Received: from decwrl.dec.com by s.ms.uky.edu id aa10005; 28 Sep 90 14:49 EDT Received: by decwrl.dec.com; id AA02205; Fri, 28 Sep 90 11:34:36 -0700 Received: by limbo; Fri, 28 Sep 90 10:37:37 pdt Message-Id: <9009281737.AA19485@limbo.intuitive.com> From: The Moderator Date: Fri, 28 Sep 90 10:37:34 PDT Subject: Digital Games Review Digest, #12 Reply-To: Digital Games Review To: Digital Games Review Digest X-Mailer: fastmail [version 2.02] Digital Games Review Digest, Number 12 Friday, September 28th 1990 Today's Topics: Genesis: Columns TurboGrafx: Y's TurboGrafx: World Court Tennis NES: Swords & Serpents NES: MOTHER NES: Ninja Gaiden II Lynx: Todd's Adventure in Slime World GameBoy: Quarth GameBoy: Daedalian Opus [Notes: we had some distribution problems with the last digest; if you didn't receive #11, please try to obtain it through the archive server. If you have problems with this issue, please send the entire header to the message back to me. The archive server, by the way, is now up and seems to be running reasonably reliably; please see the informational note at the end of this issue for more details. -- Dave Taylor ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 17 Sep 90 13:45:09 EDT From: mfrose@caen.engin.umich.edu (martin f rose ) Subject: Genesis: Columns Finally responding to the resounding user outcry for new Genesis software, Sega, in their finite wisdom, has released Columns, an adaptation of their little-seen arcade puzzler. If you think the Genesis is not the right platform for this type of game (as evidenced by SHOVE IT!, which Dreamworks can do with that game for all I care), you're in for a pleasant surprise. Columns is what you might get if you crossed Tetris with Klax. Pieces are falling into a pit on the screen, and each piece contains three colored gems in a column. The arrangement of the colors in a falling piece can be rotated top-to-bottom. The objective, of course, is to get three or more like-colored gems in a row--horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. When they are "matched", the gems shatter and those above fall down to fill the gap. This may also cause a match, and more falling, and another match... Chain Reactions Pump Up The Juice! (quote from the demo, "How To Play With The Jewels") Since you are given a display of what the next set of gems coming down will be, a reasonably quick thinker can easily get along on the earliest levels. The game is played continuously, rather than in discrete waves; advancing through levels causes the columns to fall faster. (In this respect, it is similar to Spectrum Holobyte's computer versions of Tetris, as opposed to Atari's arcade game.) The objective, of course, is to play for a long time. Levels 1 thru 3 of the "arcade style" game will point out any possible matches as the pieces are falling, which is most helpful for learning to "read the board". However, you can also play an "original style" game which never gives hints. Alternatively, a game variation called "Flash Columns" is available, where the objective is to remove a certain gem from the bottom of the pit as quickly as possible. And each type of game can be played in three further variations: one player solo, two player side-by-side (seperate pits), or doubles (two players alternate dropping pieces into a single pit). The doubles games are as far apart as a single game can get. Doubles Flash Columns is the epitome of cooperative gaming, where both players work together to bring the game time down. Doubles Original Columns, however, is HIGHLY competitive, since each player has a seperate score; each is trying to advance his own score while keeping his opponent's scoring opportunities down. This is the worst way for two total emenies to get at each other that I've seen since Archon was first released for home computers by Electronic Arts. GRAPHICS -- 8.5 It looks just like the arcade game; nothing spectacular, but what do you want? Geez Louise, it's only a puzzle game! SOUND/MUSIC -- 8 It sounds really nice, but you'll be climbing the walls after a couple of hours. There are 3 different BGMs to choose from. GAMEPLAY/DIFFICULTY -- 8 Maybe it gets a little too fast a little too soon. But then, maybe I'm just a klutz. Careful with that control pad; it's easy to miss your Big Chance with a quick diagonal push. MANUAL -- 5 (you were expecting an improvement, maybe?) (*SIGH*) The manual fails to explain a couple of minor, but very important, features. The game has the full demo from the arcade version, though, so you don't need too much more explaining. OVERALL -- 8 If you're waiting for Tetris (ha ha) or Klax, give this baby a try first. You, too, can be a Columns addict like me! (I know one guy who thought Klax was the greatest thing since the automobile -- now he plays Columns all the time!) Columns for the Sega Genesis ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Sep 90 02:25:31 -0400 From: ccastbh@prism.gatech.edu (Brad Hamlett) Subject: TurboGrafx: Y's Yes, Y's is a re-hash of the old Master System version. But... The game is incredible! Y's is a good example of just what a CD game can do. REAL stereo sound, great use of the CD+G feature, CLEAR digitized voices, and lots of game! The game opens up with a soundtrack and storyline that would have you believe that you are watching a movie! The voiceovers are clear and believable. This is all before the game even starts. The gameplay has been much improved over the SMS version...among other things, you now have the ability to change the speed of the game (useful when you have a long way to travel over familiar terrain). For those of you unfamiliar with Y's, here's a brief explanation: Y's is the first *true* RPG available for the TG. You take the role of Aldo, a swordsman who has answered the