Menace - In-depth Written Amiga Review With Pics
Menace
Amiga, 1988
DMA Design/Psyclapse/Psygnosis
$29.95
*If pics show artifacting, zoom in/out (CRT effect)
Beyond the chapters of your favorite novel, there's a power to the written word which can transcend lifetimes. A deserved classic will generally stay as such, the trash shall be forgotten. Perhaps a hidden gem will shine through, spotted beneath the murky depths of obscurity. Art takes many forms, from traditional paints, to music, stage, film, and of course the video games discussed here. Those entrenched in the culture of one may look upon another with pure disdain, even amongst family subsets. I've wondered if perhaps the common thread tying them all together lies in your humble, or sometimes not so humble, critic. The select few who care so deeply as to love or hate something the vast majority of people are indifferent to. Having read hundreds of reviews of games from the people who were in the know at the time, there's a kind of art to their writings on the art. Contrasting opinions on individual games you can find that the critics, much like the material they're writing about, are not infallible, they're flawed humans just as everyone, certainly worthy of a little critique themselves.
Reviewing the reviewer tends to be a focal point of my videos, reading and commenting, occasionally getting to know editors by their name and styles. With Scorpia you think of the stereotypical Broadway critic, always finding that "something" to poke at, bringing a game to its knees, certainly when it came to the RPGs that she covered. You start to notice patterns while reading, how she's much kinder to adventure games, or linear titles, the ones she can finish quick and get paid for, being one of the few who counted on reviewing as their main paycheck. You notice how Tom Malcolm had a habit of covering all kinds of genres that he had no interest in, faulting the games for his personal tastes instead of himself. With some the love pours from their writings, Shay Adams, Judith Killbury Cobb. They're having fun and they want to share that with you. Many, with Alan Emrich foremost on my mind, are the frustrated writers who'd rather be penning a novel or contributing to a newspaper, injecting their poorly dated political, religious, or social thoughts pointlessly into a review about a game, judging all who think contrary in the process. And of course, there's the caffeinated teenager who's probably not even getting paid, just around for the free games. They have no idea what they're doing, can't write or play video games, but they sure do keep costs down. British magazines employed them in full.
Sadly at times, the individuality seems to get stripped away. Those which thought so differently from each other oddly start to think alike. Perhaps it's the game, so obviously great or bad that there's simply no other way to see it, objectively it is what it is. But at times it's not so clear cut, despite managing to read as if it was. It's as if certain companies will never catch a break, regardless of how great their game was, the fix was against them. Others would never be covered, good, bad, or indifferent, lacking the advertising budget. Spending money to make money was never a motto for review based magazines, where they expected to be given freebies. Occasionally you notice the shifty, when you can't help but wonder if there's some money getting slipped under the table. If Ken Williams or Trip Hawkins managed to get everyone laid in exchange for the joining of hands, in love of a game. Or perhaps reviewers simply fell victim to the power of the written word themselves, adopting the group think of colleagues, afraid to think differently. It is this latter, shifty category that I wish to ponder when it comes to Menace, an arcade styled shoot 'em up from DMA Design. This was their first title, going on to create, among others, Shadow of the Beast, Lemmings, and Grand Theft Auto before changing their name to Rockstar.
^Main menus, 1st level takes place underwater
Perhaps a tale of graphics over gameplay, it nevertheless could have been exactly as the designers intended it to be, as the reviewers seemed to have wanted, and as the box proudly proclaims, a "pure arcade game". Indeed, Menace would have fit perfectly next to any late 80's arcade shoot 'em up, inside of an actual arcade cabinet. It has the graphics, it has the music, and it's easy enough at the start as to suck you in, before instantaneously transitioning into the impossible. This was a trope most legitimate arcade games used, in an effort to empty your pants of quarters. There was rarely an intermediate perfect ground of difficulty to an arcade game. The first few levels are so easy as to satisfy the children for ten minutes, but only the obsessed who were willing to spend, could actually win. The problem here is that Menace was not originally a coin-op game, where a legitimate debate might evolve over wanting to preserve the difficulty, to stay true to the original for the home versions. Instead this was designed on and for the Amiga, and while it cost a reasonable $29.95 at the time, in an era when $49.95 was the norm, that was still more than most were going to spend on any single game in an arcade. I'd argue, in opposition to the many reviewers of the era plastering this game over multiple "best of the year" lists, that Menace being true to the arcades is its ultimate downfall.
