Deathchase - Going To Ride Bikes in the Park
I think bikes ( the pedal variety as opposed to the motor variety ) were a big part of most kids lives in the 80's. They could transport you to your friends house, to the town centre to buy pick and mix from Woolies. Or , in my case, round and round the cul-de-sac , like a little goldfish in a bowl. The first sign of a car entering the cul -de-sac would send me scurrying back down the drive and into the garage. So being presented with a game , controlling a motorbike , through an ever more tree lined forest whilst shooting people , you would imagine, would have not appealed in any way shape or form. How wrong could you be?!
Welcome to Deathchase , I think it took me one or two plays to become completely hooked on this. The controls were easy-: left, right, accelerate, decelerate and fire. The premise of the game was easy , avoid the trees , shoot other motorbikes , helicopters and tanks. The story-line in the cassette inlay ran into great detail about the year 2501 and the end of the Great War , but when you were 11 did you actually bother to read that bit, didn't you just skip to the instructions on what keys did what? Here was biking freedom, out in the ever clear cyan sky, on the beautiful green grass. The target motorbike riders never shot back (now when I re-read that back I feel I may have had the makings of a sociopath , hunting down and shooting unarmed people.)
Once you had succeeded in your daily mission you were provided with a night-time patrol, zooming through the forest after dark. The game gave a great representation of 3D movement and had a real excitement and buzz to it. But why did it appeal so much to the little 11 year old who wouldn't leave the cul-de-sac on her bike? Perhaps it was the Star Wars connection ( that Nick mentions in his review video at the end of this post?) , well not in my case as I was yet to see any of the Star Wars films. I think for me it was just the sheer joy of the exhilaration, the illusion of movement and the fact I loved woodlands.
In my head the screen on the TV transported me to one of my local woodlands and mentally I transferred the sounds and smells of Wayford Woods in Somerset to this game. Yes, as the game progressed the trees were closer together , it was harder to ride between them . But also the objective of the game seemed to fade away to me and I was perfectly happy just zig-zagging between the trees and imagining the wind streaming through my rather 80's looking pudding basin hair cut . Perhaps I didn't have the makings of a sociopath after all.
Perhaps my little black boxed buddy had taught me another lesson, it could help me to overcome fears in real life. After playing this game for awhile , I ventured out of the cul-de-sac and managed to cycle round the block. If I could steer myself through dense woodland whilst also controlling the direction I was shooting , surely I could steer and pedal a bike along a small town residential area road? I had broken out of the goldfish bowl.
I still play this game now on a spectrum emulator, it still makes me happy. Not for the thrill of the chase , but for the thrill of being among trees and the memories of being a child , running through the woodlands that I remember and for the freedom that, I think, only an innocent child can have.
In my head the screen on the TV transported me to one of my local woodlands and mentally I transferred the sounds and smells of Wayford Woods in Somerset to this game. Yes, as the game progressed the trees were closer together , it was harder to ride between them . But also the objective of the game seemed to fade away to me and I was perfectly happy just zig-zagging between the trees and imagining the wind streaming through my rather 80's looking pudding basin hair cut . Perhaps I didn't have the makings of a sociopath after all.
Perhaps my little black boxed buddy had taught me another lesson, it could help me to overcome fears in real life. After playing this game for awhile , I ventured out of the cul-de-sac and managed to cycle round the block. If I could steer myself through dense woodland whilst also controlling the direction I was shooting , surely I could steer and pedal a bike along a small town residential area road? I had broken out of the goldfish bowl.
I still play this game now on a spectrum emulator, it still makes me happy. Not for the thrill of the chase , but for the thrill of being among trees and the memories of being a child , running through the woodlands that I remember and for the freedom that, I think, only an innocent child can have.