call to find the 6 books of Y's. You must talk to townspeople to find out what has happened and then follow the clues to find the books. Along the way, you must find or buy various weapons and armour. Certain people will help you only in return for special items buried in the shrines and abondoned mines. By defeating monsters in combat, you will gain experience points which gain you levels. As you go up in levels, your strength and defense will increase. The mazes are filled with special tricks, secret passages, treasure, monsters, and captives to rescue. While Y's I is fairly simple, Y's II gets more complex with more magic items, and the ability to use magic spells. In summary, the gameplay is great, the graphics are good (especially the intermission screens), and the soundtrack is absolutely incredible! A must for all CD-ROM owners! Graphics: 9.5 (The intro and intermission screens are knockouts!) GamePlay: 9.0 (Much improved over the already good SMS version.) Sounds: 10.0 (The sounds are good and the music is the best I've ever heard in a video game.) Docs: 7.0 (The only average part about the entire game.) Overall: 9.5 (Not quite a ten, but darn close!) Y's for the NEC TurboGrafx-16 CD-ROM accessory required ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Sep 1990 14:16:35 PDT From: Cliff Yamamoto Subject: TurboGrafx: World Court Tennis World Court Tennis is one of several sport orientated games available for the TurboGrafx-16. It follows all the rules of real-life tennis and gives you a choice of playing singles, doubles or mixed play. Up to four people can play by using the TurboTap and the appropriate number of TurboPads and/or TurboSticks. Before starting each match, you can select your player's skills and abilities from a list of 18 different male and female players. Each player has his or her 'stats' listed in the booklet, such as service speed, footwork, volley and other comments. There is even a Tennis Adventure where you must defeat the evil Tennis King who has taken over all the tennis courts and has locked out all non-members from playing. Your goal is to defeat all the evil followers by beating them in tennis matches and eventually defeat the evil Tennis King! Well when I first fired up the game, I wasn't overly impressed with the graphics. The boundary lines drawn on the tennis courts were somewhat jagged and didn't really appear to be taking advantage of the TG-16's graphic resolution. The spectators seemed to be repetitious drawings of the same men/women/children from row after row in the stands. I guess graphics wasn't one of the strong motives for creating this game. There are a variety of sounds for serving, hitting the net, hitting the ground, etc. However, these sounds are only slightly better then the sound effects produced from the early 'Pong' games. The cheering sounds made by the crowd and the brief BGM you hear when you select your players and and startup the game are somewhat better though. Even with these graphic and sound deficiencies, the playability is much, much better. When I first started playing, I was somewhat discouraged with the controls because the direction key gets a lot of use. It can be confusing at times since you must first maneuver your player into position on the court, then after using Button I or II for the stroke, control the direction of ball travel. I think it would have been nice if there was a practice mode where you could practice returning shots sent out by one of those automated machines. At least you could get accustomed to the controls and their effect. I wish there were more two player games available for the TG-16. It is usually discouraging to play singles against the computer. There just doesn't seem to be any way to easily win (unless of couse you select a male player for yourself and a female player for the computer). No, I'm not being chauvanistic. The stats actually indicate that the women have mediocre footwook (eg. they can't run very fast). It is definately more fun to play singles with a human opponent. My SO, who was a varsity tennis player in high school, also had difficulty mastering the controls at first. But once she got the hang of it, she managed to beat me on a couple of games. Though she hasn't won a set yet, we're taking about someone who has never played a video game in her life! The reason I point this out is to illustrate how easily one can become accustomed to the game controls. Though difficult at first, it doesn't take to long to master. I'm not implying the game becomes boring once you master the controls. In fact, the game is more exciting since you can be more daring and strategical with your well placed 'smashes' and 'volleys'. Also it appears that a good amount of programming went into generating faithful and realistic ball travel and velocity. You can actually make the ball hit the top of the net and it will slowly "plop" down in your opponent's court. Or stand right up to the net and return a smash that cuts straight across the court, almost parallel to the net. To wrap it up, I'd say World Court Tennis is a good buy *if* you have someone else to play it with and *if* you both have a passing interest in tennis. The singles mode against the computer is good for practicing but it gets boring after a while. Also the adventure didn't seem to have much appeal, but I doubt people would buy it just for that. Though the graphics and sound are not all that great, it plays very well and offers a variety of tennis players to choose from. Graphics: 7 Sound: 5 Playability: 9 Overall: 7 World Court Tennis, for the NEC TurboGrafx-16 by Namco LTD. ------------------------------ Subject: NES: Swords & Serpents Date: Mon, 17 Sep 90 12:02:20 PDT From: fubar@sequent.com This is a multi-player fantasy dungeon crawl