{{Short description|1983 video game}} {{Infobox video game |title = Axis Assassin |image = Axis Assassin cover.jpg |alt = |caption = Original "album cover" box |developer = [[Electronic Arts]] |publisher = {{vgrelease|NA|Electronic Arts|EU|[[Ariolasoft]]}} |designer = John Field<ref name="giantlist"/> |released = '''Atari 8-bit, C64'''{{vgrelease|NA|November 1983<ref>{{cite news |title=Availability Update |url=https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/986f042e-b8fd-4c7a-94fd-d86c3065e39c |work=[[Computer Entertainer|The Video Game Update]] |volume=2 |issue=9 |date=November 1983 |page=16}}</ref>}} '''Apple II'''{{vgrelease|NA|1983}} |genre = [[Tube shooter]] |modes = [[Single-player video game|Single-player]] |platforms = [[Apple II]],<ref name="maher"/> [[Atari 8-bit]], [[Commodore 64]] }}
'''''Axis Assassin''''' is a 1983 [[tube shooter]] video game written by John Field and published by [[Electronic Arts]] for the [[Apple II]].<ref name="giantlist"/> Ports for [[Atari 8-bit computers]] and [[Commodore 64]] were released alongside the Apple II original. The game is similar in concept and visuals to [[Atari, Inc.|Atari]]'s 1981 game ''[[Tempest (video game)|Tempest]]''.
Along with ''[[M.U.L.E.]]'', ''[[Hard Hat Mack]]'', ''[[Archon: The Light and the Dark]]'', and ''[[Worms?]]'', ''Axis Assassin'' was one of the first five games published by Electronic Arts.<ref name="polygon"/> Field is included in the two-page "We See Farther" magazine ad from 1983 that positioned EA's game developers as "rock stars."<ref name="farther"/> Field also wrote ''The Last Gladiator'' for Electronic Arts, which was published the same year as ''Axis Assassin''.<ref name="giantlist"/>
==Development== John Field wrote the initial Apple II version of ''Axis Assassin'' in two weeks while on vacation in [[Wisconsin]], then improved it over the next seven months.<ref name=box/>
==Reception== [[Image:Axis Assassin.jpg|thumb|left|Title screen with John Field's signature]]
Reviewing the Apple II version for ''[[Electronic Games]]'' in 1983, Arnie Katz wrote, "if John Field's ''Axis Assassin'' is a true foretaste of what we can expect from Electronic Arts, then there's no question that computer gaming has gained another first-rate software producer."<ref name="katz"/> Katz and cohort [[Bill Kunkel (journalist)|Bill Kunkel]] also discussed the game in the "Arcade Alley" column of ''[[Video (magazine)|Video]]'', stating, "''Axis Assassin''...has only one discernable problem: its name. Despite the obvious and misleading connotations of 'Axis,' this is a semi-abstract target-shoot in the ''[[Tempest (video game)|Tempest]]'' genre–not a [[World War II]] spy adventure."<ref name=video/>
A review in ''[[Computer and Video Games]]'' magazine three years after the game's release was less enthusiastic, concluding "there's nothing really wrong with ''Axis Assassin'', but there's no real reason why anybody should make time to play it."<ref name="cvg"/>
==See also== *''[[Tubeway]]''
==References== <references>
<ref name="giantlist">{{cite web|title=The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers|url=https://dadgum.com/giantlist/ |last1=Hague |first1=James}}</ref> <ref name="polygon">{{cite web|last1=Corriea|first1=Alexa Ray|title=30 years ago Electronic Arts shipped its first batch of five games|url=https://www.origin.com/usa/en-us/us/news/halls-of-ea-30th-anniversary-edition|website=Polygon|date=May 21, 2013}}</ref> <ref name="maher">{{cite web|last1=Maher|first1=Jimmy|title=Seeing Farther|url=http://www.filfre.net/2013/01/seeing-farther/|website=The Digital Antiquarian|date=January 23, 2013}}</ref> <ref name="farther">{{cite web|title=We See Farther magazine advertisement|url=http://www.digitpress.com/library/posters/ea_poster.pdf|website=Digital Press}}</ref> <ref name="katz">{{cite journal|last1=Katz|first1=Arnie|title=Axis Assassin|journal=Electronic Games|date=October 1983|pages=98–100|url=https://archive.org/details/electronic-games-magazine-1983-10}}</ref> <ref name="cvg">{{cite journal|journal=Computer and Video Games|issue=54|date=February 1986|title=Axis Assassin|url=https://wos.meulie.net/pub/sinclair/magazines/C%2BVG/Issue052/Pages/CVG05200035.jpg|page=35}}</ref> <ref name="video">{{cite journal |last1=Kunkel |first1=Bill |title=Arcade Alley |journal=Video |date=October 1983 |page=30 |url=http://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/articles/arcade_alley/arcade_alley_oct83.pdf}}</ref> <ref name="box">{{cite web |title=Axis Assassin Packaging |url=https://ia802205.us.archive.org/32/items/electronic-arts-axis-assassin-a2-ph/box/axis%20assassin%20folder_text.pdf |website=archive.org |publisher=Electronic Arts |date=1983}}</ref>
</references>
==External links== *{{lemon64 game|id=184|title=Axis Assassin}} *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BwNMTRqG3I Apple II gameplay] at YouTube
[[Category:1983 video games]] [[Category:Electronic Arts games]] [[Category:Apple II games]] [[Category:Ariolasoft games]] [[Category:Atari 8-bit computer games]] [[Category:Fixed shooters]] [[Category:Commodore 64 games]] [[Category:Video game clones]] [[Category:Single-player video games]] [[Category:Video games developed in the United States]]