spierce@pnet01.cts.com (Stuart Pierce) (07/06/90)
I'm itching to buy a new Amiga game, and I've seen several recently that look interesting: Spherical, The Plague, Escape From the Planet of the Robot Monsters, Klax, and Treasure Trap. Any reviews of these games (and any other new games) would be appreciated. Stuart Pierce
mofo@bucsf.bu.edu (jason greene) (07/07/90)
Escape From The Planet Of The Robot Monsters is not too bad of a game, but gets very tiring. I played it until completion in the arcade, just "because it was there." but on the amiga, as arcade-action games go, you can do a lot bettter. It is fun, but the humor and novelty dies after the first two levels, although it does resurface on the last two levels (at least in the arcade, i don't know how much of the game was translated), where the graphics represented a kind of power plant... also, the end-of-stage rounds (when you fought the BIG robot-monsters) were even in the arcade, boring, long, and only a matter of discovering just where to sit.
buffa@sardaigne.inria.fr (Michel Buffa) (07/09/90)
In article <3416@crash.cts.com>, spierce@pnet01.cts.com (Stuart Pierce) writes: > I'm itching to buy a new Amiga game, and I've seen several recently that look > interesting: Spherical, The Plague, Escape From the Planet of the Robot > Monsters, Klax, and Treasure Trap. > Any reviews of these games (and any other new games) would be appreciated. > > Stuart Pierce Spherical: very funny, very addictive. Two players can play at the same time, in team. Good game. Very nuch like emerald mine in the spirit. The Plague: don't see this one yet, but it's written by the authors of Battle Squadron. It's certainly a fantastic arcade game. I'll buy it anyway. I'm sure it's a top. Escape from the planet of robot monsters: nice game, but not addictive. Too hard after a few levels. Treasure trap: nice game. Doesn't seem very deep. Buy the PLague and Spherical. If you are looking for new games: buy TURRICAN (terrific arcade game), and buy EXTASE (fantastic reflexion game. As original as sentinel). ------------------------------------------ Michel Buffa: Projet Robotvis, INRIA, France Internet: buffa@sardaigne.inria.fr Surface Mail: Michel BUFFA, INRIA - Sophia Antipolis, 2004, route des Lucioles, 06565 Valbonne Cedex -- FRANCE Voice phone: (33) 93.65.78.39, Fax: (33) 93 65 77 65 ------------------------------------------
maffett@netcom.UUCP (Tim Maffett) (07/10/90)
In article <3416@crash.cts.com> spierce@pnet01.cts.com (Stuart Pierce) writes: >I'm itching to buy a new Amiga game, and I've seen several recently that look >interesting: Spherical, The Plague, Escape From the Planet of the Robot >Monsters, Klax, and Treasure Trap. >Any reviews of these games (and any other new games) would be appreciated. > >Stuart Pierce The best game out (IMHO) is Turrican, I heard about it here by chance, and I must say it is one of the all time great amiga games. It is similar to The Plague, same company, but its is much more playable, the screen update is unbelievable. I tried Escape.... but found it to be not that great, I liked the arcade version, but this is only so-so. Klax is an alright port of the arcade version, if you like the arcade version you will probably like the ami version. I also tried Treasure Trap, and it has good graphics and is pretty good, can't remember why I didn't buy it.... tim
tensi@lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de (Thomas Tensi) (07/10/90)
Klax Review
-----------
Game idea:
----------
In front of you you have a big assembly line coming in from the horizon,
which is divided into 5 subtracks. On each of the subtracks numerous square
blocks in several colours and with random space between them move towards
the front end (which is facing you).
They would finally fall off but you have a movable paddle to catch them
before they fall. As soon as you have caught a block (or several; you can
stack them on the paddle) you can drop it on one of five adjacent block
piles with limited capacity. Now similarly to tetris blocks stored there are
removed if you happen to make a row, column or diagonal consisting of at
least three blocks of the same colour. The blocks above move down to fill
the empty slots.
Each level gives a certain task to be performed: e.g. do 5 diagonals or
survive 40 blocks and so on.
The game terminates either if a certain number of blocks fell off without
getting caught or all the block piles are full.
Opinion:
--------
Nice game, but I don't find it too addicting. I'm angry that it's long-track
copy-protected (I could live with that), but they didn't put the high score
table in a separate file and thus it can't be cleared easily (at least they
don't tell in the instructions... or would you fiddle around with a sector
editor on your only copy??). The graphics is ok but sometimes I have some
problems to distinguish the blocks on the paddle.