game, with no outside world whatsoever, and I found it quite remarkable. You start with 4 characters (either warriors, magicians, or thieves) at the entrance to a 16 level dungeon. According to the manual, you're off to kill the "Serpent," who is, of course, on the 16th level somewhere. To impede your progress are the countless denizens of the dungeon, who you kill and get money, experience and occasional goodies from. We rented this one for a weekend, mostly because it claimed to be 1, 2 or 4 (!) players. You need some sort of special gizmo to play with 4 people, we don't have one, so I can't comment on 4 person play. The two person play is quite good, though, one person controls the first and third character, and the other controls the second and fourth (I would've preferred 1 and 2, then 3 and 4, but this works ok). There are a number of menus you can access via various controller buttons, to fiddle with your inventory, cast spells, or examine your attributes. You can only examine the inventory or cast spells for characters that you control. The menus are a bit tedious at times, but are generally pretty easy to get around in. At the beginning of play, one person is designated the "leader," and they do the moving around the dungeon. The screen is split into 3 sections. The bottom third or so has the four characters across, it lists their name, armor class, and has bar graphs for spell and hit points. The upper left area shows a "3d perspective" view of the dungeon, you can "see" for 2 units. The upper right area normally contains an automatically updated map of the current level. The game saves maps of the current level and the last level you were on, so you still need to write them down. During combat, a (very nicely detailed) picture of some monster appears over the 3d view, and the map is replaced with a number of bar graphs for the monsters' hit points. There aren't a whole lot of monster pictures (we managed to get to level 10, and encountered maybe 10 different pictures), but the pictures that are there are pretty neat; the spiders bounce up and down and wave their legs, and so on. The animation isn't that great, but does make the monsters more interesting to look at. The pictures themselves are quite good. The combat itself runs pretty smoothly, each character's name blinks when its their turn for action, and the words "hit" or "miss" would flash over the character name as the monsters took their attacks. There isn't any variation in the attacks, just "hit" or "miss." We found ourselves both repeatedly pounding on the A (attack) button, ignoring who's turn it really was. The easier nasties die gratifyingly fast this way. The only annoying part of the combat is that the word "miss" hung around too long, so occasionally it would take 10-15 seconds for the monsters to cycle through. This was annoying when (f'rinstance) we had gone back up to the first level and were fighting hordes of easy to kill critters. Each of the three classes, btw, is quite respectable in combat. The warriors are slow, but do more damage, the magicians are faster, but do less damage, and the thief is in the middle, and occasional has "critical hits" that will destroy a foe in one hit. There are a tremendous number of neat weapons, armor and gizmos. Many of the weapons and armor are limited to two or even one of the three classes, there seemed to be a pretty even distribution between the three. Our two magicians tended to have higher armor classes than the thief and the fighter. The only problem we had was that each character can only carry six items, so we didn't keep much extra stuff. The dungeon itself has neat goodies scattered about. There are "temples" on levels 1, 5 and 10, where you can go and get all healed up and resurrected for free. There are armories on (at least) levels 1, 5 and 10, where you can go to sell stuff you pick up, and (early on) buy better stuff. We found that the armories were useless after the characters were about level 4 or 5, they just didn't sell enough good stuff. Because of this, we stopped bothering with keeping track of money, there just wasn't anything to spend it on. There are secret doors, locked doors, hidden rooms, teleporters, and "zoom tubes," which deserve some explanation. The zoom tubes are well marked (by cutesy sayings kinda like Burma Shave signs), and will whip you to some other level. The manual suggests that they all go up, but this isn't the case once you get deep enough. This game uses a password save, but it is far and away the best password system I've ever seen, and it didn't bother us at all. When you save the game (which you can do anywhere), you get one password for each character, and then a password for the game. This is kind of a pain, but the password alphabet doesn't include any possible ambiguous characters. It has "I", but not "1." It has "B" but not "8." and so on. The font is even easy to read. After struggling with passwords like those on Faxanadu, this was a piece of cake. One word of warning, though: the checksum on the passwords includes the character's name, so you can't change their names midway through a game. Finally, the manual itself. I didn't count pages, but it was pretty thick, and seemed to be pretty comprehensive. It even has pages in the back for you to draw maps of the levels on. My only gripe was that it didn't explain the "last resort" option, except to say that you should use it only if there's no other way out. Well, we ended up zoom tubed to level 13 once, so we used it. "Last resort" should be labeled "mass suicide," because that's what it is. You all die, and wake up (without your money) in the last temple you visited. We played this constantly for two days, and thoroughly explored about 8 of the 16 levels. After level 7, they