Created by Paul Voysey and Tayo Olowu, with graphics by Yemi Olowu, PSI Warrior is an almost mythical game, released fairly early in the C64‘s lifetime (1984) by Beyond Software.

Beyond‘s marketing materials really did treat this game like some sort of unbelievable achievement for humankind, but when you actually sit down to play PSI Warrior, you’ll realise that there really isn’t that much to it. And what there is, seems to be a bit misguided. Or even hampered by delusions of grandeur…

As the titular ‘PSI Warrior‘, you’ve been sent to an abandoned military silo and must search for the mysterious power that’s taken up residence there. You start at the top of the silo and must work your way down, with level 60 being the lowest level. To get down a level you must search for a ramp, or an elevator, to go down safely. If you fall down a level any other way, you’ll do yourself a lot of damage and won’t last long. What this means, in essence, is that you have to find your way through a large maze to make your way downward.

It’s worth noting at this point that the PSI Warrior moves around on an anti-gravity board, which is kinda like a skateboard, but with no wheels. This means that he can speed up and slow down, jump, and can turn on a sixpence. He can also shoot in the opposite direction to which his board is moving, but how useful this is remains to be seen.

Areas on the ground that are a barriers to PSI Warrior‘s hoverboard are shown as thin cyan lines. He’ll bounce off those.

Occasionally you’ll encounter a couple of different-looking floating clouds. One is a “PSI” energy cloud, and the other is an “ID” energy cloud. And the idea with these is to shoot them, and then ride into them, to collect their energy. You need to collect an equal amount of both types of energy before facing the mysterious power.

The biggest issue I have with PSI Warrior, though, is what happens when you run out of energy. You simply become stuck, and barely able to move. With no obvious way to end the game.

There’s no map, and no way of seeing where the mysterious power is. So unless you know what to do and where to go, you’re basically flailing around blindly. I couldn’t find a manual, or a map, for the game online, which surprised me.

Playing PSI Warrior now: it’s clearly a big missed opportunity in terms of gameplay. The gameplay that’s in there now is confusing and weak, and the shooting element is pathetic. Had this game been a more serious shooter, with progressive weapons and loads of destruction, then I think it would’ve been a big hit, because the main character is cool, as is his movement.

This is a game I’d love to re-design and re-program – if I could program (which I can’t). Oh well. Never mind… 🙂

There was an official sequel to this, published by Nexus in 1986, called Warrior II.

More: PSI Warrior on CSDb
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