1996 · Zipper Interactive · Action · Shooter

DeathDrome

1996 video game

Released: 31 October 1996
Platforms: Windows
Genres: Action Shooter Third-person shooter
Developers: Zipper Interactive
Publishers: Viacom
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Third person
Themes: Action Science fiction
Country: United States
Age ratings: ESRB E
Languages: English

About

DeathDrome is a 1996 third-person shooter game developed by Zipper Interactive and published by Viacom New Media. It was the first game to be developed by Zipper Interactive.

›Story

Crime is rampant. Jails are overpopulated. T.) is hell-bent on putting the sport back into capital punishment.

You've been sentenced: Death of DeathDrome. Your one chance for survival and your only hope for freedom. The rules are simple. PLAY OR DIE.

Enter the arena, the DeathDrome, on a futuristic driving machine in the ultimate battle to save your life. Embark on a lethal combination of open-throttle driving and high-tech weaponry. Shoot and kill your fellow cons fighting for the same prize to advance to the next arena. Reach your "kill quota" and you taste freedom. If you don't you die

Keywords

futuristic

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Story

The game takes place in 2057, where crime is rampant and jails are overpopulated. The government forms the Committee of Recreational Termination (C.O.R.T.) in order to eliminate the surplus of convicts. In this competition, convicts must take part in deathmatches in which one will survive and be declared winner.

Reception

GameSpot called DeathDrome "one of the best games of its kind to arrive on the scene in quite some time." He particularly praised the creative weapons and the tension created by having the "scrub" mechanic instead of the game immediately ending when time runs out. He remarked that the fact that enemies always spawn at the center podium is too easily exploited in single-player mode, but felt the main draw is the multiplayer mode in any case. Next Generation also noted the creative weapons and "truly hairbreadth escapes" as time runs out as the highlights.

He also complimented how the developers maintained a decent frame rate by dividing the arenas into four sections. However, he concluded that "While DeathDrome has some interesting elements, it's hardly groundbreaking enough to be remembered a year from now."