benw (11/11/82)
Review of "Carnival" for ColecoVision: Carnival is a virtual reproduction of the Sega "shooting gallery" arcade game. The setting is a carnival shooting gallery, with targets moving across the screen horizontally and your gun moving horizontally across the bottom the the screen, space invaders style. Additionally, there is a wheel with pipes at the top of the screen, as well as other special targets that flash on and off during the game. The object, of course, is to shoot as many targets as possible, but you only have a limited supply of ammunition. Some of the targets (ducks) come alive upon reaching the bottom of the three target rows, and, if not destroyed, start eating your remaining ammunition. There are many more strategic elements to this game than meets the eye. The scoring rules are somewhat complicated (e.g. hitting two of the same colored pipes consecutively quadruples the values for those pipes) and this makes it more than a simple space invaders clone. If the basic screen is cleared, a special "bear screen" appears, in which a bear (with a target on it, of course) ambles across the screen. If you hit it, it stands up, roars, and changes direction, only moving faster. Once it leaves the screen, the basic board returns (harder). After that, you get a screen with 2 bears, then 3, etc. The visuals, as I said, are a duplicate of the arcade game, and the sound is superb. Strains of carnival music play throughout the game (in 3 part harmony, no less) and the metallic clank when you hit a target is uncanny. The game is certainly easy enough for children (at level 1), but trying to get a high score will have adults playing for hours. A+ again. Our vision is your vision, Ben Weber (pyuxjj!benw)