Sky Runner
| Sky Runner | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Cascade |
| Platform(s) | Commodore 64, MS-DOS, ZX Spectrum |
| Release date(s) | 1986 |
| Genre(s) | Shooter game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Sound | PC speaker |
Sky Runner is a 1986 game for PC, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum made by Cascade. The PC version uses CGA graphics.
The game is played from the 3rd person perspective with a 3D view similar to Space Harrier. Gameplay involved controlling an aircraft called a skimmer to shoot down enemy towers. After destroying enough, the skimmer would drop down a skybike, which the player would use to destroy other enemy skybikers, while avoiding obstacles like trees. After destroying enough enemies, a boss character called a harvester would appear, which the player would have to defeat. Upon defeating the harvester the game awards the player with money, and loops back to the player controlling the skimmer.
Story
Taken from the game's manual:
SKY is the drug used by the 24th century planetary dictatorship to keep the masses in a state of docile obedience. SKY is harvested on the planet of Moloc with huge harvesting machines defended by enemy sky bikers and formidable defense towers.
But there exists a freedom underground - proud rebels who would defy their tyrannical masters to be free men. However, they do not possess the military training to operate the advanced weapons systems of the 24th century. Desperate, the freedom underground turns to you, the elite mercenary, the Sky Runner. You are the Squad Commander who must lead your group of Sky Runners through the defending towers blasting the drug crazed enemy bikers and annihilating the harvesting machines. You are a professional, you are paid only for success. You do it for the money - but history will remember you as the heroic warrior who saved mankind from the scourge of SKY.[1]