A horizontal side scrolling shooter, I'll spare readers from any discussion on the basics of "moving and shooting things". Where Menace most differs from others in its genre is a rather unintuitive powerup system. Upon destroying an entire wave of enemies, the last to have been vanquished will immediately turn into a visual icon which says "1000", meaning a 1,000 point increase to your current score. Should you be able to decipher the rather poor voice samples which accompany the pickup, the audio is attempting to say "bonus". It's the worst voice sample in the game, and of course it's the first one you're going to hear! You have to shoot the "1000" quite a few times before the icon changes from its current numeric representation, to a picture representing a cannon. Keep shooting the cannon and it will turn into a laser, a speedup after that, followed by outriders, a force field, and finally shields. Getting the cannons or the lasers isn't enough however, as only the physical representation of your ship will change when you first get these, indicating that you now have the "capability" of using cannons or lasers... Ya know, after you get it a second time for the ammo. The effect is that the first three "powerups" have no effect for the newcomer. 
^Reaching the boss, great graphics
You could imagine this being extremely frustrating to someone who doesn't know what's going on, but from what I've seen of others playing this for the first time, they're instead blissfully unaware that there even is a powerup system. Dodging enemies, an occasional kill to brighten your spirits, it's more than enough to make it to the first level boss. While you might not win once you get there, you've seen yourself make progress, and therefore might have a positive impression your first time around. Getting the "feel" of the powerup system is essential to winning. It's not enough to read the couple of sentences dedicated to the powerups inside of the two page manual, nor is it enough to write a kind of cheat sheet noting that the sixth time you see the icon change is when you'll get the shields, as I had tried for myself. Only weeks worth of playing and failing will allow for you to feel your way up the ladder of powerups.
The cannons and lasers require your constant attention as they have a limited supply of ammo, unlike most shooters where upgraded weapons often remain until your death. They'll last for maybe three rounds of enemies before running empty, much of the game is therefore spent worrying about this, less you revert back to your original powerless form. Beyond the weapons there's a speed booster which you can use six different times. They're essential as various enemies have quicker speeds, and otherwise might collide with your original slow moving ship. Along with the obvious benefits, a faster ship could also hurt you, at least until you get used to the altered handling. Quite a few of my deaths while learning were caused when I accidently sped up my ship, only to watch myself crash into various enemies. A bit maddening to have this powerup in the middle of the sequence, where it's often received in an accidental manor. Yet it's not as simple as avoiding it beyond your comfort level, as each level's enemies get faster. You'll have to alter your mechanics on the joystick, from holding it down while moving, to quick taps.
^2nd level possibly takes place on a space station
Outriders attach up to two extra weapons which are each equivalent to your ship's default gun, sans cannons or lasers. Basically it means that your standard weapon is now three times more powerful, while continuing to requiring no ammo. Outriders are also directional, which means they'll find limited use with full ammunition. It's a rather tricky system which responds to your left and right movements. Move left to have the outriders move up/down, and to the front of your ship, move right to have them move up/down, and behind your ship. Besides a few lucky kills here and there, they tend to feel rather pointless, but again with the later enemies it becomes necessary to plan for their use. As the speedup before, and the forcefield after, outriders being in the middle of the lineup means accidental usage, giving you no benefit after you've collected the maximum of two. The forcefield provides a short period of invulnerability, though only useful if you can secure it prior to a boss spawning. On expert difficulty I can see it being a necessity, where in edition to the enemies hurting you (as they do on "rookie" mode), damage from background objects becomes an obstacle.
Last in the line is the most desirable of them all, full replenishment of your shields. As you only have one life you can imagine the fury associated with needing more shields, only to come up short with the forcefield or those prior to it. It's not enough to destroy an entire wave of hostiles if the last of the enemies dies on the left of your screen, as there won't be enough time to shoot the powerup. You have to learn how the enemies behave. Some go from right to left and then off the screen, so the quicker you get rid of them the better. Others seem like they'll exit quickly, only to stop and move in circles before exiting to the right. Some pop up on the right quickly, and exit the same way, while others will follow you in a loose or direct way. You want the last enemy of a wave to die as far right as possible if you want the shields.
