139: The Sentinel

Number 139
(28.3 points)
The Sentinel
1991: 20 (8.1)
1992: 73 (5.6)
1993: 75 (10.4)
1994: 94 (4.2)

Few games of the time managed to provide a genuinely tense atmosphere, but The Sentinel is a classic in that respect.

Standing in a 3D landscape, you can see a Sentinel rotating as it looks to convert what it can see into energy - including you. To ensure that it doesn't you can absorb trees to provide energy with which you can create boulders and robots. You can warp inside these robots, and thus gain a higher and higher vantage point, until you can look down on the Sentinel and absorb it, before warping off to the next level. It's a unique concept, and although it was done on the 8-bit computers, it feels most at home on the Amiga, with fast and colourful 3D landscapes being vital to playing the game.

Not for the first time, I feel confident in recommending this to people today who have never tried it. It looks confusing at first, but very quickly I was warping around the level and avoiding the Sentinel's deadly gaze. There's a reason it was a regular in the Amiga Power lists: there's nothing else like it.

Recommended TOSEC disk(s):
Sentinel, The (1987)(Firebird)[cr Defjam]