Frenzy

Arcade version of Frenzy

Frenzy is an action game developed by Stern Electronics and initially released in arcades in 1982 and later ported to the ColecoVision in 1984. It is a sequel to Berzerk and has similar gameplay while adding some new features. As in Berzerk, players control a man in a simple maze filled with deadly robots; the goal is to earn as many points as possible by destroying the robots.

In Frenzy players find themselves in a simple maze filled with hostile robots of varying kinds; Players need to earn points by shooting the robots and then moving on to the next room via one of the exits located on each of the four walls. While it's not necessary to destroy all robots before leaving a room, additional points are earned if all robots are eliminated first. Players are armed only with a simple gun and have no defense against robots other than dodging fire. There are several varieties of robots that appear, although the difference is mostly cosmetic and doesn't affect the robots abilities. One exception is Evil Otto, a large bouncing face, which appears if a player remains in a room for too long.

Frenzy has some differences when compared with Berzerk. In Frenzy, the walls are no longer electrified and players don't need to worry about losing a life for touching them. The walls come in two varieties; dotted walls can be shot by both the player and robots creating a hole while solid walls will reflect any shots that hit them. Similar to Berzerk, when a player first enters a room the door is closed off; shooting this type of wall will simply absorb the shot and has no other effect. In Frenzy Evil Otto is no longer invincible and can be destroyed if shot several times; the first shot will change it from a smiling face to a neutral face, a second shot will turn it into a frowning face, and finally it will be gone with a fourth shot. However, after Otto is destroyed the next time it appears (which is typically pretty quick) it will be faster than before.

While most rooms consist of simply the maze walls, a few rooms in Frenzy have additional decorative elements including a big Evil Otto, a power plant, a central computer, and a robot factory. Some of these can be destroyed to have an effect on the room, such as destroying the computer making all the robots move and fire randomly.