Darxide

Reception of Darxide was mixed. The game was followed in 2004 by Darxide EMP, an expanded version released for Pocket PCs and Nokia mobile phones.

• Title — Darxide • Developer — Frontier Developments • Publisher — Sega • Producer — Duncan Kershaw • Designer — Peter Irvin David Braben • Programmer — Peter Irvin • Artist — Aggy Finn Chris Mullender Reece Millidge • Composer — Adam Salkeld Richard Jacques • Released — January 1996 • Genre — Shoot 'em up • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — 32X

Darxide is a shoot 'em up game. Players control a space fighter, with a set of instrument panels as a head-up display. There are 10 levels in the game. The premise of the game involves a series of asteroids being mined, with defenses protecting them. The object of the game is to eliminate the defenses and destroy the asteroids. Innocent miners, released off the asteroids, also have to be rescued. The game's plot involves an alien race which wants the mining operations for themselves, and have hidden forces inside some hollowed-out asteroids. Destroying those asteroids releases the enemy forces. Players have an auto-targeting weapon, as well as power-ups available later in the game. Levels are timed by the approach of a blue moon; failure to complete the level on time results in loss of a life. Elements of the game were influenced by designer David Braben, who had previously worked on Frontier: Elite II. Unlike Elite II, the gameplay was designed to be simpler with more focused objectives. The development team expressed the desire to include a voiced computer in-game, similar to those in science fiction movies. Development of the game was covered by Russian magazine Sega Pro.