Commodore User


Blade Runner
By CRL
Commodore 64

 
Published in Commodore User #29

Blade Runner

Now listen carefully, because this is a bit complicated. Blade Runner is "a video game interpretation of the film score by Vangelis" says the box blurb.

How do you make a game around a piece of music? I hear you ask. That must have been a question that CRL pondered, as well, for at least five seconds. Their solution was simple: *you don't*, you make a game about Blade Runner the film.

In case you haven't seen it, it's set in the 21st Century. An advanced breed of robots, the Replidroids, are used as slave labour in the colonisation of other planets. Not surprisingly these near-human droids get cheesed off with being slaves. So they set up the Robot Liberation Front and mutiny on and off-world colony.

Blade Runner

The result: they are made illegal on Earth with orders from the government that they must be tracked down and destroyed.

This is where you come into the action, as the Blade Runner, a space-age bounty hunter who earns his keep by hunting out and retiring Replidroids.

The game has two screens. The first shows two maps of the city: a large close-up of one of the city's nine sectors, and a smaller, complete map. A grid shows the position of the close-up in relation to the other eight sectors.

Blade Runner

This screen is used to track the Replidroids. Press the fire button and your craft takes off - though this is difficult to see as it is no more than a tiny dot in size.

The aim is to find a Replidroid - shown blinking on the city maps and land on top of it. The screen now changes to a street scene.

Your ship descends slowly to the pavement and out hopes the Blade Runner. A bit disappointing has to be the first impression as you expect something like Harrison Ford - the original Blade Runner.

Blade Runner

Anyway, once the action starts you soon forget about the inadequacies of the graphics. The chase is on as you track the Replidroid Defender-style on the scanner. Once you get him in your sights, you let fly with your laser. More disappointment here I'm afraid - you can't see anything and there is no sound of gunshot either. Sure, the pedestrials fall to the ground as evidence of the laser strike - but a laser gun without graphics or sound... come on CRL, we expect better than that!

It's a pity about the laser because the street chase part of Blade Runner is quite good fun. Not stunning, but I did want to get those Replidroids once I'd gotten into it.

The music is excellent - at least CRL have done justice to Vangelis's soundtrack even if the game itself is disappointing when you consider the vast potential of a film like Blade Runner.

Blade Runner is another of those games like Friday The 13th that wouldn't be much cop at all without the title. It would be OK at £1.99 but not enough depth or lasting value for £8.95.

Eugene Lacey

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