3-D Ghost Attack
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Name:
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3-D Ghost Attack
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| Company: |
Amiga |
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Model #:
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N/A |
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Programmers:
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Mike Glass and Jerry
Lawson (Videosoft) |
| Year: |
1983
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Released?
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No
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Notes:
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Sold as a
reproduction cartridge in 2010 |
According to the manual that came with the
reproduction sold a few years back, you have decided to
check out the local mansion to see if it’s really
haunted or not. Armed only with your photobeam
(I’m guessing this a fancy way of saying flashlight),
you must make your way through the mansion and discover…
something. The manual isn’t really clear on this
point. Let’s just say that you’ve decided to take
on a bunch of ghosts that are haunting a mansion because
they’ve got to die (again). Yeah, that sounds a
bit more interesting.
Of the three 3-D Amiga games, Ghost
Attack is the least complete. Originally three
different prototypes (each prototype containing one
level), they were ‘stitched together’ using the menu
system from the Power Play Arcade Series
prototype. However each stage is in a different
state of completion, so although the game can be played
to a degree, it cannot be played all the way
through. This is a shame as 3-D Ghost Attack is
probably the most interesting of the three.
Upon starting the game you’ll be presented with a nice
splash screen featuring a rather large 3-D Ghost.
After admiring the artwork for a few seconds you’ll be
taken to first stage. The goal of the first stage is
clear the outside of the mansion of all the ghosts.
This is accomplished by shooting them with your
‘photobeam’ when you are lined up with the ghost.
However you can’t just stand under a ghost and shoot, you
must be on the same ‘plane’ as they are (your character
will go from 2-D to 3-D when changing planes).
Although this may sound complicated, all you’re really
doing is moving your photobeam’s targeting sight up and
down (the higher your photobeam is aimed the more ‘3-D’
you get). This is accomplished by simply pushing up
or down. You can see where you are currently aiming
by pressing the fire button and skull and crossbones will
appear where you shot.
Although the screen shows that you must
destroy 50 ghosts in 20 minutes, you’ll automatically
move to the next stage after a few minutes. The
second stage takes place in a graveyard, but your goal
and controls are the same. One thing to note is
that there are fewer ghosts on this stage and they’re
spread further out. Unfortunately since this
stage has no collision detection (or sound for that
matter) it cannot be played. Your only choice to
go back to the menu and select another stage. It’s
assumed that had the game been completed you would be
moved to the next stage after killing the requisite
number of ghosts. Interestingly it appears that
your character can move a bit forward down the path (up
to the first set of ghosts), and will be knocked back if
they touch him. Perhaps you were meant to slowly
go down the road after shooting each batch of
ghosts? On a side note this stage features a
really nice 3-D perspective that actually works pretty
well, unlike the other stages.
The third stage takes place in the portal to the
ghost world (which looks suspiciously like a 3-D
cube). Here you must shoot as many ghosts as you
can before they escape out into the world. This is
easier said than done as they move very fast and are not
in any pattern. This stage also has your shots
'move' inwards towards the center of the screen to
simulate shooting into the distance, this can make it
hard to line up your shots. Unfortunately this
stage doesn’t have an ending so it will continue forever
until you give up. Apparently there is some code
for an ending tune but it’s not accessible in this
prototype.
Much like 3-D Genesis and 3-D Havoc, the big draw of 3-D
Ghost Attack was the 3-D effect. Attempting to play
the game without the benefit of red/blue glasses is nearly
impossible as the screen is constantly switching back and
forth between red and blue frames that make up the 3-D
perspective. Even with the proper glasses, the 3-D
effect is pretty bad as the 2600 just doesn’t have the
resolution to do it properly. Still, it would have
been a decent gimmick at the time and probably sold pretty
well given 3-D’s brief resurgence in popularity at the
time. Unlike the other two 3-D games (3-D Havok and
3-D Genesis) the 3-D effect cannot be turned off.
It's unknown if this feature was a planned for the final
version of the game or not.
The history of 3-D Ghost Attack is
interesting. Originally planned to be a pack-in
game for the cassette based Amiga Power Module (a
Supercharger type unit), it was then moved to the Power
Play Arcade series of multicarts (see this
page for more information). 3-D Ghost Attack
would have been teamed up with 3-D Genesis and 3-D Havoc
on Power Play Arcade cart #1 (5 carts were planned in
total). The current rom is actually a hack of the
Power Play Arcade cart, with the individual levels
selectable by the main menu and the levels converted to
conventional bankswitching schemes. This has to be
done to make the game playable as the special bank
switching of the PPA cart was not supported at the
time. Unfortunately no known dump of 3-D Ghost
Attack in its original form seems to exist.
Had it been released, 3-D Ghost Attack
would have been the first 3-D game on the 2600.
It’s unknown why Amiga decided to put three full games
on one cart as any one of these games could have stood
on their own, but it would have been a real deal for the
penny conscious gamer. Perhaps Amiga knew that the
market was becoming cluttered and thought that offering
several games on one cartridge was a way to stand out
from the crowd (Xonox did something similar with their
double enders). Whatever the reason it was all for
naught as the project was cancelled before getting out
the door due to Amiga’s decision to stop with the games
and focus on a little computer that they’d been
developing instead...
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