Spike (1983) Review

Review on the Vectrex game Spike

by Edmund Phoon Jian Cheng

 

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/vectrex/images/7/7c/Spike.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20101111185811

“Eek! Help! Spike!” says Molly as she is abducted. “Oh no! Molly!” says Spike, and he pursues her. These are the common quotes you will hear when playing Spike, a 1983 game based on the playable character of the same name. Developed by General Consumer Electronics and played on the Vectrex platform, Spike is known to be a ‘mascot’ of the retro console, having appeared in many small budget Vectrex games, and the one of the first assets capable of speech and displaying emotion in its processing.

Spike is about a creature of the same name who has to rescue the love of his life Molly from the clutches of his enemy Spud. Spike must climb over three moving platforms to the top to reach a caged door in order to complete each level. Enemies will appear in the second level onwards and they will prevent the player from reaching the goal. Spike has a total of 4 lives, and each contact with an enemy or fall may causes Spike to lose a life. The game is over when Spike loses all lives. Points are obtained when Spike kicks any enemy advancing on the character. Sometimes, bows and keys may appear in the levels, in which they temporarily freezes enemies and the platforms upon collection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoXM8m541ac

Like in Mario, players will have a sense of survival and revenge instinct that encourages them to play on. Avoiding the enemies such as the floating ‘radios’ and birds, as well as falling off the platforms, instil the fear in the player that he/she would lose a life out of it and this constitutes the survival aspect that motivates the player to direct Spike away from the obstacles and reach the goal to “rescue the damsel in distress” (i.e. Molly) from the enemies (i.e. Spud). Spike’s ability to kick enemies away makes up the “revenge” for the player losing a life to the enemy or sabotaged by the enemy to fall off the platform.

Spike is a very fun game to play, especially if you know how to control Spike around the environment and obstacles through walking, jumping, kicking, and arranging the ladders for Spike to get to the destination. While the difficulty level progression makes it hard for players to complete the game, this encourages the players to return and play on for more rounds, making Spike to be one of the legendary and most iconic arcade games ever made in the retro age.