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Plays around with Breakout mechanics in an unusual way by having you keep the ball (or coin in this case) afloat by shooting at it.
Since there isn't any reviews, here's a quick one:
This is probably one of the first arcade games that's still pretty fun today for a solo player. Drive a cowboy back and forth with a spinner knob and shoot a coin in the air.
Partially what makes it hold up compared to its almost-50-year-old contemporaries is that there is a little more of the complication of the issue at hand which is what we're used to as players now. Not only do you have to shoot the coin but multiple areas are there to bounce the coin off for various point values, encouraging a sort of risk-reward gameplay. Shooting the coin at different edges will propel it in different directions, creating a situation where it's quickly discovered that bouncing it off the walls will lead to the highest score, but also make it harder to hit the coin as it reverses direction quickly and speeds up. Simultaneously, bats appear and vultures fly across the screen which can be shot for points. Also, if the coin hits one of the bumpers at the bottom corners of the screen, it bounces back up for a free round!
There's quite a bit going on here compared to other arcade games of 1978 and before, even though games were just getting ready to take off. After all, Asteroids and Galaxian came out the year after this. It wouldn't take long after that for video games to enter into a period of rapid complication.
At any rate, Dead Eye is a fun little game that I could certainly see giving a whirl now and again to try for a new high-score, or competing with your friends on a cabinet at a party. It still holds that appeal in a way that many of its contemporaries struggle to.
This is probably one of the first arcade games that's still pretty fun today for a solo player. Drive a cowboy back and forth with a spinner knob and shoot a coin in the air.
Partially what makes it hold up compared to its almost-50-year-old contemporaries is that there is a little more of the complication of the issue at hand which is what we're used to as players now. Not only do you have to shoot the coin but multiple areas are there to bounce the coin off for various point values, encouraging a sort of risk-reward gameplay. Shooting the coin at different edges will propel it in different directions, creating a situation where it's quickly discovered that bouncing it off the walls will lead to the highest score, but also make it harder to hit the coin as it reverses direction quickly and speeds up. Simultaneously, bats appear and vultures fly across the screen which can be shot for points. Also, if the coin hits one of the bumpers at the bottom corners of the screen, it bounces back up for a free round!
There's quite a bit going on here compared to other arcade games of 1978 and before, even though games were just getting ready to take off. After all, Asteroids and Galaxian came out the year after this. It wouldn't take long after that for video games to enter into a period of rapid complication.
At any rate, Dead Eye is a fun little game that I could certainly see giving a whirl now and again to try for a new high-score, or competing with your friends on a cabinet at a party. It still holds that appeal in a way that many of its contemporaries struggle to.