Publisher: Ocean/Imagine
Year of release: 1987
Author: Mike Lamb
Who’d have thought kicking someone repeatedly in the crotch would be so much fun? Well, everyone would, I’d guess. If there was ever a game made for such joviality, then Renegade was it. Not only kicks to the crotch, but flying kicks, punches to the face, throwing thugs into a subway’s nothingness and into each other – Renegade packs more than a punch. A conversion of the hit arcade game, Renegade came thumping its way onto the Spectrum and claimed its place amongst the great fighters on the format.
There’s something quite thrilling about Renegade in that despite being up against a small army in each level – including thugs with knives in two levels (and one with a gun in the final level) – knowing you had a host of different moves in your locker gave you that bit of confidence to take them all on. Who cares if someone grabbed you from behind, you could still kick the guy in front of you. Someone riding a motorcycle at you intent on leaving tyre marks on your face? A flying kick will sort them out. You’re a one-man wrecking crew! This all, of course, comes with practice but when you’ve mastered the moves you can take the world on and nothing feels better than seeing the final thug disappear into the ground. Or watch him go flying off the top of a building. It’s what he would have wanted.
Renegade is afforded some beautiful looks on top of its moves and playability which make it one of the Speccy’s finest titles. You’ve not played it? You should. You have played it? Play it again! A game for the ages. A game that showed the other 8-bit formats what the Speccy could do and make them all insanely jealous. A game that has followed me through decades of life and still holds up amazingly to this day. There’s just something about it but I can’t quite put my finger on. Who am I kidding? Of course it’s the foot to the crotch. What’s wrong with that? Some people like trading in Space, I like kicking people in the groin. Each to their own.
