Received: from decwrl.dec.com by s.ms.uky.edu id aa28258; 17 Sep 90 23:47 GMT Received: by decwrl.dec.com; id AA26344; Mon, 17 Sep 90 16:11:50 -0700 Received: by limbo; Mon, 17 Sep 90 15:50:36 pdt Message-Id: <9009172250.AA20846@limbo.intuitive.com> From: The Moderator Date: Mon, 17 Sep 90 15:50:32 PDT Subject: Digital Games Review Digest, #11 Reply-To: Digital Games Review To: Digital Games Review Digest X-Mailer: fastmail [version 2.02] Digital Games Review Digest, Number 11 Monday, September 17th 1990 Today's Topics: TurboGrafx: Psychosis TurboGrafx: Klax NES: Adventures in the Magic Kingdom NES: WrestleMania Genesis: Moonwalker Lynx: New Game Preview! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ccastbh@prism.gatech.edu (Brad Hamlett) Subject: TurboGrafx: Psychosis Psychosis is a 5-stage sidescrolling-shoot-em-up in the same vein as R-type and Fantasy Zone. Side Scrolling shooters tend to be plagued with flicker and Psychosis is no exception. The graphics are well done, though the pastel-like colors can be confusing at times. The basic premise behind the game is that your evil side has captured your soul and your imagination is out to free it. You must fight through 5 causes (stages) to reach and destroy the incarnation of evil (Ugar). You start the game with three ships and three continues. The enemies of the first stage are not very tough or inventive in their attack patterns. As in R-type, you will quickly obtain a 'satellite' (actually a pair of them). This satellite can contain any of three different weapon types...1). Wide beam -- Each satellite fire a wave of shots across the screen...the more you collect, the wider the wave becomes. 2). Thunder -- The satellites emit a short electric field in front and behind you...again, the more you collect, the bigger this field gets. 3). Back Laser -- This weapon fires a laser diagonally backwards, such that it hits enemies in the upper/lower lefthand side of the screen. You can also pick up barrier and speed power-ups. Barrier allows you to take a certain number of hits without destruction, and speed increases the speed of you ship. Another feature of the satellites is the ability to control them. While button II fires your weapons, Button I rotates the the satellites clock- wise around your ship...one press of the button rotate the sate- llites 90 degrees. The control of you ship is a little sluggish to begin with, but is quickly cured with a speed-up or two. After the first stage, the game get more interesting, but the flicker continues. It looks as if there is too much involved in drawing the backgrounds. The sound effects are standard and the BGM is nothing special. In a nutshell, Psychosis is a poor-man's R-type. The ship control, weapons selection, and theme seem to come straight from R-type. However, Psychosis is $25 cheaper than R-type and you get what you pay for. Summary: Psychosis is a 5 stage side-scrolling-shooter. The graphics are good but flicker noticably in places. The game is neither too easy nor too hard -- the stages tend to be a little on the easy side, while the bosses are sometimes too difficult. Graphics: 7.5 -- the flicker is annoying but not fatal :) Play: 7.0 -- standard side-scroller, nothing special Docs: 9.0 -- the docs explain the game well Sounds: 6.0 -- average sound effects/music. Overall: 7.5 -- nothing wrong with psychosis, but there's nothing special about it either. Psychosis -- For the TurboGrafx 16 Retail price : $44.99 ------------------------------ From: ccastbh@prism.gatech.edu (Brad Hamlett) Subject: TurboGrafx: Klax Let me start off by saying that I was not a big fan of Klax in the arcade, nor was I a fan of Tetris or Columns. In fact, the only reason I picked up Klax was that I returned another game and I could only get store credit. Klax was the only game that caught my eye. Boy was I glad I did! Klax is a simple puzzle game along the same lines as Tetris and columns, and boy is it addictive. The premise is simple. All you have to do is catch multi-colored tiles and drop them in a bin so that you get 3 or more in a row of the same color. Simple, right? Well, there are a few catches (pardon the pun:). First, the bin that you drop tiles into can only hold 25 tiles...5 across, and 5 deep. Second, your paddle can only hold 5 tiles at a time. With me so far? ok. The tiles come at you down a conveyor belt that is 5 tiles wide. Each wave you have to complete a certain goal to continue. Some waves you have to complete a certain number of 'klaxes' while others you have to score a certain number of points while on still others, you have to catch a specific amount of tiles. If your paddle is full, or you fail to reach a tile before it reaches the end of the belt, it falls off emiting a pathetic scream. Three drops and the game is