It's been a minute since I've iposted videos on here, but today's one looks at a brand new release -- as well as its origins. Hyper Sentinel, which can now be played on PC, PS4 and Switch, is a wonderful little game -- a brilliant psychedelic little shooter that would look right at home on the wall of a nightclub. But it wouldn't have existed without a game that helped to put its creators, Hewson, back on the map in 1986 -- Uridium. As ever, the video is here.

The old game, a great technical achievement for the C64 at the time, was made by the almighty Graftgold -- a wonderful little UK studio who sadly are no longer with us (although the main man behind the game, Andrew Braybrook, is still pottering around the industry). A frenzied turbo tunnel ultra-hard space blaster that really helped set the Commodore apart from the pack, it enjoyed plenty of ports -- including one for the NES that Mindscape oversaw, using a license for the then six-year old film The Last Starfighter, as you do. A toughie, but a classic.

Hyper Sentinel is in many ways more friendly -- you get an energy bar as opposed to dying in one hit for a start. But you also get these wonderful, harsh European neo-retro visuals that have more than a touch of the Jeff Minters about them, some amazing boss battles and seriously intense chip music -- it's everything an evolution of the original game should be in other words, and worth checking out. Hopefully this video will swing you towards the game, and hopefully you enjoy it.

• review
• kim justice
• hewson
• hyper sentinel
• uridium