Axis Assassin
Axis Assassin is a video game written by John Field for the Apple II and published by Electronic Arts in 1983. Ports for the Atari 8-bit family and Commodore 64 were released alongside the Apple II original. The game is similar in concept and visuals to Atari, Inc.'s 1981 "Tempest" arcade game. Along with "M.U.L.E.", "Hard Hat Mack", "", and "Worms?", "Axis Assassin" was one of the five initial titles from Electronic Arts. Author John Field was included in the two-page "We See Farther" magazine ad from 1983 that positioned EA's game developers as "rock  stars." Field also wrote "The Last Gladiator" for Electronic Arts, which was published the same year as "Axis Assassin". Reception. 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." Katz and cohort Bill Kunkel also discussed the game in the "Arcade Alley" column of "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" genre–not a World War II spy adventure." 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."