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Gorf
built 264 days ago
Gorf is well-known for introducing or popularizing two new features (for its time) to the video game market. Its most notable feature is its robotic voice, powered by the Votrax speech synthesis chip. Most games, even today, that feature human and robot speech use digitized voice samples rather than a speech synthesizer. Also, Gorf is one of the first games to allow the player to buy additional lives before starting the game. Most games offer a predetermined number of lives (usually three) and allow the player to earn additional lives throughout the game. Gorf, which was usually set to offer two lives per coin, allows the player to insert extra coins to buy up to seven starting lives.
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Gorf is an arcade game released in 1981 by Midway Mfg.. It was the first game in arcades to introduce multiple scenes in one game, even before Donkey Kong. It is a multiple-mission fixed shooter with five distinct modes of play, essentially making it five games in one. It is ... well-known for its use of synthesized speech, a new feature at the time. Midway still owned the rights to publish Space Invaders and Galaxian in the United States and was looking for a way to make more money from those titles. Dave Nutting and Jay Fenton designed a game where the player could play through a series of space shooters instead of playing the same concept over and over again.
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GORF is an acronym for Galactic Orbiting Robot Force, and as such, the Gorfians are intent on invading the galaxy and crushing Earth. The story of GORF Classic pits the player as the sole remaining hope in Earth's battle against the Gorfian fleet. It's one spaceship against endless waves of robot warriors intent on its destruction, and that of everything else as well. The thin story is what it is: an excuse to blast endless waves of enemies. For the type of game, it is quite fitting. Not to mention, since this is an exact recreation of the original arcade game, any expansion of the story would have been unwelcome.
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In Gorf, which stands for "Galactic Orbiting Robot Force", the player must take control of an attack ship that serves as the last line of defense between earth and the invading fleet. To accomplish the task of ridding Earth of this menace, you must pilot your ship through five distinct missions. First you must eradicate the invaders from space in an ASTRO BATTLE. Then you must launch to the main fleet, only to be stopped by an attack squad in LASER ATTACK. You will finally reach the fleet and destroy them in GALAXIANS. Then you will engage the enemy while you warp to the flag ship in SPACE WARP.
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Gorf was ported to the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and ColecoVision game consoles and the Atari 8-bit, BBC Micro, Commodore 64 and VIC-20 personal computers in 1982. Due to copyright issues, the Galaxians mission was removed from all ports. It was later ported to the Atari Jaguar by a hobbyist programmer, but quickly removed from the market because the author neglected to secure any permission from the copyright holders.
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Based on the tepid 1981 Bally/Midway coin-op semi-classic, Gorf is a competently designed yet frequently dull shooter, proving "arcade-like" is not always synonymous with excellence. Even though it is a respectable port, Gorf is missing the nifty voice effects and the entire third mission, Galaxians, which is a watered down version of Galaxian. ~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide
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Gorf