Received: from decwrl.dec.com by s.ms.uky.edu id aa28833; 2 Dec 90 0:19 GMT Received: by decwrl.dec.com; id AA24372; Sat, 1 Dec 90 15:55:21 -0800 Received: by limbo; Sat, 1 Dec 90 13:15:03 pst Message-Id: <9012012115.AA28794@limbo.intuitive.com> From: The Moderator Date: Sat, 1 Dec 90 13:15:00 PST Subject: Digital Games Review Digest, #17 Reply-To: Digital Games Review To: Digital Games Review Digest X-Mailer: fastmail [version 2.02] Digital Games Review Digest, Number 17 Saturday, December 1st 1990 Today's Topics: PC: Sports Games! PC: Railroad Tycoon Mac: SimEarth (preview) Amiga: Paradroid '90 TurboGrafx: Ninja Spirit TurboGrafx: Neutopia TG-16 CD: Final Zone II TG-16 CD: Valis II Lynx: Xenophobia Lynx: Paperboy Lynx: Robo-Squash ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: fmbasas@ATHENA.MIT.EDU Subject: PC: Sports Games! Date: Wed, 07 Nov 90 19:22:29 EST Well, I don't see many reviews for sports simulations, so I'll put my $.02 worth. These are only games that I've played; there may be better games out there. BASEBALL - ------ Earl Weaver Baseball (v. 1.5) Definitely my favorite among baseball games. All the stats are there to drive the simulation. The graphics are pretty good, although the current version only supports up to 16-color EGA. You can play this game in Arcade or Simulation/Manage mode, or in both. Most, if not all, real baseball features are implemented, such as pickoffs, hitting the cutoff man, infield/outfield alignment, etc. The game comes with a full-fledged stat keeper and a ballpark editor, among other things. The Commisionner's Disk, which is sold separately, allows drafts, contains a more refined ballpark editor, and a league scheduling generator (one nice mini-feature I like is the baseball card generator for any player). Season disks are available. EWB is great for season long play. Each game can take between 30-120 minutes depending on the speed of your computer and the mode you play the game in. I definitely recommend it for any fan. Hardball A pure arcade baseball game, and IMHO, still a classic. I haven't seen HB II yet, but from what I hear, it's pretty awesome. HB has a better arcade pitching mechanism, but overall, it's still not as good as the arcade mechanism in EWB. Major League Baseball (by UXB, I believe) For the budget minded among us (less than $5 in the budget sections of software stores), this may be the ticket. It's graphics are text-based and it's really a stripped down replay simulation, which allows a few strategic moves. It does come with an entire season of players, so for the price, you get a pretty good deal. APBA Major League Baseball Based on the boardgame, this is another text-based graphics game, although on much larger scale than MLB. This game is not as detailed as EWB baseball, but puts an interesting slant on strategy, by allowing you to be the 3rd base coach as well as manager. This gives you complete control on whether or not to allow a runner to tag up, or to send a runner from 2nd to home on a single, which is something that EWB more or less controls if you're not in arcade mode. A drafting program comes with the package, and season disks are available. FOOTBALL - ------ NFL Challenge For years, this was a football game that was second to none. Play action is animated by graphical X's and O's that are a lot of fun to watch. You have 40 or so offensive plays to choose from, and 20 defensive formations to choose from. Only team stats are kept during the game, and the text play results (after the animated play ends) only refer to the players as numbers (i.e. #34 for the Bears gains 10 yards, tackled by #56 for the Giants). Season disks are available from XOR. John Madden Football This game is a more graphics-based implementation, and contains many more features than NFL Challenge, including a chalkboard-like play editor, scouting reports, and individual stats maintenance. 99 offensive and 99 defensive plays are available. My complaints about the game stem from the playability. It's too hard to play this game from a pure strategic point of view, since the computer constantly burns you for big plays. Usually, you have to control the pass coverage manually. The running game, I feel, is poorly simulated, since most of the time, the defense stops a running play for 1 or 2 yards. Very rarely am I able to generate 100 team rushing yards for a game. Ironically enough, it seems every time that every time a running back runs into the secondary, he's able to outrun them every time, usually getting a TD in the process. Well, I don't exactly agree with this model, and I feel that the simulation is flawed in this respect. My other complaint is that the graphics are very second rate, even for EGA. If it weren't for these flaws, I'd really enjoy this game. Season disks also are available, some containing gadget plays specific to certain teams. NFL Pro League Football My favorite football simulation, by far. For those of you who've heard of Micro Sports Football for the Mac (and very briefly for the IBM), this is a newer, more souped-up version of it. The reason I like it so much is its playibility. You don't choose every play in the game, rather, you draw up a game plan to reflect the trends you want your team to show. For example, you're asked what % of the time you want to run on 1st and 10, % of time to double cover a certain receiver, % of time to throw to a certain receiver, etc. There are 104 of these type of questions, and you type in the answers at the beginning of the game. Then the computer takes these answers, and uses them to decide which specific plays and defenses to use during the game. As coach, you get to sit there and watch the game unfold. If you like, you may call an audible for as many plays as you like. This kind of system is ideal for league play, particularly