[comp.sys.amiga] Blood Money Hints?

baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) (11/10/89)

Anyone have any hints for the game "Blood Money"? Great graphics, but
hard to stay alive.


 Ron Baalke                       |    baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov 
 Jet Propulsion Lab  M/S 301-355  |    baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov 
 4800 Oak Grove Dr.               |
 Pasadena, CA 91109               |

pg0p+@andrew.cmu.edu (Peter Cranston Green) (11/10/89)

Don't play.

No, really -- I've killed the first guardian and could kill the second
if I just got around to it.  Don't know about three or four, though. 
Three looks doable, provided you want to spend the time going through 2
to get there (I think 2 is easier than 1) What little I've seen of level
four is kind of impossible.

Actually, I don't know what one of the things you can buy does.  It
looks like a rocket with a lot of thrust coming from it.  (it's not the
one that makes you go faster).

I do have a few tips, sort of.  On the first level, don't waste your
money on bombs.  Save it for when you die, so that you can get triple
fire power again.  In fact, bombs are a liability on this board, because
they rotate the swirly-things uncontrollably.  Hopefully, you've played
the game enough to know what I'm talking about.  If you manage to get to
the first guardian without triple shots, just kill yourself.  It's
easier.

Seems to me that the solution to winning is:  only spend money on extra
guys and long-range triple firepower.  Also, play again and again. 
(hey, good advice!)  This is one of those pattern games.  The trick is
to get good enough at destruction to be able to be aggressive in cash
collecting.  This is what will enable you to take the sting out of dying.

If it comes across like I haven't said much, you're right.  The game is
very frusturating, and I would put it aside for something better.  The
game is no fun when you keep dying.  And when you finally do get a good
game going, you're to worried about making a mistake to enjoy it.

Seriously, if anyone has won level 4 tell me!


Thanx.

Peter C. Green
pg0p@andrew.cmu.edu

garrow@pawl.rpi.edu (John M. Redford) (11/10/89)

I played the game for a short while, and have decided to take a break from it
but while i was playing I solved the first level. It is possible to get through
it with no deaths at all. I bought back,up,&down fire power first, then
nothing for a while, then longrange & then bombs 1 through 4. I dont reccomend
the 'speedup' item because it just causes one to over control. the 'other'
little rocket-on-ship icon heals you. if you look near the middle of the status
bar on the bottom you will find your 'hit points' scales.. healing is better
than buying lives, because if you dont die, you dont lose firepower. I have not solved level two, but I am confidant I can. Level three is the prettiest for 
graphics i think.. Four is very hard. (nuf said).

buffa@bikini.inria.fr (Michel Buffa) (11/13/89)

I've mastered the two first levels of Blood Money. (the 2nd is much
easier and nicer than the 1st one)
It's a shame that it's impossible to play levels 3 and 4 without
completing level 2. Team playing is
great, but only if both players are very good in the single game.

  Blood Money is one of the greatest shoot-them-up ever made on the
amiga, and to the ones who claim
that it's too difficult, I'd just give this advise: "Play and play again
!". I've been playing BM for
six months now, and i'm just getting bored now because I know levels 1
and 3 by heart and can't go
further than the 4 first screens of level 3.

PS: Does anybody have discovered a patch to start level 3 or 4 without
passing through level 2 ?

usenet@cps3xx.UUCP (Usenet file owner) (11/13/89)

From article <UZKWaKm00Uht49mkwy@andrew.cmu.edu>, by pg0p+@andrew.cmu.edu (Peter Cranston Green):

> Three looks doable, provided you want to spend the time going through 2
  
  Yes, three is not that bad, but two is the easiest (IMHO).  But if you 
were like me you are still wondering how long the first level is...

> the game enough to know what I'm talking about.  If you manage to get to
> the first guardian without triple shots, just kill yourself.  It's
> easier.

  Kill yourself, I don't get it, I think it will do that for you,  if at
all possible before this part (and most of stuff before it) BUY the long
range missles it will help a lot.

> four is kind of impossible.

  I tend to agree with this, four has the biggest ship, and the most stuff
  to navigate around, with stuff that homes in on you, really too tough.

> Actually, I don't know what one of the things you can buy does.  It
> looks like a rocket with a lot of thrust coming from it.  (it's not the
> one that makes you go faster).

  This relates to one of the neatest features in the game, I didn't 
realize what was happening at first, but maybe you noticed that sometimes
you could have a 'close call' and other times you couldn't or that whenever
you ran directly into something the game made kind of a funny noise then 
you exploded.  Well this is what I called the "close call" meter before, but
now I just call it a replenishable shield. You see, each fraction of a second
that you are in contact with an alien it takes off one unit of this meter, I
believe it starts somewhere around 6 tall.  This meter is located in the 
middle of the status area. I had to adjust my screen (vertical position) 
to see it good.  If you just had a few close calls, but didn't die
you can restore your shields by buying the ship (with lots of thrust), the
manual eluded to this fact by mentioning that it could prolong your life, but
really didn't come right out and say what it did.
   I use this option a lot, then you don't lose lives as much and you keep
your weapons.  Also I usually only bought triple (or double if I didn't 
have the money) shots (maybe a life of two) when I went shopping.

Some other hints:  Learn where the stuff is going to go on the screen, 
then you can play duck and weave, all the while firing (oh yeah, get a good
joystick too).  This is just a pattern game, so all it takes is a little
time to learn what comes out when, you just have to memorize the wheres and
whens.  If a particular part seems ridiculously difficult to you and it seems
random when you make it through it, either you are not playing the pattern 
right, or you are being TOO agressive.  I have found a pattern to kill most
of the stuff on the screen at any one time, and collect a lot of the falling
coins (another feature that I like a lot).  And don't worry too much about
that missed 10er because it'll cost 250 to get the ship back.

> Seriously, if anyone has won level 4 tell me!

Nope. Not yet, I really don't think I will either.


-Brett