Originally an award-winning game on Macintosh computers, Spectre is a first-person tank battle game for one or two players, initially developed by Peninsula Gameworks. This Super Nintendo conversion was developed by Synergistic Software and released in North America by Cybersoft, and in France and Germany by Gametek, in 1994. As far as I can tell it wasn’t released anywhere else, so remains relatively obscure, as SNES games go.

Before starting a game, players can choose between three types of tank (Balanced, Speedy or Strong), or can customise the tank themselves by changing its statistics.

A radar display in the top right-hand corner of the screen gives an overhead view of the immediate battleground, with enemies shown as red dots, and flags as yellow dots. Tanks in single-player mode (and all but one of the two-player modes), can (and should) jump to avoid enemy fire, which is kinda novel. Jumping tanks… Who’da thunk it?!

In the single-player game the aim is to drive around in your tank, shooting enemy tanks, collecting yellow flags to complete each level, and surviving for long enough to make it as far into the game as possible. As you progress, more enemies and hazards are introduced, so as the levels increase: so does the difficulty.

In combat you’ll come across a variety of ground features as you explore the rather bleak landscape, some of which will destroy your tank if you run over them (the red crosses being particularly deadly). Green squares are ‘ammo dumps’ that repair your tank and resupply your ammo, which is limited. Cyan crosses are shortcut warps to higher levels.

In the two-player game the aim depends on which of the four play modes you’ve selected. There’s “Arena” – a free-for-all where the first player to score 1,000 points wins; “Flag Rally” – collect flags to win (each flag is worth 100 points, but your score is wiped-out if your tank is destroyed; first player to 1,000 points wins); “Base Raid” – two teams, each with one human player and one computer-controlled teammate, must capture the other team’s flag (no jumps and no hyperspace; first to 1,000 points wins); and “Allied Attack” – a cooperative mode with human players versus computer-controlled tanks (players must work together to capture flags defended by robotic tanks; the player’s lives are shared).

The whole audio/visual style of Spectre is based on a pseudo VR-style, ‘Tron-like’ aesthetic, with flat, Mode 7 chequerboard landscapes and geometrically-shaped objects that can be used as cover when under fire (unless they’re moving, which they do in later levels, in which case they’ll hurt you). In some ways Spectre reminds me of Paul Woakes‘ Encounter on the C64 (or Backlash on the Amiga), and the game is also obviously influenced by Atari‘s classic Battle Zone. The marketing materials (and descriptions I’ve seen online) describe Spectre as a “3D tank game”, but in reality the SNES version uses mostly 2D graphics in a three-dimensional arena. I haven’t yet played the Mac original, but I did read that it uses simple flat-shaded polygons, which is where the “3D” claims must originate. The enemy tanks in this could be made of polygons, and if they are then they’re extremely basic.

Spectre is a middling to okay game that is maybe worth a look if you’ve never seen it before. It might’ve been more interesting if it had more varied landscapes or some large building structures to explore and hide in, but the relatively bare nature of the environment makes it a bit sterile for my tastes. If you like the idea of a fast and streamlined tank combat game (or jumping tanks), then Spectre might appeal to you. Just don’t expect too much from it because there isn’t a great deal to it.

More: Spectre on Wikipedia