ACRO Studios designed this little top down shooter called Baryon. Published by the Game Factory in the middle nineties, Baryon is a very solid play and offers discerning gamers most of the amenities they have come to look for in classic arcade action. It was designed with the personal computer in mind and never was ported to other formats, making it a great fit for the DOS operating system or newer machines with the DOS Box emulator. Baryon is futuristic in nature, and the user will find himself the pilot of a very fast little ship, flying within swarms of enemies.
The best thing about Baryon is the fast paced shooting action. The scroll is vertical, as opposed to horizontal, so you really get the feeling of enemies bombing down at you, similar to Galaga. Truly, it really wasn’t an innovator in this particular gaming genre, but it is solid and entertaining, nonetheless. There are many waves of different aliens diving down through the scroll at you, and you will need all of your reflexes to maneuver your little ship out of harm’s way and into the best area for shooting down the enemy. Not only are the enemies very numerous, requiring almost a constant barrage from your little ship, but there are other obstacles along
the way that can ruin you. Steer clear of them and touch nothing, nothing along the sides of the scroll, not enemy fire, and certainly don’t hit an alien ship. You will die.
There are a few powerups along the way that will improve your ship and make your job less hectic. The powerups, like most everything else in the game, are pretty standard fare. You will gain an extra life here and there by picking up a powerup. You can make your shields stronger, speed up your ship and so forth. Powerups are usually enemy drops. Try to save them up so that you are at the top of your game when you reach the end of each level. There, you will battle a giant boss to complete each level.
As mentioned above, Baryon offers some pretty standard features for a scrolling shooter. However, the fact that it did it many years ago makes it a bit of a pioneer. Plus, it utilizes a lot of the favorite items, making it routine, but still very fun. The pace and action of the game contribute greatly to making it better than it would initially appear.
