Back in the day, Activision (via its' Electric Dreams label) had major success with R-Type. Another Irem arcade game, Dragon Breed, certainly for me, was a less good game. So it was with some uncertainty that I read in YS that Atomic Robo-Kid was being released. In a subsequent issue, a demo was included on their first Magnificent Seven cover tape. Which, naturally I played.

And played I did! I was impressed with the graphics, which are a lot clearer and more colourful than Dragon Breed, though the playability was the reason I kept playing this one level demo.

It is a little jerky, certainly compared to R-Type, however compared to another version I have played (the Amiga version), it seems to be part of the game as opposed to a flaw due to the Spectrum's hardware limits. Another difference is that the detailed background isn't there on the Spectrum, but that's hardly surprising.

The demo has no sound, which isn't something that I can fault, given the game is unfinished. What is present are the power-ups, which you can collect and change (i.e. you don't lose the current one when you collect a new weapon).

It's a shame that there's not much more than most of the first level, as from what I've played, I've really enjoyed Atomic Robo-Kid. Before being released, Activision was having some serious financial difficulties, which involved some restructuring and some titles being dropped. It's now obvious that as part of the new company, those platforms deemed unprofitable would not receive any more support. Which is why Robo-Kid didn't see a Spectrum release.

If you can get hold of the demo (Activision have denienced all their titles, even those unreleased), I'd give it a go.