Hover Force
Platform: Intellivision
Region: USA
Media: Cartridge
Controller: INTV
Genre: Action 
Gametype: Licensed
Release Year: 1986
Developer: Realtime Associates, Inc.
Publisher: INTV
Players: 1
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Terrorist forces have taken over the island city of New Seeburg. They are equipped with heavily armed combat helicopters, so the only way to fight'em is in the air. The player drives the top secret JAF-3000 helicopter, and must blow up enemies with the laser cannons and put out fires with the water cannons. There is a radar screen too, that shows all the damages made by the terrorists, the fires extinguished and the enemies shut down.
The terrorists hits can damage the engine, the navigation system, the cannons and the radar. The player can return to home base (Force Island) for repairs and refuelling, but only two times per mission (the 3rd time after eliminating all the fiends). The game, for 1 player, ends if the copter crashes.


DEVELOPMENT HISTORY:

Hover Force 3-D was developed under greater secrecy than any other Mattel game. Researcher Richard Steenblik working at the University of Georgia had developed pseudo-3-D glasses. Small prisms in the glasses bent different colors of light entering the eye at different angles, fooling the eye into thinking that, for example, blue objects on a flat surface were actually farther away than red objects on the same surface. The University approached several game manufacturers to see if they were interested in the technology. After a middle-of-the-night test session in which Keith Robinson (Solar Sailer) quickly threw together an Intellivision screen full of flying bugs of different colors, Mattel management decided to aggressively pursue an exclusive license for the glasses.

Game development was ordered to start immediately, before the license was secured. For fear that a competitor would find out and try to outbid Mattel, the project was kept top secret, even from the other programmers. It was code named "Peach" since the glasses originated in Georgia, the Peach State. Steve Ettinger and Joe King, who had worked well together on Magic Carousel, were given a locked, windowless office in which to work (the rest of the software staff worked in open cubicles); it was quickly dubbed "The Bat Cave."

Midway through the project, Mattel won the license and Peach emerged from the cave. The 3-D effect, while not eye-poppingly dramatic, was effective, especially given the visual cues Steve and Joe had designed. And Dave "Papa Intellivision" Chandler's group had developed an inexpensive method to manufacture the glasses, making it practical for the game and glasses to be sold together at the price of a normal cartridge. Marketing felt they could strongly promote the 3-D feature in ads and the press.

Hover Force 3-D debuted at the January 1984 Consumer Electronic Show to good response. While the 3-D effect got mixed reviews, everyone was talking about it. Management immediately started talking about putting two more 3-D games into development, including a flight simulator cartridge, but before anything could be started, Mattel Electronics closed.

For the INTV Corp. release of the game in 1986, Steve and producer Dave Warhol beefed up the "intelligence" of the enemy helicopters, adding more strategy to the play. Since the glasses were not included with the game, "3-D" was dropped from the title.


FUN FACT:

The game has three difficulty levels, the middle of which, "RANGER" level, is named in honor of the Blue Sky Rangers.

The island of New Seeburg derives its name from Steve Ettinger's initials: SEE.

Joe King was commissioned to do the artwork for the INTV packaging; if the JAF-3000 helicopter (JAF for Joseph Arthur Ferreira; he has since changed his last name to King) looks vaguely familiar, it's because he based it on the submarine Nautilus from Disney's film version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Why? Joe explained, "I make every vehicle I draw look like the Nautilus."

A recent magazine article reported that the University of Georgia is still trying to find a customer for their 3-D glasses.


EASTER EGG:

Press 0 (zero) on either hand controller while the title screen is displayed to view game credits.

Press 23 (two and three simultaneously) on the left hand controller, 26 on the right and press reset to see Steve's message to his wife and kids.

 
http://www.mobygames.com/game/intellivision/hover-force
http://www.intellivisiongames.com/bluesky/games/credits/intv1.html#hover_force