Thrust


Another great game this one. You have a vectory 2D ship rotating around its axis, navigating through a planet on a mission to pick up a circly thinghy (a reactor iirc) and taking it off the planet to safety. For extra bonus, there's this building that always looked like a church to me (but it is in fact a factory) which you can shoot till it overloads and then make your escape before it going kaboom! You also have the option of blowing up the churchfactory and making your escape without grabbing the circle, but then the mission is declared a failure (yet you advance to the next planet).

Although you have a gun and can fire bullets, this game is not primarily about shooting. The ship is equipped with a tractor beam, which you use to transfer fuel from fuel pods (your fuel supplies are decreased every time you use the thruster to move around, fire a bullet to use the tractor beam itself) and grab the circle thinghy. From the point you grab the circle, the real fun starts, because your ship is tied to it. The centre of mass is not the centre of the ship anymore, but it is in fact about the middle of the distance between you and the circle. So, juggling both objects when you can control only one becomes a bit of a challenge. Now, add the element of caverns which at no point you or the circle must touch, and you've got a real challenge!

It takes a bit to understand how to play, but once you get past the controls, you're left with a really amazing game which few have tried to mimic back then .