maps get much more complex, and take more time to explore (e.g., level 8 is all invisible walls...). The manual claims "over 50 hours" of game time, and I'd say that's about right. "Swords & Serpents" is from Acclaim, and I assume is quite recent. An excellent dungeon crawl game, and the only one I'm aware of that allows multiple players to play simultaneously. The only thing I really didn't like was the music, it got annoying after a while, so we turned on the stereo instead. Playability: 9 (the menus got annoying...) Interest: 9 Graphics: 8 (the monster pictures were really nice) Animation: 5 (what little there is, is ok) Music: 5 (got repetitive) Sound Effects: 5 (not a great variety) Overall: 8 "Swords & Serpents," for the NES, by Acclaim. ------------------------------ Subject: NES: MOTHER Date: Tue, 18 Sep 90 13:08:32 -0400 From: leo@theory.lcs.mit.edu SUMMARY A modern day role-playing game set in a mythical USA. Scenario writer Shigesato Itoi, together with Shigeru Miyamoto's design team (of Super Mario Bros. and Zelda fame) and music by Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka, create a beautiful fantasy world to get lost in. The advertisement for this game boldly says "Guaranteed Masterpiece." They are not exaggerating. Along with SMB3 this is the best video game we've ever played. Rating: 10+ BACKGROUND STORY (loosely translated from the rulebook) "The Strange Story of Great-grandfather and Me" In the early 1900's, in a rural area of America, a shadow like black clouds fell, and a married couple disappeared. The husband's name was George; his wife was Maria. People grieved at their loss, but nothing could be done except to pray. Perhaps this prayer was answered, because two years later George unexpectedly returned to his home. However he said nothing about where he had gone or what he had done. As they watched George devote himself to some mysterious research, people spread rumors about him. But as time went on the rumors decreased. The one thing people didn't forget was that Maria had never returned.... It is now 1988. "It's terrible! It's terrible!" What is terrible? In Mini's room a table lamp is rattling and moving around, and in Mimi's room a Kewpie doll is flying around, so is something even more terrible happening? Is it still my duty to protect my younger sisters? I'm only 12 years old, but the only man in the house. I have to protect the three women here. Come to think of it, where's my mom? Whew. Somehow the house has become quiet again. Mom, who had been nervous, has also settled down. Ah! Let's call Dad. "That was a poltergeist. I think your great-grandfather had been doing research in psychic powers (PSI). If you look in the basement perhaps you'll understand." Dad is reliable after all. But he did forget one thing, the location of the key to the basement. However I figured it out quickly. In the basement I found Great-grandfather's diary, and some seemingly useful things. What could I use them for? I've made up my mind. With my strength I will discover the origin of these strange occurences, and protect Mom, Mini, and Mimi. THE GAME MOTHER begins with a rather cinematic opening, which ends with the single line "1988. On the outskirts of the town of Mother's Day." You begin as the boy in your room when the poltergeist strikes. And from there you embark on your journey.... MOTHER is a role-playing game, and essentially follows the mechanics of other games in this genre, but differs from them in many ways. One strong point is the scenario by Shigesato Itoi, a rather famous writer in Japan. Although a somewhat strange and disjointed story, it is extremely imaginative and enjoyable. The game design is by Itoi and the production by Shigeru Miyamoto, who also did the Super Mario and Zelda series. As one would expect, the sense of fantasy and childhood wonder is extremely high. You really feel a part of this world. Your journey first takes you to the town of Mother's Day, where you find other strange things have been happening: a girl living near your house has gotten lost in the graveyard, and animals in a nearby zoo have gone crazy and escaped. You continue onward to other towns with whimsical names like Thanksgiving, Easter, and Snowman as the mystery increases. Along the way you solve puzzles, build up your strength, and meet some friends that follow along to help, including a nerdy coward who loves to play with rockets and other toys, a girl with psionic powers, and bully from a gang. There are mini-stories, plenty of good humor, and many many beautiful surprises. One great thing about the game is the numerous subtle touches that really make it a work of art. And eventually you may even understand what the title means.... GRAPHICS AND MUSIC The graphics and music of MOTHER are the best I have seen in any game on any system. Of course the Famicom cannot provide as good resolution or as good sound quality as other systems; nonetheless these aspects are unsurpassed. What makes them so good is not only their artistic quality, but also that they combine with each other and the other aspects of the game perfectly, creating an overall mood which is incredible. The graphics are extremely colorful and cheerful for the most part, and the outdoor scenes especially are striking. But they can also be very dark and mysterious; check out for example the staircase in the graveyard. I should note that unlike other games one does not enter a town and have it expand in size; everything is on the same scale in the game, which makes the world seem particularly huge. The graphics are usually 3/4 perspective, rather abstract and somewhat "cute". It's impossible to describe them; they really must be seen. The music too is beautiful. There is different music for each major area, and it sets