Vette!
Released: 1989
Published by: Spectrum Holobyte
Developed by: Sphere, Inc.
Author(s): Dan Geisler, Gilman Louie, Erick Jap, Sky Chang, Jinda Pan, Joe Tretinik, Kuswara Pranawahadi, Matt Carlstrom, Daniel Guerra, Jody Sather, Dan Kaufman, Anthony Chiang, Lawrence Chiu
Introduction
Spectrum Holobyte are perhaps best known for their simulators such as Falcon, Falcon AT and Tank: The M1A1 Abrams Battle Tank Simulation. Vette! was developed by an in-house team two years after the merger of Nexa Corporation and Spectrum Holobyte in 1987, when they changed the name of the combined company to Sphere, Inc.
In Vette! you race against either another human or the computer player to reach a certain point in the city of San Francisco. What makes Vette! different is that you can choose the route you take to get there, making this one of the very first 'open world' games. You can select from three showroom models from 1989 (it must be a Corvette, obviously!), stock, ZR1, Twin Turbo, or the Callaway 'Sledgehammer' version.
Once selected, there are three difficulty levels: Trainee, Rookie and Pro. Trainee mode protects you from tickets and vehicle damage (collisions will still slow you down though), your vehicle has the highest traction, and cruise control is constant. On Rookie mode, damage is reduced, traction is moderate, police are active, and cruise control is constant. Finally, Pro mode means damage is realistic, traction is realistic, police are active, and cruise control is realistic.
You can then choose what vehicle your opponent drives: a Porsche 924 S4, Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari Testarossa, or Ferrari F40.
There are four courses which link three historical landmarks in the city: Bay Bridge, San Francisco Zoo, and the Golden Gate Bridge, and you can drive any of them right from the start of the game. An in-dash map helps you navigate the streets, though as mentioned you can choose your own route.
Aside from the courses, you can choose to drive around the city at your own pace and admire the scenery in 'Tour mode'.
Racing against another player is achieved through either a modem connection or null modem cable between two computers.
Taking a leaf out of the Test Drive and Test Drive II: The Duel notebooks, you also have to contend with the cops who will catch you speeding - you can try to get out of a fine by answering with a suitable excuse.
System Requirements
| System Requirements | Intel 8088/8086 CPU (20 MHz 386 recommended for EGA), 512 KB of memory. Graphics support for Hercules, CGA, and EGA (640 x 200 in 16 colours - 256 KB of video memory is required). Audio support for PC speaker only. Keyboard and joystick are supported. |
|---|---|
| Original Media | CGA version: Two 5.25" DS/DD 360 KB floppy disks or One 3.5" 720 KB floppy disk. EGA version: One 5.25" DS/HD 1.2 MB floppy disk or One 3.5" 720 KB floppy disk. |
| Installed Size | 690 KB |
From where can it be run?
The game can be run from either 720 KB or 1.2 MB floppy disks, or installed to hard disk. There is no installation utility for this; just copy all the files from the floppy disk(s) to a subdirectory on your hard disk and run the game from there.
Note: you cannot play the game from 360 KB floppy disks.
Copy Protection
Vette! has manual copy protection. After choosing a course, you will be presented with a question to look up the answer in the game manual (see Supporting Documents section):
You are given two chances to get the answer correct.
How to Setup
You can force the game to run in CGA or EGA mode using these command-line options:
VETTE C - runs the game in CGA mode in normal mode
VETTE CR - runs the game in CGA mode with reverse video (for LCD displays)
VETTE H - runs the game in Hercules mode
in normal mode
VETTE HR - runs the game in Hercules mode with reverse mode (for LCD displays)
VETTE E - runs the game in EGA mode
Problems
There are no known problems setting up and playing Vette!
Keys
| Numeric keys 2/4/6/8 = accelerate/brake and steer Numeric keys 1/3/7/9 = accelerate/brake and steer in direction F = Full stop Q = Quit driving (return to main menu) P = Pause game S = Sound off/on H = Show/hide help map B = Toggle buildings on/off D = Show collision damage A = Toggle automatic gears on/off C = Toggle cruise control on/off G = Display gear 1-6 = For manual gears, chooses gear Keypad 5 or K = centre your car in the current lane Space = brake |
F1 = View left F2 = View forward F3 = View right F4 or Numeric keypad + = Helicopter view F7 = Raise view F8 = Lower view F9 and F10 = Change view angle F5 = Choose neutral F6 = Choose reverse - / + = Downshift / Upshift |
To Quit the Game
When driving, press 'Q' to return to the main menu. Hit ESC when on the main menu / garage screen to pull down the dropdown menu, select 'Quit to DOS' and hit Enter to return to the DOS prompt.
