jimmy@uhunix1.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Jimmy Chan) (12/07/90)
Well, since I haven't seen anyone posting about this. Buck Rogers, Countdown to Doomsday has been released for the Amiga. I placed my order last week with Briwall for Buck Rogers since they said it would be in on Monday 12/03 and when I called on Tuesday they had already shipped it to me on Monday and I received it on Wednesday. (Review) The game comes on two disks, included on the disks is an installation program that will allow you to install the game either on your harddrive, ramdrive or on 3 3-1/2" disks. The only copy protection is manual lookup, though if your band of adventurers are all killed and you decide to play again you will have to look up a word in the manual again. Also included in my box was a Buck Rogers in the 25th Century book to help get you settled into the game, it is the first part of a trilogy. (Game Play) If you have played any of SSI's Pool of Radiance, Champions of Krynn, or the newly released Curse of the Azure Bonds (a friend just ordered it from Safe Harbor), the style of game play is just like that. You have to assemble 6 characters which can be chosen from six different races, 4 of which are human types and 2 of which are gennies (genetically engineered): Terrans, Martians, Venusians, Mercurians, Martian Desert Runners, and Tinkers. There are 5 careers/jobs that you can choose for them: Rocketjocks, Warriors, Engineers, Rogues, and Medics. While the standard stats are available to your characters: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma; there is also one extra stat called Tech (Technical Knowhow). The hardest part of creating your character is that there are now skills that each character can attribute skill points to. These skills range from acting to operating or fixing mechanical or electrical appliances. Also allowed within the game is the option to modify your characters stats to match those of the Buck Rogers XXVC role-playing game. Some of the skills that are included are not used in this game but is to be used in any sequels to this game. The combat options are pretty much the same as SSI's AD&D RPGs though some of the options have been renamed making it a little confusing at first but you get used to it real fast. Combat is now mostly shooting your opponents from range since you now have guns, xbows, rifles, pistols, grenades, stunners. There are also melee weapons such as swords, knives, polearms. Another change in the combat is that the nature of NPCs has changed a little. Your party does not include NPCs as you move around in the solar system but as you enter a battle, some NPCs may accompany you into battle and depending on a character's leadership skills they may be able to control NPCs just as regular PCs for the duration of the battle. Battles are resolved very quickly and easily. (end of review) Sorry, I couldn't give a more thorough review since I have only played it for about 2-3 hours, as far as I can tell it is a great game.
cpc@sharkey.uucp (Chris Cebelenski) (12/17/90)
>(Review Deleted) > >...in the solar system but as you enter a battle, some NPCs may accompany you >into battle and depending on a character's leadership skills they may be >able to control NPCs just as regular PCs for the duration of the battle. >Battles are resolved very quickly and easily. > Uh-huh. There are several places where NPC's DO join your party, most notably on Venus, and one place where Buck hisself joins you (A real crack shot, wish he had stayed with us!) Overall a nice game, just a few complaints: 1) How hard could it have been to include a test bit for it NOT to ask you the copy protection questions every single time you reload a saved game?? It should ask the question ONCE and then remember it for the remainder of that session. 2) MUSIC???? You call that MUSIC??? I think TSR & SSI both need hearing aides. Yeesh. We won't even talk about the HUGE assortment of sound effects except to say that I've never heard a robot scream... ever... 3) One BUG I did find... Whilst in the asteroid RAM base, if you get attacked by GENNIE's in a narrow hallway, it is POSSIBLE that they will appear behind a wall and your character can NEVER get to them. (and vice- versa) Thus combat never ends and you have to reboot the machine. REALLY annoying. This is the only place in the game that it has happened to me, let me know if you find more. 4) TOO EASY. I finished the game in less than 12 hours... Since I paid upwards of $40 for this, I would think there should be more to it! Afterall it's not the kind of game you can play over and over again. Once solved, that's it, finida, done. Since the place I bought it from has a 10 day return policy I just packed it up and returned it. (Don't tell them this tho!) But since I'm exceptionally good at this type of game I suppose other people might find it more of a challange. On a scale of 1-10, I give it a 5. At least it multi-tasks and IS amiga friendly. -- ========================================================================== Chris Cebelenski UUCP: portal.com!gdc!aminet!czaeap!cpc The Red Mage Internet: czaeap!cpc@aminet.gdc.portal.com GEnie: C.CEBELENSKI // "Amiga - The way REAL people compute" "Better dead than mellow" \X/ ==========================================================================
jimmy@uhunix1.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Jimmy Chan) (12/19/90)
