One of the best arcade shmups on both the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum was given the sequel treatment on the Commodore Amiga.
Uridium 2 was released in 1993 and was a more than worthy follow up to CraftGold's original from the mid 1980's.
For horizontal scrolling arcade action, the Uridium games were up there with the best - and the Amiga was the perfect piece of kit for the likes of this classic game.
So, in 1993 Andrew Braybrook (a Commodore 64 programming legend) created this for our favourite 16-bit machine. What a thoroughly nice chap...
The whole story to the this arcade game ran on similar lines to the first one (see Uridium ZX Spectrum), meaning those nasty aliens in their huge dreadnoughts were back. Once again they wanted to tap into planetary cores and drain them of valuable minerals to use as fuel for their behemoth ships.
Of course this would destroy the planet, and we can't have that now, can we?
So, here you came to save the day again. Just you and your trusty Manta fighter standing between mankind and alien anihilation. Sounds pretty epic to me.
One tiny ship against a bunch of huge battlecruisers seemed a little unfair - but the nimble Manta was capable of outwitting each ships defences and bringing those mothers down.
You had to skim the surface of the dreadnought and blast away the surface defences, evade homing mines and also take out waves of enemy fighters. Sometimes narrow 'gaps' in the ships structure had to be negotiated by flipping the manta onto it's side, allowing it to squeeze through unscathed.
In true arcade game fashion power-ups were available for destroying complete waves of bad guys, which would give you temporary shields, air to surface bombs, and various weapons upgrades. Aside from the improved graphics and sound over the original game, this added some nice variety to the action.
Once you had destroyed enough fighters and surface installations it was time to land your craft and enter the ships reactor core...
Here you would don a backback and go E.V.A to destroy the ships core which sent the whole thing into meltdown. Nice change of backing music here too. There was also the chance to pick up a power-up at this point which you would take into the next level (dreadnought).
The surface of each ship was lined with gun turrets, docking bays (where ships would sometimes sneak out of and try to shoot you), radar jammers, homing mine launchers and high walls which you had to avoid at all costs.
The game was over when you lost all of your lives or if you managed to take down every one of the alien ships. There were fifteen in total as I remember.All in all this is a fine scrolling arcade game that really showcased what the Amiga could do in the hands of a talented coder.
Just like the original game it was extremely playable, superb to look at, addictive and had the all important pumping soundtrack.
If you like arcade games and a challenge, then this game is for you. In fact - this game is for any fans of shmups.
We recommend getting hold of the real Amiga hardware - but if not then download an Amiga emulator and download Uridium 2. Alternatively you could try and play it online.
Please see our other Amiga game reviews - all links are listed in alphabetical order. Cheers guys
GENRE: Arcade Game (Scrolling shoot em up game)
RELEASE DATE: 1993
RELEASED BY: Renegade Software
DEVELOPER(S): Andrew Braybrook, Jason Page, Simon Sheridan, Mark Bentley, Stephen Rushbrook, Colin Seaman
PRICE: £25.99 - UK
Classic scrolling arcade action...
Classic Games, Arcade Games and Amiga Games
