Firetrack

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Firetrack is a vertically-scrolling shoot-'em-up computer game released for the BBC Micro, Acorn Electron and Commodore 64 platforms in 1987 and programmed by Orlando. It resembles the 1984 arcade game Star Force in style and gameplay.

The player controls a fighter ship which flies at constant speed and heading over a series of worlds. The player is faced with both airborne enemies (who approach in different attack formations) and ground-based enemies. Destruction of a whole attack wave results in bonus points, and destruction of specific ground targets (such as buildings marked with X) results in bonus points (and an occasional extra life) at the end of each level. Some enemies are indestructible and must be avoided. There are no powerups, although the rate of fire increases with more challenging levels.

As was usual in Orlando's games, the game was ahead of its time technologically and pushed the limits of the hardware. On the BBC Micro version, it automatically detected sideways RAM expansion if present, which allowed improved music and more detailed graphics on the levels, without any changes to the underlying slick gameplay. Innovative use of colour made the 8-colour palette of the BBC look much broader. The scrolling was smooth and flicker-free, and there was very little noticeable slowing, even when many enemies were displayed at once. A host of small details added to the attraction of the game, making it a genre classic on the BBC. If shadow RAM on a BBC computer was present, the graphics were double-buffered.

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