LucasArts games may seem like just another game company today, but when they first started (under the name "LucasFilm Games") they blew away the state-of-the-art games of the time on many technical levels. Their first two games, "Ball Blazer" and "Rescue on Fractalus" were JAW-DROPPING technical achievements of their time, even though they probably seem lame today. What they managed to do with the Atari 8-bit seemed magical, and I still consider these games the holy grail of technical achievements on the Atari.
I recall that someone hacked into their server and stole their first two games before they were released, almost causing the new company to close up shop before they ever released a game! I'm ashamed to say that I, as a massive software pirate of the time, had the pre-release copies of both "Ball Blaster" (Ball Blazer) and "Behind Jaggi Lines" (Rescue on Fractalus) in my collection, and showed them off quite frequently. Ball Blazer in particular mesmerized me with it's real-time, smooth, anti-aliased 3D grid. On top of that, the real-time physics were astonishing too.
"Rescue on Fractalus" was also astonishing, of course, in it's real-time fractal-generated mountainscape (unbelievable!). It was also the FIRST (and perhaps only) time a game has scared me! When that first alien suddenly popped up in my windshield, I actually jumped out of my chair! I got several of my friends to play it, getting a good laugh at their reactions when the alien scared them.
LucasArts games may seem like just another game company today, but when they first started (under the name "LucasFilm Games") they blew away the state-of-the-art games of the time on many technical levels. Their first two games, "Ball Blazer" and "Rescue on Fractalus" were JAW-DROPPING technical achievements of their time, even though they probably seem lame today. What they managed to do with the Atari 8-bit seemed magical, and I still consider these games the holy grail of technical achievements on the Atari.
I recall that someone hacked into their server and stole their first two games before they were released, almost causing the new company to close up shop before they ever released a game! I'm ashamed to say that I, as a massive software pirate of the time, had the pre-release copies of both "Ball Blaster" (Ball Blazer) and "Behind Jaggi Lines" (Rescue on Fractalus) in my collection, and showed them off quite frequently. Ball Blazer in particular mesmerized me with it's real-time, smooth, anti-aliased 3D grid. On top of that, the real-time physics were astonishing too.
"Rescue on Fractalus" was also astonishing, of course, in it's real-time fractal-generated mountainscape (unbelievable!). It was also the FIRST (and perhaps only) time a game has scared me! When that first alien suddenly popped up in my windshield, I actually jumped out of my chair! I got several of my friends to play it, getting a good laugh at their reactions when the alien scared them.
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