

1986 · Action-adventure · Shooter
Glider Rider
The player must destroy the reactors on the island by dropping grenades on them. The reactors are defended by laser gun towers which can be temporarily disabled by disrupting their control towers.
- Released
- 1986
- Platforms
- Amstrad CPCCommodore 64Commodore C64/128/MAXZX Spectrum
- Genres
- Action-adventureShooter
- Developers
- —
- Publishers
- Quicksilva
- Modes
- Single-player
- Perspective
- Third personBird view / Isometric
- Themes
- ActionScience fiction
- Country
- United Kingdom
About
Glider Rider is an isometric action-adventure game published by Argus Press Software on its Quicksilva label in 1986 for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amstrad CPC. The music was composed by David Whittaker.
The articlegameplay, story, development, reception
Gameplay
The player must destroy the reactors on the island by dropping grenades on them. The reactors are defended by laser gun towers which can be temporarily disabled by disrupting their control towers.
The player's character rides a machine which is a combination motorcycle and hang glider. By driving down a mountainside and suddenly reversing direction, the player can take to the air. He can fly in any direction, or lose height, but cannot climb higher. There are many mountains on the island to help him achieve flight. To destroy a reactor he must fly over it dropping grenades.
Story
The terrorist Abraxas Corporation must be destroyed. An agent has been sent to their artificial island to bomb the ten reactors that power their base. To complete the mission he has been given a supply of grenades and a motorcycle capable of transformation into a hang glider.
Reception
Sinclair User were highly positive of the game, especially the music on the 128K version, awarding it a "Sinclair User Classic".
In a 1986 review, Your Sinclair were less enthusiastic, summarising their review with 5/10 saying "Glider Rider is a bit like the island it's set on. Looks good from a distance, lacks real depth."
Releases by platformdates and regions as published
Games like this

Glider Rider
1986 · Amstrad CPC, Commodore C64/128/MAX +1
Shooter · Often paired

Panther
1988 · Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64 +2
Shooter · Often paired

Magnetron
1988 · Commodore C64/128/MAX, ZX Spectrum
Shooter · Often paired
Sega exclusiveXenon 2: Megablast
1991 · Port · Master System, Sega Genesis +1
Shooter · Often paired
PlayStation exclusiveKillzone: Liberation
2023 · Port · PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 +1
Shooter · Often paired
Atari exclusive68Space Battle
1979 · Intellivision, Atari 2600
Shooter · Often paired
PlayStation exclusiveSlamscape
1996 · PlayStation, Windows
Shooter · Often paired

The Chaos Engine 2
1996 · Amiga, Amiga 1200 +1
Shooter · Often paired
Collections1 collection
Platform libraries
Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.