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(c) 2000 James Burrows
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I'm afraid I never shared the same enthusiasm
for Beach Head as most people did a year
ago. The five actual 'games' in the program are
all rather weak (but playable) and both graphics
and sound are pretty run-of-the-mill by today's
standards (in fact they weren't that amazing when
it first came out). Together these 'games' offer
a reasonable challenge, but interest wanes once
the game is completed and things become a matter
of routine, despite several skill levels. My opinion
hasn't changed much after recently playing Beach
Head again and I still wonder now, as did then,
just what was all the fuss about?
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Beach
Head
was an unusually uneven game both in graphics
and gameplay. Take a look at the Hidden Passage
screen and then compare it with the second action
screen. The first looks like very early Spectrum
programming, whereas the second is really quite
good, solid 3D. The third screen is also neat,
but the last two are, again, a bit primitive.
It makes playing Beach
Head
a less satisfying experience than it might have
been. On the other hand, at the time it offered
a lot more than most other current 64 games and
has set a trend for the better.
.
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| Welcome
to Game of the Week! Each week there will be a
new featured game on this page. The game may be good,
average or diabolically bad, it really doesn't matter!
Just look at the pics, read the text and enjoy the nostalgia!
:-) Game of the Week! is open to contributions so if you
would like to contribute
a game article for this page you're more than welcome
to! Every article we receive will be considered! |
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Beach-Head
1983 Access
Software
Programmed
by Bruce Carver
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| Most
text of the present article comes from the review published
in the sixth issue of the British C64 magazine ZZAP!64
(October 1985). |
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BEACH
HEAD
US
Gold, £9.95 cass, £12.95 disk, joystick only
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Not only the best selling Commodore game of 1984 but
also one of the overall best sellers across the machines
last year, Beach Head was an immensely popular
game that built up a large following in its time, but
how does it fare today?
The
game is set during the Second World War and is loosely
based around American experiences in the Pacific war.
There are effectively only six screens to the game,
although there are in fact seven stages -- two 'map'
screens and five action screens. Map screens show a
plan of the vicinity of the island you are attacking
and you move your cursor (a cluster of ships) to the
area you wish to attack. This then cuts to one of the
action screens when you are given the chance to get
as many of your ten ships through to the next stage
as possible (apart from the final stage where you meet
the Dictator).
On
the map screen you can decide to meet the enemy head
on or take the hidden passage under the island and surprise
them. The passage is a mine-infested channel of torpedo-ridden
waters where, for the surprise advantage on later screens,
you risk losing a lot of ships (lives) that you may
need later. Each time you successfully guide one of
your ten ships through the mines you receive a hefty
bonus.
The
second screen (unless you opted for head on confrontation)
pits you against the enemy fleet in a 3D shoot-em-up.
Your guns are shown at the bottom of the screen. Enemy
planes, launched from a ship in the background, zoom
towards you, complete with competent sound effects,
guns ablazing. Each hit against you clocks up on a damage
indication -- at 20 you lose a ship. Occasionally an
enemy supply plane flies across the screen and can be
shot for bonus points. If you get to this screen via
the secret passage you only need to shot around 20 enemy
planes. If you meet the enemy head on from the beginning,
however, you need to shoot a fair few more planes and
they're a lot meaner!
Once
this stage is completed, you attempt to sink the enemy
fleet that is preventing you gaining the islands by
using the same set of guns as before. The ship that
launched all of those damn planes earlier starts mobbing
to the left of the screen and if hit will earn a nice
bonus. Five other ships are placed across the horizon
and must all be shot before they shoot you. Shooting
the enemy is similar to the firing method used in DK
Tronics' 3D Tanx game. Pulling up and down on
the joystick changes elevation and you have to gauge
the length of shot accurately before firing. If you
miss the ship you are aiming at, then you are told at
the bottom of the screen how far out you were. As is
the case with the last action screen, things are a lot
tougher if you met the enemy fleet head on.
If
you manage to get through this screen it's back to another
map screen to move your fleet to the island and the
beach head itself! The beach head stage has you guiding
your tank force through all sorts of defences, along
several screens of a Zaxxon-style scrolling beach.
You are given
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tank force of |
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twice
the number of your remaining lives and have to
steer and shoot your way past tanks, gun emplacements
and obstructions in the form of rocks and wells
to the final screen . . . and the Dictator himself!
The
last stage has a tank perched on a mound of rumble,
slowly turning to meet you face to face, and you
have to shoot out ten white blocks in the mound
before the tank lets rip with a shot of its own.
This screen is impossible to complete with one
tank and requires at least three attempts to shoot
out all of the blocks, so you have to make sure
there are enough left in supply. If you successfully
destroy the tank then it explodes into several
pieces and a white flag of truce is raised and
waved pitifully.
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Presentation 87%
Lots of options, very good instructions and a
nifty demo mode.
Graphics 68%
A
mixture of some good, reasonable and primitive
graphics.
Sound
41%
Not much in the way of sound but
what there is, is good.
Hookability
75%
It's mainly shooting planes that's
addictive . . .
Lastability
67%
. . . and that soon palls.
Value
For Money 69%
May have been worth it then but
compared to what's worth it now, it isn't.
Overall
70%
Showing it's age.
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Htmlized
by Dimitris
Kiminas (13 Apr 2003)
Other
"Games of the Week!"
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