Prime Target
{{For|the 2025 television series|Prime Target (TV series){{!}}Prime Target (TV series)}}
{{Short description|1996 video game}}
{{Infobox video game
| publisher = MacSoft
| developer = WizardWorks
| released = 1996
| genre = First-person shooter
}}
Prime Target is a 1996 action video game developed by WizardWorks Group and published by MacSoft for Macintosh computers.{{Cite web |url=http://www.imgmagazine.com:80/issues/vol5_issue1/p10.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970627050318/http://www.imgmagazine.com:80/issues/vol5_issue1/p10.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 27, 1997|title=Review: Prime Target|last=Eaton|first=Jeff|date=June 27, 1997 |website=Inside Mac Games (Volume 5, Issue 10)|page=10}}{{cite web|url=http://www.wizworks.com:80/macsoft/new/prime.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970417011922/http://www.wizworks.com:80/macsoft/new/prime.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 April 1997|title=Prime Target!|date=17 April 1997 |publisher=}}{{cite web|url=http://www.abandonware-magazines.org/affiche_mag.php?mag=30&num=629&album=oui|title=Prime Target|author=Tiberius|date=February 1997|website=Joystick (Issue 79)|page=108|language=French}}
Gameplay
Prime Target uses the Marathon 2 gaming engine.
Plot
An influential senator named Cathryn Mayfield has been murdered, and it is up to the player to uncover secret documents relating to a conspiracy.
Development
The team was led by Kirk Sumner.{{cite web|url=https://www.gamasutra.com/contractors?contractor_id=7436|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111025517/http://www.gamasutra.com/contractors/?contractor_id=7436|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 11, 2013|title=Gamasutra - The Art & Business of Making Games|website=www.gamasutra.com}} An arcade port of the game was developed and underwent location testing at a Champions Arcade in the Philadelphia area during 1997,{{cite magazine |first=Marcus |last=Webb |title=More CD Games Aimed at Arcades |magazine=Next Generation|issue=33 |publisher=Imagine Media |date=September 1997|page=32 |url=https://archive.org/details/NEXT_Generation_33/page/n33}} but was never fully released.
Reception
The game received generally positive reviews from critics.
A Next Generation critic commented that the game's combination of shooting action and mystery solving "is a unique attempt to rework an old design, and for the most part it works." He also praised the large, challenging levels, the multiplayer options, and the need to move furniture and duck behind it for cover. However, he ultimately compared the game unfavorably to other Marathon 2 engine games such as ZPC and Damage Incorporated, and gave it three out of five stars.{{cite magazine|title=Prime Target |magazine=Next Generation |issue=28|publisher=Imagine Media|date=April 1997 |page=130}} MacHome praised the game's realism and plot.{{cite web|url=http://database.machome.com/action.lasso?-database=reviews&-layout=search&-response=/reviews/detail.html&-recid=32968&-search|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000105083830/http://database.machome.com/action.lasso?-database=reviews&-layout=search&-response=/reviews/detail.html&-recid=32968&-search|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 January 2000|title=MacHome Product Review- Prime Target|date=5 January 2000|publisher=}} MacGamer liked the replay value.{{cite web|url=http://www.macgamer.com/features/?id=581|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030509174302/http://www.macgamer.com/features/?id=581|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 May 2003|title=MacGamer - Get In The Game|date=9 May 2003|publisher=}} MacGate appreciated how at the core of the game was a genuine mystery to solve.{{cite web|url=http://www.macgate.torget.se/Games/reviews/Primetarget.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980612151727/http://www.macgate.torget.se/Games/reviews/Primetarget.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 June 1998|title=MGG - Prime Target review|date=12 June 1998|publisher=}} According to Italian company Mac-O-Rama, the title was the sixth entry on the 'Top Ten Mac Games List' for the period between January 31st and February 6th 2000.{{cite web|url=http://gamesurf.tiscali.it/news/la-top-ten-di-mac-o-rama-c524.html|title=La Top Ten di Mac-O-Rama|publisher=}}
Despite the reviews, the game saw mediocre sales upon release.{{cite magazine |title=Macintosh: Not Dead Yet |magazine=Next Generation |issue=33 |publisher=Imagine Media |date=September 1997|page=24 |url=https://archive.org/details/NEXT_Generation_33/page/n25}}