Kolibri 32X

A hummingbird shooter? It's a new 32X game. Although the concept is unique, the gameplay and FunFactor are standard.

To Bee or Not To Bee

Kolibri is straightforward, if you're a hummingbird with firepower. You flit around shooting insects to clear the way for your hummingbird friends to pollinate flowers. If this is the only way you'll ever learn about the birds and the bees, you need to get out more often.

You find different power-ups to shoot, like seeds, lasers, and fiery rings. But these look wimpier than they sound, so don't expect much. The only way to know if you've cleared a level is when gameplay stops and the screen goes dark.

Controlling your hummer is sometimes a chore. You must manually turn the bird around when shooting enemies behind you. Since enemies rat-pack you with attacks, this gets deadly.

The graphics will remind you of Ecco the Dolphin. The lush, colorful, layered backgrounds are great to look at, but your hummingbird often gets lost in the scenery. The sounds are also beautiful to listen to, but they don't really enhance the weak gameplay. Great nuances, like forest and swamp background effects, make the game a good rubdown for the ears.

Hum Drum

Kolibri isn't awful, just average. You'd expect more from the 32X -- something more along the lines of Gradius or R-Type. Maybe Sega should've given this bird some armor or jet-propelled wings. As it stands, Kolibri couldn't take on Tweety Bird.

Kolibri is a hummingbird hero in this unusual side scrolling shooter for the 32X.

Deep inside the earth's core, there is a crystal from another world. This crystal is the earth's life force, and essential to it's survival. One day, a dark crystal falls from the sky and damages the earth's crystal. Desperate, the earth's crystal rockets to the surface and empowers Kolibri with the abilities he needs to defeat the dark crystal.

Start with a side scrolling shooter where your ship has the ability to find power-ups to switch to several different weapons. Change your movement to be able to go in any direction with boundaries. Now change your ship into a hummingbird and your enemies into bugs. Imagine multi-layered backgrounds allowing you up into the trees and down into caves. Put some yoga type meditation music in the background. And there you have Kolibri 32X.

This game features 19 levels set in a variety of detailed natural settings. Your goal in some levels is to destroy enemy bugs, in others your goal is to merely survive.