over. The more complex the patterns you create, the more points you score. The manual has some excellent examples of some high-scoring klaxes. The graphics of the game are ok. The sound effects of the game are good -- I love it when the tile falls off and screams. The digitized 'oohs' and 'yeah!' are rough, but add nice touches. Overall, Klax is well done. If this is the sort of quality Tengen is going to put into its games, then sign me up for the next one! Summary: Klax is a very addictive puzzler. While the graphics are only average, the game play and sounds excel. Highly recommended. Graphics: 7.0 -- simple graphics/backgrounds Play: 9.5 -- simply addictive Docs: 9.0 -- explains the game well Sounds: 8.5 -- great scream! Overall: 8.5-9.0 -- definitely worth the price. Klax -- For the TurboGrafx 16 .. by Tengen Retail Price: $39.99 ------------------------------ From: scottc@microsoft.com (Scott C) Subject: NES: Adventures in the Magic Kingdom A couple of weeks ago my local store picked up several new games, including Rescue Rangers and AITMK. Rescue Rangers has been out continuously since then, so I picked up Adventures... because I thought it would entertain my five-year-old. I was very pleasantly suprised. _Adventures In The Magic Kingdom_ (AITMK from now on) not only kept my son busy, it also entertained three adults for most of the day. You don't have to be a Disneyphile like me to enjoy it either, though that helps a lot. The game actually consists of six mini-games. The premise is that Mickey and friends want to start the parade, but Goofy accidently locked the gate key in the Enchanted Castle and then misplaced the six silver keys that are neccesary to open the castle. You become a kid wandering through Disneyland trying to locate the sixe silver keys that will open the castle. The game takes place in a map of Disneyland that is reasonably accurate, given the scale. It even includes a lot of extraneous stuff that gives you the feel that you are really in Disneyland and not just in Disneyland shaped playfield. If you know the park well then it is fun to spend a couple of minutes identifying all of the various locations that are present. One of the interesting features of the game is how the bonuses work. Each attraction that you enter contains stars that you can pick up. By picking up enough stars you can call up a menu that will allow you to buy four different bonuses: extra hearts, freeze opponents, invincibility, and extra life. This comes in very useful at times and it also gives the player some opportunity for using strategy in planning his bonuses instead of just collecting them wherever the programmer decided to drop them. The mini-games consist of five Disneyland attractions and a Disney trivia contest. Each of these are described below: The Haunted Mansion: The player has a candle with a limited number of shots. The shots can be used to knock down the ghosts. The object is to go all the way through the Hanted Mansion starting in the graveyard outside. Along the way you'll meet various ghosts from the attractions and have to negotiate your way through areas of floating chairs and such. You can collect stars and candles to increase your ammunition. I haven't yet managed to finish this, getting halfway through the fourth scene. This is a run/jump/shoot game. Pirates of the Caribbean: In this one, you travel through several scenes of the Pirates attraction. You job is to rescue six villagers from the pirates and light a signal fire to let Mickey know that they have been rescued. You do not start with any weapons, though you can pick up a candle along the way and use it just like in The Haunted Mansion. I never got far enough to find the candle, though I did get through three different scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean. You can pick up stars and somewhere is the candle you need to fight the pirates in the last scene and light the fire. This is a run/dodge/collect/shoot(?) game. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: In this game, you are driving the Big Thunder Mountain Mine Train. Your job is to drive the train down the mountain through intersections, past falling rocks and closing gates to one of four terminals at the bottom of the mountain. Mickey tells you which one when you start. Obstacles include the closing gates, rocks on the tracks, and dead-ends as well as the falling rocks. The only controls you have are left-right and brake to slow the train. This is an especially useful game to master because each star you pick up is actually worth five stars. I mastered this one pretty quickly. This is a maze/dodge game. Tomorrowland Autopia: Panhandle Pete has stolen one of the keys. The only way to get it is to win a car race in the Autopia. This is a pretty good game that plays like a cross between Spy-Hunter and Jumpbug. The differences are that there are no weapons and you jump by driving up a jump ramp instead of pressing a button. This one is pretty fun, though I mastered it after losing enough times to learn the layout of the track. The instructions claim that the stars in the Autopia are also supposed to be worth five each but the game only gave one star for each one we collected in the Autopia. This one is a driving/jumping game. Space Mountain: In this game you are the pilot of a Space Mountain rocket and Mickey is the navigator. Your job is to fly from Star A to Star F following Mickey's directions and avoiding meteors and enemy craft. When an arrow lights up on the display, you press the corresponding arrow on the joypad to steer the ship in that direction. When either a meteor or enemy ship appears then you blast it with the A or B button depending upon which it is. This game is difficult because it is easy to get jumpy and press the wrong buttons. This is a "point of view" game in the vein of the old Night Driver game. A steering/shooting/reaction game. Trivia: This doesn't involve any attractions. What happens is that you meet a person in the park who has a clue as to where one of the keys is at. The person always asks you a Disney trivia question which you must answer correctly in order to prove that you are a friend of Mickey's and get the directions to the next clue. After ten questions or so, you find the key. Amusing and reasonably difficult even if you are up on your Disney trivia. We didn't manage to finish it yet, so I can't say how the ending is. However, the game was quite fun for the whole family. I'd give it 8.5+ on a scale of 10. This may end up being one of the few games that we actually purchase since it is appropriate for the whole family. Adventures in the Magic Kingdom, by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System ------------------------------ From: Mark Runyan Subject: NES: WrestleMania Reviewers: Chris and Mark Runyan Have you always wanted a chance to get into the ring and attempt to throw Hulk Hogan out of it? Well, the closest any of us are ever going to get to that is this game. This game isn't difficult to understand or play, and the basic concept is rather easy to grasp. And if you happen to be a wrestling fan, this game is quite simple to play. However, if you don't know who Hulk Hogan is and you never had the chance to catch a WWF bout, you might not find this game all that interesting. The first player of the game may choose one of 6 WWF superstar wrestlers. The second player (or the player chosing for the computer if there isn't a second player) may also choose one of 6 WWF superstar wrestlers. Note that it is possible for both players to choose the same wrestler and that such a match can be fairly amusing. These wrestlers are then placed in the ring and use their special moves and tricks to try to pin each other. Of course, since each wrestler has a different set of moves, the player must refer to a 'Performance Chart' in the instructions to figure out which buttons cause which action, so always make sure you have the instructions to the game nearby. Chris (age: 8) enjoyed testing each of the character's special moves just to see what they looked like. He also found great comic relief in pitting a wrestler against himself with the computer playing the opponent. It took a bit of time for him to learn how to get the moves he wanted, and there was quite a bit of referring to the performance chart in the instructions until he got the moves down. Then he could enjoy himself as he went from one match to the next. Of course, once Chris was good at this game, he invited a friend to be player number two. Since this is a game where the players were competing against each other directly and not cooperating toward a single goal, the standard problem of arguing over who was doing what and whether it was fair turned up. This eventually led me to asking them to switch to a more cooperative game cartridge. I would not suggest this game be given to young siblings. I (age: 30) attempted to play the game in the player versus computer mode. It seems that your choice of wrestler makes quite a difference. Perhaps there is a strategy built into the game that I've yet to discover. Several things about the game left me somewhat confused. For instance, each wrestler starts out with maximum energy. Attacking or being defeated appears to use up that energy. There are power objects that float past that allow the player to increase their character's energy in a single jump. A certain amount of energy seems to come back over time, too, though I couldn't figure how much for what period of time. I eventually decided I wasn't as much of fan of this game as