Game Review: Apidya

Review: Apidya (Amiga) 

I used to love the horizontal-scrolling shooters. My earliest memory of these games was playing R-Type on the Atari ST. I was useless at that game but it never stopped me playing it. Back in the Amiga days I recall debate about what was the best of these horizontal-scrolling shooter games. The choice fell on two candidates – R-Type 2 and Apidya. While R-Type was sci-fi, Apidya blended both fantasy and sci-fi, giving the gamer not a spaceship to blow enemies up with but a bee!

Hexaee, the Evil Lord of Black Magic (cool name that!), wages war not against a kingdom but one couple – Yuri and Ikuro. Seems a bit harsh! Hexaee sends some mutated insects which attack Ikuro and poison her. Yuri comes home and promises his ailing wife that he will find an antidote for her and seek vengeance against Hexaee. Our hero doesn’t take up his sword and walk to Hexaee’s fortress though, he turns into a giant bee and sets out that way! The story is a bit similar to Toki only this hero chooses to turn into something else! I’d have turned into a machine gun personally but it’s up to him.

There are five levels in total with the settings in a meadow, a pond, a sewer, a machine and finally a series of tunnels. Each level is divided into stages with your trusted bee traveling from left to right and having to negotiate a myriad of threats on the ground and in the air. At the end of the stage you might sometimes have to tackle a boss such as a mole or a giant doll and you’ll have to ascertain their attack patterns to evade their fire and get shots in yourself. Some bosses need to be hit in certain sports to do damage but this is something you will need to figure out as you go along. The landscapes are quite varied with the meadow and pond working best for me. The advance into the sewer was good too but suddenly going from that to technological advancements just seemed a bit strange, then again the game’s plot is too!

Your bee isn’t alone in his quest. As you kill enemies they leave red and yellow flowers which power up a bar at the bottom of the screen giving you access to heavier and wider range of fire and even two small companions that can offer much needed support. This isn’t just a simple case of shooting though. The landscapes throw in some obstacle that you’ll need to evade and one of the bosses is so large that you’ll need to slot into the small gaps he leaves on the screen otherwise risk being killed outright and having to start again.

Apidya is backed by a great soundtrack. My favorite piece of music is when you first enter the sewers. The sight of insects may not be ideal for the squeamish but the game remains great fun to this day and after twenty years it still looks great. The storyline is pretty ludicrous and the ending robs the gamer of the satisfaction that comes with vengeance but other than that this is remains a memorable game.

Apidya is a classic horizontal-scrolling shooter replacing a spaceship for a bee but despite a peculiar plot it delivers on the action. Some of the later levels may not be as good as the opening segments and it is painfully short but what’s there is worth the experience.

Verdict: 4/5

Game Review: Apidya | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave