Serpent

The Good
Serpent is a cracking game for the TRS-80 from the early Eighties, and it is also one of the few games where you have to be on alert. You control a submarine, and you must kill several serpents that rise up from the sea-bed and make their way toward you. Molimerx’s game shares something in common with Destroyer, and that is the timer at the top of the screen. Once that reaches zero or you make contact with the serpents five times, the game is over.

Accuracy plays an important role. Failing to launch a torpedo at the head of a serpent causes it to multiply, and if not dealt with, the serpents will eventually fill up large portions of the screen, making it difficult to maneuver. Even if you let the serpents get out of control, they will eventually rush back to the sea bed as a killer whale makes his appearance. What’s funny about it is that it doesn’t attack you; it just swims across the screen minding his own business. Coming into contact with this whale results in an instant game over.

I first read about this game in issue one of C&VG, and what the reviewer doesn’t tell you is that the whale can be killed by shooting its head. The screen goes berzerk, but the game continues. If you’re playing this game, I recommend you do this as it will save you some precious time. The consequence of this is the shark seems to show its ugly head every five seconds instead of occasionally.

The submarine is controlled by the cursor keys, and a combination of the horizontal and vertical keys makes it move diagonally. Z fires your rear torpedoes, while / fires the ones at the front. I found this key combination a bit difficult to use, but it is a good thing that the serpents don’t appear on both sides of the screen at once.

How slow and fast the serpents and torpedoes – as well as your submarine - travel depends on the five skill levels you can pick before the game begins. Apart from the first one, all of them are in alphabetical order. Another option, called Special Missions, is available. This allows you to customize the game, allowing players to select the speeds of the serpents, torpedoes, submarine, and even the game itself; and the number of torpedoes you want to fire at once.

The Bad
There is nothing wrong with this game. Anyone who thinks that the graphics are quite crude compared to today’s games should realize that this was the standard back at the time this game was released.

The Bottom Line
Serpent is a fixed-screen shooter where you need to destroy as many serpents as you can before the time runs out, while watching out for the killer whale. The game can be customized before you begin play, making the game interesting. If you were a fan of Destroyer back in the day and happened to have a TRS-80 handy, then this game deserves to be in your library. I enjoyed this game, would like to see a remake of it some day.