my son. There are some cute points: the graphics did bring a smile to my lips, Chris was quite amused by having the same wrestler as both player one and player two, and both Chris and I found ourselves humming some of the background music at times (though some of the tunes became annoying through repetition). To put it succinctly, this game appears to draw mixed reviews. It seems to be easy to play and quite entertaining for the single player. It is probably quite entertaining for those people who enjoy wrestling. Yet, while Chris thought it was fun to play, I'm not so sure that I enjoyed it. Graphics: 5 Good representation; some amusing points Sound: 5 Fair background music; good audio cues Fun Level: 6 Chris thought it was fun to play Intuitive Feel: 4 You have to have instructions for buttons Documentation: 6 Quite complete; Necessary to have Overall: 6 Chris enjoyed it more than Mark WrestleMania by Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. for the Nintendo Entertainment System ------------------------------ From: ericc@apple.com (Eric Castle) Subject: Genesis: Moonwalker Moonwalker is a blast. I haven't had such a good time playing a game in a long time. The game itself isn't very hard until you get to the graveyard scenes at round 3. I am currently stuck on round 3-2 (unable to defeat the boss's at the end). The object of the game is that you are basically looking around for children Mr. Big has kidnapped while killing the bad guys. There are 5 rounds each with 3 stages. After you find all the children in a stage, bubbles the chimp comes out to show you where to go to face the bosses. Sometimes his pointing isn't so obvious as to where to go though, but its pretty obvious where to go. When you get there bubbles leaps away (chicken!) and Mr. Big comes out and taunts you and then dissapears and you have to battle a whole bunch of bad guys. They are really easy to defeat at least until round 3-2. Round 1 is in Club-30. Round 2 is on the street with parking garages and sewer. Round 3 is in the graveyard. Round 4 is in the caverns. Round 5 is in Mr. Big's hideout. To find the children (referred to as Katy's) you look behind doors, behind windows, in car trunks, and behind bushes and tombstones. Each time you find a Katy your star power gets replenished. Star power is like Michael's life gauge. Depending on the color is how much power you have. Micheal shoots stars from his finger tips. But as the star power decreases this becomes less effective. Micheal can also use three kinds of magic. The longer you hold down the A-button (or which ever button you have chosen to use for magic fro the options screen), the more powerful the magic will be. First you can just spin around which sends the enemies spinning away. Next you can throw Micheal's hat to kill the enemies. The most powerful magic is the dance attack in which Micheal causes every enemy on the screen to dance with him and then they collapse and die. Beware that this isn't effective against everybody. The hat seems to work on most everybody and doesn't use much energy. For most of the bad guys you can just use the stars that he flings from his fingertips. The graphics are really good and the movement of the characters is smooth. The moves Michael makes are funny. Mainly becuase he looks like he's trying to be so stylish when he walks or jumps. Its fun to make him moonwalk. He also does his yell, which could get annoying after a while. It happens whenever he gets hurt by a bad guy or when you look behind something that there is nothing behind. The funniest part is to use his star magic to make the dogs dance. I was laughing through most of this game. In the graveyard you can swing off some of the trees although this isn't mentioned in the documentation anywhere. The way I do it is to hold up on the D-button and then press button C to jump, usually he'll grab onto the branch. Then press the D-button right or left to make him face the way you want to go and then press button C. I find that it gets kind of confusing remembering where all the Katy's are in the graveyard but there is a way to see where all of them are by turning into a robot. I won't say how to do this but its fairly obvious. The robot is pretty neat too. The background music is cool (if you like his music). I'm not a big fan of his, but hearing real songs in the background instead of the usual video game background music is a welcome relief. Its especially good in stereo on a stereo. I played the game using the headphones thinking it would be really good, but there was a LOT of static coming through. I don't know if this is just a problem with my cart or every cart but its really annoying and makes the game unplayable with headphones. The documentation was good. The game isn't too complicated