Posted by Super Turrican on Aug 23, 2010 17:28 (Aug 23, 2010 17:28)
Back in the days when Team 17 were capable of turning their hand to anything on a gaming system, they went and produced a shoot ‘em up that would have been greatly accepted in any of the main studios that produced those genre leading titles. R-Type, Salamander, Gradius and so on were all console and arcade bound and when any did make it onto the Amiga they never really got the port that they deserved.
Turns out we didn’t need them because Project X was just as good as anything at the time, albeit with such a difficulty level that it would melt the nails that it’s meant to be as hard as. It had a Gradius style weapons system, with the space bar acting as your selection tool. Speed increases and weapon upgrades were all there, not to mention the funniest (for all the right reasons) Plasma vocal I have ever heard in ANY game before or since.
There were only ever 5 levels in the game. Most people couldn’t get past the second one, let alone finish the game; such was the title’s huge difficulty level. A budget release produced a special edition with a toned down toughness and cheats were thrown around here and there, but it certainly knew how to produce a challenge, which these kinds of games pride themselves in being.
It’s still as hard as ever and could show the other sh’mup with an X in its name, the PSN’s Soldner-X a run for its money. If there was EVER a series that Team 17 needed to go back to (they haven’t since the sequel on the Playstation) then it is this one. One of my all time favourites and a contender for the top 10, let alone top 50, but I am a big arcade fan, so go figure.
I used to walk the dog past Team17's offices a lot and many a time I used to imagine them making Body Blows, Project X, SuperFrog and other Amiga favourites of mine in years gone by.
Must fired up the A1200 and give ProjX a blast. I bet I am even worse at it now than when I had younger, faster reflexes
I'd say they've freed themselves up recently, but I bought Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust, and it's one of the most broken games I've ever played... and I've played some terrible games in my time.
OUCH! You're opening line is a tad barbed isn't it? You wouldn't be suggesting that Team 17 has been stuck in a gaming rut for more than a decade or so would you?
May 25, 2011 00:27:01 (
258 days ago
)
