Spacechase

[Gabriel]

What's the deal with Spacechase?

 

It doesn't have the negative reputation of E.T., but I have seen it mentioned a few times here as one of the worst games of the crash era. I'm a bit bewildered by that view.

 

The reason I ask is because I was playing it this past weekend. It wasn't the greatest game, but it had some neat qualities. The scrolling planet surface is cool, and so are the various alien designs. I also thought it was a nice touch how the enemy guided missiles have a different sound cue. I even thought it was pretty cool back when I first saw it in the early 80s.

 

Those things said, it does have some drawbacks. It's definitely a case of style over substance. The cool scrolling background is there to distract from the fact the game is a fairly uninventive and spartan space invaders style game. The different alien designs don't cycle anywhere near often enough and aren't different from each other in any gameplay way. Even though the game is trying to be visually impressive with it's rounded scrolling planet, the game as a whole is blocky and low rez even for the 2600. Ironically, this same game was done better as Demon Attack. Still, that doesn't mean Spacechase is horrible.

 

What are some other thoughts?

[Christophero Sly]

I mostly agree with your assessment. I wrote the game off prematurely myself. However, I was able to revisit it when it was selected for the HSC a few years back, and I subsequently discovered that it had more depth than I had previously recognized. Nevertheless, even though I believe the gameplay actually has some merit, I haven't played Spacechase since the HSC because I find the combination of flicker and the game's animations to be almost seizure inducing, which is why I wrote it off in the first place.

[psquare75]

I grew up on it, and I never really saw any issues with it. I liked the scrolling.. I always that Space Invaders was lame compared to it.

[SpaceDice2010]

Space Chase would have been a MUCH better game if it actually got harder sooner. Most people that play it don't even know that once you hit 10k it actually gets hard. Real hard. You get so bored up until 10k them bam!

[Stan]

I think the problem with it is it's so lackluster. The gameplay is slow and somewhat tedious. Not enough variety, but yeah, this isn't Firefly or anything.

[JacobZu7zu7]

I think the problem with it is it's so lackluster. The gameplay is slow and somewhat tedious. Not enough variety, but yeah, this isn't Firefly or anything.

 

Yeah, it's also very repetitive and mindless. Though I agree it's not the WORST...

 

The review on this website seems to think it's an F-. I disagree, and also the difficulty doesn't STAY the same throughout, as the review states.

 

If you select game 16, or so... it's quite hard to even stay alive. Also the eneimes don't stay the exact same in all variations, do they??

 

http://www.videogamecritic.net/2600ss.htm

 

Odd that this game got F- but Space Cavern which is not any better is at a C-.

 

I personally don't like Gangster Alley and Gopher... because there's techniques to use which allow you to play as long as you can stand it.

 

In Gopher all you have to do is knock out the Gopher nearing the CLOSEST carrot without going too far right or left of the screen... killed the game for me.

 

Gangster Alley, just shoot before the enemies appear fully in the window, and take out the bombers dynamite when he waves it in his hand. Tons of time to react, and I rolled the score on my 3rd play out

[SpaceDice2010]

I like Space Cavern.

[Godzilla]

i've always enjoyed space chase, it gets nice and tough in the later stages and i love the planet scrolling effect

[AtariLeaf]

I really like Space Chase. I remember renting it back when video stores rented Atari games. Had it for the weekend and played it a lot. I don't know what it is, yes the graphics and scrolling effect are impressive but I just really like this game.

[Tinman]

I really like Space Chase. I remember renting it back when video stores rented Atari games. Had it for the weekend and played it a lot. I don't know what it is, yes the graphics and scrolling effect are impressive but I just really like this game.

 

The scrolling effect is pretty slick.

 

 

But, is it me, or is the collision detection in this game a bit poor? Playing it on Stella, it seems that unless my missiles hit the enemy directly in the middle, they pass through with no effect.

[Godzilla]

i remember it being challenging but accurate with a real atari on a tv back in the day.... but who knows, maybe i just wanted to like it since i didnt have a ton of games then...

[Stan]

Ugh, I could never get into Space Cavern. I always found it too easy and boring. It could have been tight, but in spite of the sick number of game variations it's just dumb in the end.

[Gabriel]

But, is it me, or is the collision detection in this game a bit poor? Playing it on Stella, it seems that unless my missiles hit the enemy directly in the middle, they pass through with no effect.

 

I know the enemies tend to shoot at the same time a missile is about to hit them dead center, causing it to appear as if they're invulnerable to bullets. It's frustrating because I think the collision detection is off at the edges. It seems like nothing other than a dead center shot will hit, and those constantly pooping aliens keep blocking my bullets with their turds.

 

I just thought of a reason I'm probably so keen to give this game a chance. In some ways it's similar to Space Encounter. Space Encounter had been my first videogame love.