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{subhead} Olofight{def}{p}
Review by Neil Williams
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Olofight is a beat'em-up style game of the old style. It's a 2D fighting
game, where we have the usual playmodes of a loose plot-line based mode,
timed fighting, 2 player verses, survival, and one-off matches against the
computer. This is what you'll probably know of the style from all the other
fighting games around.
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Technically Olofight is quite an achievement. It installs from 10 floppy
disks, taking up about 10MB of disk space. After loading, the intro begins
with some really nice 3D animations showing us each of the characters, of
which there are 10 in total (including 2 hidden characters). Once we get
into the game itself, there are beautiful backdrops animated in apparently
over 3000 colours. The foreground characters do blend in with the background
sometimes, although the characters do tend to look good. We lose the smooth
anti-aliased look of the background in the characters graphics. Between the
background and foreground there are some layers of parallax, and the floor
has proper perspective which is something often missed in an Amiga
beat'em-up. The characters themselves consist of over 400 rendered frames
each, and look good in motion - . When they're not actually in motion (okay,
so that's the pause mode then) they do look even more blocky and stand out
less against the background, something that does sometimes intrude in to the
game occasionally.
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There is a part of the game which looks out of place though: the main menu.
There are some nice touches if you watch closely, but in comparison to the
rest of the game I'm sure something better could have been done. On the same
note, entering the copy protection (manual based) and your name (for the
worldwide highscore system) is a little tricky as it simply won't let you
type fast, ignoring some keys. Maybe it's a problem with my computer, but
nevertheless it's there, although a minor point since it takes just a moment
to get past it.
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But, how does it {italic}play{noitalic}?
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Olofight doesn't play like the various StreetFighter clones, and this takes
some getting use to. One of the features of the game is that distance
matters: a move done precisely and close to your opponent will have more
effect than a move that just grazes your opponent. The problem with this is
that the controls really are not precise, there is `free play' in your
character's movements and sometimes movements don't seem to be registered
(just like that described on the menu). You also have to be careful not to
move into the same space as your opponent - you can't hit them, and unless
you pull off a special move quickly, they will and you're out.
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Each fighter starts with 4 special moves, available in each match, but
you're able to buy more as you progress through the game, and there are 10
unique moves for each character! - although you can still use only 4 per
match. You start off able to use one of each move. Just hold fire and push
up, down, left or right. Not really taxing. The problem is that the computer
can do sometimes as many as 9 each of the special moves, and seems to start
off with energy/defense/aggression just as high. While you can spend a good
few minutes putting the boot in the computer just needs to get a good hit in
two or three times... This is not an easy game to start with. Not at all.
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Questionable too is that this doesn't have a "best of three" system either.
Lose one fight, and that's it: start over.
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Within the game as you play and win more, your character gets stronger and
faster improving your chances as you progress to faster and more difficult
opponents. But that isn't all: The Real Ologram have a database of players
on the InterNet allowing you effectively compete against other, real,
players - your character's strength being upgraded on their server. All you
need do is flick to Workbench (yes, the game 'partially' multitasks - hit
LAmiga-M and the game will pause and return you to the system, giving an
icon on the Workbench to resume the game), connect to the InterNet and let
the game do the rest.
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Conclusion
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The game is technically sound; it'll not shake the earth due to some dodgy
controls, but it will provide hours of gameplay if you can stick to it
despite how hard it is to start with. There are some neat special moves to
find, and timing - an essential part of a fighting game - can be taking well
to your advantage if you can handle the controls.
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Created By     : The Real Ologram, Italy.{p}
                 {link http://www.ologram.com}http://www.ologram.com{end}  ologram@ologram.com{p}
Available from : All Amiga dealers{p}
Requirements   : AGA Amiga, 10MB free disk space,{p}
                 0.7MB free chip RAM, 1.8MB free fast RAM.{p}
Media          : Floppy disk.  Won't run from floppy disk,{p}
                 requires installation.
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Graphics      : 80%{p}
Sound         : 71%{p}
Playability   : 70%{p}
Lastability   : 80%{p}
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Overall       : 75%