Enjoyable but forgettable blasting thrills
While the likes of Frenetic Plus have brought plenty of imagination and originality to freeware shooters, Terroid is unfortunately somewhat bog-standard and while it offers a couple of hours of entertaining blasting action, it is likely to be quickly forgotten by most gamers. It's very much a standard horizontally scrolling shooter, akin to Gradius or R-Type but lacking in the appeal of these classics. The plot is as unoriginal as they come (why do they even bother?), and revolves around the usual marauding alien invaders wreaking havoc and who can only be stopped by a lone hero. This requires players to jump into the cockpit of their spacecraft and take to the skies, blasting enemies with wilful abandon while making use of a nice range of upgrades and weapons. In addition to the usual side scrolling levels, there are a couple of bonus stages which transform into 3D and which provide a nice bit of variation, while the optional training level generates its enemies according to how well you are doing, which is a nice touch. That's about it in terms of gameplay and on the whole, Terroid is a decent enough blaster. The action is reasonably fast and frenetic but thankfully avoids the overcrowding of the screen that often plagues such games and instead requires some actual skill in order to complete rather than just hammering down the trigger. The visuals are decent enough, if unspectacular, with nice chunky sprites that move along at a fair old pace while the sound is similarly well implemented. Terroid is certainly no classic shooter but if you've been put off by bullet-storm games in the past, this provides a pleasing change of pace but which is still enjoyably action-packed for a while.
