Uridium

Uridium

Game No.	37
Voting	7.67 points, 42 votes
Developer	Andrew Braybrook
Company	Graftgold
Publisher	Hewson Consultants Ltd
Musician	Steve Turner
HVSC-File	Turner_Steve/ Uridium.sid
Release	1986
Platform	C64, C128, C64DTV
Genre	Shoot'em Up, Uridium
Gamemode	Single player 2 players (in turns)
Operation
Media
Language
Information	Successor: "Uridium+"

Description[edit | edit source]

15 carrier spaceships have garrisoned your galaxy and each of these ships tries to steal a valuable metal. Destroy the defending forces of each ship and land on them, to accomplish the mission.

Uridium is a famous shoot'em'up game where the player flies over surfaces of spaceships and has to try to shoot down defence towers and hostile spaceships. Unlike other games of this genre the aim of Uridium is not to fly through a level and at the end fight against a boss enemy. You rather try to destroy a fleet on a spaceship carrier and at the end of the level also the carrier itself. For this you have to destroy the whole fleet of the enemy, which is parking peacefully on the surface. Additionally you have to resist a wave of attackers and defence canons. If you destroyed the hostile fleet you have to fly to the right side of the carrier and land on a runway. Then you get your bonus and the ship explodes, while you take flight with your spaceship.

Design[edit | edit source]

... the start of a Manta glider ...

... and its quick end ...

For the eye Uridium offers some exciting views. Alone the ship of the player is an eye candy. The adversarial spaceships are realised very appealingly. But you should not expect too much. The game cannot keep up with other games of this genre as Katakis.With Uridium the priorities were located differently. The animation of the turning and spinning spaceship is a special eye candy. The wohle thing runs very fluently during the game.

Hints[edit | edit source]

On the spaceships there are several obstacles against which you quickly bang. Some aims, which you have to destroy, are positioned behind obstacles. Hence you have to fly back a few times to get at these aims. There are also canons which cannot be destroyed, but they send out drones which follow the player. Furthermore there are other things which can be destroyed. That's why the motto is: "shoot at anything which stands out from the background!"

As soon as the defensive fortification of the ironclad has been destroyed, the writing "Land Now" flashes at the upper screen. Now fly to the right end of the ironclad and then from left to right over the landing field to land.

This leads you to the fuel element chamber, where you accomplish your mission. Always press the fire button at the right moment. You need to have accomplishe the mission before the countdown displayed in the upper screen reaches zero.

Game options

You can chosse between the following suring the title sequence:

F1 - one player, one joystick, both joystickports possible

F2 - two players, share one joystick, both joystickports possible

F3 - two players, two joysticks

F5 - music volume up

F6 - music volume down

F7 - colour mode

F8 - monochrome mode

Controls

By pressing the fire button the game is started. Move the joystick up and down / to move the Manta fighter on the screen. Move the joystick to the left or right / to lower/raise the speed. When you keep the joystick pressed against the flying direction until the minimun speed is underrun, the Manta fighter will make a backward roll and fly into the opposing direction. With this manoeuvre the flying height is temporarily raised, which can be used to avoid hostile drones.
With the fire button you activate the laser. The laser can eliminate the aims on the ground of the carrier and also hostile bombers.
Keep the fire button pressed and move the joystick up or down / to fly a 90° roll (and with this to place the fighter edgewise), so you are a smaller aim and you can get through narrow passages.

Points

small surface part destroyed - 10 points
big surface part destroyed - 25 points
hostile fighters on the runway - 100 points
hostile fighter - 100-1000 points
formation destruction bonus - 100 points per formation
a bonus manta is rewarded every 10,000 points

During the bonus game, the first step has a point of 900+100xlevel, then each following step adds 100x the time count left.

Solution[edit | edit source]

Tips

While the carrier space ship resolves into its single components, some structural parts that are left can still be shot and so points can be collected.

Cheats[edit | edit source]

The versions of "Uridium" and "Uridium+" by "Remember" contain - next to different trainers - also the manual and a saveable highscore list.

Voting[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
7.67 points at 42 votes (rank 193). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	10	28t July 2007 - "Highlight" - 7071 downs
Lemon64	7,7	28th July 2007 - 93 votes
Kultboy.com	10	28th July 2007 - 5 votes
Gamebase64	9	5/5 "Very Good"
ASM	8/10	Edition 5/86
Happy Computer	92%	Games Special 2/86
ZZap64	94%	Edition 86/03

Reviews[edit | edit source]

Robotron2084: "Yeeeeeeeeeess! Uridium!!! Great !!!! Zzzzzzzappp! Ka-Boooooom! Bratatatatatatatata! Shwiiiing! Srrrrrrrrt! Wowowowowowowowow! Broooaaaach! Zooooooom! 9 out of 10 points!!!"

blubarju: "Uridium is technically a class for itself. Tender and fast scrolling, good graphics and nice soundFX. If it was a bit easier I would give 9 points, but this way I still give 8 points."

Jodigi: "One of my first games, that I played enthusiastically, but it wasn't easy to play Uridium!"

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

Award[edit | edit source]

The game was awarded the British Golden Joystick Award in the category Arcade-Style Game of the Year in 1986.

Uridium+[edit | edit source]

"Uridium+" (also: "Heavy Metal Uridium") was released by Mindscape in the US and has the following changes:

The levels are newly-arranged and partly a bit more challenging.
You do NOT have to wait for the message "Land Now" any more, but you can rather land with the Manta glider at any time on the runway.