Software:Zax: The Alien Hunter

From HandWiki
Short description: 2001 video game
Zax: The Alien Hunter
Developer(s)Reflexive Entertainment
Publisher(s)JoWooD Productions
Designer(s)Ion Hardie
Platform(s)Windows
Release
Genre(s)Action
Mode(s)Single-player

Zax: The Alien Hunter is an isometric shooter video game developed by Reflexive Entertainment, released in September 2001 for Windows.

Plot

The player is Zax, an alien humanoid, who crash-lands on an unknown planet overrun by hostile robot forces, led by Om. Zax joins forces with the local tribes on the planet, the Korbo, whose people have been enslaved by Om and the robot army, to stage a rebellion. Zax must help the Korbo from total destruction, and find as much ore and parts as possible to fix his ship.

Gameplay

Zax: The Alien Hunter is a shooter played in a top-down isometric perspective. Movement is controlled with the keyboard and weapon aim and fire is controlled with the mouse. The player invests minerals harvested on the surface of the planet to develop new weapons, and can also acquire power-ups that increase shields or gun power from defeated enemies, or replenish health from containers found throughout the environment. The game includes 22 missions over 100 maps. Progression is partly non-linear and relies on decisions made by the player during missions.[3]

The game also features several multiplayer modes for up to 16 players, including 'capture the flag', 'deathmatch', and 'salvage king', which requires players to gather as much ore as they can.[4]

Development

Zax: The Alien Hunter was showcased by JoWooD Productions at E3 in May 2001.[5] The game was marketed for its fusion of the features of Quake and Diablo.[6]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic70/100[7]
Review scores
PublicationScore
CGWStar [8]
Eurogamer8/10[9]
GameSpot7.5[10]
GameSpy82%[3]
IGN7.7[4]
PC PowerPlay72%[12]
PC Zone47%[13]

Reviews

Zax: The Alien Hunter received "mixed or average reviews", according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[7]

Positive reviews of Zax: The Alien Hunter focused on its gameplay. Louis Bedigian of GameZone stated the game was "insanely addictive", praising its multiplayer play.[11] Ivan Sulic of IGN found the gameplay "legitimately gratifying" due to the "simply, refreshing and enjoyable" control scheme and "fast and furious" multiplayer mode.[4] Scott Osborne of GameSpot stated that despite the simplicity of the gameplay, the game's "excellent pacing and rewarding action" made the game "refreshingly fun", noting that there is enough diversity to hold the player's interest and keep the action flowing.[10]

Reviewers were mixed on the merits of the game's isometric presentation and graphics. Scott Osborne of GameSpot praised the game's "beautiful graphics" with "fine attention to detail" and "crisp and colourful" landscapes and creatures.[10] Ivan Sulic of IGN also called the graphics "artistic", albeit "static" feast, but also thought that the vast majority of the environment is "purely decorative".[4] James Lyon of PC Zone found the graphics dated.[13]

The game also received negative reception. Jason Babler of Computer Gaming World dismissed the game as a "Diablo clone", labelling it as "the buggiest game" he had played.[8] Scott Osborne of IGN similarly noted that the game "sounds like another Diablo wannabe, and in some ways it is", citing the game had not learned lessons from Diablo by having a short single-player campaign, few powers and abilities, and no character classes or skills.[4]

Criticism of the game frequently made adverse comparisons to the isometric role-playing video game Diablo.[8] Lead designer Ion Hardie acknowledged that this reception came from the dissonance between the action gameplay and the isometric graphics of role-playing video games normally reserved for Diablo.[14]

Legacy

Lead designer Ion Hardie states that developer Reflexive Entertainment was approached by Interplay subsidiary Black Isle Studios to develop a game after "because of the fun they had" playing Zax: The Alien Hunter.[15] The following Reflexive Entertainment game, Software:Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader, was published by Black Isle Studios in 2003.

References

  1. ↑ "Zax - the Alien Hunter". http://www.gamezone.com/gamesell/p15236.htm. 
  2. ↑ "Zax: The Alien Hunter". http://www.chipsworld.co.uk/detProd.asp?ProductCode=4859. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Walker, Mark (2002). "Zax: The Alien Hunter". http://archive.gamespy.com/reviews/october01/zax/. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Sulic, Ivan (28 September 2001). "Zax: The Alien Hunter Review". http://pc.ign.com/articles/167/167008p1.html. 
  5. ↑ E3: 2001 Directory. May 2001. pp. 50. https://archive.org/details/E32001Guide/page/n51. 
  6. ↑ "Zax: The Alien Hunter". 2001. http://reflexive.com/Zax/NormIndex.htm. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Zax: The Alien Hunter". https://www.metacritic.com/game/zax-the-alien-hunter/critic-reviews/?platform=pc. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Babler, Jason (January 2002). "Zax: The Alien Hunter". Computer Gaming World (210): 110. https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_210/page/n113. 
  9. ↑ "Zax: The Alien Hunter". 29 August 2001. https://www.eurogamer.net/r-zax. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Osborne, Scott (May 2006). "Zax: The Alien Hunter". https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/zax-the-alien-hunter-review/1900-2815818/. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Bedigian, Louis (15 October 2001). "Zax: The Alien Hunter". http://pc.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r15236.htm. 
  12. ↑ Cottee, James (December 2001). "Zax: The Alien Hunter". PC Powerplay (68): 72. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lyon, James (November 2001). "Zax The Alien Hunter". PC Zone (108): 77. 
  14. ↑ "Ion Hardie of Reflexive Entertainment". 5 August 2002. https://www.eurogamer.net/i-lionheart. 
  15. ↑ Knudsen, Kurt (12 August 2003). "Lionheart Interview". http://www.gamershell.com/reviews_LionheartInterview.shtml. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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