Reviews

For a small company Hewson really put a lot of effort into their games, Marauder is no exception.

It's pretty tough to say the least and it's difficulty definately reminds me of the Cybernoid games. It's good though, I really liked the presentation of it, the music from J. Dave Rogers is once more mighty impressive and the overall gameplay, but it is a hard game and one that will require, patience, skill and sometimes even luck to go very far.

But it's definately a game worth trying.

1988 Hewson Consultants (UK)
by Casey Bee Games, Rory Green and J.D. Rogers

Such an addictive game...
The graphic layout looks simple but the action, although not very fast, is very captivating and enjoyable.
Mind you this is a very hard game, it requires lots of practice and trial and fail. But its very rewarding once you get past that special annoying stage.

Typical game for the time 1988 ...

Marauder is a competent shooter with some addictive touches like its smooth movility and several bonus and antibonus pluses .

The action is quite fast but never too fast , the enemies are varied and so is the weaponry so ... what else can one ask ?

I´m not a fan of this sort of video games like Terra Cresta or R-Type , but Marauder leaves a very high standard .


Sometimes the screen is just too narrow and too many things happen in very limited space , this added to the monochrome and transparent graphics can make the whole action confusing at times ... but this alone doesn´t spoil the game .


The sound is good , but the game is hardly original for the time ... so 3,5 out of 5 .

Arcade from Hewson, that means a hardcore videogame.

Programmed and designed very efficiently; graphics, musics and sfx are all attractive and with good standards too. ( in-game tune is a version from a Sisters of Mercy' song )

The gameplay is basic but solid. Hardcore arcade fans will love to reach next stages and know how to confront enemies. The penalization of some power-ups will increase the challenge... These 'power-downs' are sometimes unfair, but never are cheating to player.

This is the best example of an 8 bits arcade from Spectum, C64 and CPC.

by Arcanum Software Developments (Casey Bee Games, Rory C. Green, J. Dave Rogers)

Marauder is a super-smooth sci fi vertical shoot'em up released by Hewson.
You control a futuristic terrain vehicle and must penetrate enemy territories for very important and unquestionble reasons that the instructions can explain to you better than I could. The result is nonetheless that you must face and destroy a thick series of not very amicable machines, robots, tanks, vehicles, and fixed firing stationings divided in a set of about ten levels, each of them with a particularly crowded ending. Not big bosses here, but an ordeal reminding of Commando end leves. And it's not a coincidence. Not listed by WoS, the real programmer of this little jewel is the same of the celebrated Elite Systems conversion, veteran Keith Burkhill, hiding under the alias of "Casey Bee Games", although not trying so very hard to hide, in fact his name is in the official instructions. And he put its previous experience with vertical shoot'em up's to very good use: as stated at the very beginning of the review, Marauder is super smooth, your vehicle very manoeuvrable, responsive and it can fire very quickly, allowing you to react very efficiently to your enemies. As in almost all the "on the ground" shoot'em up's, there's no automatic scrolling, meaning that you can decide at what pace you want to play, very cautiously, or like a demented kamikaze, advancing at full speed, shooting very fastly all around. A nice touch are panels flashing lights of different colours: shooting at them will gift you with extra lives, extra smart bombs (extremely useful) or (very) temporary shields depending on the colour you hit. Which could also curse you with a loss of life, a temporary jammed gun or a temporary reverse of your controls. These panels can be used in a strategic way, at certain points of the game. Graphics are good with some splash of colours here and there to make them less dull and differentiate the leves, 128k version has its own music and effects, playability is dreamy - the difficulty level is very well balanced. A lesser known Hewson's masterpiece.

5/5

I remember playing this years ago and it was a fun game, difficult but good fun. It's all about learning patterns of the enemies and it can get very challenging, but it's a good challenge and its look and feel stands out. I really enjoy the music but found myself playing better with it turned off, probably because you hear the bullets being fired and so you can anticipate better. This was as good as I remembered it to be.