■ Sometimes we think of Guardian and
weep for what could have been. It crept out
as a CD32 exclusive in December 1994, a full
eight months after Commodore had declared
bankruptcy and at a time when the CD32...
well, it was beyond its death throes and more
like in an advanced state of rigor mortis. As
a result, few people have ever heard of this
game. And that’s a shame, as it’s wonderful.
Guardian is essentially Defender in 3D.
A huge mothership drops off a flock of
‘Dronoids’ at the start of each level, and your
aim is to destroy them all before they blow
up all of the buildings you’re tasked with
protecting. But in addition to these Dronoid
bombers, there are all sorts of other tanks and
aerial ships with different attack patterns, so
the game evolves into a frantic dance in which
you constantly switch priorities between
downing aggressive attackers and blowing up
the Dronoids that are taking out the city below.
And it’s fast. Screenshots don’t really do
Guardian justice, the still polygon slabs giving
no hint as to the smooth but hectic gameplay.
Your ship is incredibly agile, and blessed with
a joyous flip manoeuvre that allows you to■ DEVELOPER: ACID SOFTWARE ■ YE AR: 1994double back and take out pursuing enemies
in a satisfying shower of triangles. The flat,
untextured polygons might look basic by
today’s standards, but 3D games were in their
infancy back in 1994, and there were hardly
any titles like it at the time.
Many people compare Guardian’s
polygonal looks with Star Fox, which was
released around a year earlier for the Super
NES, but really the games couldn’t be more
different. Whereas Star Fox is a fairly sedate
on-rails shooter, Guardian provides fast-paced
arcade thrills with complete 3D freedom. And
once you’ve successfully wiped out all the
waves of attackers, your craft is swept into the
belly of the mothership for a final showdown.
If you can take out all of the glowing cores
inside, the massive UFO explodes while you
flee, victorious, ready to face the next wave.
There’s some variety to the look of the
different levels, with the green fields of
level one replaced by pyramids later on. But
really the main difference is in the numbers
of enemies you face as you progress, with
increasingly deadly types of foes introduced
as the game goes on. Like its inspiration,Guardian is a test of nerve: there’s no save
game to fall back on, and each session is a
frantic back and forth between defending
yourself from fighters and taking out the
Dronoids that are destroying buildings below.
The game’s New Zealand-based developer,
Acid Software, was also responsible for the
phenomenally good racing game Super
Skidmarks, and it converted Guardian to the
Amiga 1200 a few months after its CD32
launch. But that version is a poor cousin to the
CD32 original, lacking music and sacrificing
frame rate to keep the game running at a
decent clip. The music in particular is a keen
loss, as Guardian throws out some pretty
fantastic tunes. In short, Guardian is the
CD32’s killer app – it just arrived a little too late.» [CD32] Ignore the Amiga 120 0, por t as Guardian on
the CD32 is the real deal.GUARDIAN
INTERESTING GAMES
YOU'VE NEVER PLAYEDReleased in September
1993, the Amiga CD32
was Commodore’s
last roll of the dice –
eight months’ later,
the company was
bankrupt. The vast
majority of the CD32’s
nearly 180 games are
straight conversions
of old Amiga titles,
but it’s also home to
some hidden gems and
superior versions of
certain gamesWords by Lewis PackwoodAMIGA CD32