Retrospective - Cinemaware 09/10/97

Nowadays no true gamer worth his salt would bother with an "interactive" movie (OK, I've played Rebel Assault too, but it IS Star Wars). You know the ones I mean. They are generally grainy FMV fitted into a window the size of a stamp, have the sort of lip-synching you'd associate with a Japanese Kung-Fu movie and are about as interactive as...well, they aren't. We were once told they were the future of interactive entertainment (yeah, games) and now only the Wing Commander series bothers to have filmed actors at all. If you had asked an Amiga or (bleugh!) ST owner around 1988 onwards however, they might not have been so hostile to the idea thanks to a company called Cinemaware.

THE EXPERIENCE

Cinemaware games didn't use video clips for the obvious reason that we were still using 880k disks at the time (although, ironically enough, I'm sure the Amiga could have handled video from CD quite easily, even back then). All of their games were hand-drawn artwork that usually animated in real-time (unlike video). I suppose the best way of describing the look of their games is to say that all of the characters/monsters/machinery were basically very large, very detailed sprites. The animation was, to be honest, a little ropey at times but this gave the games character rather than making them look bad. If anyone else has seen the recent Monkey Island 3 and thought that although it is better animated it has lost the visual character of the other two you'll know what I mean. The sound was good with catchy or atmospheric music and the odd sample if there was space. Basically the aesthetics of the games were fantastic and the use of the word 'Cinema' wasn't idly used at the time because it was the nearest you were going to get on a computer. To give you an idea I will say that, in the 4 or so years they released games, the visuals didn't get significantly better and were still top of their class.

THE PHILOSOPHY

Although their games looked and sounded great, Cinemaware realised (unlike recent companies) that there needed to be some way to make them playable so that they would actually "be" games. Most cinemaware games followed a gradually uncovered story (like a movie) that followed your progress and to a certain extent was driven by your actions. Your actions were either a result of dialogue interaction (see Monkey Island again...hmmmm....?!?) or sub-games. The sub-games were the evidence that Cinemaware were more than just good artists. Almost every one I played was fun, funny and always the sort of thing you would want to do in that movie. Some examples of which were; Playing "chicken" in a car against some greasers, getting into a fight with a Nazi soldier 'James Bond' style, escaping from a hospital with nurses hot on your tail. (Ooer! - Ed.)

THE BEGINNING: DEFENDER OF THE CROWN

You can imagine the situation. Many people had bought their Amigas and were looking for that 'Killer App' which would put the 8-bit antiques in their place. Cinemaware delivered with one of the first 'make your mates jealous' games for the Amiga called 'Defender of the Crown', a strategy cum interactive-movie set in medieval England. The graphics were colourful hand-drawn animations that genuinely turned the heads of your 'All games are basically Space Invaders' parents and got them to sit down and have a go. (Rather than just some game with colour cycling and maps in it, then. - Ed.) Mostly it was just a visual treat but the interactive bit came in the form of sub-games such as a siege on the enemies' castle with a catapult, jousting viewed from the horse(!), fighting your way into castles and rescuing an English ("Fair Maiden" - Ed.) of your choice. I'm almost sure one of the princesses was quite attractive but I was only 12 so please forgive me. Somehow the game managed to be quite good and it prompted many failed attempts to copy it with 'X-Copy-Turbo-T&T-Super-Cool-Never-Works 5.2.4.0beta'. It is also the only Cinemaware game I know of which came on only ONE DISK, a luxury which didn't last. Although this might not have been their very first game it was the first to give them recognition on the Amiga.

THE WINNINGS: IT CAME FROM THE DESERT

What more do you need to know than the title? A story based around a fallen meteorite which was giving out radiation. Thus, transforming a nest of ants into giant monsters who terrorise the local inhabitants of a small American town in the middle of nowhere. Your quest is to persuade the small-minded Mayor that he should call out the National-Guard to get rid of the pests. You do this by collecting evidence of the creatures' existence to get his arse in gear. The atmosphere of the game is perfect with creepy small-town characters, eerie stories of cows being bitten in half and a musical score to die for. I'll never forget when I was interviewing one of the farmers for the first time. His face suddenly goes white, he screams and then runs off of the screen cartoon-style. You realise something is wrong only to turn around and find a huge ant ready to eat you whole. A gun pops up in front of you (Doom-style) and you are so scared you unload the whole gun RIGHT IN ITS FACE only then realising you have no bullets left and that WASN'T the way to kill it. This results in one of the best moments in gaming history, the hospital scene. You wake up in a bed with a cute nurse telling you that you will have to stay for a week or whatever but you know that you HAVE to get out of there. Any other game out there would make you stay in that hospital, any other game would make you suffer and waste precious time. And then it happens! You get the option to 'try and escape' and you know you're in for a laugh. The game switches to a kind of overhead Gauntlet view where you can see your guy in a night-gown ready to escape. Nurses, orderlies and security guards are roaming around and if they catch you they put you to sleep. Then the chase starts and you are running around the hospital with nurses chasing you shouting 'That's the one! Get him!'. You can hide in beds or under tables to avoid them but the real fun comes once you find the wheelchair and are screaming around trying to lure the security guards away from the entrance door. The fact is, this game was a classic and I haven't played anything like it since. It should be on everybody's list and if you really get into it then you can get the follow-up 'Antheads' for even more laughs. Not to be missed.

THE ENDINGS: MIRRORSOFT GO BUST

It seems so unjust now that I think about it. Just as Cinemaware were getting a reputation for LucasArts-like quality on the Amiga they got the rug pulled from under them. Mirrorsoft (who published their games) went bust and took Cinemaware with them. I'm not entirely sure what happened next but I haven't heard of them since. I remember them attempting to do a filmed version of 'It Came From The Desert' for the PC but I don't think it ever came out. I think Cinemaware should be remembered as the company who showed the abilities of the Amiga so early on and broke away from the poor conversions of 8-bit games which initially plagued it. They were imaginitive, talented and dedicated to the creation of atmospheric, cinematic games. I think it would be interesting to see what would have happened if Cinemaware were still about and were let loose on proper cameras and equipment. Maybe the 'interactive movie' wouldn't be such a dirty word.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Games I can think of:

Defender of the Crown (8/10)
King of Chicago (?/10)
Rocket Ranger (9/10)
It Came From The Desert (10/10)
Antheads (10/10)
Wings (10/10)
TV Sports Basketball (6/10)
TV Sports Football (7/10)
Rising Sun (6/10)

Availability:

Mostly Cinemaware games were only available on the Amiga/ST because they were the only machines at the time that could handle them (remember CGA?) The TV sports games however made their way to some consoles and the PC. It's a shame that world-wide these were probably the most played but among the worst they did. (Blimey, I'm moved. - Ed.) Jonathan Withey