tesst4@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Tobish E Smith) (03/05/91)
I also have encountered the flicker problem with OIDS and MaxAppleZoom. I'm also using the Toby video card, so I'd imagine they're doing something like looking for a certain card, and if it's present, making assumptions about the screen size. OIDS does fill the entire MaxAppleZoom area, however... I'm going to call FTL tomorrow and see what they say. Thexder by Sierra is a new arcade game that's out. If pretty nifty, and it's only ~$20, so it's hard to beat. It's in color on Mac IIs... FOUR colors. Guess they did this to improve game speed. The premise is that you're a transformer (robot / plane) flying/walking through a huge enemy fortress. There are 16 levels to the game. The gameplay is very fast and it's pretty addicting. I want to do some work, but right after one more game of Thexder... It allows you to continue from the highest level you've made it to during the current session, but there's no save game feature. That doesn't seem to be _too_ mcuh of a problem, though, since once you figure out the proper attack method for a given area it becomes fairly easy. The skill level is pretty high - it's a tough game. The music and sound is nice, especially the intro. It also plays music throughout the game. There's also a driver for the Roland MT32 sound module, which would be very snazzy, no doubt. As luck would have it, in every Thexder box there's a little slip of paper for ordering the MT32 and Trax software for $500. Actually, the slip of paper says $545, but the Sierra product catalog lists the exact same package for $399. Hmm... Anyway, Thexder's fun. So's OIDS. OIDS is better, but Thexder's cheaper, and easier to find. Tob
ylsul@athena.mit.edu (Young Sul) (03/06/91)
In article <99420@unix.cis.pitt.edu> tesst4@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Tobish E Smith) writes: >Thexder by Sierra is a new arcade game that's out. If pretty nifty, and >it's only ~$20, so it's hard to beat. > >Tob > I had this game for my IBM PS/2 back in 1986-87...looks like they didn't do too much when they ported it over. It _is_ a fun game, but on the PC, the music would get to you after a short while. Its also not really an action game per se. The trick to beating it is to find the correct pattern for each level: you really don't have to do a lot of fancy flying....the downer is that its an infinite game: when you win, there isn't any fanfare, you just go back to level one and do it all over again (winning can take a _long_ time). There's a sequel to Thexder out for the PC now called Silpheed. I only wish they'd adapt more of them for the Mac... Young Sul Project Athena, MIT
wirehead@oxy.edu (David J. Harr) (03/11/91)
In fairness, I should point out that OIDS is a brand new game, while Thexder was finished about two and a half years ago, and Sierra sat on it. The author wasn't very happy about it either. He wishes he could do it over, taking advantage of the new functionality that has been added to the Mac. "My idea of happiness is being famous for your financial ability to indulge in every type of excess...the part I would like best about being famous is crushing the people who got in my way." -- Calvin fnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnordfnord
warden@gradient.cis.upenn.edu (Robert Warden) (03/14/91)
> wirehead@oxy.edu (David J. Harr) writes: >In fairness, I should point out that OIDS is a brand new game, while Thexder >was finished about two and a half years ago, and Sierra sat on it. The Sorry, but Oids has been available on Atari (and Amiga I thing) for over two years now. If you were referrring to its availability on macs then disregard this. ************************************************************* I hate reading .sig 's warden@grad1.cis.upenn.edu *************************************************************