Wooow! This is the best 2 player game ever made. It is so underrated. I have played this over a thousand times (on the amiga) ,and I'm so glad it has been remade. Thank you!
I played it with a very good friend, and our level is ridiculously high. We know every obstacle by heart, and we know exactly how fast you can get around every single spot. The depth of this game is just amazing.
When you reach a decent skill level, you’ll begin to understand the magic of abusing the fuel settings (speed really matters and if you set your fuel on low, you are a bullet). You also know how to combine the right shots/bombs in a deadly combo, how to deny your opponent fuel/protect your own base, and lots of other tweaks that would put you in a better position that your opponent.
The way we played it was only about counting victories and kills. We didn't care about the route, you're supposed to follow. The one who reached a hundred (Yes, a hundred!) victories first, would win the honour and a beer. And then we would start over again. (Save game was important).
Before every match the one who was behind in score was allowed to beer-challenge the other which meant that whoever would lose the following match would have to bottom up a beer (drinking has a huge impact on your rocket skills).
If there is going to be updates, I would wish 2 things:
1.Make the bombs number 5 be just as powerful as on the amiga. If you were skilled enough, you could capture the opponent on his home base and kill him 5 additional times before he had a chance to fly away. That was so cool. (It seems (at least in metarola) they don't deal that much damage anymore?).
2. in Ekolos and Likvidius you could also fill up the opponent's base by spreading bombs number 6 all over it, which meant that if he died, he would die again and again. (Now they seem to explode way too soon - on the amiga they would stay there for a really long time).
Also, the landing was a bit more forgiving - at our level, it was very common to do a quick landing to get a few bombs and fuel and then fly again, but it seems that the angle really has to be perfect now?
Our favorite maps were:
1.Metarola
2.Likvidius
3.Ekolos/tropulus
Sitimus was not good for this kind of battle.
I would love to test this version some more, and the idea of making it 4 player is great :)