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 | By Andrew Braybrook / Graftgold Released 1986 After achieving universal critical success with the seminal Paradroid, Master C64 programmer Andrew Braybrook created Uridium, a super-slick shoot-em-up that married the critical success of Paradroid with huge sales. If you owned a Commodore 64 in 1986, Uridium was one of THE games to play. |  |
 | Post-Uridium, Braybrook released the technically excellent but ultimately flawed racer-cum-shooter �Alleykat�, a title that failed when compared to the success of Paradroid and Uridium. Perhaps with this in mind, Braybrook produced quick updates of both Paradroid (�The Metal Edition�) and Uridium (�Uridium+�). It�s the update of Uridium that we are looking at here. |  |
 | Enemy Super Dreadnaughts (fifteen of them) are attacking planets in a solar system, draining minerals from the planetary cores for use in their power units. Each Dreadnaught requires a different metal for use in its metal converter. To stop this dastardly plan, the player must pilot his �Manta� class fighter at low level across each Dreadnaught to a runway at the far right end and land. Once landed, the player enters a �Fuel Rod Chamber� and primes a destruct sequence that destroys the Dreadnaught. Unfortunately, it is not THAT easy! Each Super-Dreadnaught is several screens in length and littered with obstacles that are incredibly easy to fly into. Impassable obstacles can be discerned by their elongated shadows and invulnerability to laser fire. In addition, Homing Mines are launched at the Manta from strategic positions along the Super-Dreadnaughts surface. Avoiding these Mines involves drastic evasive manoeuvres that significantly increase the chances of hitting a surface obstacle. Lastly, squadrons of enemy fighter craft (some of which are extremely fast and deadly) patrol the space around each Super-Dreadnaught just waiting to destroy any intruders. |  |
| After starting the game the Manta fighter is deposited in space near the left end of the Super-Dreadnaught by a Transport ship. At this point the Player assumes control. Control of the Manta is comprehensive and feels sublime. Pushing the joystick up and down sets the position of the Manta on the Super-Dreadnaughts surface while pushing Left and Right controls acceleration and deceleration. If the Manta�s speed falls below a certain rate it reverses direction in an impressively animated rolling manoeuvre. This move is critical to success as it temporarily increases the height of the Manta above the Dreadnaught | (indicated by an impressively cast shadow) and allows it to avoid enemy fire and Homing Mines. Holding the Fire button and moving up and down executes a 90 degree roll so that just the side of the Manta is visible. This allows the fighter to move through the restricted spaces which frequent most of the later Dreadnaughts. Lastly, pressing the fire button results in an impressive display of laser fire from the Manta�s twin cannons. Points are scored by destroying installations on the Dreadnaughts surface and enemy fighters, with a bonus for destroying an entire wave. | When the Manta reaches the runway at the far right end of a Dreadnaught it can land by flying over the runway from left to right. Once landed, the player must prime the Destruct Sequence for the Dreadnaught. This takes the form of a very simple mini-game which is really just a chance for the player to earn a few easy points and is in no way crucial to progressing through the game, unlike the excellent mini-game in Paradroid. Once the Dreadnaught destruct sequence is primed, the Manta takes off, reverses direction and flies over the Dreadnaught as it is destroyed in an impressive �boiling away� effect. One Dreadnaught down � fourteen to go! |
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Differences between Uridium and Uridium+
Apart from the changes to the Super-Dreadnaughts themselves (which seem better designed but more complex to navigate this time around) Uridium+ is pretty much the same to play as the original Uridium. |  |
 | The only noticeable gameplay change is the ability to land on the Dreadnaught runway without waiting for the �Land Now� message to displayed, as in the original. Once a Dreadnaught layout is memorized, this feature makes it quicker to progress through the levels you already know. Those Deadly Dreadnaughts Phosphox Zelanite Trene Ore Oxite Basilon Ahro Mangorium Heliocite Phedrox Lukanol Quadracite Tri-Sulphur Amigacite Trickium Uridium 2 The Sarge |  |
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