Steel Machine - the best Uridium clone!

[Mr Creosote]

https://www.goodolddays.net/game/id%...l-Machine.html

Sadly completely overlooked even at the time, this game sports an amazing soundtrack and interestingly different gameplay.

[gimbal]

"Overlooked", that page says its for CD-i. You can't overlook a game for a platform you don't want.

[Mr Creosote]

You didn't want a CD-i? Not a patriot, I gather? Back then, I wanted one as soon as I heard of Voyeur

These days, it's a good opportunity to look beyond platform borders and discover the few gems even on such a commercially tanked system.

[Predseda]

Best Uridium clone? It is snail slow. Looking at the video - why the heck the left part of the gameplay area is lighter and the right one is missing? And lower panel darkens when the ship is at the bottom of the screen? Is this normal CD-i behavior? If so, why someone should want it?

[Mr Creosote]

Originally Posted by Predseda

Best Uridium clone? It is snail slow. Looking at the video - why the heck the left part of the gameplay area is lighter and the right one is missing? And lower panel darkens when the ship is at the bottom of the screen? Is this normal CD-i behavior? If so, why someone should want it?

Hm, well, let me quote the relevant parts of the text right above the video for you, which answer your questions:

Whether by intention or not, this distinguishes Steel Machine quite a bit from the zippy Uridium. Ironically, this game suddenly feels a lot more like another Andrew Braybrook creation – the much lesser known Morpheus, a slow-burning shooter with careful movement, fairly free navigation and collection of resources for major ship upgrades.

Which would be quite alright, as the game can be played either way in principle and technology allows for it.

At the time of writing, there were some minor emulation issues in MAME. The left-hand part of the screen shows some of the level graphics, although it should be black. Depending on player movement, the overall graphics will slightly lighten or darken. Those issues are visible on the screenshots and on the video, but they do not affect playability.

[dreadnought]

Originally Posted by Mr Creosote

These days, it's a good opportunity to look beyond platform borders and discover the few gems even on such a commercially tanked system.

Yeah, back then it'd be an unwanted present, but now I love these "failed" machines. Just bought a 3DO

[Mr Creosote]

Cool, I rather enjoyed Psychic Detective on the 3DO! But it's a story for another day.

[ImmortalA1000]

Uridium II on Amiga is brilliant, fast, responsive, and very funky audio. It also removes a lot of the 'crashing into grey on grey obstacles' gameplay of the C64 classic making it less of a memory game.

I recently played Uridium II on my Amiga 1000 with a Zipstik and my trusty 1988 Pioneer stack system, what a cool game.

edit: I found what looks like a better video (in crap quality so possibly real hardware cap from composhite video?) with no graphic issues on YT. (not my vid, I don't do CD-i vids on my channel)

[ Show youtube player ]

[Mr Creosote]

Originally Posted by ImmortalA1000

edit: I found what looks like a better video (in crap quality so possibly real hardware cap from composhite video?) with no graphic issues on YT. (not my vid, I don't do CD-i vids on my channel)

Looks more like someone pointing their camera at a CRT TV. You can even see the curve of it

If you want semi-decent footage of Steel Machine played on real hardware, check the coverage on the Youtube channel "HalfBlindGamer". He has a video review and a partial playthrough.