2008 Competition Results (1:Retro Remakes) Part 2

5. 3d Deathchase Total:297

Ian:

Hands up everyone that wanted to be Luke Skywalker, riding on a SpeederBike through the forest of Endor in “The Return Of The Jedi” Come on, hands up all of you. Yes, you at the back. You too. Did you not hear me or are you too embarrassed to raise your arm? You know you wanted to. Don’t be shy. We all did. And that’s a good thing.

Well, with this remake of the Speccy classic “3D DeathChase”, you can be Luke. Sort of. Only you’re lacking a light sabre, the Force and any real tension or excitement. And you don’t get to ogle Princess Leia’s arse. Shame.

The aim of the game is to speed through the mist shrouded dull grey 3D world of some unknown forested planet on a hover bike, dodging trees while attempting to shoot down rogue speeders called “Intruders” with your twin laser cannon.

The game moves at a terrific speed and is smooth as silk, with a real feel of control over your hover bike. It has to be said though that the forest is pretty sparsely populated, but does get a bit denser as you progress through the levels. I would however have preferred to sacrifice some of the speed and smoothness to populate the forest with a bit more flora and fauna. Unfortunately with only a day/night cycle change the imagery never alters and soon becomes just too dull to care about the next level, as you know it will be pretty much identical to the one you’re on.

Whilst there are very few actual images within the game, they are all solidly built and look pretty good. But, what is important is that you can easily see your enemies (when they finally appear), but this is pretty much due to the lack of anything else to see, even trees at times. Another concern is that it can take quite a while to actually find the “Intruders”, let alone destroy them. It’s more of a game of “Hide and seek” than “Kill-Chase”

Sound is functional but limited. The game plays really well with the mouse, despite my initial fear that keyboard would have been a better option.

The game is fun, but very short lived. I wouldn’t expect anyone to be playing this for very long – like the original game, it lacks any real variety and tedium soon sets in.

69%

Oogy:

Ask anyone who has ever owned a ZX Spectrum for the top ten games on that platform, and chances are, Deathchase will be one of those ten. And it was even more impressive seeing as it was all done in a mere 16K. Thankfully, the competition allowed for files larger than that.

This remake retained all of what was good about the original while still updating the overall package. The graphics are very good and work well. The game really gives me a sense of speed as I’m dodging through trees in an attempt to find the intruders.

Gameplay-wise the game is a bit simplistic, but then, so was the original. Ride fast, dodge trees, kill intruders, and repeat. With every level you complete, more trees are being planted (which should satisfy all you tree-hugging hippies) and avoiding them at high speeds really becomes a challenge. I would’ve liked to see different trees, as oppose to just the same one over and over again, but that really didn’t matter much once I started playing.

The music, although it seems to be a single looped sample, adds to the game as the volume increases the faster you ride. It’s a very nice touch and adds a nice atmosphere. Too bad there weren’t different tracks for each difficulty.

84%

Geekay:

The blatant Return of the Jedi rip off returns. This remake of the classic Micromega game doesn’t pretend to be anything else. Why make your vehicle look like a motorbike when it can made to look like a speeder bike?

Deathchase ’08 is quite a slick little number. The very simple gameplay is more addictive than you might initially think. Yes, the game is very, very limited and that is a flaw as I think it could have been greatly improved upon. If you ignore that fact and want a quick shot of a simple race & chase blaster, you may be surprised how long you actually spend on it. It’s quite engrossing trying to catch up with the raiders and being able to shoot them. You want to be accurate as wasting bullets costs you points. The number of times I shouted out “C’mere you wee bastard!” in pursuit of the foe is now in its hundreds. I do like the good learning curve that the game has – it’s certainly pitched at the right level. The further the game goes on, the more frantic it becomes. By day 10, my eyes were bubbling and melting out of their sockets. The most impressive thing on the game is the mouse controls. They are very responsive and suit the game. It certainly beats the old 1 for left and 0 for right of the original.

The minimalist graphics actually create an atmosphere within the game. It’s also one of those games where the fog effect enhances rather than hinders. They do remind me the previous competition entry of Counter-Clockwise. I actually thought it was the same author. Maybe a few more varieties of trees would have made it seem a bit more forest like.

The sound is okay, nothing special. The blasts & explosions aren’t overpowering so they don’t distract you from the game. The tune even though suits the mood of the game, is far too repetitive which, in turn, does remind me of the fact that it is a repetitive game.

In the end, I do enjoy the game. It is let down by the author not looking for ways to diversify the levels. The alternation between night and day isn’t enough. Different enemies, various terrains or weapon pick ups etc could have improved the replay factor. Oh, and where is the tank that was in the Speccy original? Surely it isn’t much to ask for this?

75%

Spray:

I’ve never really understood Speccy-heads and being one myself has taught me to trust no-one’s judgements but my own on what makes a good game. So it was with wonder, many years ago, that I learnt that 3D Deathchase had been chosen by Your Sinclair as the greatest ever Spectrum game. Idiots the lot of you. And a rather bold move from Mr Kett to remake a game so close to people’s hearts too.

What we have here, to all intents and purposes, is a straight remake of the game with nice new graphics and audio. Where I have no issues with straight remakes, this is, after all, the remakes category, a little more on the design side would have been nice. Differing tree models to give some variation in the forests, for example, some meatier engine noises maybe.

Where the game does shine is in effects. Glare from the sun, a real acceleration feeling and, of course, some fantastic explosions have made this a worthwhile play for a quarter of an hour or so. For a game I never really could stomach and one I was dreading playing, it’s actually not too bad at all. It’s doubtful it will get another play, and though it’s good enough for ‘Your Sinclair’, it’ll not be appearing on ‘My PC’ anytime soon – hohoho, oh sod it.

69%

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