so that might explain why. So far the only thing that I didn't find in the manual was the "jumping up to hang on a branch and swinging Michael up and across the screen". All in all it looks like a lot of care went into this game. Theres a lot of little touches, like when you jump on the keyboard of this piano, in Club-30, it makes sounds like you would hear if you jumped on a piano. Although it always makes the same sound, it still sounds like a piano (although some might argue a toy piano). You can jump on the fire hydrants and spray water on the bad guys. You can kick chairs and garbage cans at them too. And of course, you can turn into a robot in some stages. Some people might find this game too easy or repetitve since all you're really doing is trying to find these children and fighting bad guys, but I still think its a fun game with all the care that went into it and besides, making the dogs and ghouls dance is a blast. Graphics: 9 Sound: 9 - hooked to a stereo; 1 - using headphones Documentation 8 Playability 8 (might be too easy or repetitive for some ) Michael Jackson's Moonwalker for the Sega Genesis Price $49.00 ( at Macys ) ------------------------------ From: Robert allen Jung Subject: Lynx: New Game Preview! [The following reviews are all based on near-finished versions of the games only. Expect some changes to the titles before they hit the shelves in a month or two] KLAX: ===== BUY THIS! BUY THIS! It's terrific! It's great! It's wonderful! All the stories are true, this game looks, plays, and sounds EXACTLY like the arcade version. I won't describe it in detail: Grab the tiles coming off a conveyor belt, and drop them to make lines of three (or more) tiles of the same color. Actually, there are a few differences. The background scenery changes with every level (the arcade changes scenes every 5 levels). There are NEW scenes not seen in the arcade (a volcanic landscape, for instance). When starting a game, you can choose to start at level 1, level 6, level 11, or the highest level you've reached so far. Other than that...WOW! Graphics are nice and detailed, and ALL the sounds were digitized from the arcade (different clanks for different tiles, applauding crowds, the voice announcing each wave, etc., etc., etc.). You can continue the game when it ends, though I don't know if that's a limited continue or not. I don't know about Atari, but this looks 100% complete to me (it was running on an EPROM chip, though). The opening title page has some wild graphics (learn to spell KLAX in American sign) and a funky rock beat. And YES, the Lynx *CAN* do stereo (thanks again to Howard Chu and his headphones B-). The opening title tune is definetely in stereo, and it seems like the clattering tiles are done in stereo too. Bottom line -- when this hits the stands, buy it. It's AWESOME. The more you liked Klax on any other system, the more you'll love this; turn it on, crank up the volue, and play. It does beat out the NEC and Genesis versions, and it's portable to boot. From top to bottom, whoever wrote this deserves kudos all around. Graphics - 9 Sound - 10 Playability - 10 Overall - 10 SLIME WORLD: ============ First things first -- the official title is TODD'S ADVENTURE IN SLIME WORLD, a jawbreaker of a title for any system. But that's not important, the play's the thing. Second thing -- this is the first Lynx game I've seen with a "Say no to drugs" message in the game. This is one of Atari Corp.'s first self-written Lynx games, and it's... different. The idea is that you (and up to 7 friends) participate in various escapdes on a planet of slime. Monsters and obstacles of slime will try to stop you. The more slime that coats you, the sicker you get, until you burst in a shower of slime (ick). Other natural and technological items will help you clean up, and you recover immediately, so don't despair. There are six missions of varying categories (An "easy" learning level, an "arcade" scenario, "exploration", "suspense", and so on). Each mission has a different objective, and you can save your game at any time -- pressing PAUSE will give you a password (8 characters), which you can enter later to resume your game. It's hard to pigeonhole this game into a standard genre, because of the variety of missions available. However, I can say definetely the following things: * Each mission's landscape is HUGE. Even the "easy" scenario will take about 2 hours to finish, and each scenario has a different landscape. The "computer map" overview available can't encompass the entire area. I don't know if there are additional landscape after you finish the first one, but I have heard rumors that there are... * Once you finish a level, there's no incentive to play it again (e.g., CHIP'S CHALLENGE, ELECTROCOP, LEGEND OF ZELDA). There is no