Replay: The History of Video Games (72 page)

During the early 1980s, however, the teenage Matthew Smith was the poster-child for British surrealism thanks to:

• Manic Miner
  (1983, Bug-Byte, Matthew Smith, ZX Spectrum, UK): A nutty remix of the US platform hit
  Miner 2049’er
  (1982, Big Five Software, Bill Hogue, Atari 800, USA).
  
• Jet Set Willy
  (1984, Software Projects, Matthew Smith, ZX Spectrum, UK): The surreal platform game that defined Britain’s taste for the odd. Smith then became a legendary figure by quitting the industry before completing another game. His ‘disappearance’ resulted in a spate of ‘where’s Matthew Smith?’ websites during the late 1990s that equated him to a video gaming Syd Barrett much to his bemusement.
  

The furry ruminant loving Jeff Minter has made a career out of keeping the flame alive for British surrealism and early ’80s shoot ’em ups:

• Gridrunner
  (1982, Llamasoft, Jeff Minter, VIC-20, UK): Minter’s breakthrough slice of hi-octane blasting. It landed him a US publishing deal, which he promptly lost thanks to his subsequent output of sheep, llama, goat and camel themed shooters.
  
• Attack of the Mutant Camels / Advance of the Megacamel
  (1983, Llamasoft, Jeff Minter, Commodore 64, UK):
  Defender
  reimagined as a battle against giant camels.
  
• Trip-a-Tron
  (1988, Llamasoft, Jeff Minter, Atari ST, UK): When not making sweaty palmed shooters, Minter spent his time exploring his vision of ‘light synthesizers’, interactive light show software.
  Trip-a-Tron
  was the first to come close to realising his vision. His experiments eventually resulted in the Xbox 360’s interactive musical visualiser
  Neon
  (2005, Microsoft Game Studios, Llamasoft, Xbox 360, UK).
  
• Llamatron: 2112
  (1991, Llamasoft, Jeff Minter, Atari ST, UK): Minter reinvents
  Robotron: 2084
  with screaming fractals, bouncing cans of killer cola, sheep noises and non-stop blasting. Even better than its inspiration.
  
• Tempest 2000
  (1994, Atari Corporation, Llamasoft, Atari Jaguar, UK): The influence of acid house seeps into Minter’s work in this spectacular remake of the Atari coin-op.
  
• Space Giraffe
  (2007, Llamasoft, Jeff Minter & Ivan Zorzin, Xbox 360, UK): Storming shooter with hazy, trippy psychedelic visuals.
  
• Gridrunner Revolution
  (2009, Llamasoft, Jeff Minter & Ivan Zorzin, PC: Windows, UK): A remake of Minter’s breakthrough game.
  

Other moments of British madness:

• Wanted: Monty Mole
  (1984, Gremlin Graphics, Peter Harrap, ZX Spectrum, UK): Confused social commentary about a coal-stealing mole.
  
• A Day in the Life
  (1985, Micromega, ZX Spectrum, UK): A digital hymn to Clive Sinclair where you steer his disembodied head to Buckingham Palace while dodging killer microchips and other oddities.
  
• Skool Daze
  (1985, Microsphere, David Reidy, ZX Spectrum, UK): Relatively sane and rather brilliant schoolboy sim: avoid getting lines while trying to steal your terrible school report. Its equally good sequel:
  Back to Skool
  (1985, Microsphere, David Reidy, ZX Spectrum, UK).
  
• Wizball
  (1987, Ocean Software, Sensible Software, Commodore 64, UK): Bullet-shooting bouncing ball battles abstract objects in a quest to bring colour to a grey world. Odd but utterly sane compared to its mad-as-a-box-of-frogs sequel
  Wizkid
  (1992, Ocean Software, Sensible Software, Amiga, UK). Sensible Software also made the wonderful
  Mega Lo Mania / Tyrants: Fight Through Time
  (1991, Virgin Interactive, Sensible Software, Amiga, UK), a humorous strategy game in the
  Populous
  mould where technological advances could leave cavemen fighting biplanes and tanks. As the game says it’s “ergonomically terrific”.
  
• Head Over Heels
  (1987, Ocean Software, John Ritman & Bernie Drummond, ZX Spectrum, UK): Wonderfully strange. One of the best arcade adventures ever devised.
  
