Game Review: Nebulus

Review: Nebulus (Amiga)

The late eighties and early nineties had some classic games and here is yet another one. Nebulus was a platform puzzler where you took charge of a little green chap called Pogo. He is charged with taking his submarine out into the ocean, locating a series of towers, ascending them until he reaches the top and destroying them. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?

Each of the eight towers Pogo has to climb are cylindrical in shape with platforms and stairways dotted around their sides and enabling our hero to climb to the top. However, there are many obstacles such as gaps to leap across, puzzles to solve and enemies to evade if you are going to make it to the top. If you are hit by an enemy, Pogo falls until he lands on the nearest platform. Fall too near the bottom and our hero may end up drowning in the ocean.

Due to the shapes of the towers, Pogo has to walk around them to locate the necessary platforms to climb higher. Rather than Pogo moving left and right though, it is the tower and the platforms that move instead which makes the game more user friendly. There will be something of a learning curve when you first play, avoiding some of the enemies such as balls that race around the tower and won’t stop for anyone, especially Pogo.

Once Pogo has reached the top of a tower he enters the final door to destroy it. The tower then shrinks to the ocean surface leaving Pogo free to hop into his submarine and move onto the next tower. In between the towers you are treated to a mini game where you navigate Pogo’s submarine, shooting fish that approach and catching them. Points are only collected if you managed to hit the fish then catch them. If you miss it’s a few points missed from your overall total.

As with many games from this era, Nebulus is not a long experience. Looking back it’s great to see the game through in its entirety. I won’t deny that this was a game I couldn’t complete in my youth. A sequel followed in 1990 but the difficulty of that game was even greater than its predecessor. Though a brief experience I still think Nebulus is a memorable one all the same, another example of the creators having to come up with a different concept rather than just relying on the visuals as many companies seem to do today.

Verdict: 4/5

About the Author:

I was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England and have always been a bookworm and enjoyed creative writing at school. In 1999 I created the Elencheran Chronicles and have been writing ever since. My first novel, Fezariu's Epiphany, was published in May 2011. When not writing I'm a lover of films, games, books and blogging. I now live in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, with my wife, Donna, and our six cats - Kain, Razz, Buggles, Charlie, Bilbo and Frodo.

David M. Brown – who has written 807 posts on Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave.