One of the first games (possibly the first game) I have ever played was Spectre on the Mac. I played this game for countless hours when I was a child and loved it. When I came across Spectre 3D within the App Store I just had to check it out.
Those unfamiliar with Spectre and what it is all about, I will explain. You drive a vector tank around maps packed with obstacles and enemies you need to both kill and avoid to collect all the flags scattered around. Watch the gameplay video below to fully to see whats its all about. The gameplay is exactly the same as I remember it. With the the red enemy triangles and dark retro maps. The way you even begin a level is parallel to how I remember it on the Mac, however I did turn on Retro Level Captions before playing with the standard settings. The game still has power ups and and loads of obstacles which are easy to bump into, allowing enemies spam you with their attacks.
The sound brought a huge ray of nostalgia, with the shooting of a weapon to when you hit the edge of the map and even when each level begins and your tank is thrown into the game and it's all executed brilliantley. The only part I see missing which I am sure was in the Mac version is when a women says ‘entering cyber land’ or something to that nature at the beginning of every level, but thats just me nit picking.
The graphics are again just as I remember with the dark Tron like world, but I think the developer has spruced the graphics up quite a bit. With new backgrounds in the distance that I don’t think were in the mac version. The graphics overall just seem crisper and more detailed, but that may have a lot to do with the iPhone and iPod Touch being a lot more powerful than my old childhood Macintosh.
A very unique aspect of the game that I haven't seen within any other game on the App Store is the ability to have 3D as an option, obviously with those funny glasses equipped. That's something I haven't yet tried, so I can't say whether it works or not.
The controls are very straight forward and surprised me because Spectre wasn’t designed for a 3.5 inch display. The developer has made it work as if the game was developed natively for the device to begin with. You drive the tank around with a virtual analogue stick on the button left of the screen and fire with button across on the other side on the right, very simple.
Overall the game is a definite purchase for players who enjoyed it on their Macs back in the day. Anyone who likes what they see in the gameplay video below, go onto the App Store and play around with the free sample.
