''Encounter!'' is a first person

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a Video game genre, subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain typ ...

video game released in 1983 for

Atari 8-bit computers The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 650 ...

and

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

. It was programmed by Paul Woakes who co-founded

Novagen Software Novagen Software Ltd (commonly referred to as Novagen) was a British software developer which released a number of computer games on a variety of platforms from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The company was set up by Paul Woakes and Bruce ...

to publish it in the UK and Europe.

Synapse Software Synapse Software Corporation (marketed as SynSoft in the UK) was an American software developer and publisher founded in 1981 by Ihor Wolosenko and Ken Grant. Synapse published application software and developer tools, but was primarily known f ...

released the game in North America. ''Encounter!'' is similar to Atari, Inc.'s 1980 arcade game '' Battlezone'', but with much faster gameplay and large, sometimes screen-filling, scaled bitmaps instead of wireframe models. It was re-released by Atlantis Software for the Atari 8-bit and Commodore 64 as a cassette budget title. Versions for the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

and

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

computers followed much later, in 1991.

Gameplay

The goal of ''Encounter!'' is to eliminate all of the enemy saucers and

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

drones in a flat level. Enemies appear one at a time, highlighted on the radar below the main view, and a counter shows how many remain to complete the level. Pillars block shots and can be used for protection from enemy projectiles. When the enemy counter reaches zero, a portal opens containing obstacles to avoid reaching the next level. There are three difficulty settings.

Development

''Encounter!'' was the first game written by Paul Woakes. With his own company

not founded yet, he was looking for a publisher. In 1983, he called Bruce Jordan who was owner of the Birmingham Atari Centre and asked him he would be interested in helping him publish ''Encounter!''. Bruce Jordan agreed, and Novagen Software was formed (initially as Paul Woakes's own company and Bruce Jordan's company was engaged on a 'percentage' for publication, sales and distribution on Novagen's behalf). ''Encounter!'' was released early 1984, and it did sell well, with the Atari version charted higher and longer than the Commodore 64 version, although C64 did extremely well in Germany.

Reception

Your Commodore ''Your Commodore'' was a magazine for Commodore International, Commodore computers, including the Commodore 64, Amiga, and the Commodore Personal computer, PC range. It was published in the UK from October 1984 until late 1989 when the name was s ...

'' gave the game four out of five stars praising the game's level of difficulty and available environments along with appreciating the sound effects which indicate when difficult enemies are going to attack. In 1991, the game was converted to the Amiga. However, the gameplay was outdated, and ''Amiga Joker'' gave it a mediocre score of 57%, stating that it was good enough for a short play from time to time. A retrospective review in ''Retro Gamer'' stated: "Playing out the mechanics of ''Battlezone'' at what seems like a thousand miles per hour, and with filled, solid objects zooming in and out of the screen, ''Encounter!'' was (and still is) a technical marvel".

References

External links

* * {{Battlezone 1983 video games Amiga games Atari 8-bit computer games Atari ST games Atlantis Software games Commodore 64 games First-person shooters Novagen Software games Synapse Software games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Shoot 'em ups