Alien Highway
1986 video game
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Alien Highway: Encounter 2 is an isometric action game released by Vortex in 1986 for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. It was programmed by Mark Haigh-Hutchinson and is the sequel to Highway Encounter.
Gameplay
Gameplay is similar to Highway Encounter, with the player controlling a "Vorton" robot in its attempt to deliver a bomb to an alien base at the end of a highway. Various enemies and obstacles lie in its path.
A notable difference is that the player has a single Vorton with an energy meter, instead of five lives; accordingly, the bomb must be pushed by the player, whereas in the previous game it was pushed by the player's spare Vortons.
Development
Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, the developer of the game:
After Highway Costa [Panayi] wanted to come up with something completely different again. Since I was now working full-time for Vortex it was decided that I should write Alien Highway whilst Costa developed his new ideas. I had previously written Android One for the Amstrad CPC (in my spare time at University) and then converted Highway Encounter to the CPC in 8 weeks after graduation. Alien Highway attempted to retain the essence of the original game yet expand the gameplay and introduce a random element into the game. It was also considerably faster than the original.[1]
Reception
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Amstrad Action | 89%[2] |
| Amtix | 80%[3] |
| Crash | 88%[4] |
| Computer and Video Games | 33/40[5] |
| Sinclair User | |
| Your Sinclair | 9/10[7] |
Alien Highway received positive reviews.