Beach Head II: The Dictator Strikes Back

Beach Head II: The Dictator Strikes Back (also punctuated as Beach-Head II) is a 1985 video game for the Commodore 64, a sequel to Beach Head, developed and published by Access Software. It was designed by Bruce Carver and his brother, Roger, and was released for the Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum.

Beach Head II:
The Dictator Strikes Back
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Bruce Carver
Producer(s)Chris Jones
Programmer(s)Roger Carver
Bruce Carver
Platform(s)Commodore 64, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum
Release1985
Genre(s)Shoot 'em up
Mode(s)Single-player or Two-player

Gameplay

Beach-Head II features the player pursuing the eponymous Dictator in several ways. There are four levels in the game.[1] In the first level, called Attack, the player deploys soldiers along a path with walls to cover him from the dictator's gun. The objective is to destroy the gun. The second level involves rescuing the prisoners from deadly obstacles by clearing them with a gun. The third level's objective is to escape from the area by flying a helicopter with the prisoners out of the dictator's fortress. Finally the player and the dictator face off, on opposite cliffs, separated by water. To defeat him, the player must make him fall in the water by throwing knives at him. The Dictator tries to do the same to the player.

In one-player mode there are three skill levels, harder modes resulting in faster movements and the computer opponent using better artificial intelligence. In two-player mode, one player controls the usual side whilst his opponent controls the Dictator's forces.

This game was notable for using synthesized speech (courtesy of Electronic Speech Systems, then of Berkeley, California). Known for its deathly scream (also heard in Epyx's Impossible Mission), laughing, "I'm hit", "Medic", "Hey! Don't shoot me" and "You can't hurt me".

Reception

Ahoy! stated that the first minigame, "Attack", was the best, and criticized the illogic of having a player controlling the Dictator still ferry people to safety in "Rescue", but concluded that Beach-Head II was "one of the best head-to-head games for the Commodore, and the computer makes a powerful solitaire opponent" and hoped for another sequel.[2] ANALOG Computing was less positive, calling the Atari version of the game mediocre, with "acceptable" graphics and "little action".[3]

The Commodore 64 version of the game was a Sizzler, scoring 90% overall, in Issue 4 of Zzap!64.[4] The Spectrum version of the game attained a more modest 74% in sister magazine, Crash.[5]

References
  1. http://project64.c64.org/games/0-l/Beach%20Head%20II.txt
  2. Katz, Arnie (October 1985). "Beach-Head II". Ahoy!. pp. 63–64. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  3. Panak, Steve (December 1986). "Panak Strikes". A.N.A.L.O.G. p. 97. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  4. "Zzap! 64" (4). August 1985: 20–22. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. "Crash" (24). January 1986: 13. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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