Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Poltergeist starts with a clean arcade instruction: steer your exorcist craft, fire at the minions in your way, and hunt down the flashing boxes that serve as generators. Destroying a generator is not the whole job, either. You then need to land on a teleport pad to move ahead, so each level has a clear beginning, target, and exit rather than feeling like an endless stretch of scrolling targets.

The 32-level structure is the game’s strongest argument for sticking with it. You are steadily working toward the Poltergeist itself, while the generators and teleport pads turn progress into something more deliberate than raw survival. Power Transmuters, represented as lollipops, add another layer: pick them up for weapon upgrades and decide which armament suits the immediate trouble.

That weapon selection is also where Poltergeist feels distinctly of its era. The joystick handles flight and firing, spacebar triggers a freak bomb, and upgrades are selected with 1, 2, 3, Ctrl-Q, Run/Stop, and A. It is an awkward spread by modern standards, and you will need to learn it rather than casually fumble through it. Still, for a Commodore 64 shooter built around several upgrade options, the direct access to each weapon has practical value once the key layout settles into muscle memory.

Graphics

The action is shown in a side view as the playfield scrolls left and right. On-screen icons track the weapon upgrades alongside the main combat area, while the generators stand out as flashing boxes and the Power Transmuters take the unusual form of lollipops. These are simple but useful visual cues when you are trying to identify targets and pickups quickly.

Story

There is no tangled sci-fi mythology to untangle here. You pilot an exorcist spacecraft on a direct mission to destroy a Poltergeist, and the minions and generators are the obstacles between you and that final confrontation.

That bare setup fits the arcade format. The Poltergeist functions as a distant objective, while every cleared generator feels like another small piece of the exorcism completed.

If you want dialogue, character drama, or a plot twist to carry the journey, this is not that kind of game. Poltergeist puts its story in the objective: clear the route, collect enough firepower, and reach the thing you came to destroy.

Overall Experience

Poltergeist is a compact, eccentric shooter whose best ideas are its progression goals. Blasting enemies is familiar territory, but seeking generators, reaching teleport pads, and managing a selection of upgrades gives the action a welcome sense of direction.

The control arrangement will be the deciding factor. A joystick plus spacebar is manageable, but the many keyboard commands for weapon selection ask more from you than a simple one-button shooter. Give it a few stages before judging it; the unusual layout has a better chance once you understand why the game wants immediate access to several weapons.

For a gamer who enjoys 1980s Commodore 64 action games and does not mind learning a quirky control scheme, Poltergeist is worth a look. Its premise is strange, its objectives are clear, and its 32-level climb gives the final exorcism a satisfying target to work toward.

Retro Replay Score

6.5/10