randomness to the game, and (it seems) you have an infinite number of lives, so you can finish it eventually. The fun is in the getting there... * Graphics are VERY nice, with detailed sprites and cute little touches. The sounds are okay, but not spectacularly so. Despite what ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY wrote, the soundtrack is low-key and unobtrusive -- a low-volume set of boinks and pings. This game looks 100% complete, and Atari confirmed as much -- "We have copies of SLIME WORLD in our warehouses ready to ship now". Dealers at the show were unofficially echoing this; "We'll be getting it in Tuesday" was a common theme. Overall a nice game; people who like adventure/exploration quests will enjoy it more than the shoot-em-up crowd. Quickie note -- despite the lack of a famous arcade title or a familliar theme, there was a lot of people paying attention to this game. The younger kids tended to ignore it, but the older crowds (17 and up) were fascinated by the exploration and vastness of the game. A sleeper hit in the making? Graphics - 9 Sound - 8 Playability - 9 Overall - 9 ZARLOR MERCENARY: ================= In terms of pigeonholes, this game's simple -- it's a vertically-scrolling shooter, like XEVIOUS, TWIN COBRA, and the ilk. You and up to three friends start off by picking a character (each character starts with a different weapon configuration, like lasers, wing guns, etc.). You then fly up the screen, blasting everything in sight. The more you hit, the more _money_ you get. Each level ends with a "boss" to be conquered, after which your assignment is complete. Between assignments, you get a chance to buy and sell your weapons/bonuses. Then it's back into the fray for more destruction and profits (grin). About the only thing that worries me about this game is the lack of any difficulty selecting. I didn't see a way to choose different starting levels, or to set game difficulty/challenge. In terms of graphics and sound, this game is of the usual good quality on the Lynx. Flying graphics are represented in a nice psuedo 3-D, and there are lots of little details in the graphics; shooter fans will also love the TONS of enemy hardware that gets thrown in your direction, and the big "bosses" (gad, I hate that term) at the end of each level. Sounds consist of an unobtrusive soundtrack coupled with the blasts of weapons fire and buildings/people/ships exploding. The game looks very complete to me, but it could be just the parts I was playing (I didn't go beyond level 2). I'd estimate it to be 75% finished, to be safe. Here's hoping Epyx puts in a difficulty level/game options feature before this is released. Graphics - 10 Sound - 8 Playability - 8 Overall - 8 PAPERBOY: ========= Yes, the news-delivering freckled-faced kid comes to the Atari Lynx. Though the version I saw seems a bit incomplete, _all_ of the gameplay from the arcade original are present. Yes, even the burgular, the dueling neighbors, and the mad bomber. In a capsule, PAPERBOY puts you in the role of a bike-riding teen delivering papers on Easy Street, Middle Road, or Hard Way. You want to deliver papers to your customers without incidents, and harrass your non-customers by damaging their property. At the end of each day, you run a bike stunt course for bonus points. Finish an entire week and you finish the game. As I said before, all of the original's gameplay features are here. The graphics are okay, but could be done a little bit better, I think. The sound area has a sore point, though -- the soundtrack is unimpressive, and is so loud that it drowns out some of the sound effects (most notably the musical chord that plays when you deliver a paper successfully). You can turn off the music, but only by pressing OPTION 2 at the main title page _before_ you start a game. The game looks about 65% finished. The graphics and sound need a bit more work, but otherwise it's ready for play. It's not your typical action video game, so people unfamilliar with the original may want to try it before you put your money down. Extra goodie: If your score is high enough when you finish, you get to enter your name (up to 20-some-odd characters) in a high score table(!). It holds 5 names, and starts with five when you turn it on (no score saver, sorry). I don't know how you can see the table between games, however... Graphics - 7 Sound - 6 Playability - 7 Overall - 7 XENOPHOBE: ========== A Lynx version of the three-player Bally/Midway arcade game of a few years back. You and up to three friends play troubleshooters, out to save a set of space stations and bases from infestations by ugly green reptile aliens. Each player picks a character (no difference in ability, just in looks), and tries to play hero. Each player beams down to the designated