Sunday 14 August 2011

Retro Videogames: 3D Deathchase (1983)

ELECTRIC PIX TOP VIDEOGAMES - 3D DEATHCHASE
a personal selection of retro favourites


One of the first computer games I can remember buying was this classic for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum back in 1983. Taking its inspiration from the speeder bike scene from Return of the Jedi, this is a simple yet brilliant "twitch" game. Basically, you're on a bike with a gun and you have to chase down two other bikers to complete a level and progress through the night/day scenario. Bonus points are scored by taking out the tanks and dropship helicopters that appear on the horizon during each level.

What makes this great is you're chasing these guys through an intially sparse copse of easily avoided tree's through to an increasingly intense, balls to the wall,  holy shit this is insane, dense forest of the fuckers. All the while you're trying not to slam head first into a slab of solid oak youre trying to line up a shot to take out the bad guys. Brilliant.

At the highest levels, this game is the purest kind of videgaming adrenaline and requires a level of concentration that has rarely been matched - even over 30 years later. 

Amazing to think all this was created and ran in 48k of memory for the rubber keyed Spectrum. I absolutely love this game and it proves that the simple idea's are the best and 3D Deathchase by Mervyn Estcourt is one of the absolute retro classics.

 CHASING DOWN THE BAD GUY ON EASY

- 3D Deathchase for the ZX Spectrum -

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