Paradroid

Overview

Paradroid is a hybrid shooter/strategy game, originally released for the Commodore 64 in 1985. It includes an early example of a hacking mini-game, a trope common in modern gameplay.

Gameplay

The Droid populace of a fleet of spaceships have taken over the ships. The player-controlled droid, the "Influence Device" must infiltrate the various decks of the ship and destroy all hostiles. Various terminals throughout the ships show the player a map, including player location and enemy activity. The map is essential in determining which decks to proceed to via the ship's elevators.

Each Droid is represented by a sphere with a three-digit number. The first number corresponds to the power level of the droid. The player's influence device is the weakest of these, with the number 001. Enemy droids must be destroyed by shooting them, bumping them, or hacking them.

Hacking a droid requires winning a mini-game where the player must successfully complete circuits using various tools. The difficulty of the mini-game is proportional to the number of the droid being hacked. Successful hacking grants the player control of the hacked droid, including all abilities of that droid, and the ability to continue hacking other droids. The player may control the droid for a limited time, with the option of hacking another droid before time runs out. Higher-numbered droids have more limited control time. If time lapses before the player hacks another droid, the player reverts to the Influence Device, and the droid explodes.

Failing the mini-game ends the game if the player was hacking from the Influence Device, or places the player back in control of the Influence Device if hacking was attempted while already controlling another bot.

Only particular Droids can fire a weapon, and there are multiple levels of weapons. Of particular strength is the 999 "prototype" droid, which has a very brief control time. Other Droids can "ram" to cause damage.

Once all droids are clear, the player may proceed to the next ship. There are an infinite number of ships to conquer.