Supporting Documents
- User Manual (PDF)
Save Games
There is no opportunity to save your progress in Vette! Your score is automatically entered in the top ten for each course. These are stored in the file SCORE.BIN. You can clear all these by running CLEAR.BAT from DOS, which overwrites SCORE.BIN with SCORE.BAK.
Versions of the game known to exist
| Version | Date | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 25th Jul 1989 | Initial public release. |
| 1.1 | 23rd Oct 1989 | Minor bug fixes. |
| 1.02 | 25th Jun 1991 | Graphics option selection added to game startup. |
Original Floppy Disk Contents
The floppy disks have no specific volume label. Here are each disk's contents:
Disk 1 of 1 CGA version 1.02 - (5.25" 360 KB DS/DD):
Directory of A:\ |
|
Disk 1 of 2 EGA version 1.02 (5.25" 360 KB DS/DD):
Directory of A:\ BIGVET BIN 24,184 25-06-1991 12:20 |
|
Disk 2 of 2 EGA version 1.02 (5.25" 360 KB DS/DD):
Directory of A:\ HIGHSC BIN 36,100 25-06-1991 12:20 |
|
Disk 1 of 1 CGA version 1.0 - (3.5" 720 KB DS/DD):
Directory of A:\ |
|
Installed Directory Contents
Once installed, these files exist in the game directory (EGA version 1.0):
Directory of C:\GAMES\VETTE |
Game Review
Spectrum Holobyte were known as a developer/publisher who pushed technological boundaries, and Vette! was no exception. The in-game graphics made use of 3D polygons (one of the first games to do so) and gave you the whole of San Francisco to explore. With a choice of four Chevrolet Corvette [the game is called 'Vette!' after all] models to choose from and four circuits there was plenty of action to be had as you raced against a computer-controlled opponent driving a Porsche 928, Ferrari Testarossa or Ferrari F40.
While the main event in the game was beating your opponent to the destination, you could decide on your own route for how to get there, making this completely "open world". Key landmarks such as Fisherman's Wharf and the Golden Gate Bridge are presented in more detail, but most buildings are simply rectangular blocks with a few exceptions such as gas stations. Still, the city is immersive and you do get the sense that it's a big place.
To add to the cityscape, roads were adorned with other moving vehicles to avoid including trucks, fire engines, bikes and a variety of different coloured cars. This level of immersion in an open-world driving game had not been seen since the days of Turbo Esprit by Durell Software on the 8-bit platforms.
The static game screens were beautifully drawn, making use of EGA's high-resolution mode, and in-game the 3D graphics were basic but effective. If you had a relatively fast PC at the time, the game was a fairly enjoyable experience. Slower PCs of course incurred a lower frame rate, so these days the game is best played on a moderate 25 MHz 386 for best performance.
The game controls work well, with keyboard being the best choice here.
Sound: As I've said often in this article so far, the lack of any sound option apart from the PC speaker makes this another game that's a painful experience to play. It's best to switch off the engine sounds, but even the siren (which you'll hear quite often as you speed around the city) is shrill. 1/10
Gameplay: Simply excellent - an open world 3D polygon-filled city to explore, and all this in 1989! Spectrum Holobyte/Sphere are to be applauded for squeezing so much into a game that can run on very old PC hardware. The races are good, though given that you can pick your own route, it's easy to cheat, and this gets boring pretty quickly. The best aspect of this game is its 'Explore' mode which gives you time to cruise the streets and take in the sights. Spectrum Holobyte also provided a 2-player mode in Vette!, able to connect either via direct cable connection or modem so you can compete in races against a friend. 9/10
Lastability: Once you've toured San Francisco and done a few races, there is little to keep you interested beyond the first hour. There are four different variants of Corvette, which up the skill level needed to drive them as your computer-controlled opponent is faster as your car's specs improve, though this isn't going to keep your attention longer-term. 5/10
OVERALL: 7/10
