| Mutant Herd | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Thorn EMI |
| Publisher(s) | Thorn EMI |
| Designer(s) | Jeremy Smith |
| Programmer(s) | Grahame Hampton-Matthews |
| Platform(s) | VIC-20 |
| Release | 1983 |
| Genre(s) | Action |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Mutant Herd is an action game written by Jeremy Smith and Grahame Hampton-Matthews for the VIC-20 and published by Thorn EMI in 1983.
Mutant Herd involves protecting a powerhouse from an invasion of mutants. The mutants crawl towards you from multiple burrows located at each corner of the screen. Using laser beams, you need to prevent the mutant herds from destroying your powerhouse.
The game was even more complicated than this, however, as it was possible to enter the burrows and to shut them down. Once a burrow was entered, you started another phase of the game. A queen mutant and her eggs are hiding in each burrow. You must get to the eggs and plant an explosive charge, while avoiding the queen mutant, who can kill you or move your charge away from her eggs. Once you have succeeded in blowing up the eggs, the burrow is sealed. When you return to the powerhouse screen, you will have one less burrow spewing mutants at you.
The game was even more complicated yet, in that, after each burrow is sealed, your lasers get weaker and the next burrow will have more eggs and be more challenging. You will have won the game when you have sealed all the burrows and successfully protected your powerhouse. [1] [2]
COMPUTE! wrote that "There are enough little problems to always keep you thinking about what you'll have to do next". [1] Electronic Games stated that Mutant Herd "may not be the ultimate VIC-20 game, but the graphics are fun, the action is challenging, and it takes at least one step off the beaten game-track". [2] Ahoy! called it "a two-part arcade game with a unique twist", favorably reviewing the graphics, sound, animation, and gameplay. [3]
The VIC-20 is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the PET. The VIC-20 was the first computer of any description to sell one million units. It was described as "one of the first anti-spectatorial, non-esoteric computers by design...no longer relegated to hobbyist/enthusiasts or those with money, the computer Commodore developed was the computer of the future."
Miner 2049er is a platform game developed for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers by Bill Hogue and released by his company, Big Five Software, in 1982. The player controls Bounty Bob through multiple levels of a mine, with the goal of traversing all of the platforms while avoiding or defeating enemy mutants. At a time when "climbing games" such as Donkey Kong had four screens, Miner 2049er had ten.
Defender is a horizontally scrolling shooter video game developed by Williams Electronics in 1980 and released for arcades in 1981. The game is set on either an unnamed planet or city where the player must defeat waves of invading aliens while protecting astronauts. Development was led by Eugene Jarvis, a pinball programmer at Williams; Defender was Jarvis's first video game project and drew inspiration from Space Invaders and Asteroids. Defender was demonstrated in late 1980, before entering production in early 1981. It was distributed in Japan by Taito.
Gorf is an arcade video game released in 1981 by Midway Manufacturing, whose name was advertised as an acronym for "Galactic Orbiting Robot Force". It is a fixed shooter with five distinct levels, the first of which is based on Space Invaders and another on Galaxian. The game makes heavy use of synthesized speech for the Gorfian robot which teases the player, powered by the Votrax speech chip. Gorf allows the player to buy two additional lives per quarter before starting the game, for a maximum of seven lives.
Realm of Impossibility is an action game created by Mike Edwards for the Atari 8-bit family and published by Electronic Arts in 1984. It was originally released in 1983 as Zombies and published by BRAM, a company formed by Edwards and a friend. BRAM previously developed and published Attack at EP-CYG-4.
Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom, known as Zoom 909 in Japan, is a pseudo-3D rail shooter released as an arcade video game by Sega in 1982. The player controls a spaceship in a third-person perspective, adapting the three-dimensional perspective of Sega's earlier racing game Turbo (1981) for the space shoot 'em up genre. It used the Buck Rogers license, referencing the space battles, though Buck himself is never seen.
Demon Attack is a fixed shooter video game programmed by Rob Fulop for the Atari 2600 and published by Imagic in 1982. The game involves the player controlling a laser cannon from the surface of a planet, shooting winged demons that fly down and attack the player in different sets of patterns.
