Gearheads (1996)

Gearheads is a strategy video game developed by R/GA Interactive and Philips Media, and published by Philips Media for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS in June 1996. The player deploys wind-up toys to get them across an arena while attempting to prevent toys from crossing from the other side. Players can play against the computer or another player. Single, customisable games can be played, or the player can play a series of games with set rules and a limited number of lives in a tournament. The game was designed by Eric Zimmerman and Frank Lantz, and developed in eighteen months. A major part of the game's design was the toys' interaction with each other, and the effectiveness of certain toy setups led Zimmerman and Lantz to coin a term for them. Critical reception was mixed, with some reviewers praising its addictiveness and others criticising its sounds and artificial intelligence.