dad@eisx.UUCP (D. DeCourcelle) (01/10/84)
Over the holidays I got a few new Vectrex items. Here are my official reviews: 3D COLOR IMAGER ---------------------------------------------------------- The imager comes packaged with 3D MINE STORM. I also picked up 2 other 3D games: NARROW ESCAPE and CRAZY COASTER. I'll review these as well. First, lets discuss the imager itself. There are two aspects in the imager to consider. Its ability to produce color and its 3D effect. Both are EXCELLENT! The colored vectors work better than I expected. The images look like pieces of colored plastic, or like neon signs. Vectors joined to other vectors (at the end points) are somewhat brighter, providing an illusion that there is a bead of "glue" holding them together. The effect is very pleasing. There is a color wheel that comes with each 3D game, 50% of which is opaque. The wheel spins quickly (and quietly) inside the imager. A small index whole in the color wheel apparently sends a pulse to the main Vectrex unit which maintains the wheels speed and synchronization with the vector display. The shades of color you see depend on the colors used in the transparent 50% of the wheel. 3D MINE STORM uses green for the mines and blue for just about everything else (boring). NARROW ESCAPE and CRAZY COASTER came with an equally proportioned red/green/blue wheel and its colors were brighter and more interesting. I also noticed the use of composite colors in NARROW ESCAPE (e.g. yellows, oranges, and light blues created through additive combinations). For those of you who have been studying the picture of the 3D imager, the color wheel is inserted from the bottom through a slot. A button is pressed to disengage the wheel spindle-lock mechanism for color-wheel removal and insertion. It seems to work pretty well for me. I suspect that young children might have a problem with it though. The protrusion that looks like a nose piece in the pictures is actually the motor compartment. Unfortunately it sits (you guessed it) right on your nose. So after a 3 hour session you walk away looking like Rudolf the raindeer. Luckily, you can eliminate this problem by adding a little more padding around the head rest. The 3D effect takes some getting use to. The first time you see it you might see doubles. I found that sitting about 4 feet away helped me focus my eyes the first few times. When your eyes finally get the hang of it you can start moving closer. WOW, you're no longer playing the game... your INSIDE IT. The effect is so fantastic I don't think I can describe it. Its really beautiful. So lets talk about the games... 3D NARROW ESCAPE ----------------------------------------------------- Let me say this. If I knew the Vectrex could display 3D color graphics like this game, I would have been willing to pay several hundred dollars more for it. Thats right!! I've never experienced anything like this before. I think 3D NARROW ESCAPE it is the neatest video game I have ever played in my life (including coin-ops)! Your orange space ship (a couple of inches BENEATH the screen) starts out flying in a trench. The green and blue walls of the trench extend far into the distance and move toward and around you. Your joystick controls your ship's left/right/up/down. Button 4 fires alternately colored red, green, or blue missles at approaching enemy ships which come from afar, pass your ship, and finally disappear when they're about 4 inches OUTSIDE THE SCREEN. After you've destroyed your quota of enemy ships you escape the trench and enter a room filled with brightly light neon squares, each one moving toward you and having a hole in it just large enough TO FIT YOUR SHIP!! Careful steering gets you to faster trench scenarios and finally the dreaded MOTHER SHIP, which shoots 3D photon torpedos at you (super)! Outstanding! Very intense game play which gets progressively harder. I've topped out at about 35,500 points so far. I've got several recommendations. * Play it in the dark. * Play it in an extremely comfortable chair (so your body can FLOAT within the game... I'm serious). * Play it loud (if you haven't installed a phono jack and connected the Vectrex to your stereo yet, now is the time). * Play around with your Vectrex brightness control to get maximum grey scale. I found that the game appeared the most realistic when the farthest items are just barely visible. * Try playing at at various distances (purchase two JOYEX 9 ft. video game extension cables - standard hobbiest gear). The farther away you are the deeper the stereo effect becomes. One other point. The 3D graphics in this game seemed harder (of the games reviewed) for my eyes to focus on. I'd say I played it about 5 hours before I really zero-ed in on it. Some of my friends had no problems at all ( he didn't where glasses, I do. I wonder if this has something to do with it). In any case, don't abandon the quest. With practice your brain finally comprehends all the depth relationships in the game, and you get sucked into one hell of a trip. Enjoy! MINE STORM --------------------------------------------------------------- This game comes packaged with the 3D color imager. Its regular MINE STORM alright, except that now the saucer lays 3 planes of mines. The plane closest to you (to your face) is the one that your ship is on, the other two are further beneath the screen. The mines have a 3D shape now, like spinning pyramids and blades. When you shoot all the mines in your plane, the remaining planes move forward, etc. until all mines are destroyed and... (DUMM dumm dumm dummmmmm) the saucer appears and lays the next level of mines as in the 2D game. At first I was too overwhelmed by 3D NARROW ESCAPE to get into 3D MINE STORM, but later on I started playing and liking it. Its pretty good... not as good as some of their great 2D games (like WEB WARS), but after all, its free. I recommend you play this one about 4 ft from the screen. CRAZY COASTER ------------------------------------------------------------ Sorry to report this but... this game had a bug in it which caused the 3D imager to consistently drop sync with the vector display. This caused the color wheel and motor to come to a gradual stop. I called G.C.E. about this and their technician verified the problem. Its in the ROM folks so I suggest you hold off on this game. I was, at least, encouraged to find that they now have a toll-free number to call for problems, staffed with real technicians there to answer REAL questions. They were even polite! Boy, they've obviously come a long way over this last year. - Don deCourcelle South Plainfield, NJ