Syd Mead's Terraforming for TG-16 CD

Image: MobyGames

Syd Mead's Terraforming

Visual futurism

Genre: shooter - horizontal

Publisher: TTI

Year: 1993

System: TG-16 CD

Gameplay Score: 3

Gameplay Notes:

I want to score this higher but the game powers you up so quickly and so completely that you don't have to do much. It takes six or seven power-ups reach full strength and taking a hit downgrades you by one. Each level has maybe 30 power-ups so even if you do take some hits, you'll be powered up again quickly. Once you get the seeker weapon, you can pretty much park yourself near the back of the screen and never have to move. There are four difficulty levels which help with this but still it's kind of boring.

Level Design Score: 4

Level Design Notes:

The levels are definitely a highlight. There's eight of them and each one has a very distinct look and feel and set of enemies. There's tons of variety in those enemies. Some aren't great, like stage 3 with volcanoes that flash the screen white when they erupt. It's a epileptics worst nightmare. But I do love the distinct biomes of each stage.

Theme Score: 3

Theme Notes:

There's no cutscenes or other story before the game or between stages, so I'm not sure what's going on here. It's a generic terrestrial based sci-fi shooter.

Art Style Score: 5

Art Style Notes:

It's not entirely my style but the visuals and art direction are something else. Like nothing else in the 16-bit era for sure. It looks like a PS1 game. The art looks like it's from an Amiga game. Heavy shading and rounding on everything. There's also a ton of sprite flicker. The stage 3 boss is nothing but flicker. But the futuristic sci-fi design of your ship and enemies is really impressive. Syd Mead was a visionary and this isn't awesome capture of his style. Layer up layer of parallax make the backgrounds pop.

Audio Score: 3

Audio Notes:

Each stage has its own song and they're all very good but definitely not my style. They're pretty chill or like chill butt Rock if that makes sense. It's like a gentleman's heavy metal. The sound effects on the other hand are really bad. The best weapon is the seeker and it is like fingernails on a chalkboard. I turn the volume way down just so I could minimize that sound.

Overall Score: 69

Review ID: 10038