Description Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spy_Hunter
Spy Hunter is a 1983 arcade game developed and released by Bally Midway. It has also been ported to various home computers and video game systems.
As a cabinet-style arcade game, Spy Hunter was produced in both sit-down and standard upright versions with the latter being more common.[citation needed] The game's controls consist of a steering wheel in the form of a futuristic aircraft-style yoke with several special-purpose buttons, a two-position stick shift (offering 'low' and 'high' gears), and a pedal used for acceleration. It is a single-player game.
Game Play:
Spy Hunter is an action/driving game with the player in the role of a spy driving an armed sportscar. The object of the game is to travel the freeway destroying as many enemy vehicles as possible while protecting civilian vehicles. The game is a top-down vertical scroller.
Early versions of the game used the James Bond theme by Monty Norman, but the inability to obtain the rights to use the music forced Midway to change this theme. As a result, an arrangement of Henry Mancini's theme to Peter Gunn plays throughout.
The game begins with the player driving the fictitious G-6155 Interceptor. Enemy vehicles try to destroy the player's car or to force it off the road. Points are scored for distance traveled (a counter increments the score while the car is moving) and for destroying enemy vehicles. There is an initial lead-in time during which the player has an unlimited supply of cars. After the lead-in time expires the player must earn extra cars by obtaining high scores. The first extra car is generally earned at a default value of 30,000 points, but this value can vary depending on settings for a given machine. Up to 3 additional cars are awarded at similar increments.
The player must be cautious to avoid harming innocent civilian vehicles. There are three types of such vehicles: two automobiles (one pink in color, the other light blue) and a motorcycle. Destroying these vehicles causes the score meter to halt for a few seconds (in effect subtracting points from the player's score) and will result in the Weapons Van arriving only once instead of twice in that sequence. It is also possible to destroy the Weapons Van itself. Doing so produces the same consequences as destroying a civilian vehicle. A very hard, direct crash with a civilian vehicle can result in the player losing a car. If the player survives long enough (several minutes), eventually civilian vehicles stop appearing and the only other vehicles on the road are the player's enemies.
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