Chuckie Egg is a video game released by A&F Software in 1983 initially for the ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, and Dragon 32/64. It was ported to the Commodore 64, Acorn Electron, MSX, Tatung Einstein, Amstrad CPC, and Atari 8-bit family. It was later updated for the Amiga, Atari ST, and IBM PC compatibles.
One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird, commonly known as One on One, is a basketball video game written by Eric Hammond for the Apple II and published by Electronic Arts in 1983. It was initially ported to the Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, and IBM PC. Versions followed for the TRS-80 Color Computer, Macintosh, Amiga, and ZX Spectrum. In Europe, the publisher was Ariolasoft. Atari Corporation released an Atari 7800 port in 1987.
The Rebelstar games are a series of turn-based tactics video games designed by Julian Gollop. Rebelstar Raiders was published in 1984 by Red Shift for the ZX Spectrum. It was reworked in machine code as Rebelstar, published by Firebird in 1986. A sequel, Rebelstar II, was published in 1988 by Silverbird. Rebelstar, but not its sequel, was also adapted for the Amstrad CPC home computer.
Shamus is a flip-screen shooter with light action-adventure game elements written by Cathryn Mataga and published by Synapse Software. The original Atari 8-bit family version was released on disk and tape in 1982. According to Synapse co-founder Ihor Wolosenko, Shamus made the company famous by giving it a reputation for quality.
Aaargh! is a single-player action video game in which the player controls a giant monster with the goal of obtaining eggs by destroying buildings in different cities across a lost island. It was designed for Mastertronic's Arcadia Systems, an arcade machine based on the custom hardware of the Amiga, and was released in 1987. It was ported to a range of other platforms and released on these across 1988 and 1989. Electronic Arts distributed the Amiga version of the game.
Omega Race is a shoot 'em up arcade video game designed by Ron Haliburton and released in 1981 by Midway. It is the only arcade game with vector graphics that Midway created.
Snake Byte is video game written by Chuck Sommerville for the Apple II and published by Sirius Software in 1982. The game is a single-player variant of the snake concept. That same year, Snake Byte was released for the Atari 8-bit family and on cartridge for the VIC-20. A Commodore 64 version followed in 1983.
Wayout is a 3D first-person perspective video game programmed by Paul Allen Edelstein and published for the Atari 8-bit computers in 1982. It was released for the Apple II and Commodore 64 in 1983. Wayout is among the first maze games to offer full 360 degree 3D perspective and movement, and its graphics were considered state-of-the-art upon its release. There were many pseudo-3D maze games at the time, but they used a fixed perspective and limited the player to four orientations.
Protector is a 1981 scrolling shooter for the Atari 8-bit family programmed by Mike Potter and distributed first by Crystalware and then Synapse Software. A VIC-20 port was published by HesWare in 1983.
Drelbs is a maze game written by Kelly Jones for the Atari 8-bit family and published by Synapse Software in 1983. An Apple II port by Jonathan Tifft was released the same year. A Commodore 64 version followed in 1984 implemented by Miriam Nathan and William Mandel. The objective is to move the walls of the maze to make boxes. Some reviewers found the overall collection of elements to be eccentric and unique.
Indiana Jones in the Lost Kingdom is a puzzle video game developed by Michael J. Hanson and published by Mindscape for the Commodore 64. The game is based on the Indiana Jones series, and it was released in North America in late 1984. In the UK, the game was imported and distributed by U.S. Gold.
Seafox is a shoot 'em up written by Ed Hobbs and published by Broderbund in 1982 for the Apple II and as a cartridge for the Atari 8-bit family. A VIC-20 port, also on cartridge, was released in 1983.
Threshold is a space-themed fixed shooter written by Warren Schwader and Ken Williams for the Apple II and published by On-Line Systems in 1981. Inspired by Sega's Astro Blaster arcade video game, Threshold introduces many enemy ship types and wave formations as the game progresses. Reviewers found the variety distinguished the game from the many similar shoot 'em ups.