Atari Game Demo

Student Name: Maximus R. Carlson


Today’s Date: March 3^rd, 2010


Game Title Examined: Battlezone


Year of Publication: 1980 (if known - check thedoteaters.com for details)


Game Publisher: Atari


Game Developer: Atari


1 - What is the game genre?   This is a sim or simulation game. It’s a vehicular combat sim.


2 -What is the type of game ‘world’ or environment? (e.g. flat environment, puzzle/maze space, 3D world?)   The game environment is a 3D world.


3 - What is the perspective taken by player?   The player is set in first person, looking out from inside a tank.

4 - What is the actual gameplay – what does the player have to do?   The player’s objective is to survive long enough and get a high score by shooting tanks and occasional UFOs.


5 - Is the gameplay intuitive? (i.e. is it easy to understand what to do without instructions?) Describe.   Yes actually.  It is easy to understand. You move your view by panning left to right and vice versa, move forward and shoot the enemy tanks/UFOs.


6 - Is the gameplay patterned (game does the same thing over & over) or is it random (happens differently every time?)   The gameplay as described before is pattered or actually repetitive.  But in a good way to get the highest score possible before dying.

7 - What does the type of graphic approach used as well as the audio tell you about the limits of the technology at the time the game was published?   The graphic approach for this game was the use of a vector monitor in a horizontal orientation with vector graphics generating early 3D geometrical polygonal shapes to become obstacles, tanks, UFOs, and eve trees.


8 - Describe your views about the game from the point of view of


1. Ease of play:  It’s actually really easy to pick up and play.  But it does get harder as you go along.

2. Enjoyability:  It’s really enjoyable and being a sim game this helps you experience tank combat in a basic but really almost realistic form.

c) Level of engagement/immersion:  It’s not that immersive since the whole world of Battlezone is using 3D vector graphics.  Although it is an engaging game still, instilling that instinct to survive in a virtual war.

9 - Had you played this game prior to this time? If so, when?   No, not until I did during the last class. 

10 - What does playing the game remind you of in terms of other games/media?   It reminds me of a driving a tank sequence in some war based video-games but more-so war-time movies/film/television shows.