Reactor is an arcade video game released in 1982 by Gottlieb. The object of the game is to cool down the core of a nuclear reactor without being pushed into its walls by swarms of subatomic particles. Reactor was developed by Tim Skelly, who previously designed and programmed a series of vector graphics arcade games for Cinematronics, including Rip Off.[1] It was the first arcade game to credit the developer on the title screen.[2]Reactor was ported to the Atari 2600 by Charlie Heath and published by Parker Brothers the same year as the original.[1]
Controls consist of a trackball and two buttons, Energy and Decoy. The player controls a ship that can move freely within a nuclear reactor, seen from the top down. Swarms of particles follow the player and bounce off each other, the player's ship, and the reactor core. Any object touching the outer "kill wall" of the reactor is destroyed. Pressing the Energy button during a collision with a particle will cause it to bounce away at a higher speed.
While touching the core is not harmful, it continually grows in size, restricting the available space for movement. Two sets of control rods protrude from the kill wall; if the player knocks particles into all the rods of one set, the core shrinks to its minimum size before starting to grow again. The player starts the game with a limited number of decoys, which can be deployed by pressing the Decoy button in order to lure particles toward the kill wall, control rods, or either of two small "bonus chambers" at opposite corners of the screen. An extra decoy is earned by knocking out both sets of rods.
The player earns points for destroying particles or luring/knocking them into the bonus chambers so that they bounce off the walls. A set number of particles must be destroyed in order to complete each level.
In later levels, the core is replaced by a slowly expanding vortex that can attract the player's ship and destroy it on contact. One or both of the bonus chambers may be briefly sealed off at times, and the kill wall becomes invisible as well.
One life is lost whenever the player's ship touches the kill wall or vortex. The game ends when all lives are lost, with bonus points awarded for each unused decoy.
Portsedit
Atari 2600 box art
The Atari 2600 can be played with either a joystick or a trackball, though the latter is not mentioned in the manual.[citation needed] The difficulty switches set the sensitivity of the controls. There are no voice overs, and the bonus counter is invisible.
An Intellivision version was licensed and developed, but never released.[3]
Receptionedit
Tilt gave the game 93%, and said "A classic Gottlieb game that relies on physics for its gameplay, which is quite rewarding."[4]
A 1983 reviewer for Hi-Res magazine wrote, "VCS Reactor's main flaw is not in the game itself, but the flexibility of the controlling joystick. The trackball controller of the Gottlieb version is gone, replaced by the lackluster Atari joystick. The stiffness of the joystick makes it difficult to direct your ship with any great degree of precision."[5]
Referencesedit
^ abcdHague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
^"Tim Skelly's History of Cinematronics and Vectorbeam". dadgum.com. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
^. Intellivision Lives. Archived from the original on 2008-04-23. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
^"Le site des anciennes revues informatiques - www.abandonware-magazines.org".
^Murley, Mark S. (November 1982). "Bringing Home the Arcade Game Craze". Hi-Res. 1 (1): 72.
reactor, video, game, reactor, arcade, video, game, released, 1982, gottlieb, object, game, cool, down, core, nuclear, reactor, without, being, pushed, into, walls, swarms, subatomic, particles, reactor, developed, skelly, previously, designed, programmed, ser. Reactor is an arcade video game released in 1982 by Gottlieb The object of the game is to cool down the core of a nuclear reactor without being pushed into its walls by swarms of subatomic particles Reactor was developed by Tim Skelly who previously designed and programmed a series of vector graphics arcade games for Cinematronics including Rip Off 1 It was the first arcade game to credit the developer on the title screen 2 Reactor was ported to the Atari 2600 by Charlie Heath and published by Parker Brothers the same year as the original 1 ReactorA flyer for the Arcade version of ReactorDeveloper s GottliebPublisher s Gottlieb Parker Brothers 2600 Designer s Tim Skelly 1 Programmer s Tim Skelly arcade Charlie Heath 2600 1 Artist s Tim SkellyComposer s David ThielPlatform s Arcade Atari 2600Release1982Genre s ActionMode s 1 2 players alternating turns Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Ports 3 Reception 4 References 5 External linksGameplay editControls consist of a trackball and two buttons Energy and Decoy The player controls a ship that can move freely within a nuclear reactor seen from the top down Swarms of particles follow the player and bounce off each other the player s ship and the reactor core Any object touching the outer kill wall of the reactor is destroyed Pressing the Energy button during a collision with a particle will cause it to bounce away at a higher speed While touching the core is not harmful it continually grows in size restricting the available space for movement Two sets of control rods protrude from the kill wall if the player knocks particles into all the rods of one set the core shrinks to its minimum size before starting to grow again The player starts the game with a limited number of decoys which can be deployed by pressing the Decoy button in order to lure particles toward the kill wall control rods or either of two small bonus chambers at opposite corners of the screen An extra decoy is earned by knocking out both sets of rods The player earns points for destroying particles or luring knocking them into the bonus chambers so that they bounce off the walls A set number of particles must be destroyed in order to complete each level In later levels the core is replaced by a slowly expanding vortex that can attract the player s ship and destroy it on contact One or both of the bonus chambers may be briefly sealed off at times and the kill wall becomes invisible as well One life is lost whenever the player s ship touches the kill wall or vortex The game ends when all lives are lost with bonus points awarded for each unused decoy Ports edit nbsp Atari 2600 box artThe Atari 2600 can be played with either a joystick or a trackball though the latter is not mentioned in the manual citation needed The difficulty switches set the sensitivity of the controls There are no voice overs and the bonus counter is invisible An Intellivision version was licensed and developed but never released 3 Reception editTilt gave the game 93 and said A classic Gottlieb game that relies on physics for its gameplay which is quite rewarding 4 A 1983 reviewer for Hi Res magazine wrote VCS Reactor s main flaw is not in the game itself but the flexibility of the controlling joystick The trackball controller of the Gottlieb version is gone replaced by the lackluster Atari joystick The stiffness of the joystick makes it difficult to direct your ship with any great degree of precision 5 References edit a b c d Hague James The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers Tim Skelly s History of Cinematronics and Vectorbeam dadgum com Retrieved 2008 08 06 Parker Bros for Intellivision Intellivision Lives Archived from the original on 2008 04 23 Retrieved 2008 08 05 Le site des anciennes revues informatiques www abandonware magazines org Murley Mark S November 1982 Bringing Home the Arcade Game Craze Hi Res 1 1 72 External links editReactor at the Killer List of Videogames Twin Galaxies High Score Rankings Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Reactor video game amp oldid 1179243911, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
