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Deathwake is a sort of Beach Head I/II type
game which hurls you into a war situation. In the tradition
of all true 'war hero' storybooks, you are completely
outnumbered as you take on the entire enemy force single-handed.
The
story goes like this: the enemy hold vast areas of the
homeland in the north and west and are one step away
from completing research which will give them the atomic
bomb. Needless to say, if they make The Bomb, the war
will not continue for very much longer . . .
Allied
attempts to destroy the research plant have failed,
owing to the fact that it is built into the side of
a mountain, deep inland along a narrow inlet. Air attacks
have proved useless and there have been no survivors
from the three commando raids. There's one hope remaining
-- you, the Captain of the battleship Undaunted.
Research
has shown that it is possible to enter the narrow inlet
and destroy the plant by firing upwards under the protective
shield of the mountain. However, this is a task of epic
proportions and the odds are stacked against you as
you prepare for the voyage.
The
game is broken up into several different arcade sequences
like Beach Head, with between-screen air attack
phases. Here a map is shown of both the allied and enemy
territory, along with all the airfields, radar stations,
ports and so on. What the player has to do is try to
take out as many enemy emplacements as possible by allocating
targets to his own airfields. Once the targets have
been selected, the aircraft can be scrambled and sent
on their missions. The computer decides the damage caused,
shows the results and then puts the player into an arcade
sequence.
The
first of these sequences is an attack from enemy aircraft.
The Undaunted and her two escort ships must thwart wave
after wave of torpedo-dropping aircraft by shooting
them down. The ships and planes are viewed from above
and a Missile Command type cursor is used to
target the shells from the ships. When an aircraft gets
near to the ships it drops its torpedo, which has to
be avoided otherwise the ship sustains damage. The two
escort ships a re dispensable and are lost if one torpedo
hits them. The Undaunted, on the other hand, can sustain
three hits before she sinks -- just as well as she's
vital to your mission.
[This screenshot was not in the original review]
If
the player manages to get past this screen then another
air attack phase follows. The next arcade sequence is
a 3D view from The Undaunted and puts you under fire
from patrol boats. These move along the horizon, turn
and sweep towards you before releasing their torpedoes.
The only way to survive this screen is to sink the patrol
boats before they launch their torpedoes. This is done
by using your guns which can be moved up, down, left
and right.
The
third screen is another view from above, only this time
the player has to guide The Undaunted through a minefield
-- a collision with a mine and the game ends.
Finding
the correct elevation is the key to the fourth screen,
as you try to sink the three battleships blocking the
entrance to the inlet. Whilst you're doing that they're
busy pounding you with shells, so speed is again of
the essence.
If
you manage to survive that onslaught, then enemy planes
are again scrambled in a last gasp attempt to stop you
before you reach the base. The same principles apply
to that of the first arcade screen and successfully
avoiding torpedoes and shooting down the planes ensures
your progression to the final screen.
This
is very similar to that of Beach Head. Again
getting the right elevation wins the day; this time
the player has to get a shell through the doors of the
research plant before they close -- not an easy task
by any means, but then winning a war single-handed never
is.
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