Emulate! magazine is in no way associated with the University of Birmingham or the School of Computer Science. Address any queries about the content of Emulate! to the editor, Barry Plewa. Any queries about the content of other pages at this site should be addressed to the site maintainer, Damien Burke.
Evil pirates have ransacked the Federation's storage depots, stealing valuable minerals, jewels, ammunition, and the latest in battle weaponry. The player take the part of the brave Cybernoid, picked to retrieve the valuable cargo and destroy the pirate horde.
Apart from human adversaries, the Cybernoid also has to battle his way through the planetary defence system that the dastardly pirates have activated in order to stop the hapless hero from completing his mission. Add to that the time limit imposed on returning the cargo for each level, and it can be seen why only the brave - or the foolhardy - volunteer for these tasks. The cybernoid isn't entirely defenceless, though; apart from the standard lasers, his arsenal also consists of bombs, mines, shields (used to provide limited invincibility), bouncing bombs, and heat-seeking missiles. Needless to say that stocks of these items are limited, although collection of the yellow canisters occasionally dropped by pirate ships increases the currently selected weapons stock by one.
Other items that may be collected include the Federation's stolen booty, objects that alter the appearance of the player's craft and extra external weaponry that can be used on the more difficult screens. As the Cybernoid travels through the pirates flick-screen territory, he is hampered by their activated defence systems. These take the shape of gun-emplacements, missile launchers and so on - tricky to pass, but easily eliminated with the extra weapons. Once a level has been completed and the cargo collected, the Cybernoid then heads for the level depot, where he is informed whether or not he has collected enough cargo to warrant being given a bonus. If not, one Cybernoid ship is lost, and the player is transported to the next level.
JOYSTICKS: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair
GRAPHICS: Cybernoid is so colourful and detailied you'd be forgiven for
thinking it was an arcade version.
SOUND: An amazing 128k in-game tune, as well as some impressive spot effects.
OPTIONS: Sound On/Off.
GENERAL RATING: The formula may be old, but everything else is new or
improved. Raffaele Cecco's best game to date - if only it were bigger!
PRESENTATION - 93%
GRAPHICS - 96%
PLAYABILITY - 95%
ADDICTIVE QUALITIES - 96%
OVERALL - 96%