How is Hyper Sentinel shaping up?
Hewson's '80s inspired shooter could well be a hit.
The name of Hewson is one that'll always inspire excited chatter from UK retro gamers -- they were, after all, one of the premier software houses of the 1980's, and their list of games is somewhat legendary. The likes of Paradroid, Ranarama, Quazatron, Marauder and Nebulus, just to name a few, are amongst their classics. The original Hewson folded in the early '90s, but they've been going again in recent years with original founder Andrew Hewson and his son Rob at the helm -- and their next game, Hyper Sentinel, could well do some bits.
Hyper Sentinel is inspired in many ways by one of the best remembered Hewson games, Uridium -- a frantic Defender-esque space shooter created by Andrew Braybrook in 1986 where you guide a ship back and forth across an alien dreadnought, destroying everything you can until you get clearance to land on the base and take it over. The game has had two trips to Kickstarter -- the first one wasn't successful, but Hewson reached their £15,000 target the second time around, meaning that you can expect to see Hyper Sentinel on PC, PS4, Xbox One and the Switch amongst others from January 2018.
A few days ago I got the chance to play the game at the Manchester Play Expo, and I have to say that while I had high hopes for the game already, it certainly delivered on them. This game undoubtedly recreates the intensity of the game it was spawned from, but it isn't just an exercise in nostalgia -- this is a game that's more than happy to incorporate modern values such as regenerating health and a strong difficulty curve into the mix, and the graphics are intoxicating, with gloriously chunky and colourful pixel art all over the shop. Rob Hewson dubbed this design philosophy as "neo-retro", paying respect to the original while providing something that people who are more into modern games can easily enjoy -- and it's pretty easy to see that philosophy on display.
There are many joyous things to experience with the game -- the dogfights with enemies, the battles against guardians, and some of the new weapons to boot, such as a trio of ball and chains that you can sprint around with to get some momentum and then clatter into the cockpit of your enemy. There's also the promise of multiple modes to play with, and different graphic selections that pay tribute to both the C64 and ZX Spectrum -- seeing as a lot of retro-inspired games tend to pay tribute to the former, it's nice to see one fly the flag for the latter too. All being said, things look pretty good for the game -- and I do hope that it'll be a smash, as it clearly comes from the right place...the experience of a lot of the old games designers who were showcasing their latest work at the Expo certainly showed, and Hyper Sentinel was as good an example of that as any. Expect a full-on review when the game arrives in January.
