PixlBit

Grid Seeker

Released: 1992

Pitch: Use your GRID weapon to collect enemy bullets and increase your bomb supply.

Grid Seeker takes place during the second Gulf War in the far off year of 1999. In this alternate timeline the war plays out with just a pilot or two putting in all on the line to stop the bad guys...who have a bunch of crazy machines that spew bullets.

Grid Seeker has a few things really going for it. First of all it looks real nice. But it has some interesting gameplay wrinkles as well, namely the Grids. These pods that fly on the outside of your ship absorb enemy bullets (though not lasers or missiles; I found that out the hard way) which powers up a meter that grants extra bombs when it fill all the way, and that's pretty cool! They also shoot whenever you do and, like your ship, can get power ups. That's pretty cool too!

But I have two real knocks against the game. First is how you move the Grids. While holding down the shoot button, the Grids rotate around your ship to the front if you pull back and rotate to the back if you move forward. If you stop shooting or just move laterally, they hold their position. The problem comes when you try to grab power up. You will almost always need to move forward to get them, so either you keep shooting and lose the shielding from your Grids or stop shooting to stay shielded but risk a baddie swooping in and running into you. Needless to say, it can be frustrating. The other thing is that if you lose all your lives, you cannot continue from where you died. You don't start from the very beginning of the level but you lose enough progress that whatever killed you in the first place (like the boss) stands a good chance of killing you again. This is a near deal breaker and was indeed what caused me to stop playing. And that's a shame because it does seem like a cool game.