I already knew Uridium when I learned about its predecessor Paradroid in a little booklet called 'The Ideas Central Handbook No.1' that came free with Computer and Video Games magazine, July 1986. Knowing the quality of Uridium, I wanted to see this game as well.
Well, Paradroid is great. It is every bit as playable and addictive as Uridium. But getting into the game takes some practice. It helps a lot to read the tips given in the booklet I mentioned. Below you find the original text.
Andrew Braybrook's Paradroid was the game
that insprired Steve Turner's Quazatron.
64 owners were enjoying the pleasures of grappling with a droid
some time before Steve's game appeared.
When Andrew learned that his partner was telling all about KLP-2
he didn't want Paradroid fans to feel left out -
so here's Andrew's very own Paradroid Survival Guide.
The droid crew of galactic freighter have turned against their masters.
Your job - as controller of a droid influence device -
is destroy the mutinous crew and regain control of the freighter.
You can ram, shoot and grapple with the rogue droids -
or even turn them into paranoid droids, and make them shoot each other!
The "001" influence device is vulnerable so gain an extra life by transferring to a low level droid as soon as possible. Then build up to a powerful droid in several stages. Five key robots are outstanding in their class and are worth seeking out.
Climb the "droid ladder" as quickly as possible without making risky transfers.
Choose droids of near to your own class.
As soon as you control the most powerful droid on a deck, go to another deck.
Do not wipe out the small droids, especially on a hard deck.
You need them if your host is destroyed.
Go round a corner, or through a door and get into transfer mode in safety. You are a sitting duck if you are still! Approach on a zig-zag course and nip around the back of the droid as you get near, then it cannot bring his bullets to bear on you. Ambush droids by waiting round corners, behind blocks or doors.
Laser battles are best avoided unless your droid has a superior weapon.
Low weapons have no effect on high droids.
If you cannot out-gun your opponent, transfer to them.
Don't shoot droids you wish to transfer to -
you'll just end up with their energy which will be lower.
If your host droid is destroyed, or you lose a transfer,
you are extremely vulnerable.
Get to an easy deck and power point immediately.
Transfer to the lowest droid you can.
It is worth making a last ditch attempt to transfer to a powerful droid
if you are surrounded.
Score more points by shooting several large droids, preferably using a disruptor. The alert status will change through green, yellow, amber to red. Each second the alert colour is not green you get bonus points. Keep the alert status up by destroying more robots.
If you have lots of shots,
you can fire them all in the last seconds of the game by keeping
the fire button pressed and sweeping across your lines with a joystick.
See Quazatron hints for the Grapple Game.
OK, I included the important part of those hints as well, they are well worth reading if you want to survive Paradroid.
When the grapple screen is displayed,
use the preliminary time to study each side.
Choosing the best side is usually VERY important.
Here are some good features to watch out for in the grapple screen.
Decide on the side with the good features, then use the rest of the "study" time to decide if there are any lines you can shoot down straight away. When the shooting starts, shoot first any autopulser you want to activate because they do not run out. Then shoot any line that the enemy cannot reach. Save other shots until the last few moments, or until the enemy has committed all his shots. If you have many more shots to fire than the droid you are grappling, follow the enemy and shoot where he shoots. Being last, your shot will last longer and will cancel out the enemy shots.
Occasionally it is better to play for a draw in the hope that you are offered a more advantagous game next time. The more lines you win the better the chance of winning the droid's equipment, so every shot counts.