^The 3rd level is in a graveyard
This is where the true difficulty of the game is found. With only a minimal understanding of the cannons and lasers, you may find yourself beating the first three levels of Menace. They're objectively easy as stand alone levels. You could even die on levels two or three, using the "unlimited" continue system to crawl your way to that levels boss, perhaps in good enough shape to pull out a victory. It all changes on level four however, when the arcade god's have ordained that they now require a sacrifice of quarters. It matters not that this game was never released as a coin-op, for the quarter god's, they have spoken! There's no transition, there's no lube, you are thrust from easy into the impossible upon entering the fourth level. If you die from here on out, and you will, good luck using that supposed continue system. Starting with no powerups on a level where the second enemy cannot be harmed without a laser (at least without harming yourself) is a concern. Simply ignoring that enemy in favor of others is likewise not advisable, as by the sixth enemy they'll be swarming around you, requiring a few levels of speedups to dodge.
The continue system is useless past the third level, you can either get good at this point, or give up. Knowing that we must survive with our single life, the easy levels must now be revisited time and again, to best prepare for the upcoming onslaught of pain. So even the easy levels become more difficult as we strive to perfect them, all so we can make our way just a bit further through level four. Fittingly for Menace's reputation, most looks at the game never get to this point. After all, three levels is half the game, more than enough information has been collected via your fifteen minutes of gameplay! I suppose it's time to declare it a classic, or at least a fun little ride. At worst it's a bit boring, since it's been so "easy" getting to this point. When a game is only six levels and it has an ending, as opposed to a simple high score, than I'd say the point of the game is to win. This isn't a magical journey of story and companionship, this game is about reaching the destination. For Menace that journey could only be one of frustration.
We do have some gorgeous graphics to look at while we attempt this feat, and really that's what this game was all about. It's a stunner for not only the Amiga in 1988, but for gaming as a whole. The Nintendo Entertainment System was at the height of its 8-bit glory, and the Commodore 64 continued selling well in the 8-bit world of home computers. The 16-bit Genesis had yet to be released in America. The PC, while technically checking the boxes as 16-bit, would not have made a single 8-bit soul jealous with it's CGA/EGA colors, and it's internal speaker of bleeps, bloops, and farts. The Amiga was on another level, with several modified machines being coin-operated at this time.
^4th level forest, simple boss battle
Featuring two-way smooth parallax scrolling, Menace was claimed to be using 64 color Extra Half Bright mode, which consists of a chosen 32 colors (from 4,096 colors) having their brightness reduced to create an extra 32. I question this, though not through a lack of color, but simply because the Amiga could have separate background and foreground palettes without the need need to dim anything. The score area is also a separate portion of the screen, with its own 16 color palette. As evidenced by none of the other versions being able to replicate the score area, it's likely using the Amiga's ability to display multiple resolutions inside of a full screen, with that area being 640x200, while the main gameplay area is using NTSC overscan mode. There's multiple possibilities for lines in overscan, but to put it simply it's using more than the standard NTSC low resolution of 320x200. Each level has its own theme with separate palettes for each of them, my favorite being the sixth and final level. There it has a nice blue gradient in the background, colorful alien enemies, and nice ambient mountains scrolling in the foreground and background. Menace is a beautiful shoot 'em up.
The audio is wonderful as well, at least when it comes to the most prominent thing you'll be hearing, the music. When I think of the Amiga, games like Menace pop immediately into my mind. These aren't the pathetic bloops of an internal speaker, nor the cute but childish chip tunes of the 8-bits. This is music you can bang your head to, a true to life rock and roll stereo experience. Samples of actual guitars, three separate tunes tying into each other with a similar theme. Menace took me a month to beat, and while I certainly got tired of many of the game's aspects, the music was not amongst them. When it comes to the sound effects, such as the cannons and lasers, I would only describe them as adequate. Neither bad or good, but they get the job done. There's also speech samples when you nab any powerups, and while approaching the boss. Initially I figured this was a German game, based purely on the voice samples sounding as if English had been a second language (Danger being pronounced Dane-JA, etc), but alas it's British. While the quality of the samples weren't particularly good, the issues with understanding them I felt came from the choice of the voice itself.
