Gary: Hi NerdMaster!
NN: Ahhhh, greetings you little pipsqueak.
What's your name?
Gary: I'm Gary, I'm one of your patrons.
NN: Hurry along now, we haven't got all day.
How can I help you today?
Gary: I was wondering if you could review Oids for me on the Atari ST?
NN: Hmmmmm, Oids.
Yes I've heard of this game.
Tell you what, you trot off back home, and I'll see what I can do alright?
Gary: Thanks NerdMaster.
You're the best!
NN: Yes, yes.
Off you go.
There was a period when the humble Atari ST was my world.
I say humble, because by the early to mid 90s, it was definitely starting to feel that
way, with Amiga owners gloating at their wider game choice from up high.
But despite this, the ST had it's own exclusives.
Oids was one of them.
Released early in the ST's life, back in 1987.
This was a game both developed and published by Faster Than Light Games, better known for
producing the supreme Dungeon Master, also on the ST.
The creation of Oids was handled from start to finish handled by Dan Hewitt, who also
helped program Dungeon Master II.
Now I said exclusive earlier, but a conversion of Oids for the Apple Macintosh was also released,
although that's even scarcer than the ST iteration.
So what's important here is that there was no Amiga version... until 2014 at least when
the ST version was reverse engineered by Meynaf and ported across.
But if you were both an ST and Oids owner back in the day, then you at least had something
to gloat about, with it receiving impressive reviews at the time.
So let's see what this is all about...
WELL, here's the box...
This one is a bit beaten up, but due to it's rarity, you'll be pushed to find one in better
condition for any kind of reasonable price.
On the front we have what appears to be a silver droid being chased by a flying saucer,
all being witnessed by a robotic cat.
It's got that shiny, Flight of the Navigator feel to it, but it doesn't really reflect
(if you'll excuse the pun) the game-play you find within.
The back paints a truer tale, with a screen shot, or at least a composite representation
of a screen shot, along with descriptive text...
"Rescue the Oids from the Fiendish Biocretes who are turning them into vending machines
and household appliances!
Fuel your ship, charge your shields and blast off to adventure as you challenge planetoid
after planetoid of devious gravity traps, treacherous teleport puzzles and wave after
wave of Hell Jets, Heat-Seekers and Burst Orbs!..
Well, it certainly sounds compelling.
If we open up the box, we have a compartment containing the both German and English manuals,
and also a compartment containing the 3.5" Double Density floppy disk.
Let's boot her up.
After listening to the soothing sounds of the ST floppy drive, we're presented with
the FTL logo, followed by a request to make the disk writable.
Somewhat filling me with anxiety, but it's just for the game to save maps to disk if
required.
We then have the Oids title screen, with a bouncing I dot and some rudimentary reflection
effects.
Nice enough.
From there we have the menu screen, offering us the option to change our keyboard configuration
- which is unnecessary due to the exceptional placement of the default controls.
We can also edit our own galaxies - which I'll come back to, or simply pick from the
list of pre-defined sectors to explore.
I'll ease us in with Novoids.
The first time player may then be deceived into thinking this is a first person cockpit
perspective game, but no, this is just the incredibly fast leap sequence to our next
moon like planetoid.
After receiving "moon to the face" we're then lowered onto the planet's landscape and must
begin the quest of DESTROYING EVERYTHING that looks vaguely "blastable".
Even the trees.
Won't someone think about the trees?!
It's immediately apparent that this game borrows from the likes of Asteroids, Gravitar, Thrust,
Defender and even arcade elements from games like Choplifter.
Using either keyboard or joystick control we can thrust our little ship using it's single
rocket, with the aim of destroying each of the Biocretes installations until we find
some packed full of little Oids.
If you land on a flat near-by surface, the Oids will then run to the relative safety
of your ship and we can move onto the next target...
although they're quite daft, and will sometimes peg it across the landscape.
Obviously landing is a perilous activity, so coming in a little too fast, or being at
the wrong angle will render your ship, and any stowed Oids, obliterated.
You can also kill Oids through excessive force, which isn't ideal, but won't actually lead
to a failed mission - just fewer points.
Incidentally, we're actually not playing as an Oid, saving our fellow race, we're a separate
compassionate race - part of the SAVEOIDS organisation - committed to saving these android
slaves, who were actually created by the Biocretes in the first place.
So really, we've just waded into a whole stack of business that's not our own, to completely
screw sh*t up.
This would really be at odds with the Prime Directive.
I mean who even knows if these Oids are even sentient for christ's sake.
Once everything is destroyed and all the Oids saved, you can dock with your mother-ship
and the level is complete.
Now, the first levels may be a breeze, but as you progress, the Biocretes arsenal increases,
and soon enough we have those heat seeking missiles upon us, among other perilous exploding
devices.
Thankfully our V-Wing ship has a protective shield which can be deployed using ether the
left Shift key, or pulling down on the joystick.
This shield protects us from any attacks, but it doesn't last forever, and so must either
be used sparingly, or recharged often with the space bar.
A recharge cycle takes a number of seconds, uses fuel, and must be restarted if you need
to use your shield at any point before it's complete.
Talking of fuel, we have a limited supply, so nicking some from the Biocretes fuelling
stations is essential in later levels.
And really, this is how play continues.
Levels become increasingly difficult, with attacking ships, repelling orbs and all manner
of feisty critters.
For the bigger enemies we can crack out the NovaBombs, using the full stop key, which
inflict substantial damage on enemy installations.
If all this wasn't enough, each level also presents an increasingly devious landscape,
requiring precise ship navigation, all of which adds to both the addictiveness and frustration
of proceedings.
Anyone who has played Gravity Force on the Amiga will know just how addictive this formula
is.
There's something about just being on the edge of control that's thrilling.
It's the same as people who go drifting; riding that fine balance of control vs. complete
failure and getting it just right.
I think, if we get philosophical enough, it's the same as living life.
It's always at it's best when you don't quite have full control, but just enough to get
by.
For me, that's why these games work, and it's why they're just so damn addictive.
One gripe I do have, especially compared to modern games, is the limited directional placement.
Whereas modern analogue sticks give us smooth 360 degree motion, each left or right turn
in Oids moves us a set number of degrees and means it can be hard to target specific points.
Still, at the time, this was all part of the strategy, and as long as you suppress that
need for precision, it remains a marvellous, engrossing and addictive experience.
So, what happens when you've hammered through the numerous worlds, such as Cavorite or Vasteroid...
yes, the names do give away the nature of the planets.
WELL, you can turn to the built in level editor!
What a stroke of genius.
Now, this level editor allows you to both create and save galaxies, which you can share
will fellow Oids owners, or just add to your own roster.
So let's dive in.
Everything is pretty straight forward.
The control key selects different objects, Insert places it and Delete removes it.
There are all sorts of other commands as well, but that's all you really need to know.
A bit of clapping and slapping and there we have it, my own little level.
I could have spent years on this in the 80s.
In fact, I'd probably still be doing it today.
So that's Oids, a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and enough reason to go out and buy an Atari
ST, even today.
Of course, you could always emulate the little bugger, but then you wouldn't get the clackety
Atari ST keyboard sounds and purring floppy drive to warm your soul and fester your spirit.
TRIVIA TIME
The name Oids is actually a play on the word Androids, and also you may notice a distinct
similarity between your V-Wing ship and the ship from Asteroids...
Hmmmmm
Mike Dailly from DMA design actually gained inspiration from the tiny Oids characters
for the game Walker, which then went on to inspire the little characters known as LEMMINGS.
Inspiration, it's the gift of life.
The gift that keeps giving.
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