Powerglove

Although computers and consoles like the Xbox and PlayStation have been controlling the video game market for quite some time now, there are still those who enjoy the simplicity of older systems. Whether it’s SNES, Sega Genesis or a variety of other obsolete consoles, people have yet to completely bury the old classics, especially now when retro games are so popular.

Powerglove is a jump ‘n’ run platformer designed initially for the Commodore 64 system, while also being released for PC. Even if it was developed in modern times, the mechanics, the graphics and the general vibe of the game are as retro as possible. Thus, the experience should come pretty close to the real thing, although that can only be experienced if you owned a C64 back in the day.

The game’s story is not overly complicated, since there’s no reason for it to be. In essence, you play the role of a hero trying to save mankind from certain death after one of the thermal reactors powering billions of people explodes. In order to activate the backup systems, you must find all the control diamonds and use them together, which means that you have to explore the whole reactor looking for them.

Each room you have to explore is usually packed with hostile maintenance robots that attack anyone they see. You can destroy them using the hero’s main weapon, but you have to remember that you’ll backtrack a lot sometimes, and each enemy respawns when you re-enter a room. Thus, it may be better to avoid losing time by just jumping over them, unless they are actually blocking your way.

As mentioned before, everything is designed to look and feel as classic as possible, which includes the graphics and the controls. On the other hand, you can use a controller to play it, so some concessions have been made. Speaking of which, the controls are certainly responsive and accurate, but you might need a while to get used to the character’s movement.

Even if Powerglove probably won’t find a huge audience for itself, the market it targets should be more than happy with the game. Hence, if you were around for the C64 era, or you are a big fan of old video games, this is definitely something to have in your library.