1983 Hudson Soft (Japan)
by F. Itagaki
This is the hardest game Hudson Soft released. Its also not the best produced either. Nevertheless the game can became very addictive if you are patiente enough to discover the little trick in destroying the Hectolien monsters. There are 2 steps to get rid of each monster. The first is to fire your laser beam followed by a second move where you must drill into the monster so he gets reduced to dust. Your job is to destroy each Hectolien monster and avoid them getting into the palace or you lose the game, you must also avoid the Ikedanien crabs if you dont wanna lose a life. Its a shame the game doesnt play faster or smoother but I think the people behing Hudson Soft were still exploring simple programming skills.
For 1983 I think this was decent enough. But once you discovered other goodies like Manic Miner or Chuckie Egg and how fast and fun a Spectrum game could be, 'Itasundorious' would rapidly be forgotton.
2,5 stars
Note: By the time I wrote this review I noticed the authors name in 'Stop the Express' wasn't atributed. I think I have some clues that maybe lead to F.Itagaki. Notice the first syllable in both Itagaki's name and Itasundorious (game). And as you all remember in 'Stop the Express' you were aboard the Ita Express.
Coincidence? Was there just a colaboration between programmers? I dont know, but it sure looks like F.Itagaki was involved in the game.
