Terrorpods box cover art

In November 1987 Psygnosis presented the new videogame Terrorpods to the public: a shooter and management video game originally developed for Amiga and Atari ST and subsequently brought to Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, and MSX.

Copertina di Terrorpods (ricostruzione dall’originale)

The game is set on an asteroid rich in minerals called Colian. Inside a crater there are ten mineral colonies originally belonging to the Federation, but subsequently subjugated by the Empire, which exploits their workforce to extract vital components for the production of its terrible weapon: the Terrorpods.

The Federation, seeing a chance to turn the events in its favor, plant a secret agent in the industrial complex to steal the secrets that are hidden behind the Terrorpods technology. Unfortunately, the Empire discovers this plan and decides to destroy the entire complex with all its secrets.

The player, in the role of the undercover agent, has the tasks to defend the colonies and to coordinate them with each other. To complete the game, therefore, both management strategy qualities as well as the skill to blast enemies, even if in the 8 bit versions, the management component is a lot limited.

Immagine originale tratta dalla serie per Musical Version of The War of the Worlds

Sezione sinistra di un’altra immagine della serie

The game action is shown by the cockpit view of the DSV (Defence Strategy Vehicle), which consumes fuel, one of the resources to be managed, when moves or shoot.

The other resources present in the game are: “Detonite”, “Quanza”, “Zenite” and “Aluma” where each of these has a specific function.

The game ends when the player collect the six parts needed to build a Terrorpod.

The game box cover art and the box back are designed by Roger Dean and they are part of an artistic project of the 1977 to illustrate a booklet and the cover of a double LP by Jeff Wayne entitled “Musical Version of the War of the Worlds“, that finally was not accepted by the musician. The drawings together with the collaboration of Tim White and other designers were used later for a new edition of War of the Worlds and published in Omni magazine in August 1985.