East vs. West: Berlin 1948
Encyclopedia
East vs. West: Berlin 1948 is an adventure game
developed by Time Warp Productions in 1989. The game is noted for its use of an Audio cassette to supplement the soundtrack
. It was also unique in its top-down perspective that gives the a player a bird's eye view
of the action.
Berlin 1948 is set in the city of Berlin
during the Cold War
. The city is split into West and East Berlin, and the USSR
has all supply routes into the city cut off. In order to prevent West Berlin from being overrun by the Red Army
, the US Army
has smuggled an atomic bomb into the city. The bomb disappears, and it is up to you to find it before it falls into Stalin
's hands.
You play a US spy in the CIA
, Sam Porter, and have to travel all over the city looking for the bomb. You can walk around, or you can go to various destinations by taxi. You talk to many characters along the way, and interact with a number of objects in order to unravel the mystery. Most of the Berliners have nothing to offer you, so you are challenged with finding the ones who do. Some will tell the truth, some will lie, and some don't even know they possess information that would be of value.
Berlin 1948 imposes a time limit for solving the mystery and finding the atomic bomb. This was seen as a severe drawback that rendered the game almost unplayable http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/east-vs-west-berlin-1948/view-moby-score. Running out of time causes you to be run over by a car, ending the game.
of the time were not very sophisticated, and recorded sound took up too much disk space, the game designers took an inventive approach. At different times during the game (such as the Intro and other cinematic sequences) you are asked to play the appropriate audio clip on a home cassette deck
.
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
developed by Time Warp Productions in 1989. The game is noted for its use of an Audio cassette to supplement the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
. It was also unique in its top-down perspective that gives the a player a bird's eye view
Bird's Eye View
"Bird's Eye View" is a single by Oakland Hip Hop group Zion I, released in 2005 on Live Up Records. The single was the first released from their third album True & Livin. The song, like Common's classic "I Used to Love H.E.R.", addresses the state of Hip Hop by comparing the culture to a woman. The...
of the action.
Gameplay
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. The city is split into West and East Berlin, and the USSR
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
has all supply routes into the city cut off. In order to prevent West Berlin from being overrun by the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
, the US Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
has smuggled an atomic bomb into the city. The bomb disappears, and it is up to you to find it before it falls into Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's hands.
You play a US spy in the CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
, Sam Porter, and have to travel all over the city looking for the bomb. You can walk around, or you can go to various destinations by taxi. You talk to many characters along the way, and interact with a number of objects in order to unravel the mystery. Most of the Berliners have nothing to offer you, so you are challenged with finding the ones who do. Some will tell the truth, some will lie, and some don't even know they possess information that would be of value.
Berlin 1948 imposes a time limit for solving the mystery and finding the atomic bomb. This was seen as a severe drawback that rendered the game almost unplayable http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/east-vs-west-berlin-1948/view-moby-score. Running out of time causes you to be run over by a car, ending the game.
History
Berlin 1948 was the first video game to incorporate an audio cassette in the actual gameplay. Since the speech synthesizersSpeech synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...
of the time were not very sophisticated, and recorded sound took up too much disk space, the game designers took an inventive approach. At different times during the game (such as the Intro and other cinematic sequences) you are asked to play the appropriate audio clip on a home cassette deck
Cassette deck
A cassette deck is a type of tape recorder for playing or recording audio compact cassettes. A deck was formerly distinguished from a recorder as being part of a stereo component system, while a recorder had a self-contained power amplifier...
.