the mood perfectly. The music itself is excellent, and we would often return to areas just to hear the music. And music is an important part of the story itself: one of your tasks is to collect eight melodies which combine to form a song; when you collect them all something amazing is sure to happen.... The music was composed by Keiichi Suzuki (of the group Moonriders) and Hirokazu Tanaka (perhaps an in-house composer) and every piece is excellent. A lot of work must have gone into the music, as most of it was also written as pop songs which appear on the soundtrack album (which also contains over 16 minutes of background music from the game). The album is well worth getting on its own, and I listened to it more than anything else over this past summer. DETAILS As far as mechanics go MOTHER is a fairly typical RPG. The basic action of the game involves solving puzzles, fighting monsters to gain experience and money, and exploring new areas. I wouldn't say any of the puzzles were really hard; we did get stuck in one place near the end but it turned out we had missed something fairly obvious (although some people who helped us said it wasn't obvious to them either at first). Usually there are several different paths to explore at any time, and the game is fairly non-linear. But it is carefully planned out and there are tasks that must be performed in order to continue. Mostly the joy of playing the game comes from exploring the world and discovering more of the story, as well as small but truly wonderful events that occur along the way. We want to play again just to experience these events. Instead of spells, the hero, as well as a girl he meets later and many of the monsters, can use PSI powers. You start with telepathy, useful in several places, and get others that help attack, defend, heal, and so forth. By far our favorite was teleportation which is really fun to use, and very funny when it doesn't work! Another great way to get around quickly is to take the train, which turns corners with amazing agility, and has some excellent music. And what's this people are saying you can do with the bread...? My least favorite part of any RPG is combat, and MOTHER is no exception. However they do try to make combat as painless as possible. You have a wide variety of options, can attempt to run away at any time (which sometimes doesn't work, although there is a PSI power "dimension slip" which almost always works), attack, use items or PSI powers, and even check the enemies' strength. If you make a mistake you can backtrack. One really nice feature is "auto"; if you are feeling lazy just select this and the computer will do the entire battle for you! This isn't always recommended as it sometimes makes some poor choices. There is a wide variety of monsters, many of them somewhat silly (such as the "mad truck" which attacks with its exhaust fumes and tries to run you over) and many with special abilities (some even laugh at you or chide you, and one annoying one steals your things) including PSI powers of their own. Up to four can attack you at once, and you can have several people in your party. There are only about three pieces of background music for combat and only one is particularly good (the one for "oniisan" (young man), who would probably be "hippie" in the US version); this was the only music we got tired of. The main complaint about combat is that it happens too often when you are trying to explore sometimes, and it can be annoying. When you defeat the monsters you get experience, sometimes find an item, and instead of receiving money your father deposits the money into your bank account, so you have to go to an ATM to get it. You also rely on your dad to save the game, which you can do by calling him; he'll also say how much money you have in the bank and how much experience you need for the next level. The cartridge allows up to three games to be saved (and you can make copies of a single game) but our cartridge was defective and sometimes erased the second or third game. Apparently this is not a general defect, though. If you play too long Dad will even call up (no matter where you are!) and suggest it is time for a rest. One of the nicest things about the game is when you die. (Actually you and everyone else never "die" in the game; rather you "become unconcious" or "stop moving" or whatever.) Along with going to a somewhat striking scene, you lose almost nothing and simply return to the last point at which you called your father. To be precise the only thing you lose is half the money carried with you as well as all your PSI points; the money in your account as well as any experience gained is all intact. So "dying" is not such a traumatic experience, and can even be used as a means of transportation. At towns you will usually find multi-story department stores with an ATM and phone as well as several shops, a hospital, perhaps a fast-food restaurant, and of course many people to give you clues or just say amusing things. You can use a map which points out your location as well as the major towns and most (but not all) of the interesting spots you will need to visit. The rulebook (which folds out to one big sheet) also has a map on the back. The rulebook itself is quite short by US standards; it gives the a reasonable amount of useful information but there are still many things you need to figure out on your own. There is just too much to say about this game; I've left out a lot but the joy is discovering it for yourself. I will warn though that the ending was quite disappointing, probably because we were expecting something really amazing. I don't think it gives away too much to say that it is essentially "to be continued." This would be fine--we would be ecstatic to play the the sequel--but