Joystick, keyboard, but no mouse support. Nice sound.
I bought it for a party but as soon as your game is over, the score vanishes
quickly. Considering the high score table problem how do you find out who
won the competition (I scored ... ooops, it's gone! ... damn)?
And by the way: if they support a keyboard why don't they allow to type in
the name with it when you enter the high score table? Stepping through the
alphabet with a single key is fine for arcade machines but not for computers
with at least 27 keys left...
Recommended, but I'm not too enthusiastic about it.
Thomas Tensi
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thomas Tensi, Institut fuer Informatik, Technische Univ. Muenchen,
Arcisstr. 21, 8000 Muenchen 2, West Germany
| E-Mail:
| tensi@lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de (X.400)
| tensi%lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de@relay.cs.net (arpa/csnet)
| tensi%lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de@unido.uucp (uucp)
| tensi%lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de@ddoinf6.bitnet (bitnet)ins624y@monu3.cc.monash.edu.au (mr r. walker) (07/13/90)
In article <3416@crash.cts.com> spierce@pnet01.cts.com (Stuart Pierce) writes: >I'm itching to buy a new Amiga game, and I've seen several recently that look >interesting: Spherical, The Plague, Escape From the Planet of the Robot >Monsters, Klax, and Treasure Trap. >Any reviews of these games (and any other new games) would be appreciated. Well, I recently purchased a copy of Treasure Trap. It is a professionally executed product (ie. not a dog like Pacland (== direct IBM port) or Flying Shark (==direct ST port==no blitter use==no quick, smooth scrolling). Basically, you wonder through the rooms of a sunken ship, collecting gold bars and oxygen cylinders (to stay alive), avoiding resident nasties like magnetic mines, jellyfish etc etc. The game is well worth buying --- has a nifty "boppy" rap soundtrack and is hard to fault, except for: (1) the palette used seems rather limited (ie. not many colours on screen) (2) seems extrodinarily fond of keyboard control, but this works well. I am not saying this is a ***GREAT*** same (like Dragon's Breath, Xenon II, X Out), but it still is very playable --- you do not feel "ripped off" after slapping down your sheckels on the counter. But it has I ****OUTSTANDING***** feature: I have a 1 meg A500. When booting, the game told me something like "0.5 MB Extra Ram Detected --- Building Ram Disk". Then, when the game has loaded, it executes ENTIRELY from Ram (ie no slow, aggravating drive access), unless you want to save the highscores (you are prompted for this). It this a sign of things to come???? Bretheren, Amigans, Comrades, let us bow our heads in devout prayer... PS. If you want an INCREDIBLE RPG and have >=1MB, try Amiga Moria 3.0 (Fish Disk 194[?]) --- I've played for literally HUNDREDS of hours. Better (much) than Hack, Larn etc (but maybe not Omega 1.3)
buffa@delos.inria.fr (Michel Buffa) (08/08/90)
I tested several new games these recent days:
THE PLAGUE: wonderful graphics and animation, gigantic sprites, a
kind of 'Sword of Sodan' game. Nice music too. Playability 0. I
played for one hour and couldn't reach the second level. Very
frustrating. This game hasn't been tested at all. Impossible to
play ! Very frustrating. Don't buy !
FLOOD: The last game by the guys who made populous. It's an
arcade-type game. You play a small animal who can walk everywhere
(even on the ceiling). It's very hard to describe (English is not
my native language), but it's VERY VERY VERY GOOD. Very playable
and enjoyable. I discovered a new thing each time I managed to
go to the next level, new weapons, new secret doors, new
strategy. This game is the most enjoyable I played these last
months, with TURRICAN. The animation is ok (not as good as in
TURRICAN, but it doesn't matter, the game is really good like
that), the music is nice. In some level there are hidden
passwords, so later on when you'll die, you will be able to
start at the last level you reached. GREAT GAME YEAH !
