9/28/20 3-Demon (1983)

3-Demon (1983) by John D. Price of PC Research for DOS. In the late 70s and early 80s, there was an ambitious trend of trying to make, for whatever reason, a first-person Pac-Man for home computers. I don’t even think the term “first-person” was in use at that time, the ReadMe describing that “In 3-Demon you are not simply a voyeur, watching from a safe perch above the action. You are the main character, running through the hallways and fleeing from the ghouls.” This isn’t the first game to attempt rendering a wire frame world, (Alkalabeth came out in 1979), but the effect is quite smooth and mirrors the previous year’s Spectre for Apple II. I would have made a post about that game, but I can’t seem to figure it out. 3-Demon, by comparison, is much simpler to understand and control. There are 9 levels of increasing difficulty to choose from, and you must collect points while avoiding enemies. The perspective is surprisingly not too much of an issue, save for a few instances where passages are not placed flush at the end of a hall, making turning into them a bit of a hassle. The player is also not given a view of the map’s layout, rather the positions of enemies and themselves in addition to a compass. This makes navigating the maze sufficiently tricky, and the AI ramps up accordingly in the higher levels. This is a game all about points; by hitting down at any time, you’ll immediately advance to the next level provided you’ve collected half the points in the current stage. There are power pills which function identically to Pac-Man, and a practice mode to help players in 1983 get used to the new viewpoint. Overall, a fun arcade clone with a novel twist.