Defenders of the Earth Longplay (Amiga) [4K]

Developed by Enigma Variations and published by Hi-Tec Software in 1990

I longplayed the C64 version of the game a few years back, so I thought I'd give the 16-bit Amiga version a try.

Ming the Merciless has captured the Defender's kids, threatening to disintegrate them unless Flash Gordon and the rest of the crew abandon their attempts at bringing him to justice. Flash embarks on a rescue mission, armed only with a weedy phaser blaster for defence.

The inside of Ming's fortress is a meandering and confusing affair, chock full of guards and traps. he other Defenders can be summoned to bust down doors and overcome other obstacles, and Zuffy can try to hack computer terminals to laser defence shields and security barriers, although these activities will trip the alarm system, forcing Flash to fight a massive security droid, or even the deadly Octon.

I can't say I was particularly impressed, with the game playing very much like Kung-Fu Master with phaser guns, albeit more frustrating. My chief complaint is you simply cannot fire quickly enough to deal with the onslaught of enemies that approach from both sides of the screen, regardless of how many weapon upgrades you have; they definitely help, but the latter stages are still far too tough.

Credits
Coding: Mark Mason, Nick Tuckett (Nick Byron)
Graphics: Peter Tattersall
Music: Sean Conran

#flashgordon
#retrogaming
#amiga