I have heard nothing about this coming out and it is over a year after MOTHER has been released. I will be really upset if they decide never to bring it out. In any case, except for the tedium of combat, we are looking forward to playing again. It is more than good enough to play several times, and it was quite sentimental to watch a friend play through the beginning again. As for when the game is due in the US, I can't say for sure but Nintendo Power implied it would be sometime in 1991, let's hope in the early part (perhaps in Spring, a year after SMB3?). I have a feeling several things will be changed, because although the game is set in America it is really quite Japanese, but it will be interesting to see what happens. For people like me who can't wait, certainly the Japanese version is well worth buying (you need a Famicom also though as it won't play on the NES) but you should know a fair amount of Japanese. I had two years of courses and lived in Japan for the summer and still found it tough going, but enormous fun. CONCLUSION Certainly not everyone will be as thrilled with this game as we were. But if you enjoyed Miyamoto's earlier creations such as Super Mario Bros. 3 and The Legend of Zelda, you should love this game. Not a perfect game, but it is so good in so many ways that it deserves a 10+ on the 1 to 10 scale. MOTHER (Nintendo/Shigesato Itoi) Released 7/27/89. 6500 yen. 3M ROM + 64K RAM For the Nintendo FamiCom System (NES) currently available in Japan only ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Sep 90 19:44:43 CDT From: "Alan Klietz" Subject: NES: Ninja Gaiden II This is Tecmo's sequal to the popular Ninja Gaiden. You defeated the evil daemon Jaquio in the jungles of South America, and so now you and your CIA agent girlfriend can live happily ever after, right? Wrong! Jaquio was only a stooge for an even greater evil, Ashtar, who forged the Sword of Chaos out of the spine of the dead demon to rival your own Dragon Sword. In Ninja Gaiden II, you must defeat the ultimate evil and rescue your girlfriend again even though you know it is a trap. The story consists of 5 acts with a boss at the end of each act. When you defeat the boss there is a cinematic scene to advance the plot to the next stage. At the end you encounter Ashtar and the final climatic scene. Warning: this game is very hard, the hardest NES game I have ever encountered. The baddies come fast and hard, there are ledges and cliffs everywhere (some of which you must jump in the dark!), and the game feel is not very good. Jumps are to a fixed height regardless of how long you hold down the A button. It takes about 1/2 second to swing your sword, so a rapid fire button is useless. The character falls off the ledge if the center of gravity extends beyond the edge, unlike MM2 and SMB3 where you stay on if any portion of your feet remains in contact. Once you fall more than one body length you lose control entirely. You also lose control when you are hit (which is often unavoidable) and you fly back several body lengths right off the ledge. The lack of control is frustrating and I find myself hitting the pause button frequently to stop and analyze the situation to find safe spots and proper orientation to avoid instant death. One neat twist are the shadow warriors. You can make up to 2 images of yourself and they will follow your movement exactly. You can freeze them in mid-air and form a formidable barrier. This technique is essential in defeating the boss in act iii (and maybe iv). A very difficult move is the kick-off-jump: a left-right rocking motion on the control cross coupled with an A button jump to hurl yourself away and up from the side of a cliff onto the top. Naturally you must do this many times while baddies are hitting you from all directions. The graphics are adequate, about on a par with Double Dragon II. When many baddies swarm around you it causes lots of flickering. Your shadow warriors also flicker, but hey they are "shadows", right? The cinematic scenes are outstanding. The camera achieves a great 3-D effect by panning across the objects and scenery. The best example of this is the opening scene to act iii where Ryu Hayabusa stands on the precipice against the lightening filled sky contemplating his next objective: the looming Lahja tower. Awesome. The background music is non-obtrusive though it builds slightly as you progress into each stage. There is a NES Strategy Guide coming out soon, and it is probably essential if you want to finish this game. Graphics/Sound: 7 Excitement: 9 Sound: 7 Manual: 5 Overall: 7 Ninja Gaiden II for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Tecmo. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Sep 90 14:52:43 pdt ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Sep 90 10:08:17 PDT Subject: Lynx: Todd's Adventure in Slime World From: rjung@alcor.usc.edu! To paraphrase from the manual: You are Todd, the handsome blonde dude who's known for his exploratory prowness throughout the galaxy. You were cruising through a remote sector of space when you come across a derelict spaceship. Scanning the ship's logs, you find vague entries of a planet called "Slime World", filled with equal portions of disgusting creatures and wonderous treasures. Your greed gets the best of you, and you quickly plot a course for the planet. Once there, you descend into vast underground caverns filled with slime. There are slime critters, slime plants, slime waterfalls, slime pools. There is regular slime (kills you gradually), slippery slime, red slime (kills with one touch), bouncy slime, and mucky slime. There are also the fleeting remains of a once-flourished society that left behind artifacts that can help you repel the slime and stay alive. Okay, so what's the game? It