IO – Into Oblivion

IO – Into Oblivion

Game No.	235
Voting	7.60 points, 25 votes
Developer	Douglas Hare Cover: David John Rowe (Firebird)
Company	Kinetic Design
Publisher	Firebird
Musician	David Whittaker
HVSC-File	MUSICIANS/W/Whittaker_David/IO.sid
Release	1988
Platform	C64
Genre	Shoot'em Up,
Gamemode	Single player 2 players (in turns)
Operation
Media
Language

Description[edit | edit source]

At the start of the game the mother ship puts down the hunter.

It is again about nothing else than a new home for humanity. After the Earth became uninhabitable due to environmental destruction, a convoy full of spaceships set out for a new planet. But on the way there dozens of hostile spaceships thwart the player.

IO is a horizontally scrolling Shoot'em Up by Firebird from 1988. It might be one of many, but it is one of the better ones.

Design[edit | edit source]

You need to overcome four different levels.

The appeal of IO lies in very pleasant graphics and fluent scrolling. Two players in turns can fight their way through the attacking alien waves. While player 1 flies in a blue ship, player 2 fights in a red one. The status display at the bottom also correspondingly changes its colour. Lovingly small details, as e.g. the putting down oif the player from the mother ship, top the game off.

The end bosses are also inventive. If you fight your way successfully through the four levels, a successful animation of the convoy of mother ships awaits you.

Hints[edit | edit source]

Controls in the starting screen:
= single player
= two players
= start

Controls in the game:
= steer spaceship
= fire
Run/Stop = pause (move joystick to continue )
Q = abort game

By touching the smart bombs you can destroy all enemies on the screen.
If you shoot at the smart bombs (4x) you can get extra weapons or satellites.
Satellites mean extra life at the same time. If the ship is hit while you have a satellite at your side, you will at first only lose the latter.
You get an extra life after 20.000 points, and then every 50.000 points.{-}}

Solution[edit | edit source]

Cheats[edit | edit source]

The version by "Remember" contains next to seven different cheat modes and the manual also some small fixes.

The convoy of mother ships has finally made it...

POKEs:
After a reset you can enter the following POKEs:

`POKE 25117,173`	$621d	$ad	unlimited lives
`POKE 27015,010`	$6987	$0a	indestructible
`POKE 25076,002`	$61f4	$02	best weapon
`POKE 25306,002`	$62da	$02
`SYS 24576`	$6000		start

Voting[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
7.60 points at 25 votes (rank 218). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
64er	10	Issue 7/89
C64Games	7	18th July 2012 - 4509 downs
Lemon64	7.5	18th July 2012 - 80 votes
ASM	10/12	Issue 7/88
Happy Computer	80%	Issue 5/88
Zzap!64	80%	Issue 35

Reviews[edit | edit source]

H.T.W: "Ermmm... where is the highscore list?? This was my first thought after my third glider had evaporated into quarks after approx. 15 seconds of overall game time! It is a really "some" time ago that I had occupied myself with the game for the last time, but after being able to play through Katakis I thought I could get a bit further in this game without cheats. The game is simply an own league and only recommended to real joystick acrobats: But one day I will get behind the reason why certain game tests have given such good marks for this game..."

Slamy: "This game is unbelievably hard and frustrating, which can be explained by the bad design of the game mechanics. Similar to R-Type e.g. it is significantly easier to get through with one life instead of losing one in between as all the power-ups disappear by this. If you have all 5 power-ups in I.O. you run through the levels like a berserker. But if you do not have them, you can in the worst case only shoot a few times per screen and are killed relatively fast. I find the bosses of the game relatively creative and interesting, compared to those of Katakis, which are rather dull and always the same. The last level (which is the 4th) of IO compares to agony. If you have lost a life once, this quasi was it. And this is not very difficult as here it is teeming with "Cheap-Deaths". Similar to other shooters, patterns have to be remembered to win the game. But this is relatively difficult as the structures of the single levels repeat often and bore the eye. Generally speaking is this probably the worst and the most nerve-wrecking shooter that I have ever played. It prolongs artificially by the insane difficulty grade. And yes, I have ended it without cheats and yes, I regret a bit the time spent with this. I give here 2 out of 10 points. Why 2? Because the graphics is quite nice every now and then."

Kuhly: "After playing this several times and having acquired the knowledge about where when which enemy appears, the game is even rather easy to play. One should just take care to get the two satellites as quickly as possible and not to die. (I know this is easier said than done ^^). Well... as I like such shooters a lot, it was not hard for me to occupy me with this for half a day. Definitely a game worth playing with nice graphics, even though a bit short with 4 levels. Therefore only 4 points from me."

Keith: "On a positive note IO provides good detailed sprites, background visuals and smooth scrolling. Enemy designs and patterns are varied albeit limited in number. Sound is more atmospheric than musical and the overall presentation is polished and assured. Poor design decisions force repetitive game-play however, hardly a unique situation among games of this era where memory is tight and gaming sessions need to be elongated. Additional weapons are a necessity to progress and losing them in many cases means a restart. Boss battles are inventive but crushingly difficult with no leeway to learn the mechanics without repetitive retries. Attack patterns are fixed with limited to no room for experimentation or variety in play styles as a result. It's a shame as a difficulty selection or practice mode would have elevated IO from good looking but frustrating into a memorable short blaster. Compared to Delta or Armalyte, IO doesn't offer enough to justify tolerating the frustrating difficulty and as such receives a score of 6 out of 10."

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

The game is officially named only "IO" (as the Jupiter moon). The title "Into Oblivion" can only be found on the cover of the "Prism Leisure Low-Budget Release".
The game "Into Oblivion" on the other hand really exists as a CPC game.

Cover