''Phantom Slayer'' is a
video game released by Med Systems in 1982 for the
TRS-80 Color Computer and
Dragon 32/64. Written by
Ken Kalish Kenneth Kalish is a game programmer who wrote TRS-80 Color Computer and Dragon 32/64 home computers in the 1980s. In the United Kingdom, most of Kalish's games were published by Microdeal.
Games
* ''Danger Ranger
''Danger Ranger'' is a non-sc ...
, ''Phantom Slayer'' is considered by some an early forerunner of the modern
first-person shooter genre.
Gameplay
The player moves around a randomly generated
maze
A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lea ...
, attempting to kill the eponymous
phantoms
Phantom may refer to:
* Spirit (animating force), the vital principle or animating force within all living things
** Ghost, the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear to the living
Aircraft
* Boeing Phantom Ray, a stealthy unm ...
by shooting them. As each level is cleared, a new maze is created, and the phantoms became harder (requiring more shots) to kill.
The game combines a relatively sedate pace and a then-rare
first-person point of view
A first-person narrative is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from their own point of view using the first person It may be narrated by a first-person protagonist (or other focal character), first-person re-teller ...
(using simple fixed-perspective graphics) to produce high levels of dramatic tension for a game on such primitive hardware. As the player moves around the maze, the only indication that a phantom is encroaching is an ominous sound played when the phantom is a few squares away from the player's position. The player can adjust the setting for the audio range finder to indicate the phantom's presence at close or further number of squares to help locate the phantom.
A power-up time is required for the player's weapon, leading to the player holding a position in order to charge the weapon while stalking (or being stalked). The phantoms can take multiple hits (usually two). Combined with their creepy ability to get in close and blind-side the player, this is effective for elevating the fear factor.
See also
* ''
Dungeons of Daggorath''
References
External links
Phantom Slayer- Fan site, includes more screenshots and a (legal) download of the game binary, for use with
emulators.
1982 video games
Dragon 32 games
Maze games
TRS-80 Color Computer games
Video games developed in the United Kingdom
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