Nightshade (1985 video game)

Nightshade
Developer(s) Tim and Chris Stamper
Publisher(s) Ultimate Play The Game
Engine Filmation II
Platform(s) ZX Spectrum
Amstrad CPC
BBC Micro
MSX
Commodore 64
Release date(s)
  • October 1985 (Spectrum)[1]
  • Nov/Dec 1985 (MSX)[2]
  • Early 1986 (Amstrad)[3]
    Early 1986 (Commodore 64)[4]
Genre(s) Action-adventure game; Maze game
Mode(s) Single-player

Nightshade is a ZX Spectrum video game developed and released by Ultimate Play The Game in 1985. Building upon the earlier titles Knight Lore and Alien 8 using the flip-screen, isometric gameplay branded Filmation, Nightshade introduces a scrolling isometric environment branded Filmation II.[5]

Gameplay

A green-hued, infected player is pursued through the village of Nightshade by foes

The player takes the role of a knight who enters the plague-ridden village of Nightshade to vanquish four demons who hold sway over it. Similarly to the major foes in Underwurlde, each demon is vulnerable to a particular object which must be collected by the player (a hammer, a Bible, a crucifix and an hourglass). To help the player locate the demons, these objects also glow when in close proximity to the demon they destroy.

Aside from the demons, Nightshade is densely populated by several different types of plague-carrying monsters. Contact with these monsters infects the player, with repeated contact turning the player's color from white to yellow to green then death. Rather than relying on more convention weapons such as sabres, the player can collect a range of "antibodies" which materialise within the buildings of Nightshade. These "antibodies" can be fired at monsters to destroy them, but each only kills a specific type of monster - if fired at the wrong monster, it will "mutate" the monster into a different, and possibly worse, foe.

The game included two versions at both sides of the tape, one featuring color sprites, and the other with monochrome graphics that run slightly faster.[4]

Reception

Nightshade and Gunfright used Filmation II, a variation on the Filmation engine, resulting in a similar visual style but significantly different gameplay. The new technique allowed scrolling around a large world and arcade-like play, rather than the room-based puzzles of the earlier Filmation titles. CRASH magazine praised the graphics and atmosphere but considered the gameplay boring, and said that it "marked the beginning of the end for ... Ultimate".[5]

Ultimate had a reputation for secrecy regarding releases. The full-page advertisements placed in magazines showed the cover art of the game in question, but no shots or description of the game itself. [6] When a journalist reviewing Nightshade for CRASH magazine asked Ultimate what the object of the game was, and how large the play area was, they responded with, respectively, "oh, we can't tell you that" and "it's pretty large".[7]

References

  1. ↑ Nightshade first appears in the Gallup Software Top 30 chart as a Spectrum-only new entry in the November 1985 issue of C&VG, p.30, and is reviewed in the same issue.
  2. ↑ Knight Lore, Alien 8 and Nightshade MSX pre-release promotional brochure, published by Ultimate Play The Game in October 1985. Available to view at World of Spectrum:
  3. ↑ Reviewed in February 1986 editions of both Amstrad Action (issue 5) and Amtix (issue 4, p.18-19).
  4. 1 2 "Nightshade", Zzap!64 (Newsfield Publications) (11), March 1986: 24
  5. 1 2 "Looking For An Old Angle". Crash Magazine, Issue 51. Newsfield. Retrieved 2006-10-03.
  6. ↑ Knight Lore, Alien 8 and Nightshade MSX pre-release promotional brochure, published by Ultimate Play The Game in October 1985. Available to view at World of Spectrum:
  7. ↑ "Nightshade review", CRASH (Newsfield Publications) (21), October 1985: 10

External links

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