wirehead@oxy.edu (David J. Harr) (02/25/91)
Since everyone is interested in the new game OIDS, I thought I might take some time and post a "Review" (really just my impressions of the game). OIDS is a very smooth, very well done animated shoot-em-up arcade style game where you are the pilot of a V-wing fighter who has dedicated his/her life to rescuing the innocent OIDS from the evil beings who have enslaved them. Being evil beings and having a modicum of smarts, they know you are coming and prepare their planets accordingly. There are about a dozen (that I have run into) different types of weapons, ships, and traps that they have prepared. You fly around, blow up the buildings where the OIDS are being held, gather them up, and get points. That is the background. Now, my thoughts: THE GOOD: This game sets new standards for smooth animation, seamless graphics and good sound. On a 13" Apple RGB monitor in 256 color mode, there is no detectable slow-down in the game play no matter what you do. The game seems to be happy running an just about any configuration of Macintosh from a Mac Plus to a Mac II w/ a 21" screen. The game adapts itself to the size of the monitor by showing the player more of the playing field. I would reccomend not playing the game on anything larger than 13" monitor, however. On my 21" there is a noticeable slowdown in the speed of the game, and it becomes more difficult to play. THE BAD: While the game makes provision for use of a joystick, there is no provision for play with a mouse. At certain times, it becomes neccesary to thrust, use your shields, rotate your craft, and fire, all at the same time. I find it impossible to remember the keys for all of these maneuvers in a crunch, and so I usually die. I would much prefer if the movement of the mouse would control rotation of the V-Wing fighter, a press of the mouse button would fire the weapons, and then you could use the keys for the other controls of the craft. At the very least, this should be a user-selectable option. Also, OIDS is copy protected :-(. I find this objectionable enought that I am still considering returning the game to the place where I bought it. I don't want FTL starting a new round of copy-protection schemes among games manufacturers. I'm very ambivalent about the game on this point. I like it, but I feel like telling my friends to call FTL and explain to them that they would buy the game, but thye object to copy protection and so they won't. The UGLY: This directory structure and buttons for the game looks like they were taken from a cheap CGA clone of an inferior version of MS Windows. The fonts used are blocky and ugly, and they are colored an unhealthy shade of blue. When you actually select the file you want to play, the unhealthy blue changes to an unhealthy green. Come on folks, you had some preetty spiffy programming go into the animation, is it really that hard to get someone to put up a real dialog box? Anyway, there you have some of my impressions of OIDS after having wasted 20 or so hours on it in the last week. I hope this helps some people. I'm sure it will generate some controversy... David
robg@Apple.COM (Rob Griffiths) (02/25/91)
In article 3270, wirehead@oxy.edu (David J. Harr) offers his insights on
OIDS...I agree with most of his points, but would like to add my own $0.02...
First, the copy protection issue. Yea, I don't like it. BUT it's easily
removed (legally, too!) by simply mailing in your registration card. Once
this is done, they send you a "copy-option" code which will (supposedly, I
haven't gotten mine yet!) remove the copy protection. You can then play
from the hard disk without the floppy in the drive. Incidentally, this is
about the least painless (in my opinion) method of copy protection -- no
code wheel, no dark-burgundy colored text to read, no protected files on
the hard disk -- just insert the floppy, and you're set.
On the issue of joystick/mouse/keyboard controls, I also found the default
keys difficult to use. But the authors have (very nicely!) implemented a
keyboard customization routine. You can choose the keys you want to use.
I found it much simpler to change to a Continuum-like setup:
Z = turn left; X = turn right; C = recharge shields; / = thrust; . = fire;
, = fire atomic bomb (or somesuch mega-weapon); <space> = shields on
Using these key selections, it's relatively easy to "thrust, use your shields
rotate you craft, and fire, all at the same time." Also, using a mouse would
be >>very<< difficult -- there are caverns and passages that require very
small changes in the angle and thrust of the ship -- this would be hard to
do well, if rotation was done via mouse in one hand, and thrust on the
keyboard. I'll stick to the keyboard, thank you!
Finally, the colors ... yea, they're a little bit odd. But you only have to
look at them for about 5 seconds per game. Big deal. At least they're
colored -- a black and white dialog box would look somewhat out of place.
I realize they're probably not in compliance with Apple's Human Interface
Guidelines. Maybe version 2.0 will be different...
In summary, this is by far the smoothest arcade-style game yet for the Mac (at
least that I've had the chance to see). It combines elements of Choplifter,
Defender, Gravitar, Asteroids, and who knows what else. Fairly difficult, but
very addictive...
-rob.
-----------------
Of course these are my opinions...You think my employer would trust me to
speak for them? No way!
