Line of Fire

From Sega Retro

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LineofFire title.png

Line of Fire
System(s): Sega X Board, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum
Publisher: Sega,
Amiga
Amstrad CPC
ZX Spectrum
U.S. Gold
Developer:
Genre: Shoot-'em-Up

















Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code
Amiga
UK 		£24.9924.99[1]
Atari ST
UK 		£24.9924.99[1]
Amstrad CPC
ES
(Cassette)
Amstrad CPC
ES
(Disk)
Amstrad CPC
UK
(Cassette) 		£10.9910.99[2]
Amstrad CPC
UK
(Disk) 		£14.9914.99[2]
Commodore 64
UK
(Cassette) 		£10.9910.99[2]
ZX Spectrum
ES
(Cassette)
ZX Spectrum
UK
(Cassette) 		£10.9910.99[2]

Line of Fire (ライン・オブ・ファイヤー), also called Bakudan Yarou (爆弾野郎) in Japan, is a Sega X Board light gun game released in 1989. In the game, you play as two escaping POWs who were captured after either disabling or seizing a "secret machine gun unit" from the enemy.

The game is presented in 3D first person, though walls will only meet at right angles. This is similar to the ray-casting graphics of later first-person shooters. It also anticipates the look of later texture-mapped 3D polygons, but with sprite manipulation rather than polygons.

The game was ported to several home computers in Europe by U.S. Gold, but never to a Sega home console. A retooled version with vastly different gameplay was released for the Sega Master System.

Production credits

Amiga version

The production credits are found in a rant located in the file s/startup-sequence, which explains that Sega would not allow them to put their names in the game.

  • Programming: Richard Aplin
  • Music: Uncle Art
  • Graphics:
    • extracting bitmaps from the original arcade game's video output: Andy Heike, Nick Vincent
    • extracting sprites from the original arcade game ROM: Richard Aplin
    • color reduction for the Amiga: Andy Heike, Nick Vincent, "and some students in Manchester"
  • PCM sample extraction: Richard Aplin
  • Copy protection: Tiertex
  • Management: Steve Fitton (US Gold), Tony Porter (US Gold)

Atari ST version

The rant mentioned above notes that Richard Aplin is also the programmer for that version, but unlike most Sega Amiga ports, this version was developed later.

Magazine articles

Main article: Line of Fire/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

  • X Board JP flyer

  • Arcade AU print advert

Logo-pdf.svg
Home computers print advert in ACE (UK) #39: "December 1990" (1990-11-xx)
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Home computers print advert in Raze (UK) #2: "December 1990" (1990-10-25)
also published in:
  • ACE (UK) #40: "January 1991" (1990-12-xx)[3]
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Home computers print advert in Computer & Video Games (UK) #109: "December 1990" (1990-11-16)
also published in:
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Home computers print advert in K (IT) #23: "Dicembre 1990" (1990-xx-xx)
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Home computers print advert in Computer & Video Games (UK) #111: "February 1991" (1991-01-16)
Logo-pdf.svg

Physical scans

Arcade version

X Board, JP

Amiga version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
82 №41, p60-61[5]
85 January 1991, p56/57
85 №110, p130-131[6]
70 №5, p52[7]
65 №71, p69[8]
Amiga
 77
Based on
5 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
ACE (UK)
82
[5]
Aktueller Software Markt (DE)
50
[9]
CU Amiga (UK)
85
[10]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
85
[11]
The Games Machine (IT)
84
[12]
Joystick (FR)
76
[13]
Power Play (DE)
23
[14]
Raze (UK)
70
[7]
Tilt (FR)
50
[15]
Zzap!64 (UK)
65
[8]
Amiga
 67
Based on
10 reviews

Line of Fire

Amiga, UK

LineOfFire Amiga EU Disk.jpg
Disk

Amstrad CPC version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
38 №54, p16[16]
Amstrad CPC
 38
Based on
1 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Joystick (FR)
60
[13]
Zzap! (IT)
38
[16]
Amstrad CPC
 49
Based on
2 reviews

Line of Fire

Amstrad CPC, UK (cassette)

Amstrad CPC, UK (disk)

Amstrad CPC, ES (cassette)

Amstrad CPC, ES (disk)

Atari ST version

Atari ST, UK

Commodore 64 version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
55 №77, p24/25[17]
32 №71, p69[8]
32 №54, p16[16]
Commodore 64
 40
Based on
3 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Commodore Format (UK)
40
[18]
Power Play (DE)
11
[19]
Your Commodore (UK)
55
[17]
Zzap!64 (UK)
32
[8]
Zzap! (IT)
32
[16]
Commodore 64
 34
Based on
5 reviews

Line of Fire

Commodore 64, UK

ZX Spectrum version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
85 №110, p130-131[6]
70 №84, p63[20]
ZX Spectrum
 78
Based on
2 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Crash (UK)
70
[20]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
85
[11]
Svet Kompjutera (YU)
60
[21]
Sinclair User (UK)
82
[22]
Your Sinclair (UK)
72
[23]
ZX Spectrum
 74
Based on
5 reviews

Line of Fire

ZX Spectrum, UK

ZX Spectrum, ES

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 File:ACE UK 40.pdf, page 55
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 File:CVG UK 109.pdf, page 167
  3. ↑ ACE, "January 1991" (UK; 1990-12-xx), page 2
  4. ↑ Computer & Video Games, "January 1991" (UK; 1990-12-15), page 92
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 File:ACE UK 41.pdf, page 60 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:ACE UK 41.pdf_p60" defined multiple times with different content
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 File:CVG UK 110.pdf, page 130
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 File:Raze UK 05.pdf, page 52 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Raze UK 05.pdf_p52" defined multiple times with different content
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 File:Zzap64 UK 071.pdf, page 69 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Zzap64 UK 071.pdf_p69" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Zzap64 UK 071.pdf_p69" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Zzap64 UK 071.pdf_p69" defined multiple times with different content
  9. ↑ Aktueller Software Markt, "März 1991" (DE; 1991-02-22), page 59
  10. ↑ CU Amiga, "January 1991" (UK; 1990-12-xx), page 56
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Computer & Video Games, "January 1991" (UK; 1990-12-15), page 74
  12. ↑ The Games Machine, "Febbraio 1991" (IT; 1991-xx-xx), page 42
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Joystick, "Janvier 1991" (FR; 199x-xx-xx), page 200
  14. ↑ Power Play, "3/91" (DE; 1991-02-15), page 120
  15. ↑ Tilt, "Février 1991" (FR; 1991-0x-xx), page 79
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 File:Zzap IT 54.pdf, page 16 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Zzap IT 54.pdf_p16" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Zzap IT 54.pdf_p16" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Zzap IT 54.pdf_p16" defined multiple times with different content
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 File:YourCommodore UK 77.pdf, page 24 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:YourCommodore UK 77.pdf_p24" defined multiple times with different content
  18. ↑ Commodore Format, "March 1991" (UK; 1991-02-21), page 42
  19. ↑ Power Play, "4/91" (DE; 1991-03-15), page 119
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 File:Crash UK 84.pdf, page 63 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Crash UK 84.pdf_p63" defined multiple times with different content
  21. ↑ Svet Kompjutera, "Jun 1991" (YU; 1991-xx-xx), page 75
  22. ↑ Sinclair User, "January 1991" (UK; 1990-12-18), page 52
  23. ↑ Your Sinclair, "January 1991" (UK; 1990-12-06), page 25
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