Thrust

Thrust

Game No.	313
Voting	7.50 points, 18 votes
Developer	Jeremy C. Smith
Company	Firebird
Musician	Rob Hubbard
HVSC-File	MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Thrust.sid
Release	1986
Platform	C64, Atari, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad, C16
Genre	Arcade - Miscellaneous
Gamemode	Single player
Operation
Media
Language
Information	Follower: Thrust II

Description[edit | edit source]

Level 1 is still a piece of cake.

Thrust is an arcade game by Firebird from 1986. It is based on the arcade machine "Gravitar". The player's task is to recover a ball by tow line from a cave system. The gravitation and hostile cannonry aggravate this.

Well, it's bad luck for the galactic rebels: they have finally made it to save enough for battle ships for the fight against the Imperium, when they suddenly remember that they do not have any fuel! So one of them is sent out to get the needed fuel. This stuff named "Klystron" is kept in hollowed planets, that are heavily guarded by imperial cannonry. And if this was not already difficult enough, another problem, the good old gravitation joins in. Manoeuvring through the angled caves becomes at the latest a nightmare when you have finally made it to tear one of the much sought-after balls from its mooring with a tow line. Now you have to steer even more carefully and advisedly, because the smallest jerky movements carry on to the freely swinging load and you yourself or the ball will crash at a wall faster than you can look, and both is deadly.

Back at the surface you then give enough thrust to disappear from the planet with the ball.

Design[edit | edit source]

The graphics are exceptionally reduced and remind of the vector graphics of the arcade machine original, whereby sprites were used here. The effects are limited to the simplest shooting sounds and explosions, here also pure minimalism rules. Rob Hubbards audiolicious electric hymn with a length of six minutes appears to be almost an acoustic overkill.

Hints[edit | edit source]

Level 2 - still relatively easy.

Keys

A : rotate ship anti-clockwise
S : rotate ship clockwise
Return : fire
Shift : give thrust
Space : activate shield/collect fuel/leash Klystron ball

To get a Klystron ball on the leash, hover over the ball, activate the shield and give a little bit of thrust. Now the ball is on the leash and is torn from its base.

To pick up fuel from a fuel tank, you can proceed as above.

F1 : Sound off
F3 : Sound on
F5 : Pause on
F7 : Pause off

There is an extra life every 10.000 points.
The game ends when all lives are lost or when the fuel is empty.

Solution[edit | edit source]

Shoot a bit(!) at the power station at the entrance of the cave to take away the energy for the cannonry in the cave for a short time . But do not shoot too much, or else the core of the reactor will melt down, the power station will start to flash and after 10 seconds the planet will make "boom!".

If you make it to melt down the power station with permanent shooting after you have collected the ball, you will get 2.000 bonus points if you make it to escape the planet successfully.

Cheats[edit | edit source]

To practice you can use the version by "Remember", which also has a saveable highscore list.

Voting[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
7.50 points at 18 votes (rank 253). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	8	2nd October 2010 - "very good" - 2738 downs
Gamebase64	10	"Classic!"
Lemon64	8	2nd October 2010 - 103 votes
C64.com	9	2nd October 2010 - 4514 downs
Kultboy.com	8,64	2nd October 2010 - 11 votes
ASM	10	Issue 07/86
Happy Computer	89%	Special 11
ZZap64	94%	Issue 05/86

Reviews[edit | edit source]

Robotron2084: "I personally found Thrust always a bit too difficult and the reduced graphics also could never quite enthuse me.The great music by Mr. Hubbard is the sparkler here for me, the game itself goes into my category of "ritual self-punishment". Nevertheless I give 5 out of 10 points."

Slamy: "I have first seen the C64 version of the game via the fan portation for the Vectrex by Emix8. The game runs on the C64 3x faster and therefore is a bit more fun there. Interestingly, the game is just predestined to be ported onto the Vectrex, as the graphics consists of lines on black background - with exception of the background graphics. To give another comparison, I have also played the versions for the ZX Spectrum, Atari ST and CPC. The ZX Spectrum version has nothing to do with the one on the C64 concerning physics and levels. The Atari ST strongly resembles it, but has some changes in the levels. The CPC version on the other hand is a 100% conversion, which is about as fast as the Vectrex version. I have played the game on the C64, the Vectrex and the CPC and rate the game as a classic. The game principle is interesting, "fast paced" and seems to incite you. What is negative, is the slightly raised difficulty grade in the C64 version, which is partly based on the higher speed of this version. Added are a few difficult locations every now and then, which need to be mastered. All versions have the problem, that all levels repeat four times with variations. Vectrex:9/10 ( Vector bonus ;-) ) ____ C64: 7/10 ____ CPC: 5/10