Game:

The Great Escape (1986)

Category:

Review

Duration: 22:15

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Huge playlist archive with games from 1982-1992: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxOanVBhqd3uy0uOIHzPaxfOp53uJLX7-
Many more games from the 80s can be found here:
Racing games: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxOanVBhqd3vkkE35mCw6x63QFBnU9Xsi
AY / GFX improved games: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxOanVBhqd3t74YnYAJA9p4vMQYZYCJWX
INTRODUCTION:
The year is 1942, the place Germany. War has broken out and you have been captured and placed in a high security P.O.W. camp. Victory may be far away, so it is your duty to escape, but this will not be easy. It will take careful planning and much patience, culminating in a skilful and resourceful implementation. In the camp you are closely guarded but while you follow the daily routine you will need to slip away unnoticed to reconnoitre the situation and collect tools and materials necessary for your chosen escape route. There are many avenues of escape, some difficult, all certainly dangerous and each one requiring different skills or equipment.

REVIEW:
The game starts with the prisoner you control lying in his bed at the start of the day. The prisoners in the camp has some daily routines; mealtimes, bedtimes, exercising and roll calls. The other prisoners is always following these routines, and if you stop controlling your prisoner for a while he will join the others in the routines.

At the bottom of the screen there is an alarm bell and this will sound for a short while when the routines starts, and it will also be used continuously if the German soldiers spots an escape attempt. If the German soldiers sees you out of routine they will follow you and if they catch you and you have something on you, you will be thrown into jail for a while. If this happens your morale flag will drop, watch out this does not drop to the ground, because then it will be game over. You can raise the morale by finding new stuff and use this.

You get bulletins during the game and especially you have to watch out for delivery of red cross parcels, because these often has some useful stuff.

The aim of the game is to escape from the camp, and to do this you need to find some special stuff needed but you can only carry two items at a time. You have a secret tunnel behind your stove and in this you hide the stuff, and it is also through this tunnel you have to make the escape. You will need to find keys and lock picks to open doors, a shovel to dig in the tunnel etc.

It was on the ZX Spectrum scene the isometric genre was really kicked alive, and with this 1986 release Ocean took the genre to the next level with realistic graphics, realistic gameplay, daily routines, daytime, nighttime, scrolling graphics engine. Some of this has been seen before but here it is all mixed together in a very well programmed game.

The only problem I had with this game was to find the very first object needed, a key which is hardly visible lying on the ground near the watchtower, but besides that it is possible to figure out what to do, and you will end up waiting for the last stuff you need to arrive in the red cross parcels. Your final problem is to figure out what items to take with you when you leave the camp so you don’t get caught again.

The game features a nice and fast scrolling engine and the controls and pick up / drop system is fine when you get used to it.

A very important release for the future of gaming industry and an all time classic game that should be in every ZX Spectrum games collection.

Release Date: 1986
Original Publisher: Ocean Software Ltd (UK)
Creators: John Heap (UK)

Rating = 95%

This version features Craig Stevenson's new loading screen and an intro with AY music and trainer options. It is a Beta disk version made by Slider in 2013 and it can be downloaded here: https://vtrd.in/release.php?r=88d501331d8253eb26179823c0a269ab

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