But sometimes it’s all about where you’re standing.

I was delighted last week to discover I’d received an Honorable Mention in the Writers of the Future contest for one of my short stories.  It’s not the same as winning, but it’s a step in the right direction!  Galvanised by this unexpected turn of events, I sat down on Saturday night to put more words to imaginary electronic paper, and performed my last lowly scan of the internets before my attention could turn entirely to the task before me.

And stumbled upon Star Guard (courtesy of RPS). Only a quick download, I think, perhaps I’ll have a quick blast of 8-bit style platform-shootery goodness before I get to work. Famous last words.

You see, Star Guard takes the best parts of pixelly retro classics – the responsive mechanics, the hordes of faceless foes and fiendish traps to jump and blast your way through, the black and neon wizard’s keep for your spaceman to traverse – and mixes in choice elements of the 2009 school of game design – frequent and well spaced checkpoints, integrated time trials and an intricate scoring system – to create a stellar little experience which recalls the enjoyment of the hard-as-nails 8-bit classics while not condemning you to replay from the start every three lives (unless you play on the hidden Hard mode, at least).

Yet the best part of Star Guard is the story, a throwback to those self-same days when all you needed to know was that the Bydo Empire were evil – of course they were; ‘evil’ and ‘empire’ are alliterative! – and that YOU you You! were the only one with the skills/fancy technology/misfortune to save the galaxy.  I’ve already mentioned the glorious spaceman-attacking-wizard’s-castle premise, but Star Guard further draws your attention to this classical nonsense by printing the story in bleeping text on the interior of the castle, nuggets of information which turn the ridiculous premise into something more compelling. It’s still a 1980’s story, but perhaps a 1980’s story viewed through the lens of the twenty-first century.

If you’ve got a spare half an hour, give it a blast, and try to keep the grin off your face as you unleash laser hell upon yet another denizen of the keep.