Okay, after playing for over a week I am ready to post a more complete review of Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday. First of all, this is about the Amiga version of Buck Rogers. Program comes with a hard disk installation program that can also be used to install the game onto a ram disk for those with memory to burn instead of a hard drive. In my version of the game there is included a paperback book that can also be found in bookstores that is the first of a trilogy, I don't know if all games include this book or not because if I remember correctly, a flyer I received from SSI about this game a month or so ago, only special editions would include a book. The game runs fine with other programs, just like many of the RPG games that SSI makes for the Amiga. The only protection on the game is a look up in the manual for a word protection; you will have to find a word in one of two manuals, Rule Book and Log Book. The game comes on two disks. The setting of this game is based in the 25th Century with you and your band of adventurers have to protect Earth and defeat the Russo-American Mercantile (RAM) forces. In this game you travel though the solar system from planet to planet to asteroid field, while fighting off spaceships in your own spaceship or just planet hopping. There are basically three planets that you can visit, Mercury, Venus, and Mars. There is also the asteroid field beyond the orbit of Mars and also spacestations located on moons or asteroids to visit and explore. This game is set up much like many of the previous SSI games based on TSR rules. There are 7 stats that determines the well-being of your characters - strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, charisma, tech. There are experience points that you have to attain to receive level advancement up to level 8. You choose from 6 character races - Terrans, Martians, Venusians, Mercurians, Tinkers, Desert Runners and also if male and female selections. There are five different careers that you can have for your characters - rocketjocks, warriors, engineers, rogues, medics. There are also skills and abilities that you will have to allocate points for your characters when you first create them, as your characters attain levels there are additional points that you allocate to these same skills and abilities or add new skills and abilities. Game play is pretty much the same as SSI's previous AD&D games but with the exception that the setting is now in the future so, your party will be riding around in a spaceship and weapons are now of the 25th century. In combat you have the option of fighting with bladed weapons: knives, swords, polearms for close up fighting, or ranged weapons: guns, crossbows, rifles, stunners and heavy weapons/explosives: grenades, grenade/plasma/rocket launchers. Armor is basically a space suit or some type of battle armor and goggles. Monsters come in the form of genetically engineered monsters who do not have ranged weapons or RAM forces who have deadly ranged weapons to attack you with. There are non-player characters (NPC) who may join you on a planet at times of a battle in which case you may be able to lead these NPCs as one of your own characters or other NPCs that will join your group for a short period when you are exploring in which case you only can have 2 NPCs in your party. I have only encountered two bugs in the game. One bug is not really that bad but the other could hurt in the long run. The first bug is when encountering a group of monsters and I opted for hiding but the monsters found my group, the game put me into a combat area with one room with the monsters on the other side of the wall. I could not get to the monsters nor could the monsters get to me. There was a door leading out of the room but not towards the monsters. To get out of this situation, I killed all my characters and then restarted the game from last save. Later, I thought maybe I should have tried fleeing from the encounter but I could not redo this bug. The second bug is a overflow error with the bank. This bug could hurt as it has to do with the money used for repairing and restocking your spaceship. The number of credits it says I have in the bank is something like ~460 million and if I try to withdraw or transfer money to this account it always says the number is too high, even if I use 0. If I use the deposit option I can deposit credits but the number still remains the same in the account only making me lose credits. I've since found a way around this but as it might be a spoiler I will not post it, but I will reply to email for any that want to know. I highly recommend this game for those that enjoy SSI's previous AD&D series. Also, this game is supposed to be the first of a series. Combat in this game is resolved very fast unless you have to keep changing weapons, like I do. Also in the Amiga version if you hit Alt-q, this will put all your characters into quick mode for an easy combat instead of having to hit q for each character.
karl@prophet.UUCP (Karl-Gunnar Hultland) (06/06/91)
Does anyone have any problems in getting this thing to run?
Sometimes it GURUS (81000009) under 1.3
and it doesn't run in 2.0 at all.
Karl
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Karl Hultland, {rutgers | pyramid | uunet}!cmbvax!cbmehq!cbmswe!prophet!karl
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