Going (iso) Metric

Tell me your first memory of isometric games, was it the Baldurs Gate games?  Was it the Desert Strike series? How about the excellent Head over Heels from way back in the day, or even further back with Knight Lore?  Can you even remember the first time you played a game that was viewed in the isometric way?  I could go back even further than any of the games I’ve mentioned so far, as before any of them were around I played a game called “Ant Attack” on the Spectrum, often seen as the true, first ever, isometric game.  It was later followed up by the quite samey “Zombie Zombie” both featuring 3-D worlds that you were able to move freely around in, but by today’s standards, they look rubbish.  But wait! I can go back even further still, to my first ever isometric experience, an old shooter by the name of “Zaxxon”. Some would argue that this was a slightly skewed side-scrolling shooter, but it was really a first stab at the isometric viewpoint.

The strange thing is that Zaxxon pre-dates many of the games mentioned by nearly a decade, even Knight Lore that was released for the Spectrum in 1984 by the company, Ultimate which is now known as Rare.  The game featured the character “Sabreman” who had been cursed and every night would turn into a werewolf, the game world was presented in lovely isometric style with vibrant colours.  You progressed through the game one room at a time, so there was a greater ability to have more detail in the game.  Ant Attack had managed the isometric view point in 1983 but with far less detail and vibrancy, there were very few Ant Attack clones but the same couldn’t be said for Knight Lore.  In the years following Knight Lore’s release, the game shelves were flooded with clones of it, in all fairness many of the clones were direct sequels to Knight Lore, made by Ultimate, but other companies jumped on the bandwagon.  Most memorably were the clones created by Ocean software that I believe to be far superior to the Ultimate series, first up was the amazing Batman in 1986.  Batman’s graphics were even more detailed than Knight Lore but kept the same single room isometric view, there were tough puzzles to solve and the Batman character himself was one of the cutest yet meanest characters seen.  One year later Ocean also published the even more impressive Head over Heels, featuring two characters that could be joined or separated to solve the room by room puzzles, lush graphics and addictive gameplay ensured that this was to be regarded as a classic.  To list all of the games that featured the isometric view would be both long and pointless, but it would spark a sense of nostalgia for those that remember the era.  One of my personal favourites was an underwater themed adventure called “Hydrofool”, long gone, but not forgotten.

As the next generation of consoles came along, the isometric game was given the cold shoulder in favour of side-scrollers and into the screen affairs, but some people still saw the potential in the isometric viewpoint, most notably the long running Electronic Arts. 1992 saw the release of the first in a series of games that would define the genre for the modern age, the Mega Drive was blessed with the release of Desert Strike.  In the game you flew an Apache helicopter around the Gulf waging war on bad guys, the control of the copter was weighted perfectly and the game was always fun.  The graphics were very sparse with only buildings, the copter and stick figures on display, but it played so good you didn’t really mind. In the following years there were four sequels released, each one a little bit better, but none would match the simplicity of Desert Strike.

As our consoles became more powerful they were able to do more and more complex things with graphics and soon isometric was left behind in favour of 3D style gaming.  People wanted to play games that looked better and offered more lifelike experiences, but that is not to say that isometric was dead, like the proverbial bad apple it would appear when least expected.  Some of you may lambaste me for saying this but I truly believe that the Resident Evil games were  a modern take on Knight Lore, they featured single room screens and were mostly viewed from a fixed camera point that at times was looking mighty like isometrics.  Rather than having cubes and clearly defined corners, Resident Evil hid them behind real life objects and walls, go back and have a look, you might be surprised if you strip away the layers what you will see.  As before, there were a huge number of games released afterwards that fell into the isometric genre and once again there are too many to list but my favourite here was Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance 2 with its richly detailed graphics and awesome dungeon slaying gameplay.

Have we finished with the isometrics yet?  Well it would seem that the answer to that is a resounding “NO!” Midway through August, we were treated to a new adventure featuring everyone’s favourite archaeologist, yup, Lara Croft returned in Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.  Here we have a vivid isometric game with visuals that would put many full price games to shame and like the first Desert Strike game it has the gameplay to match.  Modern consoles have allowed an age old genre to be brought right up to date with stunning results, yes it can be seen as a novelty or a stop gap until the next proper Tomb Raider game but it just works so well and does it with great aplomb.  After playing it I would love to see other franchises given this level of makeover, it is a known formula that works and when done well could be awesome.  My only gripe after all these years of playing isometric type games is that very few allow you to rotate the camera, why?  I want to lavish in every last detail and see everything, please now tell me your favourite isometric games, let’s hear some blasts from the past.