UNREAL: A french game by UBI SOFT, and one hell of a game ! It's
like a playable Shadow of the beast. Fantastic graphics and
animation, with 3D and 3D parts. The 3D parts are the best one
I've ever seen (If after Burner or Space Harrier used such
animation techniques, they certainly had been better). The 2D
phases uses differential scrollings with 32 colours for the
background and 64 for the foreground. The scrolling, the music
and the animation are perfect. Playability is very good too, but
the game is not for beginners. Thought it's difficult, you can
progress easily as there is a training mode and a lot of tricks
I discovered. It's a barbarian-like game, but it's not a stubid
Beat'em'up game. Example: at one moment there is a bridge on
fire; go back one screen, put your sword in the river, come back
to the edge, touch the bridge with your magic sword and pour
water on the fire (You must use the four basic elements: you are
a magician and you've got a magic sword that can throw water,
fire, ...) VERY GOOD GAME. VERY WELL DONE, VERY PLAYABLE (but
not as funny and addictive as FLOOD)
WINGS OF FURY: The last game by BRODERBRUND (a very good
company, remember Typhoon Thomson, Lode Runner,...). It's an
arcade flight simulator during the second World War. You control
an airplane. It's a very neat game, very playable and very
enjoyable. You must perform several missions like destroying DCA
and invade Japanese Islands. All the game is in 2D. The screen
scrolls in both direction and there are different scale views
depending on the altitude you are flying. Very good animation,
sound effects and playability. A very GOOD GAME !!!!!
--
------------------------------------------
Michel Buffa: Projet Robotvis, INRIA, France
Internet: buffa@sardaigne.inria.fr
Surface Mail: Michel BUFFA, INRIA - Sophia Antipolis,
2004, route des Lucioles, 06565 Valbonne Cedex -- FRANCE
Voice phone: (33) 93.65.78.39, Fax: (33) 93 65 77 65
------------------------------------------stefanb@cip-s02.informatik.rwth-aachen.de (Stefan Becker) (08/08/90)
buffa@delos.inria.fr (Michel Buffa) writes: [stuff deleted] >WINGS OF FURY: The last game by BRODERBRUND (a very good >company, remember Typhoon Thomson, Lode Runner,...). It's an ^^^^^^^^^^^ When will this come to the Amiga??? Stefan Mail : Stefan Becker, Holsteinstrasse 9, 5100 Aachen, West Germany +-------+ Phone : +49-241-505705 FIDO: 2:242/7.6 +-----------------+ Call| InterNet: stefanb@cip-s02.informatik.rwth-aachen.de |Place free for ad's now!| UUCP : ..mcvax!unido!rwthinf!cip-s02!stefanb +-------------------------+
xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) (08/10/90)
stefanb@cip-s02.informatik.rwth-aachen.de (Stefan Becker) writes: >buffa@delos.inria.fr (Michel Buffa) writes: > >[stuff deleted] > >>WINGS OF FURY: The last game by BRODERBRUND (a very good >>company, remember Typhoon Thomson, Lode Runner,...). It's an > ^^^^^^^^^^^ >When will this come to the Amiga??? It's already there, with better graphics and a couple of bells and whistles, different level layout but the same great puzzle feel and play techniques. Look for Targis, by Incognito Software. Kent, the man from xanth. <xanthian@Zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <xanthian@well.sf.ca.us> -- (Wonder if that was licensed or a look and feel rip off!) (Hey, c.s.a.games is nearly legal; two days to go if all goes well!)
spierce@pnet01.cts.com (Stuart Pierce) (08/14/90)
I've seen Matrix Marauders and Thunderstrike at my dealer today. Does anyone have any comments about these? Thanks, Stuart Pierce
v092mgp5@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Scott K Wood) (10/16/90)
I just picked up the November issue of AmigaWhirled. There are TONS
of ads for news games (especially from Psygnosis). Anyone seen the new
one from Readysoft (it's on the inside of the front cover), or any of
the new Psygnosis games (Killing Game Show, Anarchy etc.)? Any comments
on how they are?
Scottakcs.slippery_jim@tronsbox.xei.com (Mikey) (10/17/90)
Killing game show is an arcade game with good 16 bit graphics. and is highly addictive. (Mikey) Conform or be cast out. - Rush
spierce@pnet01.cts.com (Stuart Pierce) (12/15/90)
Picked up a couple of new games recently. Wrath of the Demon reminds me a lot of Shadow of the Beast. Some data from the manual: size: 600 screens graphics data: 3.5 MB music & sound data: 600 KB music sample rate: 20 KHz # of sound tracks: 9 screen update: 60 times/second # of different monsters: 120 maximum sprite size: 300 x 144 pixels The game comes on 4 disks, one of which contains an introductory animation not unlike the one from SOTB 2. WOTD works perfectly with my accelerator. Graphics are well done, though I like those in SOTB just a tad better. Sounds are similar. Animation is very smooth with 15 levels of parallax scrolling. There are 128 colors on-screen at once. This is not an easy game! Fortunately, you can save a game to disk. I have yet to complete the first level. Chaos Strikes Back, I haven't even booted yet. Stuart W. Pierce