Yes, I said “every step you take” on purpose.
I’ll get back to your questions in short order, but I found myself poking through Blip #7 (August 1983), Marvel’s short-lived video game magazine, as you do.
I was fully immersed in this video game world…I mean, not like Tron-level immersion where I’m stuck in a program fighting the MCP, but playing games and reading the magazines and all that jazz. I loved this stuff. Still do.
Anyway, I reminded myself of Blip after mentioning it here on the site the other day, and poking not too far into this, the last issue, I found the “News Briefs” page, which had this to say:
Okay, first off, that’s a couple of weird picks for games to just throw in there. Defender at least was an extremely popular and well-known game, notorious for its relatively complex controls and difficulty of play.
Pengo, the cute penguin game where you…um, smash your enemies with sliding ice blocks, was a little more obscure but seemingly well received. There was a particularly sketchy arcade in my town that had it and I enjoyed playing it there, situated as it was next to the bootleg Mario Bros. machine in the underlit back area. This was also the place where my locked-up bike was stolen out of the racks out front while I played inside, but that’s neither here nor there.
Anyway, just thought Pengo was a weird game to namedrop. I mean, wither Bosconian?
Back to that excerpt…that Escape game, which is more commonly known as Journey Escape, inspired by their album of the same name.
Now, this game is…not great. Let me quote from the game manual, which I’ve “borrowed” from the above-linked Wikipedia article a description of this Atari 2600-exclusive release:
“You’re on the road with Journey, one of the world’s hottest rock groups. A spectacular performance has just ended. Now it’s up to you to guide each Journey Band Member past hordes of Love-Crazed Groupies, Sneaky Photographers, and Shifty-Eyed Promoters to the safety of the Journey Escape Vehicle in time to make the next concert. Your mighty manager and loyal roadies are there to help, but the escape is up to you!”
Now maybe that all sounds exciting, but keep in mind this vast cast of characters are all depicted mostly symbolically within the 2600’s graphical limits (the Love-Crazed Groupies” are blocky hearts with legs) and, as noted in the Wiki, the Manager is…the Kool-Aid Man? Perplexing.
Here’s a video of the playthrough, if you dare:
As you can see, it’s just a “dodge the obstacles” game as you try to reach the endpoint without contacting the various enemies and losing your points (AKA money). Not the most compelling rock-and-roll tie-in, even by the relatively primitive state of home gaming of the time. (There was also a Journey Escape game produced for arcades, which at least sounds a little more varied in the entertainment it provided.)
The Atari 2600 Game-by-Game Podcast was a detailed review of it here.
Well, he’s not wrong, given the rise of the iPod and Apple’s Music store and the fact that digital music sales are so prominent now. Plus there was that little kerfuffle between the Beatles’ Apple Corps and Apple Computers, so, yes, Apple definitely is mired in the music world.
Now I’m trying to picture video games based on Talking Heads and the Police. For the former, you could play a guy running around…I don’t know, burning down houses, I guess. For the latter, a game based on “Don’t Stand So Close to Me,” similar to the old “Daleks” computer game where you move your little guy around on the screen, trying to avoid contact with the Daleks who always move one step closer to you with each move you make. In The Police’s game, your little guy is a school teacher, and with every step you take, instead of Daleks following you, it’s…well, maybe I’ve gone too far.
So, yeah, that’s a lot of talk about video games that only marginally slips past the normally air-tight ProgRuin filter, simply because it was inspired by a comic-formatted Marvel magazine. Well…maybe I can justify its inclusion by throwing in this bit from the Al Milgrom-drawn Hulk story that’s also in this issue:
There we go…all requirements are satisfied!
I would play the Journey arcade game at the local pizza joint. I didn’t know anything about the band. I remember being fascinated with the real looking faces on the characters that represented the band members.
And the gameplay wasn’t bad either. Various minigames kind of like the Tron cabinet
A Talking Heads game, hmm…
The obvious thing is to have to escape from the Psycho Killer. He ‘s burning down the house, and you start by getting out of there. If he gets your companion, you have to get her to the hospital and check in on her until your girlfriend is better. I completed that part, and she was! You win when you get in a vehicle and tell the driver, “Take me to the river.”
Each power-ups make your suit one size bigger.
The guitarist from Journey appeared on the finale of America’s Got Talent recently with current members of the band to back up the winner of the whole thing. He’s a school janitor who does a passable version of Steve Perry’s voice so the band will probably hire him to sing on their next tour. And it won’t be the first time they hired a Steve Perry impersonator.
Was the X-Men villain Arcade the official host of BLIP magazine? He should have been!
I never cared for Journey’s annoying songs…
They should have tried to make some cool games based off of Iggy Pop’s “Search & Destroy,” David Bowie’s “Panic in Detroit,” The Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop,” etc. Or even a “Yellow Submarine” game where the Beatles battle the Apple Bonkers and Blue Meanies.
@Mike Loughlin
Your Talking Heads game pitch sounds great!
You could get a fun game out of Journey. There is a wheel in the sky that keeps turning, you never know where you’ll end up when it stops turning. You have to get through all the random levels where the wheel teleports you to make it home. All it takes is that you don’t stop believin’.
The random levels include: the midnight train, south Detroit, a smokey room…
What are the controls like? Any way you want it, of course.
Yes, I’m sure the guys from Journey were desperate to get away from the “Love-Crazed Groupies.” *eye roll*
“Each power-ups make your suit one size bigger.” LOL
“Journey Escape”
Never played the game- like the album!
“Al Milgrom-drawn Hulk”
Hulk talks about food A LOT. much moreso than Spidey or Captain America.
“Each power-ups make your suit one size bigger.”
BWa-Ha-HA!
” And it won’t be the first time they hired a Steve Perry impersonator.”
It’s like the THIRD time.
“You could get a fun game out of Journey”
A game where you’re their manager and you try and convince everyone to GET STEVE PERRY BACK IN THE BAND and do a tour.
Over here in Britain in the 80s, there was a very successful game based on the brief musical sensation Frankie Goes To Hollywood – from memory it was a succession of mini games. The only one I remember was Reagan and Brezhnev spitting at each other, based on the Two Tribes video.
Also, surely that Hulk story is based on the Hostess adverts which ran through early 80s comics? The fruit pie line is a dead giveaway.
@Tom W
What–No Frankie Goes To Hollywood video game based on “Relax”…? Still, just the idea of Reagan and Brezhnev spitting at each other in a video game is hilarious…and “Two Tribes” was a classic FGTH video. Now I’m thinking they should have had a Men at Work video game based on “It’s a Mistake” …or how about a Sex Pistols “Anarchy in the U.K.” video game …?
Crap. Another Hulk appearance I need to track down. Thanks
I know I’m a few weeks late to comment on this post, but reading this reminded of the Questprobe game and tie-in comics from Marvel in the mid-80’s. I had the Hulk and Thing/Human Torch games for my Commodore 64 which I remember formatted like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book. I bought the Hulk and Spider-Man comics as back issues later on, but could never find the Thing/Human Torch one. It seemed like comics & video games would have been a much more natural partnership but that didn’t seem to develop until years later.