Paradroid (C64)

Game Profile

The droid crew of a galactic space freighter have turned against their masters and eradicated every human crew member!

A prototype droid named "Influence Device" has been beamed aboard the ship to help you regain control of the situation. Use the Influence Device to destroy the droids by shooting or ramming them.

Take temporary control of an enemy droid's circuitry to use its energy and armaments against its own kind. Your aim: Eliminate all droids on each of the space freighter's 16 decks!

Game Review

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Review

USA Thu, 22 May 2008 by Dion Guy

The droid crew of a galactic space freighter have turned against their masters and eradicated every human crew member!

Legendary amongst C64 fans, and one of the highest rated games of the time, Paradroid’s depth of gameplay has kept it a firm favourite over 20 years later.Loosely categorised as a shoot-em-up, this description belies the subtle complexities to be found..

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User Comments

KeeperBvK

1. KeeperBvK Germany 08 May 2008, 15:00 BST

Ohhh, the game everyone seems to want. ^^
This really might be the first C64 game I'll be getting.

Serpent

2. Serpent United States 09 May 2008, 12:49 BST

Same here, I want to see what the big deal is with this game.

Tony

3. Tony United States 09 May 2008, 17:23 BST

Looks sorta confusing

Charco

4. Charco Ireland 12 May 2008, 10:52 BST

What on earth is going on here?

Drew

5. Drew Canada 14 May 2008, 05:27 BST

Lol, what? That looks ridiculous. I don't get it.

Bass X0

6. Bass X0 United Kingdom 23 May 2008, 00:24 BST

From the review, I kinda hope a modern day remake like Toki Tori becomes available for the WiiWare but probably not...

DEMON212

7. DEMON212 United Kingdom 23 May 2008, 01:01 BST

As soon as I get some points, this one's mine :D

agent_lime

8. agent_lime 23 May 2008, 01:59 BST

Doesnt the sound get grating? i couldnt make it 15 seconds through the video without shutting it off.

Shaggy

9. Shaggy Germany 23 May 2008, 04:41 BST

LOL I remember this game when I was a kid.

Kelvin

10. Kelvin United Kingdom 23 May 2008, 07:01 BST

Great game, although I think I'd only give it 4/5. Like Uridium it's idiosyncratic and more than a little odd, but Paradroid refuses to be confined to a genre; it's a little bit shoot-em-up, a little bit puzzle game, and a little bit of an exploration title.

The hacking sub game is both my favourite part of the game, and the bit that still haunts me to this day. It's feverishly difficult, especially when you try to hack some of the higher robots.

Excellent game!

neudz

11. neudz United Kingdom 23 May 2008, 08:20 BST

The sound on the video is wrong. That audio only plays on the title screen - there's just a low humming sound during the game. And what a game...very very good game, very addictive.

Drake

12. Drake Netherlands 23 May 2008, 08:56 BST

I always use music from the game as music in the video, unless there is none, in which case I use in-game SFX. This game only has one song, so easy choice :p

FalloutBR

13. FalloutBR Brazil 23 May 2008, 12:08 BST

Seems a little bit like the game "Mr. Robot" from Moonpod (a rather new PC game), which I also recomend. Though Mr. Robot is an RPG, this one seems more like an action game, though both have puzzle elements. Too bad we don't get Commodore 64 games on South America/ US, otherwise I would get!

Gylve

14. Gylve Sweden 23 May 2008, 17:27 BST

Hmmm sounds good. Will probably buy this game!

Anonymous X

15. Anonymous X United Kingdom 23 May 2008, 17:33 BST

Quite objectively, unless you played and enjoyed this as a kid, this isn't really playable these days. It was a groundbreaking game in its time, but now only the nostalgic need apply.

lockelocke

16. lockelocke United States 23 May 2008, 19:06 BST

Sounds excellent.
So is the US just, like SOL on Commodore 64 titles?
Cuz me want.

JamesMcCloud

17. JamesMcCloud Germany 23 May 2008, 21:26 BST

wtf???

adzix

18. adzix 23 May 2008, 22:42 BST

i just loved the amiga version, paradroid 90 (wow, has it really been 18 years already?)

martyn2001

19. martyn2001 United Kingdom 23 May 2008, 23:40 BST

Paradroid is still a fantastic game, one of the most addictive I've ever played, and yes, I do remember Paradrod 90 on the Amiga. I wonder if one day we'll ever see Amiga games coming to VC?

angel m. rivera collazo

20. angel m. rivera collazo Puerto Rico 24 May 2008, 14:48 BST

super hardcore,i am a casual gamer. 5 stars!

