Project-X

A wall of enemy bullets, the roar of the engine and decisions that must be made in a split second. Project-X from Team17 is among the toughest that horizontal shooters offered on the Amiga. This technically polished shmup showed that the Commodore Amiga could spin the wheels of a genre otherwise built mainly by the Japanese on consoles and in arcades.

The game was released in 1992 and immediately earned a reputation as a demanding title. Project-X requires quick reflexes from the player, knowledge of enemy layouts and clever management of weapon upgrades, which gradually turn your craft into a flying arsenal. The levels take place in varied environments and their difficulty does not forgive mistakes, which makes finishing it a real challenge.

Visually Project-X demonstrated the graphical power of the Amiga. Detailed backgrounds, smooth scrolling and effective enemies were among the things the machine could boast about. Team17, a studio with a reputation for careful craftsmanship, put its sense for technical excellence into it and the game became one of the flagships of Amiga shooters. A revised version was later released that tuned the difficulty and balance.

In the context of the genre Project-X belongs to the group of Amiga shmups that proved the Commodore computer need not lag behind specialised gaming hardware. Together with titles like Apidya or Agony they formed proof that world-class shooters could be made on the Amiga.

Project-X is a game for players who seek an honest challenge and are not afraid to repeat the same passage many times until they master it. The reward is the feeling of overcoming a demanding opponent and a spectacle that was among the best for its time.

Why play it: A tough horizontal shooter that shows off the graphical muscle of the Amiga and offers an uncompromising challenge for lovers of classic shmups.