Each level ends with a boss fight, but they're among the worst boss battles I've ever seen. They're designed to be traps for a newcomer, the unexpecting waiting patiently, attempting to decipher any patterns. You can wade in and out of their oncoming fire, dodging attacks, but you'll be waiting an eternity for a clear shot to present itself. There's one specific vulnerable spot for every boss, but the rhythm of attacks will never allow for a clean hit, not without damaging yourself in the process. Wait too long and their attacks start homing in on you, ensuring a quick death. There's only one strategy for the bosses; Enter them with plentiful ammo, and plop yourself directly in front of its vulnerable spot. There's a bit of a feel to this, due to the way the scrolling stops. Start firing and simply take any damage given to you in the process, the boss will be gone in a few seconds while inflicting minimal damage to you. The only decent boss is on the fifth level, with it having an actual pattern which is both challenging and fun to master. That's just one boss out of six, and they didn't even save the good one for the last level.
^5th level adds invulnerable enemies, the only decent boss battle
The bosses might be easy, but they can still ruin a run if you're not entering the next level with enough ammo or shields. I love difficult games, so long as I feel I'm getting "just a bit further" each time I play. Give me one life, send me back to the beginning, just as long as I'm making progress, that's always been fine with me. I like the pain of difficult games, there's a certain smug feeling when you know that you're one of the few to have conquered something. Winning Menace was quite the satisfying feeling of relief and accomplishment, but getting there was certainly the most frustrating experience that I've had while reviewing games. The most frustrating, but not the most difficult. The frustration comes from making it to the last level, dying, but on your next session you're stopped at the beginning of the fourth level. It comes from having beaten the game once, only to never accomplish it again despite two weeks worth of trying.
There were multiple instances of me getting so good at the game that it ended up hurting me. Every level ends at about the same time, with a bit of a grace period when the boss is about to spawn. It's based on the scrolling, which is fixed. However, how many enemies you face is not fixed. The quicker you get rid of one wave, the quicker the next shows up. The boss might spawn while an invulnerable enemy is still on the screen. Suddenly the screen stops scrolling while you're dodging an enemy you can't kill, unable to properly set yourself in front of the boss. Even if you win in that situation you end up screwed for the next level. Several times I reached the final boss while invulnerable asteroids were on the screen. Not only do you have to dodge them, but there's two plasma orbs following you that you have to kill. Whenever I faced the asteroids I always ran out of ammo, which meant death on the boss. Therefore I needed to get to the boss prior to those spawning, being good can actually hurt you. It was through a combination of talent, ineptitude, and a splash of luck which allowed for my victory.
The story is a tad nonsensical, but short enough as to be enjoyed in an outrageous way. It's only told on the back of the box, the two page manual adding nothing. The phrasing of which again caused me to wonder if English was a second language, though I suppose for teenagers writing it's about the same. In my video I read from the box, needing to rephrase as well as ham it up, as it seemed to be calling for. We're to destroy the planet Draconia, which is "unnatural", having been formed by six "feared" rulers who were exiled from their home galaxy. "Ravaging" and "plundering" space somehow allowed them to create this planet, but we alone must put an end to their rein of terror. After all, a large scale attack could kill thousands, suicide missions are always preferred! Upon winning we get a short but colorful scene depicting the destruction of the planet, causing me to wonder if we're truly the good guys. It was a good enough reward for me, who struggled mightily achieving it. The more pain you go through while playing, the better the reward at the end must be, and it felt like enough for me.
^My favorite, and the final level
I could have done without the game sending us back to level one upon our success, now on the so called "expert" mode, where the background hurts us. You really want to give these designers a piece of your mind when they have the nerve to call the hell I just went through "rookie" mode. To top it off, I actually had to go through the next three levels on expert in order to earn the top spot on the high score table, as simply winning on rookie wouldn't be good enough. It's like they knew what an arcade game contained and so they put it in Menace, but they never asked themselves "why?" it contained that. They go from easy to impossible, why? Because they want quarters, Menace cost $30 to play. Designers put their names in the highscore table (although normally with low scores), why? Because Atari wouldn't allow for individuality, everything was credited to them. Menace gives credit where it's due via the menu, I don't need Dave Jones mocking me at the top of the highscore table!
