ameiba@reed.UUCP (Keith Steiger) (03/26/91)
All right. I'd like to know what people's favorite Internettable games are.
And, to start things off, I'll list the games I've gotten from the Internet
that have continued to keep my attention.
"ab20" means ab20.larc.nasa.gov (128.155.23.64) in /incoming/amiga
and "Fred Fish ###" is on ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (128.174.5.59) in
/amiga/fish/ff###, among other places.
So, in alphabetical order, here they are:
Ball/MegaBall, from ab20's GAMES directory
Two slightly different versions of a VERY good Arkanoid-like game.
Strange powers falling from the sky, invisible bricks, the best
sound effects I've heard in a PD/Shareware game, and other
strangeness. And if you send him some money, he'll send you the
source to MegaBall and maybe even tell you what the cheat keys are.
Frenzy, which I just put in ab20's GAMES directory
The only PD/Shareware game I have kept around that I didn't see on
the Internet, it's a very strange hack of the Projector's interactive
capabilities. You see, you're suspended above a tub with a shark in
it, and there's blood dripping in, and you have to catch it, but not
the falling anvils, or the fish.... Its plot leaves something to be
desired, but it's a mindless and addictive game.
GravAttack, which is /incoming/amiga/GravAttack.LZH on ab20
An old shooting video game which doesn't quite work right on my A2000
(it goes into interlace mode at inopportune times), it still makes
the list. Every level has fairly unique challenges, primarily due to
the fact that gravity acts differently on every level.
MechForce, from ab20's GAMES directory
The best wargame ever released for the Amiga, public domain or not,
in my opinion. The computer player isn't a genius, but it does have
a fairly good grasp of basic tactics, and it only needs a slight
advantage in numbers to give me a challenge. And the scenarios
allow it to present something other that a mere shoot-'em-up.
MissileCmd, from Fred Fish 444
This is a very smooth version of Missile Command written entirely in
machine language. The smart bombs are a little too smart for me,
and the graphics get a little too fast, but that's part of what makes
it a challenge, isn't it?
Obsess-O-Matic, from Fred Fish 305
This is what I play for a Tetris "clone". There are many others, but
most of them aren't very smooth (including the officially distributed
Tetris for the Amiga), but Obsess-O-Matic is quite nice. And it adds
a couple of new and unusual features (like exploding pieces).
SnakePit, from Fred Fish 343
The concept of a snake going through a maze that grows when it eats
the Pac-Man style pellets has been around for a while. Maybe it's
the ingeniously-designed mazes. Maybe it's the cute graphics. Or
maybe it's just those hypnotic bongo drums that change every time
you eat a pellet.
SolitaireX, from ab20's GAMES directory
The best solitaire card game I've seen yet, it makes the game easier
to play without playing it for you. And it's small enough and well-
behaved enough that I sometimes play it while Handshake and xprzmodem
go at it over the phone line.
SpaceWar, from Fred Fish 420
It requires two players to play at all in this version. But throw it
into a room with five Star Trek fans and stand back. The only
problem is that it's very difficult to kill someone without leaving
yourself open to almost certain death. Learn more about staying in
orbit than you ever wanted to know.
--
Keith Steiger--ameiba@reed.edu, as of fairly recently. It might break.
"I am what you see. Myself.... I cannot be otherwise."
Disclaimer: Reed College tries very hard to ignore its students' opinions. fhwri%CONNCOLL.BITNET@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu (03/27/91)
Also available from ab20 is OMEGA150.LZH, which has been bitched about for
causing crashes. (I did myself last night.) I tried increasing the stack to
150000 (10* what the dox say) and it ran just fine, so that stack of 15000
that is mentioned TWICE in the dox is paobably wrong. I haven't yet tried
running it with a decremented stack; will try that later and post results here.
OMEGA 1.5 is simply amazing; the old UNIX game has been made completely
Amigatized, with hi-res graphics, menus and much more. It's in ab20's
/incoming/amiga area, *NOT* in /incoming/amiga/GAMES.
--Rick Wrigley
fhwri@conncoll.bitnet
~~~second-hand smoke is THEFT~~~