Fantastic Voyage (1984)

According to the plot of the film, there is a group of scientists who can miniaturize themselves and use a special “submarine” - an apparatus that can be inserted into the body of a sick person in order to conduct an important operation “on site” without the usual surgical intervention. That is, the operation is a microsurgery performed by a reduced in size person who is equipped with special equipment that allows him to swim in the blood and perform medical tasks with the help of a laser - to navigate organs, find and destroy viruses, clear blood vessels, white blood cells and so on ^{[5] [6]} .

In the game, the plot closely matches the idea of ​​the film, but there are differences. In Fantastic Voyage, only one scientist knows the secret of miniaturization, and he wants to come to the top-secret headquarters of the special services. However, on his way the enemy saboteurs arrange an accident and the scientist gets a serious brain injury. Further, in order to survive, it is urgent to apply the miniaturization procedure. Time is limited, and the player-controlled character is placed in the scientist's body. But due to the imperfection of the procedure, the “submarine” collapses when trying to introduce the patient into the bloodstream and carries parts of it to different organs of the scientist. The main character regains consciousness in the scientist's mouth, and the researcher has 60 minutes to collect all 8 parts of the device and return to the outside world. In carrying out this task, it is necessary to fight infections and viruses, since a scientist can die, which will lead to the death of the main game character ^{[5] [7] [8] [9]} .

Fantastic Voyage is a labyrinth adventure game made in two - dimensional sprite graphics. The labyrinth of human organs consists of about 70 screens connected to each other through which the character controlled by the player travels, and during the movement the player sees what part of the body he is in (see illustration) . In the game, the task is to collect in the brain all 8 parts of the apparatus scattered in inaccessible places of the body. The “submarine” obtained after assembly allows the researcher to decrease, pass through the optic nerve to the eye and go outside, and thus escape ^{[5] [6] [10]} .

When moving through the patient’s body, the player encounters a number of obstacles. These are opening and closing valves that can kill the researcher, the surfaces of some organs that are dangerous to touch, cholesterol plaques , blocking passages (so they have to be cleared by the laser available to the player), as well as viruses moving along different paths, the interaction with which also represents danger. To unlock tissue growths, the player is required to move the white blood cells to the place where the obstacle occurred, and thus overcome it. Enemy characters have different behaviors, and some of them can be destroyed by laser. If an infection appears in the body, the game reports this with an indication of the location on the human anatomical map, and the player needs to arrive there to eliminate the danger. After infection, the patient rises in temperature, an extremely high value of which leads to the death of the scientist and the end of the game ^{[5] [6] [9]} .

The total time spent in the body is limited to 60 minutes of playing time, but in addition, the researcher has a finite supply of oxygen, which can be replenished if the player finds a red blood cell. These cells in the body are unevenly distributed - they are more often found, for example, in the lungs than in vessels far from the heart. If for a long time the player does not replenish the supply of oxygen, then the researcher displayed on the screen first turns red and then transparent, which complicates the game, since the controlled character becomes invisible to the player. The player loses his life in contact with viruses, dangerous places of organs, growths and so on. In total, 5 lives are given at the beginning of the game, and if they are lost, the game ends ^{[5] [11] [9]} .

The laser available for the player shoots with individual shots and only horizontally. During the move, the player can set the movement to the left and right, as well as press the “swim” button ( eng. Swim), as a result of which the controlled character starts to rise up, and when released the character gradually changes speed and the direction of movement goes down. The fourth button (or the direction of the joystick ) is used to select and release items, and thus the player can pick up one item and leave it or use it in another place ^[12] . The labyrinth has asymmetrical features - if a player moves from one screen to the second, then the first screen is not always obtained when switching backward. There are also places in the maze where, when moving in the same direction, but in different passages, the character moves to different screens ^[6] .

Fantastic Voyage is developed on the basis of the previously released computer game Blood 'n' Guts and largely repeats its gameplay ^[12] . In March 1984, in fact, work was underway on one game, and the question of its name was open ^[13] . As a result, two similar games came out - Blood 'n' Guts and Fantastic Voyage , the first of which was not very popular, and the second publisher Quicksilva released after obtaining a license for the film Fantastic Journey ^{[14] [15]} . So Fantastic Voyage became an officially licensed version of the 20th Century Fox film, the collaboration with which took place in the form of tie-in license ^{[5] [1]} .