• Rock Star Ate My Hamster
  (1988, Codemasters, Colin Jones, Amiga, UK): Low-budget rock manager parody. One of the better budget games to fill Britain’s shelves during the late 1980s.
  

Other budget game picks:

• Dizzy: The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure
  (1986, Codemasters, The Oliver Twins, ZX Spectrum, UK): This hard-boiled hero was the nearest Britain got to producing a Mario of its own. The puzzle-focused arcade adventure was followed by numerous sequels including
  Treasure Island Dizzy
  (1987, Codemasters, The Oliver Twins, Amiga, UK) and air-bubble hopping of
  Bubble Dizzy
  (1990, Codemasters, The Oliver Twins, Atari ST, UK).
  
• Rescue
  (1987, Mastertronic, Icon Design, ZX Spectrum, UK): Action-packed race-against-time on board a space station to save the “ultimate discovery”.
  
• Werewolves of London
  (1988, Mastertronic, Viz Design, CPC, UK): Free-roaming action adventure where you trawl London to munch on a group of occultists who have turned you into a werewolf.
  

Head Over Heels
was directly inspired by
Knight Lore
(1984, Ultimate Play the Game, Tim Stamper & Chris Stamper, ZX Spectrum, UK): A groundbreaking game that made isometric-view action adventures the staple diet of British computer owners in the 1980s. Other isometric delights:

• Ant Attack
  (1983, Quicksilva, Sandy White, ZX Spectrum, UK): Got there before
  Knight Lore
  with the distinctive architecture of Antchester.
  
• The Great Escape
  (1986, Ocean Software, Denton Designs, ZX Spectrum, UK): Escape a Nazi prisoner of war camp. How is up to you, just don’t caught. The moment when your character’s morale reaches rock bottom and he reverts to being a submissive model prisoner is one of gaming’s most depressing game overs.
  
• Spindizzy
  (1986, Electric Dreams, Paul Shirley, CPC, UK): A fiendish puzzle game reminiscent of Atari Games’
  Marble Madness
  .
  
• The Last Ninja
  (1987, System 3, Mark Cale & Tim Best, Commodore 64, UK): Elegant ninja action adventure.
  
• La Abadía de Crimen
  (1987, Opera Soft, Paco Menéndez & Juan Delcán, CPC, Spain): An involving and sophisticated murder mystery game that shows that the UK wasn’t the only source of great isometric arcade adventures. Other 1980s highlights from Spain:
  Army Moves
  (1986, Dinamic, ZX Spectrum, Spain): Super hard drive-and-gun arcade action;
  Goody
  (1987, Opera Soft, Gonzalo Suárez, ZX Spectrum, Spain): Crafty bank robber platforming;
  Rescate Atlantida
  (1989, Dinamic, ZX Spectrum, Spain): Vast underwater exploration game but – like almost every Spanish game from the time – very, very hard.
  
• Get Dexter
  (1986, Ere Informatique, Rémi Herbulot, CPC, France): Marvellously bizarre problem solving game where the player is accompanied by a strange creature that consists of a head on a large foot.
  
• D/Generation
  (1991, Mindscape, Robert Cook & James Brown, Amiga, USA): Colourful isometric adventure enhanced by the use of lasers that bounce off walls.
  
• Little Big Adventure / Relentless: Twinsen’s Adventure
  (1994, Electronic Arts, Adeline, PC: MS-DOS, France): The last great isometric arcade adventure. Also see:
  Little Big Adventure 2 / Twinsen’s Odyssey
  (1997, Electronic Arts, Adeline, PC: Windows, France).
  

Maze

Pac-Man
(1980, Namco, Toru Iwatani, Coin-op, Japan) remains the genre’s finest moment.
Pac-Man: Championship Edition
(2009, Namco Bandai, Toru Iwatani, Xbox 360, Japan) is a fine update, but the original’s just as good.

Other maze-like games of note:

• Q*bert
  (1982, Gottlieb, Warren Davis & Jeff Lee, Coin-op, USA): If M.C. Escher made
  Pac-Man
  .
  
• Dig Dug
  (1982, Namco, Coin-op, Japan): Hectic underground tunnelling where the goal is to inflate cute monsters until they burst.
  
