ZX HSC Round 4 - Deathchase / Sea War

[akeley]

Here you can vote for one of the two games for the next round. This selection was made by picking the second game submitted per each active player.

The second game of the round will be drawn from the pool of the remaining ones using RNG.

This round will start on Sunday afternoon.

DEAR LURKERS! You can still join in at any time! Please do! There will be a chance to submit scores for previous rounds later in the season, but in any case competing in single rounds is fun too.

[R-Tape]

I'm tempted by Laser Snaker and The Pyramid, but went for Hunchback. Surprised that Target Renegade isn't already ahead.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Tapper for me. I think it's the proper game for a competition like this.

[akeley]

I thought TR or Deathchase would win flat out, nice to see a wide spread. It's all for grabs still. Perhaps the spectators will decide This poll will close tonight at 11pm.

I voted for The Pyramid, becasuse I know nothing about it and fancied an unknown game after this week's AAA titles.

[stupidget]

I'm tempted by Laser Snaker and The Pyramid, but went for Hunchback. Surprised that Target Renegade isn't already ahead.

Hunchback?!?! Christ I could never get past the second screen

[Morkin]

Some great choices here. Ultimately I went for Target Renegade (which was one of my choices), but I was very tempted to go for Manic Miner or Tapper.

I owned The Pyramid BITD, it's OK but whenever I've gone back to it I lost a bit of interest.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

By chance, I played the Pyramid yesterday. I love the three games in the series, but annoying to play in a challenge like this, IMO.

[R-Tape]

Looks like Hunchback won't get it, so I'll get with the winning team and go Deathchase. It's definitely a classic that I should know better - I think I've spent more time discussing it than actually playing it.

[akeley]

Ok, the voting is over, the winner is Deathchase. The RNG has chosen Sea War as the second game on the bill.

Games for this round are:

Deathchase (Micromega, 1983, chosen by PeterJ and others)

Sea War (Panda Software (UK), 1982, chosen by me)

The round ends at midnight on Sunday 23rd Aug. Look out for bonus game on Wednesday!

New players can still join in, at any time. Rules of this HSC are written up here and here, any questions please ask.

So this week we have another big ZX classic - Deathchase - and most likely a total unknown: Sea War.
I have love/hate relationship with the former, but undeniably it's a great game for a HS attack. I think Sea War is too, a very simple game but with great arcade gameplay.
I recommend remapping the keys for SW. If you haven't got a joystick/gamepad we can explore methods for doing it in emulators in regard to keyboard, though probably that's a material for separate thread.

Good luck!

[smurphboy]

Are there any instructions for Sea War or listing of the keys at least?

[smurphboy]

I might not enjoy this round as much, but I've posted some scores at least...

Deathchase: 13945 - not a massive fan of this, no real depth to the gameplay, just shoot, avoid then rinse and repeat each level.

Sea War: 580 - despite not knowing what is going on or half the keys, you can shoot up as well it appears but I just sat on the bottom... What is the up key?

[akeley]

Sea War keybinds (in my Retro Virtual Machine emulator):

Up - Z
Down - \ or L Shift
Forward - X
Shoot Fwd - Space
Shoot Up - L Alt

They are a bit different on original machines.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Never played Sea War, here a good oportunity to play it. Seems cool.

[smurphboy]

Sea War keybinds (in my Retro Virtual Machine emulator):

Up - Z
Down - \ or L Shift
Forward - X
Shoot Fwd - Space
Shoot Up - L Alt

They are a bit different on original machines.

But what are the actual keys in the game? And what is the point of it? Is it just a High Score game?

[akeley]

But what are the actual keys in the game?

The ones I wrote up. At least on that emu I'm using, on a standard 101 PC keyboard.
I don't remember the actual ZX keys, but they are grouped in the same left bottom corner area.

And what is the point of it?

Win the sea war? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[smurphboy]

Ahhh, I'm on a Next... I'll poke around the bottom left and work it out.

Thanks

[akeley]

Interesting...is there no option on Next to remap keyboard, or map keys to a controller?

[smurphboy]

No. You can pick whatever joystick you like but key remapping isn't a feature.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

First try at Deatchase: 15,391



and Sea War: 160 (no need to post pic). I'm teribly crap atthis game with such horrible keys!

[GreenCard]

My scores so far:

Deathchase: 13,552
Sea War: 8,510

[Freespirit]

I remember buying Deathchase and thinking it was a terrible game and taking it back to the shop to replace it with 'Alchemist'. I might have missed a good game looking at the reviews. Time for another try 30 years later.

[Morkin]

Had a quick go at these two. Scores so far:

Deathchase: 21,422
Sea War: 340

I'm not 100% sure about Deathchase for a HSC - as your score basically just goes up if you're moving and I don't think there's a time limit, so I guess you could just stay on the easiest (first) day and not bother shooting the bikes? Though I'm assuming like with Pssst we're playing it 'in the spirit' and trying to advance through the levels. Anyway I lost my last lives on night patrol day 5 on my last two attempts. Astoundingly I managed to shoot the tank a few times. Is it actually possible to shoot the helicopter?

Sea War is an absolute b*gger to play with those keys - no idea how to remap, so I might give up on that one fairly quickly... Bit embarrassing that [mention]smurphboy[/mention] has managed to beat my score without knowing the 'up' key.. Although I prefer not to try to remap keys, as in a masochistic way I do like playing the games with whatever ridiculously insane key combination that the author decided to use...

[PROSM]

Current scores for both games:

Deathchase: 18065
Sea War: 560

I must've played Deathchase a thousand times. The 3D effect never ceases to amaze me - it's brilliant, especially for a 16K title. Unfortunately, the same can hardly be said for Sea War. The rubbish control layout makes it a total slog.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

A better score for Deathchase: 16,876
Sea War: 160

[clebin]

Deathchase - 20354

I haven't figured out the Sea War keys either. It seems to mock me with that pityingly maudlin music - every time I attempt to do anything, it's like the game holds a little a funeral for me.