Aztec Challenge - Commodore 64 version - video game 1983

Channel:

classic retro games

Subscribers:

97

Published on September 20, 2022 12:38:18 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bjRCKmBAwE

Game:

Aztec Challenge (1982)

Duration: 11:12

5 views

0

Aztec Challenge refers to either of two early action video games published by COSMI, as well as two subsequent remakes. In all game versions the player takes control of a running Aztec warrior. The first was a side-scrolling platform-jumping game created by Robert Tegel Bonifacio and released in 1982 for the Atari 8-bit family. Subsequently, a different game with the same title and overall theme was created by Paul Norman and released for the Commodore 64. It includes a level in a modified-first-person 3D-style.

Gameplay
The player must guide their character through seven different levels. In every level new deadly perils lurk for the hero. The first, entitled The Gauntlet, is probably the most famous level. It sees the player running towards a temple in the distance. On the left and right are Aztecs who throw spears at the player, who must duck under the spear or jump over it (depending on the height the spear is coming at). If the player fails to avoid a spear they are placed back at the start of the level.

In the second level, The Stairs, the player is required to dodge left and right to avoid stone blocks thrown down at them as they ascend the stairs of the temple.

Level 3 is The Temple which features traps which must be avoided by pausing the protagonist's motion or jumping.

Level 4, The Vermin works in a similar way to the preceding level with the control system offering the choices of high and low jumps in this section.

Level 5, Hopaztec, asks the player to cross a tile-filled room, avoiding booby-trapped tiles.

In Level 6, Piranha, the player must swim across a lake avoiding the deadly man-eating fish.

Level 7, The Bridge is the final level. The player runs automatically to the right and gaps in the bridge must be traversed by low, medium or high jumps depending on the size of the gap.

Music
The music was written by Paul Norman (the game author), who was a musician before becoming a computer programmer. The slowly, but gradually unfolding tunes become increasingly tense and complex as the player progresses through the long, monotonic and increasingly difficult levels.