| Ant Attack | |
|---|---|
Cover art |
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| Developer(s) | Sandy White |
| Publisher(s) | Quicksilva |
| Engine | Softsolid 3D |
| Platform(s) | ZX Spectrum Commodore 64 |
| Release date(s) | 1983 (Spectrum) 1984 (Commodore 64) |
| Genre(s) | Action |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Ant Attack is a ZX Spectrum computer game by Sandy White. It was published in 1983 by Quicksilva, and converted to the Commodore 64 in 1984. It was written in a mixture of BASIC and machine code.
The same type of isometric projection was used in Sandy White's later Zombie Zombie.
Contents |
The player controls either a boy or a girl (the game allows you to choose at the start) who has to enter the walled city of Antescher ( a reference to the artist M. C. Escher ) in order to rescue their significant other who has been captured and tied up somewhere in the city. The city is inhabited by giant ants which chase and attempt to bite the player. The player can defend themselves by throwing grenades at the ants. Once the hostage is rescued, the two must escape the city. After this, the whole thing starts again with the hostage located in a different part of the city, with each location being progressively more difficult to reach than the previous.
While both Q*bert and Zaxxon used isometric projection, the shading and extra degree of freedom (ability to go up and down instead of just north, south, east and west) introduced in Ant Attack were innovative for personal computer game of the time. The author himself has proposed that it "...was the first true isometric 3D game...".[1]
Ant Attack was the first game to allow the player to choose either a male or female player character.[2] The game was also the first title developed with the action viewable from an isometric perspective, pre-dating Knight Lore by a year.[2] According to the staff of video game magazine Edge it "marked the very beginnings of the survival horror genre".[2]
In the ZX Spectrum version,the empty area outside of the city walls to the southeast has a cube with 'ammo' written on its sides, this was a spare sprite with no part in gameplay.