Spy Hunter

Spy Hunter is an action game in which the player would drive an armed sportscar with the object being to drive along the road and destroy as many enemy vehicles while protecting civilians to earn points (hunting out the spies). This game was played as a top down scrolling game in the arcades at first but then was remade on many other systems and consoles due to popularity. Score was based on the amount of enemy vehicles killed as well as how long you manage to survive in-game.

- Published by: Bally Midway
- Developed by: Bally Midway
- Designer: George Gomez
- Platform: Arcade (Bally Midway MCR-Scroll), DOS, NES, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit family, BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Apple II family, ColecoVision, Mobile Phone, Palm PDA, Nintendo Game Boy Advance
- Year Released: 1983
- Genre: Vehicular Combat
- Game Sequels: Spy Hunter II

History

This game was developed and released in 1983 by George Gomez. The game was highly influenced by the secret agent, James Bond 007. Even though his name was never used in the game his influence on the game is unmistakable (the James Bond theme was actually used when the game was first released but was taken out due to copyright infringement). This influence is probably because of how big a fan George Gomez was of this secret agent and how he wanted to be able to live out his dangerous Bond type missions on land and sea. The car that was driven, the G-6155, was supposedly to be named after George and his birthday.

Game Design Elements

The game combines two popular genres of games at the time: driving and shooting. The car you played as started out with machine guns that were mounted to the front of the car but could gain other unique power ups such as: smoke screens, oil slicks or missiles. Other design elements of the game being able to transform or swap your car for a boat if the player drives into a boathouse, allowing the them to take to the waterways instead of the road.

Scoring in the game was based on the length that you were alive for and for destroying other enemy vehicles. Scoring was as follows:

- The Road Lord : 150 points.
- Switch Blade : 150 points.
- The Enforcer : 500 points.
- The Mad Bomber : 700 points.
- Barrel Dumper : 150 points.
- Doctor Torpedo : 500 points.
- Driving through the river boathouse : 1500 points.
- Driving on the road for each 1/4 screen traveled : 15 points.
- Driving on the water for each 1/4 screen traveled : 25 points.

Gameplay

The road, or area traveled on, would scroll down as the player moved the car left and right to avoid pedestrians and aim. By hitting the fire trigger on the steering wheel a player could fire their weapons at an enemy to take them out or at a civilian vehicle to halt their point timer. If the player hit the weapons button as they passed a special trailer on the side of the road it would allow them to pull into it and gain a random power up that would help them. While the car was on the water the same mechanics applied but they would be shooting at enemy boats instead of cars and avoiding barrels instead of the usual pedestrian vehicle. If the player released oil while in the boat it would come out as flaming oil.

Controls

The player controlled the car through the use of a steering wheel, shifter and pedal that were on the arcade cabinet.

Plot

The plot to the game was the simple task of seek and destroy. Due to its heavy James Bond influences you were the "good" spy who was trying to take out and destroy the "bad" or enemy spies who were coming to get you. All while protecting civilian vehicles from the enemies. One unique concept to this game that was very new was the ability to choose a different path. Unlike any driving games to this point, you would only be able to travel in a straight path. While in Spy Hunter occasionally you were given the option to choose a path with a split in the road and even travel on water at times if you came across a boathouse. Sometimes the words "Icy Road Ahead" would appear at the top of the screen, a few seconds later the terrain will turn winter and slippery making driving harder.

Characters

The fictitious G-6155 Interceptor - Main character/player

Cigarette Boat - Main character/player (Can transform into boat is player drives into a boathouse)

Enemy Vehicles (Dark Blue):

- Switchblade (tagline: Never To Be Trusted) is armed with wheel-mounted tire slashers, which cause the player to veer off the road and crash if touched.
- The Road Lord (tagline: Bullet Proof Bully) is shielded by bulletproof armor plating, rendering it invulnerable to machine gun bullets.
- The Enforcer (tagline: Double Barrel Action) is a limousine featuring a shotgun-toting thug who fires at the player's car. If you drive too slow, the limo will wait for you on the side of the road, and shoot your tire out.
- The Mad Bomber (tagline: Master Of The Sky) is a helicopter which drops bombs on the player.
- The Barrel Dumper A speedboat which travels ahead of the player and ejects barrels into the water which must be avoided
- Doctor Torpedo Another speedboat which launches torpedoes at the players boat from behind

Civilian Vehicles (Three in total) - Light ping an blue in color along with a motorcycle

Weapons Vans - Supplies ammunition and power ups for your vehicle (Smoke screen, oil slicks, missiles)

Art

Visual

Game Cabinet:

Simple decoration of the cabinet made to look like a high tech spy car with gadgets.

Game:

2D Overhead view game with a palette of 68 total colors and a resolution of 480x480 pixels on the arcade game.

Many art elements to the game most noticeable being the scenery changes in the game between an icy, winter type of setting and a normal green/ good weather. Each attack or weapon had its own graphic and symbol so that it could be identified easily. These being: missiles, the "peter" gun, oil slicks, helicopters, barrels, and flaming oil. The car had 2 different graphics, that of a normal car and a boat that it sometimes got swapped out with. Elements in the game such as vehicles, enemy and civilians, had their own graphics, along with different graphics for each of the different weapon vans that occasionally appeared and weapon boats. The boat would make splashes in the water and if you were hit you would "spin out" and crash ending the game.

Sound

James Bond theme music was originally played on the arcade game. Different sounds were used for each weapons and for the cars giving a sense of driving and speed in the game.

References

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spy_Hunter
- http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=spy-hunter&page=detail&id=2600
- http://spyhunter007.com/spy_video_game_history.htm
- http://classicgames.about.com/od/arcadegames/p/SpyHunterProfil.htm