This page contains information about the Blade Runner Games created over the years.
Westwood Studios' Blade Runner computer game,
Commodore 64's and Sinclair ZX Spectrum's
Blade Runner, and CPC's Blade Runner boardgame.
The First Real-Time 3D Adventure
Can't get enough of Blade Runner? The next best thing to watching the movie, or reading the book, is living
it...virtually. This is a computer game that allows you to be a Blade Runner and "retire" illegal replicants.
You begin the game in the role of Ray McCoy, a rookie Blade Runner. You start with the investigation of an animal
murder, and the game quickly introduces you to picking up clues and interviewing people. What you do from here on in basically
depends on you!
Westwood Studios' Blade Runner
Blade Runner is a Westwood Studios PC game based on the 1982 movie of the same name. Released
in 1997, the game was advertised as "the first real time adventure game". The story featured "Blade Runner" Ray McCoy searching
for Replicants in Los Angeles in the year 2019.
Background and Plotline
The game is set not long after the beginning of the movie (we can see this as Tyrell hasn't been killed yet, as
well as many more minor plot details, such as Holden having been attacked and taken out of commission and, in an optional
meeting with Tyrell, the mention of Tyrell being in a meeting with Deckard earlier that day), in November of 2019. Our protagonist,
Ray McCoy, is a rookie Bladerunner under command of Guzza, a police officer of superior rank.
True to the film, the environment is similar, a dystopian, heavily polluted Los Angeles, brought to life by the
fledgling 3D Real Time technology of the day. Also included are some landmarks from the movie, such as the dominating Tyrell
pyramid structures. The designers invoke the mood of the film, re-creating a neon-lit Los Angeles constantly bombarded
by rain. The perennial Blade Runner images, including the winking geisha billboard, and Spinners flying
over the flaming smokestacks of the industrial outskirts, advertising blimp, and Chew's EyeWorks make you feel like
a part of the Blade Runner world.
McCoy is faced with the task of tracking down a group of replicants and "retiring" (killing) them. The game is
unique to the point and click genre in that it begins in a highly complicated fashion, and continues that way till the game's
conclusions. You progress through a number of crime scenes, in which you must gather evidence, this is a matter of being highly
observative of surroundings as well as using techniques typical of detectives.
Major Characters
Ray McCoy is the games rookie Blade Runner, and is the only character who the player
can alter profoundly in the course of the game. Crystal Steele is a cop who ultimately sticks to
the departments attitude towards Replicants. Gaff is hugely similar to the Gaff found in the film,
he's a cop who he seemingly follows Roy around, while offering unsolicited advice. Lieutenant Guzza
is the lazy superior to McCoy, and remains in his office for the majority of the game. Clovis,
Sadik, Dektora, Luther
& Lance (the twins), Gordo Frizz,Zuben,and Early Q are are other
characters Ray will come in contact with. Tyrell is very similar to the Tyrell found
in the movie. Lucy is a teenager who is unsure and concerned of whether she is a replicant or a
human. J.F. Sebastian is also similar to his film counterpart, a reclusive loner residing
in the Bradbury Building. Rachel, as Tyrell's secretary, will be around as well.
Minor Characters
Leon, Izo, Bullet Bob, Dino
Klein, Mia and Murray, Howie Lee, and Crazy
Legs Larry will be met throughout Ray's travels, as well as a cast full more. Names and places in the game
are also listed in KippleZone's DADoES & Blade Runner Glossary.
Triva
Not only does this game have elements from the movie, it has elements from the book (DADoES) too. It manages
to bring both worlds together uniquely introducing a partial scene from the book as well as terminology not used in the
movie.
Also featured are the reprise of some of the original cast members from the movie, namely, Sean Young, Brion
James, James Hong, Joe Turkel, and William Sanderson.
Frank Klepacki recreated the music of Vangelis, in addition to featuring his own new compositions, for this game.
There used to be a "Blade Runner" computer game for the Commodore 64 as well as the Sinclair ZX Spectrum home
computer that was based on the music by Vangelis. This game produced by CRL was actually based on the movie but due to unknown
reasons the film producers in the end decided to refuse to sell the rights. To be able to go ahead and distribute the game
CRL changed their plan and credited the game to be a "Video game interpretation of the film score by Vangelis".
