Skull Cracker Explained
Skull Cracker is a 1996 supernatural beat 'em up video game[1] developed by American studio CyberFlix and published by GTE Entertainment on Macintosh and Windows. It is sometimes considered a spiritual successor to the 1991 title Creepy Castle, which the game's head of technology William Appleton had previously written for Reactor Inc. Skull Cracker was conceptually designed by Ben Calica.[2]
Development
After the release of , Cyberflix released this old project which had been sitting in the vaults for a few years.[3] The game was demoed on October 28, 1995 at the Double Tree Hotel (Crowne Plaza) in Rockville.[4] It also previewed at the 1994 Summer Consumer Electronics Show along with other Cyberflix games, presented by Paramount.[5]
Plot and gameplay
The developers described it as an "old-fashioned side-scrolling arcade game". The game sees the player battle through 16 levels of the undead and monsters.[6] The game contains 50s-style monsters and 90s-style urban grit.[7]
Critical reception
GameSpot offered a scathing review, panning the title's "bad art, poor animation, limited controls, no decent action, lame gameplay".[8] MacLedge felt the game was a letdown from Cyberflix's previous work.[9] Inside Mac Games praised the title's intriguing storyline, witty humor and exciting gameplay.[10] Cyberflix head Scott Scheinbaum would later say "Every company makes mistakes, and that was ours...It should have come out a year and a half before it did", noting that 1994 technology seemed stale by 1996. World Village noted the game was a departure from the history-based title Titanic.[11]
Notes and References
- Web site: Chapter 23. cw.routledge.com. 2018-04-25. 2018-01-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20180113000409/http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/9780240808222/focal/supp/narrate/dust/dust.htm. live.
- Web site: The Rules of the Game: Teach a Boy to shoot. 12 June 1998. 25 April 2018. 24 December 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181224170508/https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131682/the_rules_of_the_game_teach_a_boy_.php. live.
- Web site: Metro Pulse Online: Cover Stories. 2012-10-18. 2018-04-25. bot: unknown. https://web.archive.org/web/20121018113332/http://monkeyfire.com/mpol/dir_zine/dir_1999/942/t_cover4.html. 2012-10-18.
- Web site: Washington Apple Pi September 1995 General Meeting. www.wap.org. 2018-04-25. 2019-01-29. https://web.archive.org/web/20190129122826/https://www.wap.org/meetings/GM0995.html. live.
- Web site: THE 1994 SUMMER CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW. www.ibiblio.org. 2018-04-25. 2017-05-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20170504135514/http://www.ibiblio.org/GameBytes/issue20/misc/sumces.html. live.
- Book: ZDNet Software Library 10,000. Gralla. Preston. Press. Ziff-Davis. 1 January 1997. ZD Press. Google Books. 9781562765378.
- Web site: SkullCracker Preview. Hudak. Chris. 2004-03-01. GameSpot. en-US. 2018-04-25. 2018-04-25. https://web.archive.org/web/20180425115015/https://www.gamespot.com/articles/skullcracker-preview/1100-2559747/. live.
- Web site: SkullCracker Review. Tim. McDonald. 31 October 1996. 25 April 2018. 25 April 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180425115153/https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/skullcracker-review/1900-2533064/. live.
- Web site: Skull Cracker. 15 June 2000. bot: unknown. https://web.archive.org/web/20000615142323/http://macledge.com/Reviews/skullcracker/skullcracker.html. 15 June 2000.
- Web site: Sneak Peek: Skullcracker. Deniz. Tuncer. November 1994. Inside Mac Games. 2018-04-25. 2020-07-30. https://web.archive.org/web/20200730080632/http://grenierstock.free.fr/Skullcracker/skullckrakerIMG.pdf. live.
- News: Titanic:Adventure Out of Time. 2008-12-21. archive.li. 2018-04-25. dead. https://archive.today/20081221125355/http://www2.worldvillage.com/wv/gamezone/html/feature/pulse/pulse6.htm. 2008-12-21.
