Your views on...Deathchase

CUCHULAINN · September 2009

Deathchase

I always thought this was called 3D Deathchase for some reason. Only played it once or twice and along with Wheelie was one of the first I played. Kinda basic, but it was one of the early speccy games. It wasn't a game that gripped me and probably wouldn't grip me now.

;-)

dm_boozefreek · September 2009

Never really liked it way back when, and still don't really like it now although believe me I have tried to.

The whole lets pretend it's Star Wars speeders as well.......NO! It isn't!

Nick Elliott · September 2009

Oh yes, I remember this one, it appeared in the first ever edition of Crash and was "Game of the Month", they hadn't though of "Crash Smash" then.

I also thought it was 3D Deathchase and sure enough, that's what Crash listed it as. I think it was part of Micromega's 3D range.

Very simple but I found it incredibly addictive and spent hours on this one, fantastic fun.

beanz · September 2009

Loved it then and it's still one of the few I fire up.

Revolutionary for it's time, fast, heart stopping on later levels when you hit a tree..can't really fault it as an early 80s game.

sirclive1 · September 2009

Brilliant game considering its in less than 16k is incredible and at the time along with games like jet pac just showed what the speccy was capable of.

I still play it today and enjoy trying to better my high score .

jdanddiet · September 2009

I prefer Stonkers.

MattLamb · September 2009

Brilliant game. Liked it in the 1980s, and still like it now. Even had the kids at school playing it one lunch time, and they loved it too (struggled to get a handle on the controls though).

nazz · September 2009

i remember getting this game want bad but hard,been playing batty,now that does test your paticence !

urbanupstart · September 2009

I really like this one. Yes, it is basic but I reckon it was one of the closest games on the spectrum to emulating pure arade-action. Just imagine if all other raing games were as fast and frantic!

A mate once told me that in later levels there was a huge lake in the forest. He was lying...

beanz · September 2009

urbanupstart wrote: »

A mate once told me that in later levels there was a huge lake in the forest. He was lying...

I'm glad you added the last bit as you just saved me 10hrs.

Rickard · September 2009

The game was very impressive with large amounts of graphics moving around. Does anyone know how it was done technicaly? Was some of the trees "cheated" by just drawing attributes?

Graz · September 2009

Heart-pounding game, one that was talked about loads at school, but I didn't get to play it until 1986-ish. Yup, clever indeed. And it often gets loaded up for more goes. :)

ToxieDogg · September 2009

I still think it's vastly overrated.

Fun, and technically well made for it's time but still overrated.

I like it, but there's plenty of better games around that have held my interest for a lot longer over the years.

Spector · September 2009

One of a handful of games on the Speccy that did 'the double' - hugely addictive gameplay, plus tons of atmosphere in the night stages. I think it's the best 16K game we have.

If anyone wants a hint as to how it would have looked on the C64, then check out Zagan Warrior, a C16 clone that includes a time limit on killing the bikers. It ain't as good overall, because the feeling of speed is so much reduced by the crap pillars that replace the trees in the original.

JuanF. Ramirez · September 2009

A classic game. Brilliant with only 16K. I played it a lot in the 80s and I play it a lot nowadays.

Very addictive.

Dwayne Dibley · September 2009

Same here , I thought it was actually called 3D Deathchase.Great game back in the day - incredible that it was coded in 16k when many much poorer games were being released in the same era 48k only , and yes it surely has to be the best commercial 16k game ever. One of those games which is just as playable now as it was back in the day.

Oh , and for me and my mates , this game WAS ROTJ , in the same way that 3D Starstrike was Star Wars

ewgf · September 2009

I've played this game a lot, and I really like it. At the time there was nothing else like it (and back then the graphics didn't seem sparse or basic, as they do know, as in fact they've seemed for most of the years since), and there's still nothing else as good as it in it's style on any machine. The level on that Star Wars game on the Gamecube (who's name I can't remember, which shows how little I played it) looked great on TV, but when I bought the game and played it, though it looked very good flying through the forest on a speeder bike, it just didn't feel as smooth and enjoyable as in 3D Deathchase.

I could never understand why the Speccy never saw any similar games again, and when I got an Atari ST, I thought that there'd definately be something like it released on it, but no. True, on various machines there were half hearted (usually third person view) games, or levels in games, that were sort of3D Deathchase like, but none of them were worth even playing through even once.