• Bomber Man
  (1983, Hudson Soft, NEC PC-6001, Japan): The start of Hudson Soft’s long running bomb ’em up maze game. Comes alive with friends, try
  Bomberman Ultra
  (2009, Hudson Soft, PlayStation 3, Japan).
  
• Super Monkey Ball
   (2001, Sega, Amusement Vision, Gamecube, Japan): A zany test of skill where you roll a monkey in a Perspex ball through mazes suspended in the air.
  
• The Last Guy
  (2008, Sony Computer Entertainment, PlayStation 3, Japan): Monster movie-inspired save ’em up that turns satellite images of real-life cities into mazes.
  

First-person shooter

The genre’s origins stretch all the way back to
Maze
(1974, Steve Colley, Greg Thompson & Howard Palmer, Imlac PDS-1, USA), but the world had to wait for Id Software’s releases before it became a permanent feature of the gaming landscape:

• Catacomb 3-D
  (1991, Softdisk, Id Software, PC: MS-DOS, USA): Introduced most of the basic concepts of the first-person shooter, but lacked the intensity of Id’s subsequent work
  
• Wolfenstein 3D
  (1992, Apogee, Id Software, PC: MS-DOS, USA): Nazi-slaying brutality that ushered in the Id revolution
  
• Doom
  (1993, Id Software, PC: MS-DOS, USA): Id’s primal masterpiece. One of the most significant video games ever made.
  
• Quake
  (1996, GT Interactive, Id Software, PC: Windows, USA): The Romero-Carmack partnership’s parting shot took user-generated content to new heights and spawned the machinima movement. The multiplayer-focused
  Quake III: Arena
  (1999, Activision, Id Software, PC: Windows, USA) has more lasting appeal.
  

After Id’s revolution:

• Duke Nukem 3D
  (1996, Apogee, 3D Realms, PC: MS-DOS, USA): Rip-roaring destruction fronted by the semi-ironic, politically incorrect, alpha-male knucklehead that is Duke Nukem.
  
• Half-Life
  (1998, Sierra, Valve, PC: Windows, USA): Landmark integration of storyteling and first-person shooter. The exceptional
  Half-Life 2
  (2004, Sierra, Valve, PC: Windows, USA) is a must.
  
• Unreal Tournament
  (1999, GT Interactive, Epic Games & Digital Extremes, PC: Windows, USA & Canada): Pure multiplayer magic.
  
• The Operative: No-one Lives Forever
   (2000, Fox Interactive, Monolith Productions, PC: Windows, USA):
  Austin Powers
  -style James Bond parody with a heroine that echoes actress Joanna Lumley’s days as Purdy in
  The New Avengers
  .
  
• Deus Ex
  (2000, Eidos Interactive, Ion Storm, PC: Windows, USA): RPG character development, powerful storytelling and expert game design. Owes a big debt to
  System Shock
  (1994, Origin Systems, Looking Glass Studios, PC: MS-DOS, USA).
  
• Serious Sam: The First Encounter
  (2001, Gathering of Developers, Croteam, PC: Windows, Croatia): An anything but serious high-action rampage.
  
• Halo: Combat Evolved
  (2001, Microsoft Game Studios, Bungie, Xbox, USA): Taut, iconic and thrilling sci-fi blockbuster that stamped all over the competition. Two equally vital sequels:
  Halo 2
  (2004, Microsoft Game Studios, Bungie, Xbox, USA) and
  Halo 3
  (2007, Microsoft Game Studios, Bungie, Xbox 360, USA)
  
• Far Cry
  (2004, Ubisoft, Crytek, PC: Windows, Germany): Majestic open-ended tactical shooting in lush jungle environments. Also see its Africa-set sequel
  Far Cry 2
  (2008, Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal, Xbox 360, Canada) and the original developers’ post-
  Far Cry
  effort
  Crysis
  (Electronic Arts, Crytek, PC: Windows, Germany): The video game equivalent of a supercar.
  
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas
  (2006, Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal, Xbox 360, Canada): Counter-terrorism operations set amid the glitz of Las Vegas.
  
• BioShock
  (2007, 2K Games, Irrational Games, Xbox 360, USA): A tour de force that mixed vigorous blasting with one of gaming’s most effective political statements. The decaying grandeur of the underwater city of Rapture and the Big Daddies, with their whale-like moans, confirmed the game’s iconic status.