Game Review: Ant Attack (Commodore 64, Mastertronic)

Ant Attack started life on the ZX Spectrum back in 1983, released by Quicksilva.  Programmed by Sandy White, it was a game that offered the SoftSolid engine for rendering an isometric 3D landscape, showing off buildings, and the walls of a city as you would attempt to roam the city of Antescher and escape the ants where you could. It was one of the first examples of a game that helped define the genre of survival horror.  Needless to say, it was critically acclaimed and was natural that Quicksilva would produce a Commodore 64 conversion.  This was released in 1984 and generally had good reviews too.

So, where does Mastertronic come in to all this then?  Well, the US arm of Mastertronic had managed to get a deal with Argus Press Software, who had acquired Quicksilva by this point, and Argus Press also had their Mind Games label for other more difficult adult themed games.  As a result, this meant that Ant Attack received a US only disk release for the Commodore 64 (ICD 0088) and also a US disk release of Give My Regards to Broad Street (ICD 0082) along the way.  Loading the game off disk does seem quite a slow wait, but when the title screen does load, you will note that Mastertronic is clearly credited on the title screen – an easy way to identify if you have that disk release.

Boy Meets Girl

The plot of Ant Attack is effectively that the mysterious city of Antescher (see what they did there) is inhabited by deadly ants that make it their home. Then He and She arrived, who some say were derived from an ancient race of wizards, and they play games of effectively hide and seek in Antescher, whilst all the time incurring the wrath of the ants.  Yet it says that The City has a presence all of its own, as a brooding entity, controlling the destiny of all of those below.   You therefore explore the city, locate each other, then run together to escape Antescher and leave the ants behind, who stay within the city walls.

When the game loads, with a small ditty playing on the title screen, you must select whether to be a girl or a boy.  For the time, selecting a female or male character was innovative, and each one has their own animations and styles of walking, which does add to the game’s appeal.  Once you have selected, you start off just outside the city of Antescher, with a low wall present that you can jump on to and then enter the city itself.  You must locate your companion (so She finds He, or He finds She) and then, staying together, you head back to that location to make your escape, and claim a bonus for any time that you may have left – and thankfully the timer is very generous, giving you plenty of room to explore.

Challenge Ant

As you start the game, and enter the city for the first time, you will notice the isometric way that the city has been put together.  Using the isometric grey, white and black blocks does make drawing the scenery and background a little easier the map, but it does have to move correctly and allow He or She to be able to climb the relevant steps or jump over or on to ledges as needed.  I can imagine that took some work, but it does at least handle reasonably well.  The joystick is used to move He or She in the directions and fire will also jump, with up being up and left in the isometric view.  You can also use the function keys F1, F3, F5 and F7 to change your view angle, with four different angles available and can help you when you cannot see your character behind a large wall and if the ants are on their way.

There are two ways to effectively reduce or slow down the ants chasing you.  In a risky move, you can attempt to jump and land on the ant, which will stun it.  Or, you can go more kamikaze and use the grenades you are armed with, up to a maximum of twenty per attempt to escape.  Pressing the keys S, D, F and G will throw the grenade at different distances, with S being the shortest and G being the longest.  Sometimes it worked well being stood on a ledge and throwing the grenades at the ants, and destroying more than one does become quite satisfying.  You can out run the ants, but the key is to use the walls so that they may not be able to follow you, or run to a suitable ledge to be armed with the grenades.

Stand and Deliver

This method of standing on a ledge and aiming the grenades can work well, but of course if you then run out of them, you may be stuck with ants around you, and your only method of escape being a jump and stun, then run as fast as you can.  Similarly, you can use some of the stair cases to climb up the walls of the city of Antescher, and head along to a point where you can descend, hopefully out of the way, or drop down, but that does lose your energy somewhat and can leave you stunned in your location.

When you locate your companion, it is time to escape.  You must keep them close to you as you make a run for it, more so if ants are coming and they bite the companion instead of you.  If you keep them close, they will follow your movements well, meaning a jump over the ledge to escape the city and scoring some valuable points and respite.  The status display at the bottom shows the energy for both the boy and girl (bear in mind you can both be bitten even if controlling one of the characters), the ammo and time you have left, the scan meter which goes red or green accordingly, what angle you are viewing Antescher at, and how many you have managed to rescue.  It is all clear and concise, allowing for the map above to scroll around block by block – it is not smooth scrolling, but works well enough.

I Can’t Get Out, Cos I’m Trapped

One bug bear of the game is that sometimes the ants home in on you too quickly, especially in later levels, and you either have to constantly run to try and escape, or locate a ledge for grenade lobbing.  This can end up proving to be a little more boring over time and can get a little repetitive as you aim to make another escape.  Maybe swapping characters between the boy and girl each level (and you choose which one to start with) – or even them having different characteristics, say one is faster, or one is more accurate with the grenades, would allow some more strategy.  It does get difficult to out run the ants and the chomping when they bite you truly does feel like a moment that you will not forget in a hurry.

The nice feeling you get when you do escape and get a little tune playing does at least give you some sense of achievement, and as you progress through later levels you do need to explore the city a lot more in order to find your companion, often meaning more deadly ants to face and avoid where you can.  It certainly ramps up the difficulty, and as such, even if you have mastered the game and the use of the grenades, can prove to be a reasonable challenge, and even still to this day too difficult for some.  I did manage to complete several levels before the pace of the game got me and killed me off.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in Ant Attack were very good for their time and still display reasonably well now, with the solid isometric effect used, together with the high resolution He and She along with the ants, really does have that sense of being somewhere.  Although not scrolling smooth, the game moves at a good pace and with some design put into how the grenades explode too, with in-built displays when you find your companion or escape – all in standard Commodore font.  It would have been nice to have a better title screen with an Ant Attack logo, and seems too rudimentary.  The sound consists of a few atmospheric effects and three small jingles – not really much to be honest, but it is there to do its job nonetheless.

Final Thoughts

Ant Attack was a pioneering game when first release, and the horror of being bit by the ants certainly gives that sense of a dark mood when you play the game.  Although the ZX Spectrum version is the definitive one and well worth playing, the Commodore 64 conversion stands up well – with good isometric feel, multiple camera angles to help you around, and the fact you can play as a boy or girl also being innovative for its time.  You may get to a point where the game becomes too difficult and even with grenades being used or ants jumped on, you will still be bitten to pieces.  A tweak here an there may have worked better, but as it stands, the game resembles a sizeable challenge, even if it does get repetitive, and one that certainly will leave its mark (or bite) on you as you progress.  Well worthy of consideration to play, with the lights turned off and the sound up.

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