Depth Charge

Depth Charge is an action arcade game developed and published in 1977 by Gremlin Industries Inc. Gremlin Industries developed coin-operated video games in the ’70s, barely a year after Depth Charge was released, as it merged with Sega. After the two companies merged, both of them started releasing game titles under the Sega-Gremlin/ Gremlin-Sega label. Presently, the company is known as Ages Electronics and it is a subsidiary of Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). One can say Depth Charge is one of the well-known titles (aside from the Snake video game series or Blockade) developed by the company before it ceased to exist in 1983. Other renowned titles by Gremlin industries include Hustle, Atari, Super Bowl, Deep Scan, Head On One, Head On Two, and Frogs.

This single-player arcade title is named after the weapon used in the game. As a player, you are the villain controlling a large vessel floating at the top of the screen, and the goal is to destroy and sink submarines moving under the sea with depth charges. The destroyer ship is not spared of torpedoes too, as underwater vessels fire their explosives upwards to defend themselves from attack coming from above. When the destroyer ship is targeted and hit by mines from submarines below it, you will have to forfeit half of the points already scored, the ship splits into two and the game is lost. If several hits are sustained, the ship will sink. You can also fire up to six projectiles at a time in two directions (left and right).

Colours are sparsely used in this game, unlike other arcade games that feature several characters in different colours. The screen is predominantly black with blue used as the colour of the underwater vessels and objects fired by all entities in the game. You might find this colour theme to be a little bit basic, but the bland simplicity can be overlooked when other features like the audio are considered. The game’s sound effect is very realistic with little noise made from splashes and explosions. Not much sound is made underwater anyway if given a second thought. After playing the game so many times, you might hold the opinion that the developers could have added a few more improved and exciting features if subsequent variants were released to make the game more animating.

Depth Charge is relatively easy to get through with a few bumps here and there to prevent the game from getting boring or losing its thrill over a period of time. It starts on a slow pace until the subs start increasing in speed, as the time burns out and targets are more difficult to aim at. Interestingly, all the submarines moving across the screen are imprinted with numbers (10 to 90), and that signifies what will be scored when the player sinks them. You might want to aim for ships closer to the sea floor as they score higher (up to 90 points), than the ones floating near the surface. Unlike most shooter arcade games, you do not advance in level. Instead, the progress made on every round is determined by the number of points scored. Your aim will be to beat the previous high score attained by yourself or another player.
The remaining time points scored, and numbers of hits and misses are always displayed at the top of the screen. Game time lapses after 90 seconds, but if you have gained more than 500 points, extra 45 seconds will be added.
Depth charge boasts of a direct control interface, a fixed screen visual, and a side-view perspective.