There is nothing better in video games than re-evaluating your opinion of a release that, on initial glance, you cast it aside as a little shallow and bland. After returning to such game and realising there are far more nuances and things to do and it really grabs your attention. Quadron is exactly this type of game and deserves the player's time.

Quadron's origins go way back to 1988 as a title that was fully completed after the author, Andrew Beale, painstakingly worked on it over a period of two years. Sadly, the software house that was to release the game pulled out from the agreement and this little hidden gem was cast in limbo for 30 years. Luckily for us, and with the renaissance of retro gaming, we see it being plucked from its dark doldrums and given a rebirth.

The game is lauded as being inspired by the classic Williams arcade games, but to me it's much more than that. In a world that is reminiscent of Robotron meets Micromania's Project Future, with a dash of Sabrewulf, the player controls a robot who must defend rocks which contain coveted crystals and are found in the 4 corners of a quadrant that comprises 28 screens.

There are many probe aliens that are hungry for these as it allows for them to source them for the fetcher aliens, who in turn can upgrade their strength and go on the offensive against the player.

These upgrade rooms that utilise the crystals are located in rooms to the side of the quadrant and aren't always accessible. Making life easier in defending the rocks, the player has access to a status screen which provides, amongst many stats, a scanner to see what's going on in the entire playfield. This makes it marginally easier to see the areas that are in need of defence. The player must fend off the waves of aliens to progress to the next level and upgrade the robot in the pursuit to make it more battleworthy against the relentless baddies.

As I said prior, this game is vastly more complex than it's initial appearance. The advanced PDF document, alone, makes my mind melt. It took many plays and a good number of rereads to get a firm grasp on the game. This is no bad thing, it truly has a lot of 'meat on its bone' and gives for really rewarding gameplay.

Graphically, Quadron is old school in its aesthetics. It would have looked dated in 1988, if I am to be honest. But in saying that, I love them - they take me back to a very happy time when games looked like this. There is a ton of colour, and plenty of sprite variations to be seen throughout the game. The sound, albeit 48k sparse, is sufficient for the game. Anyone with a knowledge of the Spectrum will instantly recognise the sounds and know they are influenced from Ultimate's games.

With all its complexities, I found the game hard to grasp. It takes a lot of reading and understanding to truly conceptualise the game. I would have preferred a better learning curve within the levels, so I wasn't as neck deep with all the rules from the outset.

With that in mind, I wasn't as addicted as I should have been - my brain can't cope with fast action and deep thought being simultaneous.

A great game with an odd mix of old style graphics and more modern thinking gameplay style. It's just the learning curve that holds it back from getting a higher score, but it is still worth perseverance.