target, and maneuvers through one-screen-sized rooms, shooting everything in sight. Beware the little aliens, who jump on you and suck your life energy away. Beware the large aliens, who try to bite your head off, zap you with eye rays, strangle you from the ceiling/floors, and trip you up. If it can't be shot, try to pick it up -- it could be a valuable piece of equipment (good for bonuses at the end of the level), or a new weapon. Despite what ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY wrote, I did not find it too easy to survive -- How do I regain my lost health??? Though the game presents the levels in the same order (typical for most arcade games, if you think about it), there is enough randomness to prevent sameness from creeping in. The graphics are cartoony with some detail, and the soundtrack/special effects fit the atmosphere. I was not a fan of the original arcade version, but this seems like a fun game, especially if you can collar a few friends in on the action. Looks about 70% done. Graphics - 7.5 Sound - 7 Playability - 8 Overall - 8 ROADBLASTERS: ============= Remember my comments for KLAX (above), about how superlative a conversion it was on the Lynx? Well, take them all and slap them on this too, because this game is another INCREDIBLE adaptation. When you see this game, you will swear someone took the arcade game and used magic to shrunk the game down to the Lynx. EVERYTHING (and I mean everything) from the arcade is identical here: the opening title pages are the same, the soundtrack is the same, the sound effects are the same, the digitized voices are the same, the fast action is the same, the gameplay is the same, the bonus weapons are the same, the smooth scrolling is the same (and boy is it smooth and fast!), every niggly detail is a spittin' image of the original. If you die, you even get 10 seconds to continue. The action is fast and furious, and doesn't let up. The controls are very nice, especially the steering controls (though my friend found them a bit sensitive, I had no problems with it at all). If you loved the original, love the concept, or just want a no-holds-barred action game, grab this. Looks about 85% done to me. Silly note: The title pages credit ROADBLASTERS as a trademark of Matchbox. Funny, didn't Atari Games originally develop the game and licensed the name to Matchbox for their toy car tie-in line?... Graphics - 10 Sound - 9 Playability - 10 Overall - 10 MS. PAC-MAN: ============ To be honest, I don't know if Atari has gotten the rights to release a Lynx version of this game yet. Still, it was shown, so I might as well report it. What's there to say? You maneuver the nubile Ms. P through a series of mazes, gobbling dots, eating prizes, and avoiding the ghosts. You can choose the starting level to play with, and the mazes to play with -- either the original arcade four, or an alternate set of new mazes (one for each fruit type!) if you want a change of pace. Two other things. First, if you play the alternative maze, you can gobble lightning bolts; with a bolt in your possession, press the "B" button and get a turbo speed boost. Secondly, though I did not see it myself, I hear that you can hook a second Lynx up and play two people simultaneously. Graphics and sound are like PAPERBOY: good, but could be better. The game is played with the Lynx horizontally, which means the mazes are elongated horizontally. The graphics for Ms. Pac-Man and the ghosts are shrunken down as well, with very little detail. Fortunately, everyone returns to a nice large size for the intermissions. I think the version described above will be what's released, if Atari can secure the rights from Namco, simply because they've been sitting on this game for so long. It looks like a good buy, especially with the variety of options available, but if the small graphics bother you, feel free to try it first. Graphics - 7 Sound - 8 Playability - 8 Overall - 8 ------------------------------------- To join this group or have your reviews appear in the next issue, please send electronic mail to Dave Taylor at the following address; digital-games@digital-games.Intuitive.Com We welcome reviews of games for any computer system, including the IBM PC, Apple Macintosh, Atari, Nintendo Entertainment System, Atari Lynx, Sega Genesis, Nintendo GameBoy, NEC TurboGrafix, Amiga and so on. The views expressed in Digital Games Review Digest are those of the individual authors only, and do not represent the views or opinions of Intuitive Systems or any of our affiliates worldwide. The copyright of each article is that of the original author, and the copyright of the digest itself, as well as the name "Digital Games Review Digest" are noted here. ********************* End of Digital Games Review Digest *********************