Reviews

One of the best presented Spectrum games ever released, 'Trantor' has an animated opening-sequence, digitised four-channel title music and excellent in-game graphics. Unfortunately, all of these draw attention away from quite a poor game. Because Trantor can't jump and fire attacking some enemies is difficult or even impossible; some of the spikes in the floor and roof cannot be passed without losing some energy (a common fault in lifeforce-based games like this) and because the power-ups found in the lockers seem to be random how far a player gets is largely arbitrary - sometimes you'll get that crucial extra time or energy boost, sometimes you won't. This isn't a terrible game, it's fun for a while and it looks nice, but the flaws become apparent all too quickly.

As Trantor, the last Stormtrooper, you need to assemble a code in order to escape the alien-infested place where the assault ship with your comrades was destroyed almost soon after landing, as you can see in the unusual animated sequence shown just upon loading.

The game runs at a fast pace since you must battle against the clock - you've only got 90 seconds to find each letter of the code word - and the aliens come against you thick and fast. Luckily you're armed with a flamethrower, an unusual but effective weapon.

Technically, the game is brilliant. Graphics are large and well animated - particularly noticeable are the player character sprite and the big, deadly alien found only on one of the levels - and a good tune plays on the menu screen (in 48K!). General presentation is also original and well done, from the short intro to the icon-driven menu. However, the frantic gameplay and the fact that you must constantly look after your energy and ammunition levels since you've only got one life make Trantor very difficult, and sometimes even frustrating. It's good then, but it would have been better were it not so hard. 4/5

1987 Go! (UK)
by Dave Quinn, Nick Bruty, Alan Tomkins and Dave Whittaker

The game looks awesome, with big detailed sprites. And even if a bit slow on response, due to the enormous sprites, it plays smooth enough. Like Nick Bruty stated on an interview to the Retro Brothers in 2010: "Trantor was designed as a very simple game just so I could blow all the memory on giant sprites and try to make something a little more cinematic. Technically there was nothing very advanced going on, just a big old sprite dumped to the screen. " - end of quote.
I couldn't agree more...

I never fancied this sort of games but I must admit that graphics are remarkable and movements are more than correct this time ... espectacular initial sequence !!!

Trantor - The Last Stormtrooper [Go!]
by Probe Software Ltd (David Quinn, Nick Bruty, Alan Tomkins, David Whittaker)

You're a sprite busy being very big, somewhere in space.
3/5