Intensity was Andrew Braybrook‘s final Commodore 64 game (before moving on to 16-bit machines), and it’s a pretty good rescue the colonists type game, where you control a skimmer that has to contend with all manner of obstacles, all of which either want to kill you, or eat the colonists you’re trying to rescue.

The first few levels are pretty simple, but after a short while Intensity starts getting very difficult. You have to have a clear head and fast reflexes to make progress. And then you begin to realise what a clever-but-simple game this is…

Some followers of Braybrook‘s work were disappointed Intensity wasn’t a blaster (it does look like one from screenshots), but I think that they were missing the point of what he was trying to do, which was: create innovative, varied games. Not just a string of polished shoot ’em ups.

Intensity is definitely worth playing now, if you’ve never seen it before.

More: Intensity on Moby Games