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Inspired by Mandroid, released in 1988 by CRL, Droid Buster is a noteworthy game, despite the fact that the title it is based upon is certainly not a masterpiece, quite the contrary in fact...

You play as Frank Talbot, a man armed with cyber punches capable of destroying the fearsome droids animated by the Arcon defense system, which artificial intelligence has triggered a deadly attack on humanity (echoes of Terminator, maybe?). For this peculiar characteristic, Frank is known as "Droid Buster".

Moving through a maze consisting of about 40 screens, you have to punch the enemy droids on each one of them, eliminating them all in order to open the door that will give you access to the next screen. Some droids will always be vulnerable, while others will only be under certain circumstances. In other screens you will have to free prisoners by hitting the doors of their cells.

The maze is divided into four sections accessible through a central hub. As soon as all of them have been cleared, you will be able to access the final section, where you will have to destroy the central electronic brain.

From a technical point of view, graphics are somewhat sketchy but rather varied, without too much "colour clash", while Pedro Pimenta's music (AY only) accompanies you adequately while you wander searching for droids. Strangely, Frank only shows his profile although he can also move up and down, and this limits our possibilities of action: it would have been better to be able to hit the enemies from those directions too.

Furthermore, having just one life seems inadequate, since it is enough to touch the enemies to quickly see our already limited energy drop noticeably.

In any case, with Droid Buster, Ariel has made a significant leap in quality compared to his first title, Pumpkin Poe. Ad maiora!