Both games are designed for ZX Spectrum computers by John R. Edmonds . The cover designer and artist was Steinar Lund . During his work, Steinar drew in the usual way, then reduced the image and placed it in the GraphPad utility , where additional edits were made, for example, graphics corrections based on familiarity and attributes ^{[c. 1] [13]} . Fantastic Voyage was published in May 1984 by Quicksilva, and subsequently, by August 1984, the game was ported to Amstrad CPC ^{[5] [1] [6]} . In 1985, Fantastic Voyage has been reprinted in Spain and Portugal, where Mind Games Espana SA and Orion have been distributing, respectively ^{[2] [3]} .

After the release of the game, the opinions of the journalists were different, but on the whole they agreed that Fantastic Voyage is an original, interesting and informative game ^{[5] [12] [4] [11] [10]} . The criticism's drawbacks included the repeatability of the gameplay ^{[5] [7]} , opinions on the schedule were divided, but for the most part were positive ^{[5] [16] [12] [11]} .

In reviews, Fantastic Voyage was compared with the movie of the same name. So, in Crash they complained that it was “another game about the film” ^[5] , and in Computer and Video Games they considered the film to be “chronic”, but despite this, the game went far from it, since the developers did not copy script ^[16] . In Your Spectrum, however, a slightly different opinion was expressed that the game lacks some of the things present in the film ^[7] . Something similar was expressed in a retrospective article by Retro Gamer in , in the spirit that there is not enough film actress Raquel Welch ^[4] . In a review of Home Computing Weekly, they decided that the game Fantastic Voyage would be exciting for those who liked the movie ^[11] .

Critics of Your Spectrum and Crash felt that the gameplay is tedious and boring, after an hour of play it becomes repetitive, and at the same time tries to keep the player too long. But one of Crash's reviewers said the game is rich in the sense that it requires skills from the player even in order to survive for several minutes. Journalists have differently appreciated the elements of game mechanics . So, the Crash columnist considered that the simulation of microsurgery is far from reality, and the game is a platformer with arcade elements. The author of the Amstrad Computer User review did not like the asymmetry of the transitions between the screens, as well as the fact that the character disappears with a lack of oxygen. But the invisible character, on the contrary, was liked by Crash reporters, who, in addition, positively commented on the complexity of the maze ^{[5] [7] [6]} . Amstrad Action spoke well about the complexity of the task set for the player and the large space for research ^[10] .

There were different opinions regarding the graphics. Crash reported that the graphics are simple, well-executed, colorful and interesting, with lots of vibrant colors. A similar description was given by the critic Home Computing Weekly . The journalist of Computer and Video Games considered that the graphics are not very exciting, but worthwhile. The Sinclair User reviewer decided that the graphics are adequate and “fortunately” abstract, since otherwise the player would have encountered difficulties ^{[16] [5] [11] [12]} .

Comments were made on the game interface. Amstrad Computer User complained about the accuracy of the infection on the map ^[6] , and in Amstrad Action management found it difficult ^[10] . The author of the publication Computer and Video Games noted that swimming in the game is not as tiring as in other games ^[16] . The journalist Amstrad Computer User was not satisfied with the sounds when switching between screens, but in Home Computing Weekly the sound was considered non-distracting ^{[11] [6]} .

A number of reviewers said that the game is original, interesting and informative. So, the critic of Sinclair User found it interesting for the player to study the human organs and their structures by moving through them, meeting with pulsating valves, cholesterol, blood cells and other elements, and the game itself is a fascinating and original entertainment ^{[5] [12] [11] [4] [10]} .

A retrospective review of the Retro Gamer from 2008 said the game was "fantastic." Here, the reviewer noted that it took a lot of time to complete Fantastic Voyage , and the process of ridding the body of infections, swimming through the human body and finding parts was fun for him. In addition, the observer pointed out that the player needs to navigate the maze in order to quickly cope with the tasks. Summing up, the critic said that this game is one of the earliest for the Amstrad CPC platform and its fans should play Fantastic Voyage ^[4] . In the 2006 release of Retro Gamer , Fantastic Voyage is listed at number 30 on the list of good games for the Amstrad CPC 464 ^[17] .

Comments

Sources

• The official guide to the game .
• Spanish detailed retro review of the game (Spanish) .
• The ZX Spectrum version of Fantastic Voyage is available for free play online in the Internet Archive .
•   Fantastic Voyage Video of the gameplay of the original game on the RZX Archive portal.