[comp.sys.mac.games] RoboSport - First Impressions

ack@wings.dartmouth.edu (Andy J. Williams) (05/22/91)

Well, I caved in and bought my copy.

First: It is an amazing game and I am impressed.

However, I was SHOCKED at the shoddiness! First: The floppies in the box
were covered with some white dust (gee...) and one of the floppies
had the metal gate half ripped off. Great. Well, the disk worked anyway.
When I first ran it, it said that I had to enter the symbols as they appear
on ... that's it. It didn't say anything else. No page number. I had to
go in with ResEdit and widen the text field in that dialog to make the
page number appear.

But after those first few angst-ridden minutes I got it to work and
I love it! The game is fun to play and a nice strategy game. I have
a feeling I am going to be here late tonight playing it.

I think one of the best things about Maxis (and Delta Tao too for that
matter) is the sense of humor of the company. The game is amusing as
well as well done. During the finale when you are being scored the sounds
of battle wafting over the wall behind the scoreboard is hysterical.

All in all, a very good game. (That's after about 1 hour of playing and
reading the manual)

-A

--
Andy J. Williams       ack@wings.dartmouth.edu       echo "Hello."
Consultant Guy         AOL:AndyJW                    setenv NAME 'Inigo Montoya'
Kiewit Computation     603-646-3417 (w)              user>kill -9 my ppid
Dartmouth College                                    Prepare to vi.

fq4@expert.cc.purdue.edu (Robert S. Unoki) (05/22/91)

In article <1991May21.205753.18015@dartvax.dartmouth.edu> ack@wings.dartmouth.edu (Andy J. Williams) writes:
>However, I was SHOCKED at the shoddiness! First: The floppies in the box
>were covered with some white dust (gee...) and one of the floppies
>had the metal gate half ripped off.
>When I first ran it, it said that I had to enter the symbols as they appear
>on ... that's it. It didn't say anything else. No page number. I had to
>go in with ResEdit ...

I feel pretty lucky!  I had no such problems with my copy.  Who did you
order from?  Maybe you can talk to them about getting a replacement copy.
Having reliable masters is always a plus.  Besides, you paid for it so you
deserve good media.

rob
-- 

Robert S. Unoki
unokirs@mentor.cc.purdue.edu
(standard disclaimer, please)

mcginnis-john@cs.yale.edu (John Mcginnis) (05/23/91)

In article <12618@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> fq4@expert.cc.purdue.edu (Robert S. Unoki) writes:
>In article <1991May21.205753.18015@dartvax.dartmouth.edu> ack@wings.dartmouth.edu (Andy J. Williams) writes:
>>However, I was SHOCKED at the shoddiness! First: The floppies in the box
>>were covered with some white dust (gee...) and one of the floppies
>>had the metal gate half ripped off.
>>When I first ran it, it said that I had to enter the symbols as they appear
>>on ... that's it. It didn't say anything else. No page number. I had to
>>go in with ResEdit ...
>
>I feel pretty lucky!  I had no such problems with my copy.  Who did you
>order from?  Maybe you can talk to them about getting a replacement copy.
>Having reliable masters is always a plus.  Besides, you paid for it so you
>deserve good media.

I had a problem like this running a System 7 beta, but under 6.0.4 on my SE/30
and 6.0.7 under my roommate's si I did not have this problem.

As to the screwed up disks, mine were fine.  I'd give Maxis a call, as the
disks should be warrantied against defects, and those sure sound defective.



-- 
mcginnis-john@cs.yale.edu
jray@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu
john_mcginnis@yccatsmtp.ycc.yale.edu

ric@netcom.COM (Richard Bretscheider) (05/23/91)

ack@wings.dartmouth.edu (Andy J. Williams) writes:

>Well, I caved in and bought my copy.

>First: It is an amazing game and I am impressed.

>However, I was SHOCKED at the shoddiness! First: The floppies in the box
>were covered with some white dust (gee...) and one of the floppies
>had the metal gate half ripped off. Great. Well, the disk worked anyway.
>When I first ran it, it said that I had to enter the symbols as they appear
>on ... that's it. It didn't say anything else. No page number. I had to
>go in with ResEdit and widen the text field in that dialog to make the
>page number appear.

This is a bug in RoboSport under System 7.  When I called Maxis, they
admitted it to me, but didn't suggest your simple work around.  Thanks.

>But after those first few angst-ridden minutes I got it to work and
>I love it! The game is fun to play and a nice strategy game. I have
>a feeling I am going to be here late tonight playing it.

And tomorrow night, and morning, and calling in sick to work....

>I think one of the best things about Maxis (and Delta Tao too for that
>matter) is the sense of humor of the company. The game is amusing as
>well as well done. During the finale when you are being scored the sounds
>of battle wafting over the wall behind the scoreboard is hysterical.

I'd go with you on Delta Tao, they're genuinely fun people.  However
I got burned by buying the first version of Sim City by a guy who 
explained that they were going along on a shoestring, so that's why
the Plus version didn't work on a Plus and was so heavily copy 
protected.  I bought another version, expecting it to be copy pro
free (as was the Mac II version) and was told that people who bought
IIs didn't pirate software, but at least this keydisk version wouldn't
crash my Plus.  Lately, they've gotten a new non-cp version that runs
on a plus (cp is manual lookup type) but they want more bucks for this
one and it isn't happy with System 7.  (I think I've spent around 
$80 on my Sim City by now.  Bitter?  A tad.

Delta Tao however sold me Spaceward Ho directly.  They've upgraded me
twice for nothing.  Are always friendly on the phone and freely 
discuss bugs.  _They_ are developers in "the Macintosh Way."

Yeah, we return you to your normally scheduled network...sorry about
the flying spittle.

-- 

"If you're not going to kill me, I've got things to do."
Ric Bretschneider
apple!netcom!ric
BWAH-Ha-ha!