Developed by Boys Without Brains and published by Thalamus in 1988.

I've previously completed longplays of Flimbo's Quest and Genloc and saw people saying that both games are very similar to Hawkeye. Having never played Hawkeye, I thought it high-time that I did.

The game's back-story revolves around a near-perfect civilisation being driven to the point of extinction by a race known as the Skryksis. The Skryksis poisoned the planet's atmosphere via giant radiation plants, making the surface of the planet uninhabitable.

Survivors fled underground and developed a cybernetic battle-droid to fight back. The player takes control of a humanoid warrior who has been entrusted with controlling the droid, into battle.

The actual objective in each of the game's levels is to locate all 4 puzzle pieces and to then head to the exit. Two hawk heads at the top of the screen mark the direction in which the player is required to travel in order to find the next puzzle piece; follow the glowing eyes!

Each level is filled with alien and bestial enemies (spot the giant gorilla on level 2!) that can be avoided or killed using various weapons at Hawkeye's disposal. These weapons can be cycled through by holding down the fire-button and moving left or right on the joystick.

Each weapon has a different power rating, with some killing enemies more swiftly than others. However, these weapons have limited ammunition and Hawkeye will need to revert to using his basic pistol if ammo is expended.

The game packs in a considerable number of stages, each with varied enemy types, background graphics and level music helping to keep the game fresh even if the gameplay does not.

In fact, the music (courtesy of Jeroen Tel) is fantastic and was the best thing about the game for me.

The scrolling and gameplay mechanics are solid and well designed. The only issue I had focused on the forest stage where there are numerous holes in the ground to avoid; the sides of the pit appear solid, but the actual hole starts before the end of the graphic, so you'll fall into the hole several times before you realise that you need to jump sooner than you think.

This was another top-quality release from Thalamus with some excellent music. What's not to like?
#retrogaming