depends -- there are six missions, each with a different orientation. As icing on the cake, you can ComLynx with up to seven other players; A Comlynxed game will have DIFFERENT adventures than a solo game! Most of the multiplayer scenarios are cooperative (except for the race to get a good score), but there are a few competitive scenarios too. My personal favorite ComLynxed scenarios are the "race to the rescue pod first" (first player wins, everyone else is stranded) and the "kill all the other players" (nuff said). What else can I say about this game? Well, the exploration areas are HUGE. Humongously huge. Play a multiplayer game and see how fast everyone splits up into their own areas. Fortunately, pressing PAUSE will give you a password, which you can use at a later time to continue your game. There is a lot of variety in the game, especially in the terrain and the monsters. An extra cute touch is the built-in instructions. The SLIME WORLD manual has no game mechanics instructions (how to move, etc), because they're all in the game! GAMEPLAY: To be dead honest, I cannot find anything wrong with the playing of the game. The controls are as responsive as expected; Todd moves at a respectable speed, but he won't win any marathons (try running with muck sticking to your Reeboks). The only potential problem I can find is that, once you completely explore a landscape, there's no real reason (that I can see so far) for playing it again. However, given the size of the game, that won't be for rather a long time... GRAPHICS/SOUND: "Lush" is the best word I can think of at the moment. There is a lot of detail in the graphics, from the minute (watch Todd's body movements when you activate certain functions) to the grand (the multiplanar multidirectional scrolling animations at the start of each scenario). Though the graphics are nothing too extraordinary, they are pleasing to look at, and maintain the high standards that the Lynx can accomplish. The sounds are okay, but not terrific. The background game tune is a high-pitched "boinking" melody that may irritate the more sensitive. You can turn the tune off before a game starts, though, so that's not a problem. Game noises run the gauntlet, from a loud grinding sound when you're dying from slime, to the satisfying "plutz!" when slime critters explode. This is a good game, well worth the money. True, it won't appeal to everyone (fans of grab-the-stick-and-blast-it may not be interested), but players who want some substance with their games will be happy. The concept is unique and intriguing, the graphics are nice, and it has every user- friendly feature you can ask for. If you're tired of "me-too" games, take a trip to Slime World and get away from it all! Gameplay - 9.0 Graphics - 8.5 Sound - 7.0 Overall - 8.5 Todd's Adventure in Slime World by Atari Corp./Epyx, for the Atari Lynx 1 to 8 players ------------------------------ Subject: GameBoy: Quarth Date: Mon, 17 Sep 90 11:40:12 PDT From: Marvin Raab Now they've done it! Ultra Games has given us Quarth for the GameBoy. A challenging and incredibly captivating game which combines the common ingredients of speed and puzzle-solving abilities and ends up being a pleasing and entertaining rare jewel of a game. Enough butter. What's the scoop? A one-player Quarth game begins with the options of choosing one level of three (1-easiset 3-hardest) and a stage between 1 and 9. Each stage will always be the same as it was in previous games. To provide variety, you have the option of choosing the "RANDOM" stage which, needless to say, is always random. You also need to choose one of six ships although there is no difference between them that we could ascertain (or that was documented) except for the design itself. Adding to its appeal is the ability to link two GameBoys together with the Videolink Cable to provide and even greater challenge reminicent of Tetris but with something extra. Let the game begin! Multiple shapes from a lot of 10 begin falling from the top of the screen at a constant rate toward your ship on the bottom. Your ship is only able to move horizontally and can shoot blocks at the falling shapes (which vaguely resemble construction-type beams). When a block reaches the falling shapes and can rise no further, it attaches itself to the blocking shape. The object is to shoot enough blocks to construct the *outline* of a quadrangle. Once this is achieved, the entire figure disappears and dispenses its worth in points to your score. Naturally, the larger the quadrangle, the higher the score. It resembles the description below: [][][][][] []{}{}{}[] legend: []{}{} [] [] original falling shape []{}{} [] {} blocks which have been or are being shot by the player uu player's ship {} uu In the example above, the {} being shot will attach itself to the highest available spot. Firing one more in the same location will complete the quadrangle for a total of 200 points (20blocks * 10). However, often it will appear as: [][][][][][][] [][][][][][] [] [] uu By positioning the ship as shown in the diagram and firing four shots before completing the lower quadrangle, not one but TWO shapes will be eliminated with one shot--that shot coming after completing both the outer and the inner quadrangles. This strategy would garner 840 points (35blocks * 24blocks) instead of (35*10)+(24*10) or 590 points. As the game progresses, the shapes fall faster and faster and become more and more embedded within each other. But wait! There's more! Each time you score a large chunk of points, one of five Power Boosters will appear on your screen. These power boosters are selected with the down arrow and are activated with the "B Button". Each one has it's own special ability: - increasing the speed of your shots - Stops the blocks from