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{subhead} T-Zer0{def}{p}
Review by Chris Seward
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T-Zer0 is the new Shoot-'em-Up from the Amiga wizards clickBOOM, for a long
time now people have been eager to get their hands on this game and the
hype surrounding its release was enormous. I am always a little wary when
a game gets so much praise and hype that it will turn out and be a total
flop, this coupled with the fact that we haven't seen a decent shoot-em-up
on the Amiga for a good few years made me a little suspicious about the
release of this new 'wonder' game.
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I have found that all this worry and fear was needed for no reason because
my first impressions of T-Zer0 are "WOW", before even going into the detail of
this game I must honestly say I am impressed by every part of the game
from the gameplay, graphics and music right through to the CD and manual
themselves. clickBOOM have impressed in the past but this is something to
be seen and a tear comes to eye when you realise how the old days where,
except clickBOOM have improved on the old days.
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The way the CD and manual is presented is top quality, all to often with
games these days we see little effort to make nice presentation, and
although its the game that counts it just makes your money more well
spent and something you are proud to look at. The game comes in your usual
CD case with a manual, registration card and the game CD. The manual is
well put together and has quite a few page of information regarding how
to play the game, hints and tips aswell as other useful pieces of
information that I strongly suggest you read before you play the game.
In previous shoot-em-up games you have been expected to go all out and
blast away til your hearts content but T-Zer0 has a few nice touches and
features that make this not just any old shoot-em-up but THE shoot-em-up.
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Before going into the game I would like to quickly explain a few things,
also on the CD you will find a copy of clickBOOM's first game, Capital
Punishment, this is a locked version of the game which can be registered
to be the full game for just $10 CDN, 11 DM, £4 or £7 US. This in itself
is a great bargain and one that you get to take the chance of if you
buy T-Zer0. Another great freebie is if you register your copy of T-Zer0 then
clickBOOM will give you $10 CDN just for doing that. What more can we
ask...?
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Onto the game....
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As you know by now T-Zer0 is a shoot-em-up game and the basic idea
of those is to shoot things. The game is set in the future and has your
general shoot-em-up plot, kill or be killed. I'm sure we've all played
at least one shoot-em-up in our time. Cast your mind back to the days
of Project-X and R-Type and remember pulling the joystick into positions
you never thought possible with countless number of joystick buttons hits
and coming away later with your hands covered in blisters. Well my friends
clickBOOM have brought us back but not only back, they have brought us
back, past back, to now. The golden Amiga days are now upon us again
in the form of T-Zer0.
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The games of yester year had some impressive sprites and back then they
where the cream of the crop, now we have T-Zer0 and it makes those games look
like childs play. The graphics on T-Zer0 are stunning, they may not be the
3D style of your latest console but the time and effort that has gone into
these must be out of this world. Saying this the game is fast paced and
you have little time to take in the scenery around you. From the word
"go" ships come towards you in packs as you swerve to avoid them with an
occasional shot or two as a sly smile crosses your face when you see the
satisfying explosion of the enemy only to see your own explosion a few
seconds later after you dodge an enemy to hit the top or bottom of the
screen.
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As said earlier the game is not just your blast here and blast there game,
it is set into a type of story mode, there is an arcade mode available
for those who like to blast away but play the story mode and there is a
little more planning involved. The game has 5 worlds in the story mode
and each one has a different route to take, each world is divided into
four sections, Start, Route A, Route B and the Exit. The entrance and
routes are levels through the game where the exit is the end of level
guardian. Entrance and Exit are already fixed by the game but the creators
have given you that little bit of choice by allowing you to take
route A or route B meaning the life of the game is never short as you
can have a huge number of different gameplaying routes.
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You may be wondering how you choose the different routes, well if at
the starting stage you collect less than four gems you take route A and
if you collect more than four gems you take route B. The difference
between route A and route B is that B is harder but has more bonuses
to collect.
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In every world that you play there are 5 gems that you must collect to
then collect the diamond of that world, you will beable to collect this
diamond before coming face to face with the end of world guardian. If
you manage to collect all 5 diamonds the Dimention Portal will open and
you will be given the chance to fight the beast of all beasts...
Kakistos. If you do not manage to collect all the 5 diamonds then the
game will play as normal but you will not face Kakistos.
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The game requires AGA, 8mb and an 030 at the least but it is recommended
that you play using an 060. I used an 030 with 32mb and the game played
fine, there was no slow down and the action of the game was brilliant.
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The game has alot of intros which come before levels and at other various
times during the game, these are high quality rendered intros that will
run at a speed depending on what processor you have.
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The soundtrack of the game is something that is not to be missed, the
soundtrack alone is EXCELLENT, it is a face paced thumping in most parts
soundtrack that is burnt to the CD, ie, you can play them on their own
on any CD player. These tie in brilliantly with the rest of the game and
really make its atmosphere come to life.
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Overall this is another hit from clickBOOM, they never fail to impress.
Move over Project-X, T-Zer0 has arrived.
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{bold}Available from{nobold}: Any Amiga Retailier{p}
{bold}Creator/Publisher{nobold}: clickBOOM/PXL Computers{p}
{bold}URL{nobold}: {link http://www.clickboom.com}http://www.clickboom.com{end}
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{bold}Graphics{nobold}      : 93%{p}
{bold}Sound{nobold}         : 94%{p}
{bold}Playability{nobold}   : 92%{p}
{bold}Lastability{nobold}   : 93%{p}
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{bold}Overall{nobold}       : 93%
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