But the original is still a very enjoyable game, I think. And very cleverly done, especially since it's only a 16K game. Imagine a two player version, where you fight to the death, using the same game engine, but split screen, you and a mate. That might be a lot of fun!

Graz · September 2009

ewgf wrote: »

Imagine a two player version, where you fight to the death, using the same game engine, but split screen, you and a mate. That might be a lot of fun!

Ooh, that's a corking idea!

beanz · September 2009

Would be interesting to know if a Star Wars license and speeders instead of bikes would have increased the sales/popularity of it.

ewgf · September 2009

Graz wrote: »

Ooh, that's a corking idea!

I'd add two things to the game:

1) A radar so you can find your opponent, but not too precise, just so you can find the right area or direction, if it was too precise you could just shoot in that general direction and hope for the best.

2) A limit on your gun, so that you can only fire when you are moving medium speed or faster, overwise campers would move very slowly or stay still, waiting for the opponent to come along and walk into their line of fire.

beanz · September 2009

ewgf wrote: »

I'd add two things to the game:

1) A radar so you can find your opponent, but not too precise, just so you can find the right area or direction, if it was too precise you could just shoot in that general direction and hope for the best.

2) A limit on your gun, so that you can only fire when you are moving medium speed or faster, overwise campers would move very slowly or stay still, waiting for the opponent to come along and walk into their line of fire.

Wasn't there already a radar.....flashing left or right.

Matt_B · September 2009

For those looking for more of the same, you could try Glass from Quicksilva; some of the levels on it work much the same way at least.

deadpan666 · September 2009

In my opinion, this was, and indeed still is, brilliant! Takes no time at all to load, and has simple but fun gameplay that keeps you playing for no good reason other than you want too...Just how a game should be!

Not sure if it rates as "Best Speccy Game Ever", as some people claim though......

alanspec · September 2009

Deathchase was so good it was a Family game in our house - everyone took turns to play it including Mum and Dad. Horace goes skiing, Manic miner and Space Raiders were also all-the-family games.
Pretty soon the Speccy made it's way into my bedroom though. he he. And that was the end of that :)

I thought (and still do) that it was brilliant - I still have a quick go ever month or so. It still feels fast and accurate. I like the way the trees scale towards you - very nice motion.

Hercules · September 2009

Deathchase in my view still remains a fantastic game

The feeling of claustrophobia as you weave in an out of the tree's whilst trying to shoot your opponent made for addicitive and challenging gameplay. The concept must of been groundbreaking in it's hayday, and considering the game has been squeezed into 16k is quite amazing.

Vampyre · October 2009

A brilliant game - undoubtedly an all-time Speccy classic. Dunno if it deserved the best Speccy game ever by YS though.

Fikee · October 2009

as game it is just good to kill few minutes, well few tens of minutes.. i prefer galaxians

but i really like it from programmers point of view... the game is done in very inventive way.
it is fast, almost fullscreen and it fits into 8KB of ram. really nice thing.

hillelr · October 2009

although it was very basic i really liked that game and played it a lot
i think its great fun.
same with with wheelie although not as basic as deathchase but was a very challenging and fun game.

fog · October 2009

the confusion might have been the cassette covers.. if they were like 3d based...e.g. brax bluff and errm full throttle, then they had 3d mentioned on the cassette inlay spine and the cover..

whats worse is when a so called retro gamer calls it "3d death race"

errm wheelie I remember getting from WH smiths in brent cross , a very nice game. there was something in the arcade much along the sames line, but I could never find that game once it left the local chippy.

death chase was great of its time.. for me it was really nice.... BUT the game that made my jaw drop when I first saw it moreso was starstrike 1 by realtime.

Fizza · October 2009

Not much to add but it was, and still is, a fantastic little game. The perspective was perfect and has been mentioned already, the fact that this came out around the same time as Return Of The Jedi, the teaser clips of which played up the Speeder bike chase scene on Endor, meant that it didn't take much imagination to pretend that you were playing out that scene in that game. Computers were all new and wonderous for me at that time as well, which helped also! Definitely a classic.

psj3809 · October 2009

Totally agree with the above, sure many of us pretended it was the speederbike scene. Great old skool game

Your views on...Deathchase

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