For the Mag: Deathchase

[jdanddiet]

Evenin' all

This year marks the 30th Anniversary of the technological and gaming wonder that is Deathchase (or 3D Deathchase if you like)

We'd like to hear your thoughts and memories on this Speccy classic! Best Speccy game ever?

[The Laird]

It was good, no doubt, but best Speccy game ever? Not even close.

[jb1014]

i absolutely loved deathchase. me and my brother got a 16k spectrum for a joint xmas pressie. finding decent games for it was a challenge. we had pssst, cookie and jetpac but longed to have that extra 32k to play the likes of manic miner, football manager and atic atac etc. But, then we found deathchase! It was stunning. So fast. On the later levels it was just abut avoiding the trees and chucking out some shots on the off chance you hit the other bikers. It was definitely the best 16k game ever. Even when I got the extra 32k for my birthday in April, Deathchase remained the most played game until the speccie finally stopped working and we all got swept up into the 16 bit era.

[adippm82]

For a 16K game it was incredible, just such a simple, seat of the pants game, great to put on for a few minutes, and that's what I did for a few years, and still occasionally now.

Always one of the top games my Commodore owning mates wanted to play when they came round.

[clarance]

How about most over-rated speccy game of all time? - remember playing it at the time, and while it was good, it really didn't hold the attention for very long. Most memorable thing about it for me was the loading screen (and how it bore little relation to the game itself).

Didn't realise it was a 16k game until recently though, and to that end it does deserve a lot of praise.

*Edit* There is a Commodore 16 version/copy out there by the way - Zagan Warrior (with a much better loading screen )

[Spector]

How about most over-rated speccy game of all time? - remember playing it at the time, and while it was good, it really didn't hold the attention for very long. Most memorable thing about it for me was the loading screen (and how it bore little relation to the game itself).

Didn't realise it was a 16k game until recently though, and to that end it does deserve a lot of praise.

*Edit* There is a Commodore 16 version/copy out there by the way - Zagan Warrior (with a much better loading screen )

Yeah, but it's an inferior game with sticks instead of trees meaning there's nowhere near the same feeling of speed. 3D Deathchase is pretty astonishing for the time and still playable today. The first game reviewed in the first issue of Crash, the quality of the 3D effect and use of colour means Deathchase wouldn't have looked out of place in the magazine had it been the last.

[clarance]

How about most over-rated speccy game of all time? - remember playing it at the time, and while it was good, it really didn't hold the attention for very long. Most memorable thing about it for me was the loading screen (and how it bore little relation to the game itself).

Didn't realise it was a 16k game until recently though, and to that end it does deserve a lot of praise.

*Edit* There is a Commodore 16 version/copy out there by the way - Zagan Warrior (with a much better loading screen )

Yeah, but it's an inferior game with sticks instead of trees meaning there's nowhere near the same feeling of speed. 3D Deathchase is pretty astonishing for the time and still playable today. The first game reviewed in the first issue of Crash, the quality of the 3D effect and use of colour means Deathchase wouldn't have looked out of place in the magazine had it been the last.

I'm not denying that Deathchase is technically impressive, it just never held my attention back in the day when it was competing (for me at the time) with Daley Thompson's and Back to Skool and the like... not much to it in terms of gameplay.

Oh yeah, Zagan Warrior is vastly inferior to Deathchase, just a little footnote though

[sscott]

It's playable but didn't RG rate it the best of all time? Certainly not. Sir Clive will comment on this soon (not like he's around much these days though)

[markopoloman]

We played it in the Retro League a few seasons ago (probably more than a few seasons ago!) and although I am not the speccy's biggest fan, I thought Deathchase was very nicely done. Gave a good feeling of speed and had that very important 'just one more go' feel.

[JetSetWilly]

Love the game. Only discovered it about 5 years ago, but i like to fire it up once in a while and have a damn good blast. Not graphically great (what graphics it's got are quite good), but it has gameplay in spades, and that's what counts. Definitely one of those games that's a "one more go" game.

[resident paul]

It's really good game & one of those you can spend ages trying topping for high scores.
The game came out the same year as the film 'The Return Of The Jedi!' & the Endor Chase scene very familiar to the game.
I wondering did anybody to interview the programmer of the game as I heard he was very elusive?

[Morkin]

I've just started playing this again (last time being in the eighties) & I'm quite surprised how addictive it is. I've got vague memories of it being fairly tricky & giving up quite quickly, but now I'm finding it a real blast.

[Antiriad2097]

It's really good game & one of those you can spend ages trying topping for high scores.
The game came out the same year as the film 'The Return Of The Jedi!' & the Endor Chase scene very familiar to the game.
I wondering did anybody to interview the programmer of the game as I heard he was very elusive?

Contact was made with Mervyn Estcourt via his nephew iirc, and he's not interested in talking about it. Its not a special memory for him. Perhaps this current article is an attempt to shw how widely loved it is so he may reconsider?

[Shinobi]

How about most over-rated speccy game of all time? - remember playing it at the time, and while it was good, it really didn't hold the attention for very long. Most memorable thing about it for me was the loading screen (and how it bore little relation to the game itself).

Didn't realise it was a 16k game until recently though, and to that end it does deserve a lot of praise.

*Edit* There is a Commodore 16 version/copy out there by the way - Zagan Warrior (with a much better loading screen )

Wasn't there another Commodore 16 game by Atlantis called 3D Death Chase? The cover had a skull over a flag it may be a totally unrelated game as its one of the few Commodore 16 games I've not played

[Spector]

Wasn't there another Commodore 16 game by Atlantis called 3D Death Chase? The cover had a skull over a flag it may be a totally unrelated game as its one of the few Commodore 16 games I've not played

You're thinking about Death Race 16, an unofficial take on Sega's Turbo? I've played that one too! Shallow but fun.

Here's more:
http://plus4world.powweb.com/software/Death_Race_16
And the cover:
http://plus4world.powweb.com/software/D ... _16#covers