Posted by boyo on May 1, 2010 22:26 (May 1, 2010 22:26)
The walled city of Antescher is inhabited by ants. Not the teeny weenie type you find under the paving slabs in your garden, these are huge bloody things - at least 6 pixels big with vast, snappy jaws and spindly legs, which home in on you for a bite as soon as you get close.
Your partner has gone wandering off into Antescher and unfortunately been taken hostage. It's your job as the brave hero to find your loved one and escort them to the realms of safety on the outskirts of the city. Celebrations abound in colourful Spectrum FLASH style on a successful mission and then, inexplicably, your partner wonders off and gets kidnapped again. Thankfully, hide and seek was my favourite school playground pastime.
The city of Antescher is presented in gob-smacking 3D Softsolid (patent pending); a ground breaking graphical technique developed by Ant Attack's author, Sandy White. Sandy takes full ‘self credit' for developing the first true isometric game allowing the player to freely roam around a vast city populated with cuboid structures, begging to be climbed and explored.
The first wander around the baron streets of the city is awe-inspiring, let down only by the awfully complex controls (14 action buttons in total) that invariably sees gamers blowing themselves up with their own grenades, jumping around in circles chasing their own tail or falling from high ledges leading to splat of death as a result of an incorrect button press. The frustration is heightened further when the infamous ants of Antescher surround you, snapping at your heels intent on sapping away your life. Frantic key bashing ensues in an attempt to get away - success is often by luck rather then skill as the player enters the panic zone.
A flawed 3D masterpiece, Ant Attack is a technical breakthrough on the Spectrum let down by a sloppy control mechanism and shallow gameplay that impinges on its long term playability.
Flawed it may be, but Ant Attack literally took my breath away when I first clapped my peepers on it! You have to remember the state of the nation at the time... we had Automan on the telly and thought Jet Pac was the height of greatness on the amazing rubber-keyed box of tricks in the bedroom... then along comes Ant Attack and we have a stunningly immersive seek-and-rescue game in 3D!!! That's THREE D's!! Count 'em!
It was bloomin' amazing and I'd love to meet Sandy White and buy him a cold sharp beverage for his troubles... truly one of those teenage horizon-broadening experiences!!
It is a nice touch that the screenshots have a tv effect applied and are not clean emulation shots which look better than the real thing ever did back in the day.
A fair review, it took Ultimate to make a really good 3d game a reality on the Spectrum.
May 19, 2010 14:51:31 (
May 19, 2010 14:51
)