It ended up being sold as such in shops, with this credit, visibly printed on the packaging.
The CRL Group PLC released a computer game for Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum, in 1985.
Gameplay:
Several replicants have managed to reach the Earth, which is forbidden under penalty of death. It is your duty
as a Blade Runner to kill, no, 'retire' them. The gameplay is quite simple. You move across a map of Los Angeles searching
for flashing dots that mark the position of a replicant. When you get to the dot, your spinner lands and a side scrolling
view of a street is shown. After a short chase, the replicant is spotted and shot down without opposition, as life seems to
be much easier for Blade Runners in computer games. I'll put it plainly, this game is just a curiosity for Blade Runner
fans only. The Spectrum-like graphics are awful, and the gameplay is always the same. Only the menu music has some quality
(guess why - it's a Vangelis theme).
SHARP AS A BLADE
We're on our way to the 21st century, so start thinking android quick! Unless you want to be left behind
on this Earth while everybody else leaves for bigger and better planets, you'd better shape up your brain and get into action
as a Blade Runner! If you've seen the fast-moving, futuristic film, then you'll know that Blade Runners are inter-planetary
bounty- hunting police. It's their duty to capture and kill super-human Replicants, those lithe and lethal, living androids.
This mission isn't execution, but 'retirement'. You'll have a flying car and an information screen to help you, but with the
Replicants bent on revenge, your task is tough. You could make enough money to retire if you outwit them, but the fight will
be tight. If you think you're sharp enough, then apply to the headquarters at CRL. They'll let you know how to get in on the
action but you may have to wait. Tel. 01- 533 2918 and prepare for the future ...
Review from "Your Spectrum" Issue
20, November 1985 - Frontlines & Hacking Away
Press any key to start. Then started the game - you've got a city map on the right and a sector map on the left.
The yellow city map (right) is divided into the green sectors (left).
Press fire to start.
Look on the right
map - the flashing dots are reps.
Use the up/down/left/right to get to one of the sectors occupied by the one of the
reps - as you move around the yellow map, each sector is displayed in more detail with the green map. When you're in the same
sector (left map) you'll see the rep appear as a red and yellow cross. Move you cursor over it and press fire. This will send
you and your spinner to the reps location.
The view will change to a side-scrolling street. Once you've landed and
gotten out of the car, you've got to catch up with the fleeing rep, who is off the screen to the right. You can see his dot
on the scanner in the middle of the screen.
So, run to the right using your 'right' key, using up and down to dodge
the people on the side-walk and the traffic on the road. If you manage to catch up with the rep, line up using up and down
and shoot him to retire him. If the rep manages to out-run you and disappears off the scanner, your spinner will land and
back up you go again to the main map.
Repeat ad-nauseum.
Dunno if you get the chance to VK em - I doubt it
'cos all I saw was a 'bounty' bonus.
Apparently, this is an item that was never put into full production and
is thus exceptionally rare -- only 100 boards were made. It was printed by a small company in California (now defunct) and
released to test markets in San Francisco and Los Angeles back in 1982-83. These are licensed products and bear the "Blade
Runner Partnership" trademark.
As for the game itself, it's obviously a prototype. The box (a little smaller than average board
game size) features a still of Deckard at the VK apparatus with a couple of Blade Runner logos and very vague description
of the game. There's nothing on the bottom half. The box contains a board, game pieces, cards, and a notepad. The pieces are
little skyscrapers, 4 colors, and a standard D6. The cards represent VK test results that you're supposed to write on the
pad. According to the two-page photocopied instructions, the game seems to play something like a variation on that old game
Scotland Yard. Basically you move your pieces around and when you land on a VK terminal, the other players give you a test
and if the cards they draw add up to a certain number, then that player is a replicant and the others have to try to catch
him. The game sort of plays on that uncertainty of who's a replicant and who isn't -- something that's not really expressed
in the original theatrical release.
