Metro-Cross is a scrolling race/action game in which you control a character known as “The Runner“, who must cross the finish line on a course full of obstacles, before the timer reaches zero. It was developed and distributed into arcades by Namco in 1985.

Each round has a set amount of time on the clock, which counts down as soon as the starting gun sounds. The Runner can speed up or slow down by pushing left and right, although – in reality – you need to be going full speed to make it to the end on time. Either that, or you need to be extremely good at avoiding anything that will slow The Runner down, which isn’t easy.

The very first course is relatively easy and it introduces you to just a few of the hazards you’ll encounter on the way, including: green tiles that will slow you down if you run over them; holes that you can fall into and lose time; hurdles that will trip you up if you don’t time your jumps correctly, and rolling cans of drink that will squash The Runner if they roll over him.

There are also useful items that will aid The Runner if collected. A skateboard will appear in certain places on some levels and can be ridden over the ‘sticky’ green tiles at full speed, which is very useful. Grey soda cans award points for running into them, or stop the timer for a few seconds if jumped on. Also very useful is a green can of soda that will increase The Runner‘s speed by a considerable amount – vital if you’re to make the finish line in some levels.

Subsequent courses feature far more devious traps and hazards, like mines that will explode if you run over them; green mice that latch onto you and slow you down, and fans that’ll blow you into the air.

In total there are 32 courses to beat, although in reality you’ll be lucky if you manage to get past the first three. Unless you’re persistent…

Metro-Cross is an interesting idea, but the game is pure frustration to play, and it doesn’t have enough graphical variety in the levels. Namco could’ve varied the colour of the floor tiles on some of the courses to at least give the illusion of variety, but that doesn’t happen.

Obviously practise will give you a chance to memorise the up-coming hazards on each course, but how much practise you’d be prepared to put into Metro-Cross is debatable. I’m guessing that it wouldn’t be much, because this is a relatively minor arcade game from the mid-Eighties that is not particularly enjoyable nor memorable, so most people will understandably skip it.

Home computer ports were released by US Gold, and others, in the mid-to-late ’80s, but – like the original – they didn’t set the world on fire.

More: Metro-Cross on Wikipedia