play-by-mail type leagues, where coaches don't necessarily have to take a couple hours a week to set at a computer and play each game. Coaches don't even have to be present, as they can mail in their game plan (which makes it ideal for net play!). This game also has the most extensive stat keeper I've ever seen, and even includes a record book. You can also generate scouting reports (like JMFB). Another nice feature is that you can download weekly updated teams from the USA TODAY sports center via modem (this I haven't actually tried yet). In short, while it's not the most flexible or sophisticated football game around, I think it's definitely the most playable. The graphics are pretty good, but they're mostly decorative. The play action comes from a X's and O's animation, which is OK, but nowhere near as good as the play action on NFL Challenge. It's also fairly new, so you may or may not have seen this in stores yet, but I say grab it when it gets there! Pure Stat Football As the name implies, a purely statistical replay game, with a few play calling options. Unfortunately, it's not very well done. The graphics are terrible and the interface is frustrating. Overall, not recommended. BASKETBALL - -------- Lakers vs. Celtics This is my favorite basketball game. It's mostly an arcade game where you get to control one of 10 NBA teams. The action is fantastic and it's very playable. It's not incredibly realistic, but it's a lot of fun. The graphics are great, especially in EGA. Basketball Challenge This is a college basketball simulator. It's a text-based graphics game from the same people who created NFL challenge. It contains 25 or so college teams from a recent season. While there's not much to see in terms of play action, it's fun to play if you're inter- ested in pure strategy, as this game offers more basketball strategic options that I've ever seen in basketball simulation. HOCKEY - ---- Superstar Ice Hockey While I'm not a real hockey fan, I like this game. It has a good combination of action and strategy. You can control either the goalie or the center in this game, and you can act as coach, deciding when to send in different lines. Another facet is the ability to act as GM, where you decide to make trades or draft rookies. Overall, this game covers many aspects of the game and covers them fairly well. However, from what I've heard of Wayne Gretzky Hockey, you might be advised to check out that one first. Anybody willing to give a review? GOLF - -- PGA Tour Golf A recent release from Electronic Arts, this game gives the TV feel to computer golf. Four courses are included : Sawgrass, PGA West, Avenel, and a fantasy course (that looks almost exactly like Pebble Beach). The unique feature in this game is that you get to compete against other tour pros over four rounds of play. You have to fight to make the cut for each round. You can measure yourself by the amount of prize money you win for each tournament. This game does not include a course designer and I haven't heard anything about additional course disks. GAME RATINGS (on a scale from 1 to 10): -------------------------------------- Earl Weaver Baseball 9 Hardball 6 Major League Baseball 4 APBA Major League Baseball 7.5 NFL Challenge 8 John Madden Football 8 NFL Pro League Football 10 Pure Stat Football 2 Lakers vs. Celtics 8.5 Basketball Challenge 7 Superstar Ice Hockey 7 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 12:36 +1000 From: C0038270@cc.nu.oz.au Subject: PC: Railroad Tycoon Another game from the MicroProse stable; it follows their usual standard of providing a very large and descriptive manual in addition to the well researched game. This game is more oriented towards the business end of things rather than being a train simulator. In this game you are the hopeful tycoon of a fledgling industry - railroading- in either the U.S.A., Europe or England, and as such have to maximise your profit for the benefit of your shareholders. To begin with, you select two cities as the initial route for your rail network. They will most likely be ones with high residential areas as they provide the most revenue. Over time, you may build lines to industrial centres, or even build industries yourself. Furthermore, you have a number of options for your stations such as storage facilities, hotels, restaurants and rail maintenance facilities. In addition, there are factors to be considered such as whether to tunnel or build over, bridge or ferry and above all, try and keep everything as level as possible, through the engineers survey. The game allows for you to detail what stations each of your trains will stop at, what cargoes they will carry at each station and what sort of locomotive will haul it. You may get requests for priority deliveries, or have crashes which can snowball. Lines may be dual- or single-tracked. You may finance your expansion through share issues or borrowing money - the cost of which is determined by whether you're in a recession, or boom - or somewhere in the middle. These are just a few of the virtually endless choices which you, as chairman, have to make. If that isn't enough for you, higher stages allow for varying degrees of competition, the amount of demand for goods, and even for you to try your hand as a signaller/despatcher. And, of course, all this is backed up by reports on your efficiency, supply and demand of goods, competitors' positions and your own assets and profit and loss statements. The graphics in this game aren't highly polished ie. no rounded corners, shading of edges, etc.. However, they are very well detailed with each train accurately located and moving on the main map, initial displays for each train and station, and animated scenes for building bridges. Overall, the most impressive feature of this game is the vast