Originally released for £10.99 in 1991 (£25 adjusted for inflation) ‘The Light Corridor’ found itself free on the front of Your Sinclair just 18 months later. An inauspicious fall for sure, but not an uncommon fate for games lacking a license or well known IP in the final years of this hardware.
In the original blurb for ‘The Light Corridor’ players were urged to “capture the light rays in order to accomplish the ultimate challenge: the illumination of the stars in a newborn universe” - pretty grand words considering what we have is, ostensibly, 3D Breakout.
Actually that’s not entirely fair. Yes you control a paddle and use it to deflect a ball, but besides that there really isn’t a lot here that’s similar to Breakout - or any block-breaking game for that matter. There are no blocks to break, for starters.
Using wireframe and some filled polygon graphics, the game is played from a first person perspective, and the goal is to travel as far as possible into the titular corridor as possible.
In this regard it has far more in common with Starstrike, or the trench run from Star Wars Arcade - albeit at a more sedate pace and with forward progress entirely under your control.
The two styles; Starstrike and Breakout, come together to create a game where you deflect a ball into the corridor and basically chase after it. Sooner or later it will hit an obstacle and come back at you - at which point you need to deflect it again and attempt to carry on after it again. As you travel ever further inwards the obstacles become increasingly larger, more mobile, and more complex, there are power-ups too, with most being classics such as sticky or dual paddle modes, but there are also some clever original twists on those themes.
One of my favourite little touches comes when you reach a new stage. These seem to be set distances, and are denoted by ‘Lvl 02’ (or other stage number, obv.) being written out on a half-screen obstacle wall, furthermore, the next wall you pass will have a four digit code written on it that can be entered on the menu screen to begin at that point on future runs. I love this sort of seamless ‘in world’ information, it’s classy programming of a kind that is often not acknowledged, let alone applauded. It reminded me of the end of S.T.U.N. Runner when you physically pass the high scores of players who have come before you.
And that is pretty much that really. It’s a great little game; a simple idea, well executed. There are versions for the Atari ST and Amiga which I’m sure are more polished (and there’s no doubt mouse control would be beneficial too) but the Spectrum version does incredibly well with the power available; there’s even a level maker toolkit with the ability to save and load your creations to challenge friends - granted that's fairly unlikely in 2020 - but it's a fascinating and welcome option to see in a 30 year old game.
In the original blurb for ‘The Light Corridor’ players were urged to “capture the light rays in order to accomplish the ultimate challenge: the illumination of the stars in a newborn universe” - pretty grand words considering what we have is, ostensibly, 3D Breakout.
Actually that’s not entirely fair. Yes you control a paddle and use it to deflect a ball, but besides that there really isn’t a lot here that’s similar to Breakout - or any block-breaking game for that matter. There are no blocks to break, for starters.
Using wireframe and some filled polygon graphics, the game is played from a first person perspective, and the goal is to travel as far as possible into the titular corridor as possible.
In this regard it has far more in common with Starstrike, or the trench run from Star Wars Arcade - albeit at a more sedate pace and with forward progress entirely under your control.
The two styles; Starstrike and Breakout, come together to create a game where you deflect a ball into the corridor and basically chase after it. Sooner or later it will hit an obstacle and come back at you - at which point you need to deflect it again and attempt to carry on after it again. As you travel ever further inwards the obstacles become increasingly larger, more mobile, and more complex, there are power-ups too, with most being classics such as sticky or dual paddle modes, but there are also some clever original twists on those themes.
One of my favourite little touches comes when you reach a new stage. These seem to be set distances, and are denoted by ‘Lvl 02’ (or other stage number, obv.) being written out on a half-screen obstacle wall, furthermore, the next wall you pass will have a four digit code written on it that can be entered on the menu screen to begin at that point on future runs. I love this sort of seamless ‘in world’ information, it’s classy programming of a kind that is often not acknowledged, let alone applauded. It reminded me of the end of S.T.U.N. Runner when you physically pass the high scores of players who have come before you.
And that is pretty much that really. It’s a great little game; a simple idea, well executed. There are versions for the Atari ST and Amiga which I’m sure are more polished (and there’s no doubt mouse control would be beneficial too) but the Spectrum version does incredibly well with the power available; there’s even a level maker toolkit with the ability to save and load your creations to challenge friends - granted that's fairly unlikely in 2020 - but it's a fascinating and welcome option to see in a 30 year old game.
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