falling for a short period - the proverbial "Smartbomb" destroying all blocks on the screen - Reduce the speed of the falling shapes - a mystery booster (which could backfire on you) Unfortunately, you may have only one of each type of booster at any one time so that if you accummulate two Smartbombs (they call it a "zapper"), you really have only one and the previous one disappears forever. You are given a second or two to use a booster prior to having the new one take it's place. Perhaps the most challenging aspect of Quarth is it's two-player version. With the use of the Video-link cable, each player receives random shapes falling on his/her screen but by clearing multiple quadrangles, he/she receives the advantage of power boosters and causing a "curtain" to fall on his opponents screen; partially obstructing his opponent's view. The more blocks eliminated, the lower the curtain falls. To remove part of the curtain, the opponent must clear multiple quadrangles on his/her screen. Power Boosters in two-player mode differ slightly from one player mode: - Increase the speed of your shots AND cause any curtain on your screen to become transparent for a short period - Stops your shapes from falling temporarily - Smartbomb AND eliminate a portion of your curtain - Cause your opponent's shapes to fall faster - Cause your opponent to have a great number of shapes falling (we're talking blizzard!) It is this two-player mode which keeps my friends and I occupied for hours. All in all, definitely one of the better games for the GameBoy and quite possibly, the best yet! Concept: 10 Music: 7 Documentation: 8 1 player mode captivation: 9 2 player mode captivation: 10 Overall: 10+ Quarth for the Nintendo GameBoy by Ultra Games ------------------------------ From: nancy@mips.com (Nancy Louie) Subject: GameBoy: Daedalian Opus Date: Mon, 17 Sep 90 17:52:58 PDT Imagine yourself trapped in a land built of blocks and puzzles where the key to your escape is the power of your mind and your ability to solve the challenges presented to you. Daedalian Opus from Vic Tokai is just that. The game is based on the popular tangram games that we played when we were kids. (The tangram games, if you remember, were games where you had multiple playing pieces of varying shapes and had to fit them into specific patterns, usually using all of the available playing pieces) The game starts with you lost in a maze of puzzles where your only hope for survival is your ability to think quickly and master each of 42 increasingly difficult puzzles. As you solve the puzzles you are shown the passwords to the next level. While solving the puzzles you're allowed to rotate each of the differently shaped blocks along the vertical axis, the horizontal axis, and to the right and left in 90 degree increments. The first few puzzles are fairly easy, consisting of three different shapes that you must arrange to completely fill the block of space that you're given. On some puzzles you must use all the pieces, and on others, you find that you're left holding some spare pieces! Makes you wonder if the next level is going to have you using all or part of the set of pieces you're given. Which pieces will or won't you use? The designers did a great job of allowing you to rotate the pieces in every way possible through the use of the B, Select and Start buttons. If you've played much with your Tetris cart, you're probably used to the idea of rotating playing pieces. Daedalian Opus just gives you a little more freedom in terms of how you can position the playing piece. And you really need to be able to do all the rotations in order to solve the puzzles! This is definitely a game that tests and exercises the mind. My friend and I have been stuck on level 15 for the longest time, trying all sorts of configurations and still haven't managed to find a solution. It's also very addictive. She's sat for hours playing with the various puzzles. You get into the mode of "if I just turn one piece this way ...." and you're stuck, because you hate feeling that you can't solve the puzzle. But at the same time you sit and spend your time racking your brain to find the combination that will solve that one level. The music is cute and you can always tell when a new piece is added to your store to try to fit into the later puzzles when you see the Tinkerbell-like fairy between levels. The graphics in the beginning are kind of dull, but thankfully you can skip past them all. The other good thing is that the use of passwords is well implemented so that you can go to any level that you've previously solved by entering the password at the initial screen. The great thing about it is that so far, the passwords aren't as cryptic as other games. Daedalian Opus uses real four letter words which are much easier to remember than four random letters and numbers. It makes for a much more "user friendly" game. In summary, I think that the game is well designed and fun to play. The controls take a bit of getting used to, so play with it a bit. But it's definitely one for those who love games that make you think. It's a challenge in itself and can easily keep you up for hours intent on solving that one last puzzle before going to bed... Graphics: 8 Sound: 8 Playability: 8 Overall: 8 Daedalian Opus, for the Nintendo Gameboy by Vic Tokai ------------------------------------- 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. Back issues are archived as digests, as well as broken into individual reviews. To receive them via electronic mail, send a note to the address "info@limbo.intuitive.com" (or decwrl!limbo!info) with the body containing the lines "help" and "listall Digital.Games". 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. 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