Impossible Mission
A secret agent races to stop an evil genius.
Impossible Mission is a video game written for the Commodore 64 by Dennis Caswell and published by Epyx in 1984. It combines platform and adventure gameplay with digitized speech, and casts the player as a secret agent infiltrating an enemy stronghold. The game is considered one of the best for several platforms.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Epyx
- Publisher
- Epyx (NA); CBS, U.S. Gold (EU)
- Designer
- Dennis Caswell
- Platforms
- Commodore 64
- Acorn Electron
- Amstrad CPC
- Apple II
- Atari 7800
- BBC Micro
- Master System
- ZX Spectrum
- Genre
- Platform, puzzle
- Modes
- Single-player
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
The player controls a secret agent who must stop Professor Elvin Atombender, an evil genius tampering with national security computers. The agent races against a six-hour clock to collect 36 puzzle pieces, reassemble them, and decrypt the password to Atombender's control room while avoiding deadly robots. Puzzle pieces are found by searching furniture; searching can also reset all moveable platforms and freeze enemy robots for a limited time. Bonus puzzles offer similar rewards. Enemies include two types: robots with cylindrical electrified bodies, some using a short-range death ray, and hovering electrified balls. Robots may be stationary, move in patterns, or hunt the player; some need line of sight, others always know the player's location. Most balls chase the player. Each death deducts 10 minutes from the total time. Puzzle pieces are assembled in groups of four, with overlap allowing three pieces to be placed before the player must restart. Pieces may require horizontal or vertical mirroring, and their orientation and arrangement are randomized each game. A completed puzzle yields a nine-letter password to reach Atombender.
Development
The player character's animations were the first element created; designer Dennis Caswell took them from a library book about athletics. Caswell animated the somersault before knowing how it would be used, because the animations were available. Randomised room layouts were inspired by Rogue, and the musical checkerboard puzzles by the electronic game Simon. The hovering balls were inspired by the Rover security guard from the TV series The Prisoner. The Commodore 64 version features early digitized speech: "Another visitor. Stay a while... stay forever!", "Destroy him, my robots!", and a scream heard when the player falls. Electronic Speech Systems provided the digitized speech but raised prices after the game became a successful test case; Epyx did not work with them again. The title was one of the last elements finished; Caswell said it was more resorted to than chosen, and the allusion to Mission: Impossible was expedient given both involved high-tech intrigue.
Reception
The Commodore 64 version of Impossible Mission earned a 38 out of 40 from Computer & Video Games in April 1985, taking the Game of the Month title. That May, Zzap!64’s editors placed it second among the best Commodore 64 games, while readers voted it first with 26% of the ballots. In 1986, Compute!'s Gazette highlighted developer Caswell as a rare talent who could single-handedly craft a top-tier game, even as teams became the norm. COMPUTE! included it in their May 1988 “Our Favorite Games” list, citing the suicide sound effects as a guilty pleasure. The Sega Master System version received an 89% rating from Console XS in 1992. Critics have noted it as the first game to genuinely frighten them, thanks to its pioneering digitized voice and atmospheric audio. Stuff magazine later ranked it among the ten best Commodore 64 games in their Commodore 64 at 40 feature.
Legacy
A sequel, Impossible Mission II, was released in 1988, adding new traps and items and dividing Elvin's stronghold into towers. The game Electrocop was rumored to have started as a sequel to Impossible Mission, but this has not been substantiated. In 1994, Impossible Mission 2025 was released for the Amiga, updating graphics and audio and allowing the player to choose among three characters; it also includes the Commodore 64 version. Developers System 3 revamped Impossible Mission for the Sony PSP, Nintendo DS, and Wii; the Nintendo DS version was released exclusively at GameStop stores by Codemasters, and the Wii version in March 2008. This revamp was ported to the Nintendo Switch in 2019. In late 2022, an officially licensed sequel was announced as being developed by Icon64.
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