Terra Cresta was one of six classic games that came with my PC when it was originally bought for me in the mid to late 80's. It came with Wizball, Hypersports, Mikie, Head over Heels, and parallax.
You pilot a spacecraft in this top view vertical scrolling shoot ‘em up and the object from what I remember was to destroy the alien forces in the air and on the ground. As you progressed along the level you encountered many different foes from little missile pods on the surface to various types of alien space craft.
But one of the main attractions to this game was that as you progressed along the level you would see little pods on the ground that when destroyed released an add-on for your ship. Once docked with this you ship became larger and better equipped with fire power. There were 5 or so parts to collect and once the last part had been docked with the ship transforms into a large flaming eagle which is temporarily indestructible for about 15 seconds. After this wears off your ship returns to its docked form.
Also as you pick up these extra ship parts it is possible to separate them causing your firepower to spread over a much wider area. With each part gained the ships
firepower when split changes as well which was one of the many gems in this simple, but utterly addictive game. Like many Commodore 64 games it was extremely difficult to get to the end. I never have completed, like many other Commodore games. I remember I saw the original arcade game at a local amusement arcade, and realised then what a splendid job they had done in really doing it justice when being brought onto a home system. The graphics were almost exact and the sound effects were pretty much spot on.
This game is one of those few golden games of my childhood and I would thoroughly recommend it to any retro game fan. Like so many games back then it didn't need flashy graphics to create the appeal it generated. Just a simple shoot ‘em up with some great little twists and novelties and of course, seemingly impossible to complete lol. but then this was one of its greatest appeals. because no matter how much you played it or frustrated you got, you always came back for more, and more, and more.
