TEAM 17,
best known for their Worms franchise, was also responsible for other amazing
titles like this one.
Developed
in conjunction with Psionic Systems and released in 1992, Assassin’s plot is
simple: infiltrate an high-tech underground fortress and kill the main villain
– Midan.
In the
process, there’s countless of genetically-engineered mutants that we must
destroy in order to reach and conquer the main objective.
The
programmers gave Assassin a number of friendly options: the ability to choose
the number of lives – one, three or five – and the game’s difficulty – Rookie,
Arcade or Ultimate. That way any player can try out Assassin and, even if this
type of game isn’t your thing, you can really advance and be thrilled for doing
so!
Five main
levels awaits us and one final battle in the end with Midan himself.
We start
off being dropped in a forest that surrounds Midan’s fortress. In this area the
enemies are quite easy to engage and take down, but, as soon as you reach the
construction zone, they will be alerted to your presence and tougher to kill.
The third level is set in the missile control where Midan’s personal security
guards are literally waiting for you and power-ups and bonuses are really
scarce around here. Succeeding this you’ll find yourself in the genetic asylum,
home of some nasty genetic experiments. I advise you to get out of this hostile
place quickly! Those nasties are really hard to beat! Finally, right before
you’re face to face with Midan, a final test awaits us: a maze-like warren of
corridors and shafts filled with Arnie’s terminator-like endoskeletons and wall
mounted laser cannons.
As an Amiga
fan, Martyn Brown, founded Team 17 to make games that required 1Mb of RAM, as
he was tired of seeing 512k ones being made for machines that would be able to
do more.
Assassin
was the least successful game from Team 17, mainly because of some bad reviews
and a “special edition”, released 2 years later, that didn’t bring anything new
to the game. On the contrary, various gameplay elements were even removed! What
were they thinking? Even the box art from the original game was way better and
appealing than the one from that supposed “special edition”.
Besides
this, I think that this game deserved more recognition. Back in the day I
thought that it was a huge hit. How I was wrong.
Being an
Amiga exclusive, not all of you will be able to try it out, but you can always
use an emulator for that purpose.
Graphically
enjoyable and extremely playable, Assassin has also the most impressive atmospheric
sound effects in a video game from British composer Allister Brimble, author of
over 100 amazing tunes for the Amiga.
Speaking of
playability, the fluid animation and the control that the player has over the
main character, with some astonishing moves with a simple flick of the
joystick, is just overwhelming.
Assassin
was one of those gems that Amiga users would brag and made Atari ST owners
explode in anger! But, again, I can’t understand why it didn’t sell well..
piracy?.. It is way better than U.S. GOLD’s Strider arcade conversion for home
computers. No doubt about it!
Anyway, try
it! It’s an amazing title and, with those awesome sound effects, you’ll be
immersed in it for many hours!
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