The Light Corridor

The Light Corridor is a first-person puzzle game available for Atari ST, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, MSX and ZX Spectrum. It was released in 1990^[1] by Infogrames.

Plot

The player must capture the light rays in order to accomplish the ultimate challenge: the illumination of the stars in a newborn universe.^[2]

Gameplay

The game can be played by one or two players. Both gameplay modes are the same, with the two player mode allowing the players to take turns.

The player uses a paddle to navigate a metal sphere down a long corridor. The player releases the ball (which is stuck to the paddle at the beginning of the game) and it will fly down the corridor until it hits a wall or similar obstacle and bounces back towards the player. The player uses the time the ball spends travelling to walk down the corridor. The colour of the walls changes as the player moves further down the tunnel. When the ball returns, the player must deflect it and send it back down the corridor. The object of the game is to reach the end of the corridor without allowing the ball to avoid the paddle and hit the player. If this happens, the player will lose a life. The game will continue from where the player stopped, and the ball will once again be attached to the paddle.

Obstacles such as moving elevator-style doors make navigating corridors difficult and success relies on the player’s quick reactions. Collectable power-ups make progress easier. The colour of the corridor changes after every four levels, and there are 50 levels in total.

There is a level construction kit included, meaning the player can create their own levels and save them for future use.

Reception

The game was well received at its release. Sinclair User gave it a 93% overall score,^[3] Crash called it "simple but wildly addictive"^[4] and Your Sinclair said it was frustratingly difficult but it was worth going back for more.^[5]

References