Falk Sturmfels

21. Falk Sturmfels Germany 25 May 2008, 11:04 BST

Great game. I had it as an original box on my C64, but I ... sold it a couple years ago. Yes, I did. Blame me for that.
I will buy this one for the VC. This is a really good balanced game. The sound when you clear one of the ships level is cool. The screen turns grey and you hear: summmmmm.

chr1sbean

22. chr1sbean United Kingdom 25 May 2008, 21:02 BST

looks okayish - but the main sprite looks to be hard to see and the SFX are poor....even for the time of release!

Reminds me a little of a game called Magnetron that I used to play to death when I was a kid - I would definately recommend that game should it ever arrive on VC!

Mr 64

23. Mr 64 United Kingdom 28 May 2008, 11:02 BST

At last! If you've never played it, this is a truly incredible game!. The video doesn't do any justice at all to the game. The graphics are quite simple (this is a one-programmer job from 1985 remember), but they are stylised and hugely effective. Don't forget many early NES games were very primitive visually too, Legend of Zelda for instance. Poor visuals don't hinder the enjoyment you can have playing Zelda, nor do the simple graphics of Paradroid ruin this fantastic slice of British retro-gaming.

On screen the sprites don't clash with the scenery, so there's no worries in that regard. The Braybrook bas-relief graphics help create a futuristic feel to the game too. The sound effects are very good for the time in my opinion, Paradroid wouldn't have worked with a Rob Hubbard epic soundtrack. The effects build a subtle atmosphere of tension and relay lots of information (i.e. level of risk, condition of influence device).

The 3D/2D world also adds so much tension to the game. The fact you can't see what's behind a door is brilliant! It builds fantastic tension. The fact that amount of time you can control an enemy droid diminishes the higher their class is also fantastic, meaning that you need to learn a compromise.

Now all I can say is fingers crossed for Wizball...

onemeg

24. onemeg United Kingdom 30 May 2008, 20:50 BST

I'm 35. When this came out 1st time around (as well as Uridium) the graphics were something special.... and Paradroid also had depth, strategy and something new. I bought it last night and it was like being 12 again. AAH.

This and Wizball were probably my 2 favourite games in the C64 era so, as Mr 64 says, fingers crossed for Wizball.

michinmuri

25. michinmuri United States 16 Jun 2008, 02:27 BST

This doesn't sem to apeal to me at all. Maybe I'll see if one of my friends will download it first and then I'll check it out. I know you can't knock it til ya try it, but I can think of other games to play for 500 points.

2097

26. 2097 Sweden 25 Jun 2008, 18:49 BST

I hadn't played this before it came to the VC. I have now. I'd say that this is one of the best games ever made.

stephen c

27. stephen c United Kingdom 12 Jul 2008, 01:42 BST

This is an unusual game even by C64 standards, but it is well worth playing. It is highly addictive once you master the controls.

Bass X0

28. Bass X0 United Kingdom 19 Jul 2008, 14:57 BST

someone should re-make this game for WiiWare in the same way Toki Tori was a GBC game remade for WiiWare.

pikmin95

29. pikmin95 United States 15 Aug 2008, 03:18 BST

That bleeping would start driving me nuts after a while!

Betagam7

30. Betagam7 United Kingdom 29 Sep 2008, 14:01 BST

as stated, the bleeping is not present during the game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GtNWkSbhe0&feature=related

Betagam7

31. Betagam7 United Kingdom 29 Sep 2008, 18:53 BST

Bass X0 if you're feeling put off by that video (and who woulndt be) then don't.
After being burned by falling for the praise of that pile of garbage Cybernoid I took a chance on this today with no nostalgia and only my love of Braybrook's other classics (Uridium and Gribbly) to back me off.
My Wii now shows I've played it for an hour and a half today. Its a fantastically addictive game. The sound is NOT, I repeat NOT like that video and the graphics don't clash like they do on the video.
Very deep and very good. Buy it over a cruddy PAL NES conversion anytime

xwormwood

32. xwormwood Germany 14 Jan 2009, 20:38 GMT

One of the best games ever.

ovaLs

33. ovaLs Canada 07 Mar 2009, 22:08 GMT

um... what the hecks going on

i think get the basic premise
you go around on a deck thing
shooting droids and sometimes clashing with them to do a face-off thing

umm if im right....
i won't be being, if C64 comes to US
(doubt it)

Starkiller

34. Starkiller Canada 27 Aug 2009, 18:41 BST

I got a fan-made remake of this game, it's awesome. When's the original coming to NA, it's been a year already!

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