Phobia - amiga

[captain ahar]

wondering if anyone can explaing the structure for me.

like after i beat the first level, it gives me map select. when i fire on anything, it says i can't pass a live planet. and am left only with entering a variation on stage 1.

question: how many stages are there to each planet? game seems decent enough for a look, but in the end is it worth it? thanks.

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

First of all, you have to destroy all these icons throughout the level or the boss won't even appear. (on stage 1 the icons are like eyeballs, the screen will flash when you destroy them. Icons appear differently on other levels.) If you die at the boss or miss any of the icons then you are forced to replay the stage. Defeat the boss and you are taken to a cell stage where you can strike at the planet's core. (you must shoot through the core and grab the "?" icon.) You will then see a sequence showing the planet being destroyed, after which you can select the next planet.

Level structure seems to be the same for all planets, don't forget to visit the moons if you get the opportunity, they are the only place you can pick up the options.

[Herr Schatten]

My memory is a bit hazy, but maybe I can be of help. I only ever played the C64 version, so the Amiga port might differ.

Sly Cherry Chunks is quite right in everything he says. IIRC, you don't really have to collect all the fear icons in a stage to make the boss appear, just a sufficient number of them, as some of the icons are literally impossible to get, especially in later stages. I don't know what the required number is, though.

Every stage consists of two parts. The first one is always themed around a certain phobia (spiders, snakes, narrow spaces, birds, dentists, etc.) the second one is more maze-like in structure and uses the same graphics for every planet (on the C64 at least). There are short transitional stages you have to play through when travelling from one planet to the next. Every planet except for Thanato (death planet) and Inferno (last planet) has a moon. Visit the moons to get your options.

The map looks a bit like the one in Darius, but it works in a different way. You are not only supposed to get through to the end, you have to collect nine pieces of a shield along the way. If you don't have the shield completed, you cannot enter the last planet (which is a sun, actually). IIRC, the pieces are hidden randomly. Just go around destroying planets until you've found them all, THEN enter the last stage.

As for your question whether the game is worth it in the end, I'd personally say no (unless the Amiga version of Phobia is vastly superior to the C64 original, which I doubt). Phobia takes a lot of time to complete and most of that time is spent in annoyingly repetitive transitional stages and equally annoying planet core stages. The planet stages themselves are getting worse as the game progresses, the first three and the claustrophobia one (great boss) are the best. After that the stages feel random at times and you will experience cheap deaths galore. So I recommend spending the time and nerves required to beat Phobia only if you are already bored with the A class of horizontally scrolling shooting games on Amiga (Apidya, Z-Out, Disposable Hero), have finished the runners-up (Katakis, Silkworm) and spent some quality time with the better ones of the remaining titles (Agony, X-Out, The Oath, Zynaps).

The C64 version of Phobia is a technical marvel (displaying twice as many colours than the hardware is supposed to be capable of), but even on that computer I'd rather spend my time with better games. (Io, Katakis, Nemesis, Scorpius, Catalypse, Zynaps, even Armalyte or Enforcer, etc., etc...)

[Shatterhand]

You didn't mention Uridium 2...

And some people still say Project X is the best shmup ever or something

[Herr Schatten]

You didn't mention Uridium 2...

Uridium 2 is outstanding, easily the same league as Apidya, Z-Out and Diposable Hero, but I didn't mention it because it's not a "classic" sidescroller with forced scrolling and stuff. The stages and attack waves are not static, but quite dynamic in nature. In my mind I always group it with the Defender-style type of games like Starray and Datastorm (both of which are excellent too).

[Shatterhand]

Yeah, that's very fair..

[dave4shmups]

You didn't mention Uridium 2...

Uridium 2 is outstanding, easily the same league as Apidya, Z-Out and Diposable Hero, but I didn't mention it because it's not a "classic" sidescroller with forced scrolling and stuff. The stages and attack waves are not static, but quite dynamic in nature. In my mind I always group it with the Defender-style type of games like Starray and Datastorm (both of which are excellent too).

OT, how's the first Uridium for C64? I'd like to get one of those C64 Plug-and-Play joysticks.

[neorichieb1971]

Uridium on C64 is awesome, the best version imo.