How to play Great Escape online
- Fly up, down, left or right: arrow keys
- Fire: hold an arrow key and press Space; you fire in the direction you are pushing
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
Gameplay
Your ship always stays in the centre of the screen; when you fly, the background moves instead. Speed builds up the longer you keep pushing in the same direction, up to four speeds shown on the velocity indicator. Pushing the other way slows you down, and you can only turn sideways at the lowest speed, so you have to plan your turns.
Two scanners help you find your way. The short-range scanner shows everything nearby: meteorites, aliens and the Super Alien. The long-range scanner shows only the aliens and the Super Alien, and the manual says it is the one to trust, because aliens can disguise themselves as meteorites or hide behind them. The Super Alien cannot be fought: if it shows up on your short-range scanner, your ship is lost. You start with three ships and earn a bonus ship for every 10,000 points, up to three extra ships in total. The game ends when all your ships are gone.
Tips
- Listen for the warning. A warning sound plays when the Super Alien is approaching. Check the long-range scanner straight away and fly the other way.
- Slow down before you turn. At high speed you can’t change course sideways, so ease off early when you see trouble ahead.
- Don’t trust every meteorite. Compare the two scanners: anything the long-range scanner shows is an alien, whatever it looks like up close.
History
Bomb released Great Escape in 1983 in the UK, Germany and North America, alongside other titles such as Assault. The same game was also sold in Europe under other names, as Time Machine by Goliath and as Asteroid Fire by Home Vision. Reviews at the time were not kind. Critics compared it with Asteroids and Defender, and the British magazine TV Gamer disliked the graphics, compared it unfavourably with Bomb’s Assault and advised readers to avoid it.
Similar games to play next
- Great Escape (Europe) – the PAL version of this game
- Assault – another 1983 space shooter from Bomb
- Asteroids – the classic game of shooting space rocks
- Defender – a scanner-guided space shooter based on the Williams arcade game