array of information that you are provided with, ranging from reports about almost everything to maps showing resources and stations supply and demand. When coupled with its presentation this game will provide a great deal of enjoy- ment to anyone who likes the thought of organising things efficiently, with the demands of shareholders to make sure you don't ease off. There were a couple of points that dismayed me such as the notice "Maximum no. of stations exceeded" when I was obviously expanding a bit too much, but there is still plenty of room to maneuver. My ratings for this are: Playability: 8.5 Graphics: 7 Lastability: 10 Overall: 9 RAILROAD TYCOON, for the IBM PC (only, so far), from MicroProse ------------------------------ From: jepullia@copper.ucs.indiana.edu (John Pulliam) Subject: Mac: SimEarth (preview) Date: 7 Nov 90 19:52:00 GMT As a pre-review of SimEarth (I spent a few hours goofing around with a beta test version, as a friend of my wife is in the beta test group), I offer the following. Please take note: I am not in any way, shape or form 8-) a computer scientist... so don't expect to read the word 'elegant' anywhere, or to hear about how it interacts well with the left-handed widget architecture of a Mac 747. 8-) I'm just going to tell you what (little) I know about the game/experiment. It kind of has the feel of SimCity, although it's a very different game. The deal is, you are 'God'; able to control the geothermal, solar, atmospheric, and biological conditions of your 'planet'. You can also alter the planet's terrain, although the wind, sea and tectonics may change it right back to the way it was before over the course of time. Your goal is to develop intelligent, advanced life forms. The game divides all life forms into steps, or levels, of evolution (that is, all micro-organisms and fauna; flora plays a terrain role, but it's not part of your goal to attempt the development of self-aware trees 8-). There are 12-20 levels (I can't remember the exact number), including two or three levels of micro-life (protozoids is one of them), then crustaceans, fish, cestaceans, amphibs, reptiles, avians, mammals, and four to six levels of "intelligent" life forms (once you succeed in getting a species to self-awareness, it begins to develop through the stone, bronze, industrial, atomic, etc. ages). Like SimCity, there is no real "end" to the game (that I'm aware of); just continual experimentation and playing around to see how well you can do. Also like SimCity, it has more the feel of a science experiment than a pure game. Without the documentation, and given the short time I tried SimEarth out, I never really grasped all the complex relationships between the things you can control and the development of the life forms. I can draw a few conclusions, though: every time I messed with the geothermal/atmospheric/sea/biological/solar conditions _drastically_, I had a very tough time developing advanced life forms (maybe the underlying message is that our ecosystem is in delicate balance...). The one and only time I was able to develop senscient (sp?) life, it was birds/avians (kind of cool to watch bird tribes run around the board settling new areas and fighting, etc). Oh, that's another similiarity to SimCity; there are disasters which occur randomly (war, famine, flood, volcano, earthquake, hurricane); I don't know if, as in SimCity, they occur more frequently if you do certain things, or less frequently under other conditions. I would assume there are relations between most of them and the input you give (esp. volcanoes/ hurricanes/earthquakes/floods; you should be able to control the frequency and intensity using your input, if you know how; I didn't). War and famine are subject to the level of advancement of your life forms and the terrain they're in; you can't control war (except by "getting" them into a more advanced stage, I suppose), but famine is a function of their local terrain, which can be somewhat controlled. The game is in full 256-color (I think; at least it has _very_ nice graphics), and uses the macro-micro "map" exchange system of SimCity. You toggle on/off any of the overlays (natural disasters, prevailing winds and seas, sea/wind temps, life form locations and densities, etc.), and you also have access to many graphs (change in temps over time, change in Methane/CO2/Oxygen contents over time, etc). Very well done graphics and use of the mouse and other controls, IMO (you'll wish your screen was bigger after playing this, no matter how big a screen you've got, because you can have multiple maps/graphs/screens displayed at once, and will want/need to). The game's opening screens offer several options (you can start with a clean earth, or several already-partly-developed options, kind of like SimCity) for play. I think one of the options is even "solve the smog (or ozone) problem in 1990 Earth", or some such. Other options let you limit the variables (one's called the "aquarium" option, can't remember the name of the other one). Anyway, a lot of interesting "encyclopedia" type info is included when starting up these options (like when the earth first started to cool, when life first began, etc.). I didn't find any bugs, to my knowledge (found some disturbing problems, like inability to make certain screens show certain data when they should have been able to, etc., but those problems may be the result of my lack of knowledge, not having read the documentation). In summary, the game will be a dynamite addition to your game/semi-game collection; I don't know about the $70 price tag, but maybe it's even worth that. SimEarth, for the Apple Macintosh, from Maxis Software, $70 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 12:36 +1000 From: C0038270@cc.nu.oz.au Subject: Amiga: Paradroid '90 To all C= 64 