 16K a screen regardless of the mode if memory serves.

On 2004-05-19 07:34, Tom-Cat wrote:
(the C64 one, ofcourse, uses hardware scrolling - also the reason why Uridium is the best on the C64).

Sorry to be a little pedantic here (force of habit =-) but the C64's hardware smooth scroll only moves a distance of 8 pixels and everything after that is done by brute force with the CPU...

Tom-Cat · May 2004

Yes, 16k for any screen mode on CPC - shitloads of RAM to move around for scrolling... doable if you do it in a smaller window.

Well about C64 - the screen shift is all you need to get a great scroller... besides you could do that in a semi-text mode which means you had to change only 40*25 bytes for the whole screen (ok *2 with the attributes) ! also there were multiple possible video pages and some programers took advantage of that. There were tricks to get the whole screen scrolling in 50 frames/s and have enough cpu left to do the music and all the logic - most shooters on C64 prove that.

TC

TMR · May 2004

On 2004-05-19 12:08, Tom-Cat wrote:
There were tricks to get the whole screen scrolling in 50 frames/s and have enough cpu left to do the music and all the logic - most shooters on C64 prove that.

Yeah, i've got my own titles that use double buffering and shift at 50FPS (as well as a couple that use single buffering from the "olde days") - s'just that saying "hardware smooth scrolling" in that context makes it sound like it's a lot easier than it actually is. The Atari 8bit, on the other hand, really can shunt an entire screen around without breaking a sweat with hardware scrolling.

Paul van der Laan · May 2004

From a technical point of view I think Uridium is impressive. But somehow the gameplay leaves me quite cold. I guess I find it too difficult.

What's the difference between Uridium and the Uridium Plus counterpart actually?

TMR · May 2004

On 2004-05-19 16:22, Paul van der Laan wrote:
What's the difference between Uridium and the Uridium Plus counterpart actually?

New and more difficult levels and, if memory serves, AY sound support...? [Edit] no, either the TZX i have is "faulty" or there's no AY sound. =-)

[ This Message was edited by: TMR on 2004-05-19 16:44 ]

+CotL-DS · May 2004

Gameplay's flawed. Even on the original. Don't know what to shoot, aliens move too fast, hanging around frustratingly not knowing when to land. It's flawed. I agree. Great programming but shite game.

SpecMem · May 2004

Uridium on C64 was actually one of just a few games that I managed to play through back in the 80's (through the 15 or so levels, then it of course started to loop through the levels again, if I remember correctly) and as Alex L. mentioned, the learning curve was great.

Andrew Braybrook really knew, how to create atmosphere and enjoyable gameplay (Paradroid was another great one). Actually, IMHO at that time Andrew Braybrook was for action games the same as Mike Singleton was for strategic adventures in regard to atmosphere.

SpecMem

Arjun · May 2004

At the risk of going OT, talking of Mike Singleton, did anyone actually play Dark Sceptre? I remember being impressed with the reviews in the mag, but when I being playing it I was rather bewildered with the size of the game.

Back to topic: I wonder if gameplay would have been vastly improved in Uridium with the addition of powerups? As it is you are just shooting and moving back and forth in all levels. Can get rather dry after sometime especially after the millionth time you run into an obscure barrier.

judasEZT · May 2004

Well, in amiga there is uridium2 and it have powerups. Is nice get homing misles and new lasers.

Ive been playing that Zanthrax I told above and its very nice. You enter in a shop in middle levels and you can buy and sell new weapons.
Sound FX and music are not Ay (I guess, its in 48k mode) but worths to listen are veeery good. and has speech at the title.

URIDIUM

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