Trantor: The Last Stormtrooper
Trantor: The Last Stormtrooper | |
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Single player |
Trantor: The Last Stormtrooper is a
The game is a mix between
Gameplay
The player controls the titular stormtrooper who is the only survivor of the destruction of his spaceship (hence the title). Gameplay revolves around exploring the play-area and collecting code-letters. The play-area consists of several different floors which can be explored freely via connecting lifts. However, Trantor is up against a very strict time limit.
The levels are infested by various aliens and small flying robots which sap Trantor's strength if he touches them. Fortunately, Trantor is armed with a flamethrower with which to destroy these pests. Unfortunately, fuel for this is limited although he can re-fill this at fuel-points located on many of the floors.
Whenever Trantor finds a code-letter, his timer countdown is reset and then counts down again until he finds another letter. For this reason, much of the gameplay is a race-against-time.
There are also lockers scattered around the floors which contain pick-ups to assist Trantor. These include hamburgers (restore strength) and clocks (resetting the time, as finding a code letter would).
The game ends when Trantor's energy runs out or if the timer reaches zero. The player's performance is shown as a percentage of the game completed, along with a short comment. The comment for nine percent is "Is that you, Fergus?", referring to Probe co-founder
Opening sequence
Trantor was unusual for the time in featuring an animated opening-sequence on loading shown before the main options screen. This shows Trantor's ship (with animated radars) slowly dropping down a shaft before landing. The title character then emerges and is seen to beckon to others to join him before the ship suddenly disintegrates leaving him alone.
Critical response
Publication | Award |
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Sinclair User | SU Classic |
Your Sinclair | Megagame |
Trantor was generally received with positive reviews, with Your Sinclair giving it 9/10 and calling it "Wonderful entertainment and worth much more than the asking price".[3] Sinclair User's Tom Dillon described the main character's animation as "the most realistic I have seen on any 8-bit computer" and gave the game 10/10.[4]
CRASH, on the other hand, said the "excellent presentation and graphics conceal shallow gameplay" and gave it an overall 68%.[5]
References
- ^ Jones, Darran (2 January 2017). "The Making Of Trantor: The Last Stormtrooper". www.retrogamer.net. Future Publishing Limited. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
As Trantor was my first design, I thought: 'Screw it. I'm going to blow the entire memory on art and keep the game simple.'
- ^ "Retro gamer №138". Issuu. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
- ^ South, Phil (December 1987). "Screen Shots: Trantor". Your Sinclair (24): 42.
- ^ Dillon, Tom (December 1987). "Arcade review: Trantor the last stormtrooper". Sinclair User. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
- ^ "World of Spectrum - Crash-46". World of Spectrum. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
External links
- Trantor: The Last Stormtrooper at SpectrumComputing.co.uk
- Trantor: The Last Stormtrooper at Lemon 64
- Trantor: The Last Stormtrooper at MobyGames
- Trantor: The Last Stormtrooper at GenerationMSX