Developed by Action Graphics and published by Activision in 1984. As a child, I remember that my parents had bought be a Spectrum +2 to replace my Commodore Plus/4 because it had a bigger software library. Unfortunately, the Spectrum just didn't work properly, or we simply couldn't fathom how to get it to work, so they took it back and bought a Commodore 64 instead; Beamrider happens to be the first game that they bought for me. I remember loading the game up and thinking that games couldn't get any better than than this! The graphics were basic, but it was the sound that really made it exciting, with the bassy throb as the ship left the hanger and the explosion when you managed to destroy the mother-ship with a torpedo! The objective of the game is simple: destroy the white alien spaceships with your laser whilst avoiding just about everything else. Collect the yellow bonus ships for extra lives, but be sure not to shoot them by accident or they will be destroyed. Movement is restricted to the each line in the grid. You can move horizontally, but not vertically, so the real challenge of the game is avoiding the enemies that can't be destroyed whilst trying to destroy the white saucer ships. The game is purely a quest-for-points; there are 99 levels, but you'll have experienced all enemy types once you pass level 14. Even if you do beat stage 99, the game just loops around to level 1 again. Considering the above, I figured nobody wanted to sit through a video of 99 levels of Beamrider and, as much as I liked the game, I have no desire to play 99 levels of Beamrider either! Therefore, I've played the first 30 levels, which should give you a good idea about what the game is like (difficult!). #retrogaming