Developed by the previously mentioned Dave Jones/DMA Design, Menace was published by a subsidiary of Psygnosis, Psyclapse, which had a focus on budget titles. Even in America it was sold for the cheap price of $29.95 when new, which was $10 cheaper than the generally cheap games, and $20 cheaper than most new games. If you want to look at it from a time spent playing VS. cost perspective, it was a pretty good deal at the time. It was first released in Britain around September/October of 1988, following shortly in America around November/December of '88. Originating on the Amiga, an Atari ST port was released around the same time, and is either the best or worst version depending on how you look at speed. It's really slow, to the point of excruciating for me, but others might find it easier. There's a technical parallax, but it's just space with some pixel stars. The foreground graphics don't quite match the Amiga, but are similar. A Commodore 64 version was released sometime in the summer of 1989. To me this would be the second best version to the Amiga, with fast scrolling, good music, and more impressive parallax than the ST. Some enemies feature different patterns, along with several bosses being better than the Amiga due to that. Finally a PC/DOS version was released around Christmas of '89. In terms of the "feel", it's the most similar to the Amiga. The sound is the traditional craptastic internal speaker, there's no parallax, and the EGA graphics are merely blah, as they usually were. An Atari 800 version was worked on, but abandoned when the programmer fell ill.
As alluded to in the beginning paragraphs, this was a critical darling, at least in America. "The pure, undiluted, and unconcentrated essence of arcade action." "Nearly equal to coin-op arcade game graphics." "As good as any other arcade game I've played", quotes from Amiga World, where they later placed it as the 18th best game of 1989. Lou Wallace, who wrote the review for Amiga World, would go on the national television show The Computer Chronicles to demonstrate the game. Computer Gaming World called it a typical high quality Psygnosis release. Amazing Computing said it had great sound effects, graphics, music, "...certain to be a hit with all the arcade addicts out there!" Info called it "... mindless alien blasting at its best, madly addictive, and nearly impossible to win." Giving the game 4 out of 5 stars initially, but later lamenting that choice for the Commodore 64 review, feeling that the Amiga version deserved 5 out of 5 stars, therefore giving them to the 64. "Menace is the textbook example of how to write an arcade game." "...Everything about it... adds to the experience." "...will stay on your top shelf for a long time to come." Info would place it as the 4th best Amiga arcade game, and the 2nd best Commodore 64 arcade game in 1989. Editor Tom Malcolm, who wrote both reviews, named it his 3rd favorite game, period. 
^Winning
The love would go on, with Commodore Magazine calling it more than worthy of consideration. Compute called the graphics superb, the game addictive, and warned that you wouldn't have many short play sessions. Amiga Plus was the only magazine which seemed to have missed the memo on how everyone was required to praise Menace, calling the graphics fair, saying that the sound effects fit the game, but criticizing the scrolling scenery and attack formations for repeating, along with the ammo running out too quickly, "...making the game considerably more frustrating." Finishing with a dated reference that it might appeal to die hard Defender fans. This critique seemed to have been forgotten in time for their best of 1989 issue, calling it "...the best if it moves, blast it game ever put on an Amiga." I guess they got the memo a little late? Many of the reviewers were recommending the purchase of new peripherals to play Menace, "if you don't have a rapid fire joystick, buy one! If you do, be prepared to buy another, because you'll probably break the first." These recommendations were always positive sounding, rather than the negative that they should have been when you're requiring your readers to fork out $50 on a different joystick, just so they can cheat and enjoy a $30 game!
I believe it to be objectively true that Menace deserved its share of criticism, but be it through the power of the written word, group think, or orders from up high, it surely did not receive that when released, at least in America. Some of the British magazines thought it was great, but many actually had mixed reactions. Really I don't care if you agree or disagree with me, it's in the way you do it. I didn't care for the way the American magazines liked this game, and equally I didn't care for how the British magazines did not. In the end, if a game isn't good without cheating, than a game isn't objectively good. If a game is only six levels long, but most people aren't going to make it past the third level, than objectively it can't be recommended to everyone! Even if you like the pain of hard games, I'd still caution due to the frustration here, noting however, that I did feel good after winning.
Then again, perhaps they knew something, or saw a certain "spark" in the air, a sniff of what was to come. If these reviewers actually gave this game the criticism it deserved, if they had not placed it on multiple best of the year lists, would it have sold 20,000 copies? If not, does DMA's next game Blood Money sell 40,000? Is DMA over before it begins, never getting the chance to make Lemmings, which sold 15 million? If there's no Lemmings, is there Grand Theft Auto, would there be Rockstar? Perhaps the gaming world benefited from this game, which was really all about the graphics, getting a bit more attention than it really deserved. I hope you'll check out my video review on Menace, for the pain really needs to be seen to appreciate. I'll also read from the magazines discussed here, replying in detail. Readers of this article might also appreciate my looks at Turrican (Amiga), Sword of Sodan (Amiga), or Silpheed (DOS, video only).
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