1982 · Adventure · Maze

Lochjaw

Atari exclusive

You are a diver in an underwater maze. Throughout the maze are valuable diamonds, and your goal is to retrieve as many as you can. In the middle of the screen is a shark cage where you begin. As you collect diamonds you need to bring them back to the shark cage in order to earn points.

Released: 1 June 1982
Platforms: Atari 2600
Genres: Adventure Maze
Developers: —
Publishers: —
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Action

About

Lochjaw, also known as Shark Attack, is a 1982 video game published by Games by Apollo and released exclusively for the Atari 2600. The game is a maze game, similar to Pac-Man, in which players take on the role of a deep sea diver who must explore a maze and collect diamonds while avoiding attacking sharks and the Loch Ness Monster. The game was initially released under the title Lochjaw, but following the threat of legal action from MCA, the parent company of Universal Pictures and copyright holders for the film Jaws, the title was changed to Shark Attack for later releases.

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

In Lochjaw, the player takes control of a deep sea diver attempting to recover diamonds that have spilled out of the hold of a sinking Spanish galleon. Diamonds, represented by yellow dots, are scattered throughout a kelp maze. Collecting a diamond nets the player one point so long as the player can return to the shark cage at the center of the maze. The shark cage also serves as a safe point from roaming sharks, which travel horizontally from one side of the screen to the other straight through the walls of the maze.

Getting hit by a shark causes the player to lose one of their three lives, before eventually getting a game over. Sharks can also collect diamonds, meaning the longer the player takes to explore the maze the less points they will be able to obtain. Collect all of the diamonds on the screen and the maze resets for another round.

Development

Lochjaw was designed and programmed by Steve Stringfellow, an employee of Games by Apollo. Apollo management at the time mandated a four to six week turnaround for development on their games. By Lochjaw's fourth week of development, a playable prototype of the game had already been developed with much of the graphics already finalized and basic maze navigation implemented. According to Stringfellow, there were about twenty different versions of the player character before the diver design was finalized. Some early player character concepts included a spider-like creature and a spaceship.

Reception

Lochjaw is frequently criticized as being unoriginal, with many reviewers comparing the game unfavorably to Pac-Man and other "gobble games". Many reviewers also complained about the game's joystick controls and the tendency of the player to get stuck on walls. Mike from The Logical Gamer described the game as "sheer frustration" and the movement to be "too slow and bothersome". JoyStik Magazine described manuevering the diver as "a slow, painful process". Several reviewers described the game's graphics as blurry and below average.

Other reviewers were more positive towards the game. Arcade Express described the game as "a toughie" but "worth the effort". Alan from The Logical Gamer attested to having a lot of fun playing the game and saw it as a "pleasant and inventive variation on the Pac-Man theme". UK magazine TV Gamer in the summer of 1983 called the game "one of the best to come from Apollo".