Satan's Hollow
Arcade
Nostalgia Factor:
If you can believe it, my 40th birthday is coming up in approximately five months. In an attempt to do something fun, and perhaps broaden my video game horizons in the process, I’ve decided to go back and play through and review a handful of games from each and every year that I’ve been alive. The catch? These have to be games that I have NEVER played before. Should be fun! Most of my retro reviews are from things I’ve already played, so it will be nice to come back and perform “mop up duty” throughout the years and check out some titles that I am unfamiliar with. First year up: 1982. The year I was ejected from my mother’s womb.
When paging through Wikipedia looking for games that were released in 1982, one title in specific jumped out at me: Satan’s Hollow. Not only had I never heard of the game before, but the screenshots made this game look like something well ahead of its time – apart from other very generic looking titles like Pole Position or Joust, or anything that came out in the early 80s. I also decided I’d check out Pitfall! for the Atari 2600 and Tron for the arcade, so be on the lookout for those reviews coming soon. But for now, what would I think of Satan’s Hollow? Let’s get this show on the road.
Story:
I’m not quite sure if this game even has a story. Nothing is ever explained in the game, and I can’t find anything story-related when I google it either. From what I’ve gathered, you’re some dude on a quest to infiltrate Satan’s hideout and um, kill him.
Deep stuff here, but then again we are talking about a game made in 1982. Giving the player a satisfying storyline just was not a giant focus back then.
Gameplay:
You take control of a small ship that moves along the bottom of the screen. There are only three things you can really do: move left and right, shoot, and activate a shield. Enemies fly around in patterns on the screen above you, like something you’d see in Space Invaders or Galaga. It’s your job to shoot and destroy these enemies. When you’ve killed a handful of them, a little white “bridge piece” will appear on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. You have to zoom over to the left, make contact with the piece (it will automatically attach itself to your ship), and then zoom over to the right side of the screen where you automatically lay the bridge piece down across a gap that you have to cross. It’s your job to kill enemies, avoid getting hit (one hit kills you), and slowly build this bridge one piece at a time. Once you have completed the bridge, cross over it and the game takes you to a separate screen where you engage in what I guess you could say is a boss fight. You have to kill a little red demon that zips aroud the screen launching pitchforks at you. Kill him, and the game moves you on to the next level, where you square off against tougher enemies and have to build a bigger bridge.
Don’t expect to be able to beat this game. It doesn’t have an ending. It just loops repeatedly. Kill enemies, build a bridge, cross the bridge, kill the demon guy, and then go back to building a bridge again. Rinse and repeat. Each time you start a new cycle, it gets a little bit more difficult. More enemies, more projectiles being flung your way, a longer bridge to build, and fewer places to hide. The game also gets darker, too, as the sun goes down. This makes enemies harder to spot – and ultimately harder to both kill and avoid. You play until you run out of lives, and then you have to start the whole game over again. There’s no continuing or picking up where you left off. You’re simply playing to see how far you can make it each attempt, and how many points you can rack up – the ultimate goal being to get the highest score you can attain.
Making things a little easier is the ability to use a shield that grants you temporary invulnerability. Tap the shield button for a short shield burst, or hold it down to keep your character invulnerable for a second or two. The shield has a very short charge-life, so don’t expect to be able to hold that button for very long. You get, as I alluded to, a second or two of invulnerability, if that. When your charge runs out, you have to wait for it to recharge before you can use it again. Fortunately, it does not take very long at all to charge back up again.
At its best, Satan’s Hollow is an intense, fast moving shooter that constantly keeps you on your toes. Between shooting at enemies, avoiding their fire, picking up and depositing bridge pieces, and strategically using your shield for either offensive or defensive purposes, you rarely have a moment to stop and take a breather. And that’s okay, as this can be a bit of fun!
Unfortunately, there’s a limited amount of replay value to be found here. I’ve never been keen on high score-based games that keep looping repeatedly. I want an ending. I want to see credits roll. I want to be able to say that I “beat” the game. To me, there’s nothing satisfying about trying to nab the highest score. There’s always going to be players out there that are better than me or more dedicated to getting that high score. As I said, I want an ENDING, or the whole thing begins to feel a bit pointless from my viewpoint. And that’s what happened here. After playing this for a little over an hour, I’d already seen and experienced everything that the game was going to offer me. I turned the game off and moved on to something else.
Graphics:
If you’re looking at still screenshots of this game, it looks more advanced than other games that came out back in 1982, or the early 80s in general. Once you start playing, however, you realize that it’s just the colorful backgrounds that are making the game stand out. Really, the enemies you face and the little ships you destroy are pretty run of the mill for this era of gaming. I do have to give it props for how the game gets darker and darker as you play, eventually getting lighter again. I imagine this must have been a pretty innovative thing for 1982. Heck, I remember being blown away by the day/night cycle in Ocarina of Time, and that game came out 16 years after this one. So kudos for that.
Also, some of the special enemy designs, like the little goblins and demons you fight, really fit the atmosphere of the game well. The big Satan head that blows fire at you? Love it. I can imagine that the theme of this game, coupled with its freaking title, must have been very controversial back in the 1980s. Uptight pearl-clutching when it comes to things involving Satan or his minions has always been a prevalent thing, even moreso nearly 40 years ago. I bet the soccer moms did NOT want their kids playing this game at the local bowling alley.
Sound:
There isn’t much for me to say about this game’s music and sound effects. They are very primitive. Beeps and bloops are all you will hear for sound effects, and the stages are filled with empty silence rather than music. Occasionally you’ll hear a “Flight of the Valkyries”-type jingle play when you do something important, but aside from a brief moment of “oh hey I know that song” there isn’t anything too impressive about it.
Overall:
Satan’s Hollow is by no means a must-play title, but I do have to say that I am glad I played it. It’s a game that caught my eye with its unique visual style, it came out the year I was born, and now I can say I am able to cross it off my bucket list. That said: this isn’t a great game. It does a lot of great things, but it is not a great game. The theme is cool. The graphics are decent. The gameplay is fast and intense. I love the bridge-building and the shield mechanics. Once I realized just how shallow this game is, however, it quickly fell apart for me. You can only do literally the EXACT same thing for so long before you start to get tired of it. And that’s what happened here. I have a feeling this is going to be a theme for a lot of these early 80s games, but I’m going to stick with it. Broaden my gaming horizons, remember?
Maybe if this game had an actual ending, I would have spent a longer amount of time with it. But I’m just not a “high score” guy. I put a little over an hour into this game, and then I was ready to move on. There’s so many quality games out there, that I’ll likely never come back to this one again. I can’t really recommend it to anyone either when there are so many other great shooters, or heck – great games in general, that are out there to play. Overall, though, Satan’s Hollow is an interesting piece of gaming history and although I may not have had the most satisfying experience playing it, I’m still glad I did.
Final Score:
D+
40th Birthday Mop Up Duty Celebration Tour:
From 1982:
Satan's Hollow (the review you're reading)
And coming up next:
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