SUBWAY VIGILANTE
Original Release: Players Premier / 1989 / Assorted home computers
One of a small wave of shovelware-y titles from a short-lived publisher, all of them now forgotten, Subway Vigilante was the one meant to horn in on the Vigilante/Renegade arcade craze
Subway Vigilante (Commodore 64, Players Premier, 1989)
Where to Buy: eBay
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: C. M0use
Subway Vigilante is very thematically similar to another game I looked at here recently, Fallen Angel, in that you're roaming the London tube system (seemingly trapped in it) getting into dust-ups with the local villains. Also came out around the same time, and was a computer exclusive with a focused European release. This one is a little better looking, less repetitive and way more responsive ... doesn't mean it's good though.
We're in the shoes of the most underprepared and clueless vigilante ever, a black Hulk Hogan as he endlessly wanders like a schizo hobo between various London subway stations. But at least in this one you don't have to fight on the train, just on the platforms.
Well, that is if you can manage to find a fight ... unlike the absolutely hoodlum-infested universe of Fallen Angel, the street thugs of Subway Vigilante are few and far between and can really take some searching around the stations to sniff out. But when you do find them ... they have long rifles? Your saving grace is that they don't seem to be able to see you and just sort of wander around firing at random times in random directions.
Black Hogan seems to be staunchly in favor of government gun grabs, refusing to take up a fallen rifle and use it to his advantage. He's content with his arsenal of basic punches and a kick that's more like a goofy little high step. The only item you can find around is an occasional nice trash burger to replenish your health.
As best I can glean from videos, the goal is to simply cruise all the stations until you find all the guys to beat up. Then you get a simple splash screen declaring that you proved the worth of vigilantes to the people or something. No bosses or final boss or anything, just the rifle guys. Good job Black Hulkster.
The lone good quality of the game is the jaunty tune by Johannes Bjerregård, a prolific demo scene composer of the late 80s, that sticks with the action from the title screen on ... it's some of the better music of the C64's library.
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