-----------------dawg6844@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (<blank>) (02/26/91)
I'd just like to get my two cents in here, and give Oids a big thumbs up. Yes, the copy-protection is a pain, but as the next response also says, this is about as painless as you can get. (and my registration card was mailed today, so soon it won't be copy-protected at all) As for using the mouse: you're nuts. I also changed my key setup to a continuum-like setup, and find it quite easy to do any number of things simultaneously. Have you ever played 'Lunar Rescue'? It uses the mouse and the keyboard to let you thrust and fire in different directions, and is EXTREMELY difficult to get the hang of. I think there are too many delicate situations in Oids to use a clumsy mouse as a guidance control. Oids is far and away the best arcade mac game I've ever played. (and you should see my game folder) The level editor is almost as much fun as the game, too. :) PLEASE people, BUY this game, don't copy it. We want to encourage programming of this caliber. Dan Walkowski Univ. of Illinois, Dept. of Comp. Sci. walkowsk@cs.uiuc.edu
tempest@ecstucsuchico.edu (Kenneth K.F. Lui) (02/26/91)
In article <148370@tiger.oxy.edu> wirehead@oxy.edu (David J. Harr) writes: > Also, OIDS is copy protected :-(. I > find this objectionable enought that I am still considering > returning the game to the place where I bought it. I don't want > FTL starting a new round of copy-protection schemes among games > manufacturers. I'm very ambivalent about the game on this point. > I like it, but I feel like telling my friends to call FTL and > explain to them that they would buy the game, but thye object > to copy protection and so they won't. Look again. When you register the game, you're given a code that permits the game to be unprotected (i.e. you're able to copy the game onto a floppy or hard disk without it asking you for the original disk). What's so difficult about sending in the registration card?? I think this policy is very acceptable, especially for a game of this caliber. Ken ______________________________________________________________________________ tempest@ecst.csuchico.edu, tempest@walleye.ecst.csuchico.edu,|Kenneth K.F. Lui| tempest@sutro.sfsu.edu, tempest@wet.UUCP |________________|
mohr@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Gordon Mohr) (02/26/91)
In article <148370@tiger.oxy.edu> wirehead@oxy.edu (David J. Harr) writes: > >THE GOOD: This game sets new standards for smooth animation, seamless > graphics and good sound. Certainly. The animation and graphics are excellent, even on my 9" SE screen. The sounds are good, but not "wow" like when you first play Crystal Quest. I feel I might be at a disadvantage playing on a small screen; being able to see at a greater distance would be a great help. It doesn't hurt my enjoyment though. Truly amazing is the precision of the collision detection. In this game, a pixel can make a difference whether you live or die. Usually in such games, you occasionally die even when the screen seems to show a narrow escape. Yet OIDS seems amazingly consistent and accurate; no losses can be attributed to game sloppiness. > >THE BAD: While the game makes provision for use of a joystick, there is > no provision for play with a mouse. At certain times, it becomes > neccesary to thrust, use your shields, rotate your craft, and > fire, all at the same time. I find it impossible to remember the > keys for all of these maneuvers in a crunch, and so I usually die. I don't think mouse control would work in this game. Those in which it does (Crystal Quest, Armor Alley, Dark Castle) are unique. Even arcade games which have similar ships (Asteroids, Lunar Lander, etc.) use buttons, not joysticks, to get the necessary level of control. Also, you can design your own key set and become EXTREMELY proficient after suitable practice.(the keys I prefer: 'a' thrust, 'z' fire, ';' and ''' rotate, [CR] nova bomb, [space] shield, [shift] recharge) My only complaint, and I don't know if it's OIDS' fault or my ADB keyboard, is that you can only do 2 (or 3?) keys at once. Sometimes you want to thrust, fire, shield, and rotate all at once... > Also, OIDS is copy protected :-(. I > find this objectionable enought that I am still considering > returning the game to the place where I bought it. I don't want > FTL starting a new round of copy-protection schemes among games > manufacturers. I'm very ambivalent about the game on this point. > I like it, but I feel like telling my friends to call FTL and > explain to them that they would buy the game, but thye object > to copy protection and so they won't. Silly objection. As others have also pointed out, the copy-protection is removed when you register. > >The UGLY: This directory structure and buttons for the game looks like they > were taken from a cheap CGA clone of an inferior version of MS > Windows. The fonts used are blocky and ugly, and they are colored > an unhealthy shade of blue. When you actually select the file you > want to play, the unhealthy blue changes to an unhealthy green. > Come on folks, you had some preetty spiffy programming go into the > animation, is it really that hard to get someone to put up a real > dialog box? I was at first worried about its cludgy, CGA appearance of the menu, fearing it was a cheapo port (can you say "StarFlight" or "AutoDuel"?) BUT, it turns out that the selection screen works just like a standard file dialog box with a somewhat different layout. While the appearance and font are non-standard, they fit well with the general flavor of the program (as a self-contained arcade game) and cause no problems. I haven't yet played with the editor, so I can't comment on it. The game combines elements of Lunar Lander, Defender, Choplifter, and Continuum. I highly recommend it to people who like this type of game. But don't take a chance; see and play the demo first. It's an accurate representation of tha game (though the computer flies the ship better than most people ever can...) > >David Gordon Mohr mohr@cory.berkeley.edu
craparotta@craparotta.enet.dec.com (Joe Craparotta) (02/26/91)
In article <49605@apple.Apple.COM>, robg@Apple.COM (Rob Griffiths) writes... > >In article 3270, wirehead@oxy.edu (David J. Harr) offers his insights on >OIDS...I agree with most of his points, but would like to add my own $0.02... > >First, the copy protection issue. Yea, I don't like it. BUT it's easily >removed (legally, too!) by simply mailing in your registration card. Once >this is done, they send you a "copy-option" code which will (supposedly, I >haven't gotten mine yet!) remove the copy protection. You can then play >from the hard disk without the floppy in the drive. Incidentally, this is >about the least painless (in my opinion) method of copy protection -- no >code wheel, no dark-burgundy colored text to read, no protected files on >the hard disk -- just insert the floppy, and you're set. I also bought OIDS and love the game. One of the best I've seen on a Mac so far.. I don't remember having to keep my master disk in the drive though when playing from my HD... I gotta check that out... I also sent in for the copy code and agree that it is the less instrusive on you.. Unless your disk takes a DIVE before you get a chance to copy it :-(... Now all I need is LODERUNNER (COLOR) for my CI and my son will never get on the Mac...:-)) Joe Craparotta Craparotta@level.dec.com --or-- ...!decwrl!level.dec.com!craparotta --or-- craparotta%level.dec@decwrl.dec.com discalimer: The above are my Personal views and do NOT represent those of my EMPLOYER.. They don't listen to me anyway.. :-))