Morpheus is a 1987 shoot 'em up

Shoot 'em up

Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...

 computer game published by Rainbird

Rainbird

Rainbird, Rain Bird or Rainbirds may refer to:- Birds :* Rainbird, colloquial name given to various birds thought to sing before rain, including the European Green Woodpecker, Jamaican Lizard Cuckoo, Pacific Koel, Channel-billed Cuckoo, Burchell's Coucal and Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, as well as...

 and developed by Graftgold

Graftgold

Graftgold was an independent computer game developer that came to prominence in the 1980s, producing numerous computer games on a variety of 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit platforms.-The Hewson era:...

 for the Commodore 64

Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...

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Summary

It had very realistic graphics, despite the limitations of the C64. It was also notable in that the ship was customizable. Features such as auxiliary weapons and "systems" (put into the expansion ports) allowed for a variety of different possibilities. Energy and shield generators, detection devices, even electronics counter-measures (ECM) pods were available for the onboard ports, and weapons slots accommodated guns, remote drones, and disruptors (hit everything on screen). The game had a wide variety of enemies (known as "morphai") who had differing appearances, and in some cases evolved as the game went on (e.g. an enemy that is first encountered randomly drifting the first time it's spotted will later have the ability to shoot). Their names were generally taken from lesser known entities in Greek mythology, or at least had Greek names (such as Thanatos, a green pulsating enemy that can be deadly with its relentless attack). The levels are also divided into two "phases", or parallel dimensions, Positive and Negative, which effect the increase or decrease of the ship's "charge." Some enemies have a different appearance, and the way of destroying the primary "Orbital" enemies is different. In the Positive Phase charge is extracted, in the Negative Phase it's deposited, when blasted with the Plasma guns (immune to all other weapons).