users, Paradroid is a familiar name, being a virtual classic on that computer. It has finally arrived on the Amiga, after being modernised and slightly updated, by the same author (Andrew Braybrook) and company (Hewson). The plot goes like this: some spaceships have entered a disturbance which has sent all the robots piloting and working on them completely haywire and the spaceships are, as a result, out of control. To continue on their mission, the robots have to be replaced. However, the disturbance has now caused them to be totally uncontrollable, and they are thus attacking anything that tries to come on the ship. This is where you come in in. You play the part of the 'Influence Device' which, due to your size, is the only thing that can get on board and retake control of the ship. There are two ways for you to do this: the first is to do as your name says and influence (ie. take over) the brain - or circuitry - of another robot. The other is to destroy any opponent in your path. However, being small meant that you could only be provided with a small, unary laser which is fairly ineffectual against the heavily armoured higher-level adversaries(which also have better weapons). Therefore, the only way to win is to use a mixture of both. To take another robot over, you go to a stage known as the 'transfer game' where the goal is to take control of more circuits on the main board than your opponent. However, you have only a limited number of pieces with which to do this, but this grows as the robot under your control is further up the hierarchy. The game itself is made up of eight ships, each with different decks, and elevators, which service each deck. Each deck usually has an energy field (to boost any energy lost in battles), some computers, and mutant robots. These robots range from cleaners and other easily destroyed or mind-warped robots on the entry deck, to tanks and sentinels, up to 999 who is the command cyborg of the ship. While he is heavily armoured, and has good firepower, his new brain type means that you can't control him for too long before you lose control. An addition to the 64 Paradroid is the raiders which invade the ship occasionally and destroy the cargo. Changes to the game from the 64 version: The robots are virtually the same, with the only major difference being the addition of 'raiders' which come on board the ship and destroy some of your cargo, and therefore your score - they do not need to be destroyed to finish a stage. There are also 'turrets' that cannot be transferred to and are very strong which can do a fair bit of damage to you. However, the robots in the game have become more interactive than in the 64 version, with them now accessing computers, recharging at energy stations (which incidentally can now be destroyed), and also acting in a more lifelike manner in the way they follow their path. Other cosmetic touches include each deck now being named and having relevant features on it eg. the loading bay has shuttles firing up for launch. Also, such things as a light turning on when you approach a computer and robots making noises when they bump into you create a greater atmosphere than the original. (Incidentally, it still loads very quickly). I must say that I was a huge fan of the 64 version, rating it as one of the best games on that computer. However, I felt the Amiga version was just slightly lacking, beneath the improved presentation. It seems to have lost a (very) small amount of the enjoyment, as compared to the 64. I was also disappointed by the manual which suffered from being a little on the brief side, and without any pictures of the various items (such as lifts), I felt was a bit on the scarce side. Therfore, whereas I gave the 64 version a 10 overall, I'm giving this: Playability: 9.5 Graphics: 9 Sound: 7.5 Lastability: 8 Overall: 9 PARADROID '90, for the Amiga, from Hewson Software ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Nov 90 03:13:14 -0500 From: ccastbh@prism.gatech.edu (Brad Hamlett) Subject: TurboGrafx: Ninja Spirit I just picked up Ninja Spirit on Saturday. In fact, one of my roommates is playing it as I write this. Ninja Spirit is in the same vein as Revenge of Shinobi for the Genesis and is every bit its equal (if not better.) You have your choice of four weapons, all of which can be carried at the same time and called upon as needed. You can increase the power and effects of each weapon separately. The non-power-up special items include a damage shield which hurts opponents that get too close, a 'shadow' which mimics your movements (and attacks!), and a 'smart bomb' which destroys everything on the screen. The gameplay is excellent. The scrolling is left-right and the control of Moonlight (your character) is very smooth. The screen will scroll both directions so you can go back for missed power- ups and such. The backgrounds are beautiful! The graphics of the enemy characters are very well done (including light-directional shading!) The music is pretty good, not repetative in the least and the sound effects are nice too. Ninja Spirit is a very good game. The use of multi-scrolling backgrounds and the detail put into the characters make the game very nice to look at (check out the explosions of 'Bamboo Thunder' or the slash effects of the sword attack!). The smooth control of Moonlight and the variety of weapons make the game fun to play. Ninja Spirit has two difficulty levels so those of us who aren't arcade wiz's can have fun with the game too. I'm not a big fan of the ninja-kick-em-up games but Ninja Spirit was well worth getting. Graphics: 10! (Truly impressive 'nuff said) Gameplay: 10! (Plenty of items, great control, selectable difficulty.) BGM/Sound: 9 (Very good sounds. Great death scream ;) Manual: 7 (standard Turbo fare, nothing special) Overall: 9.5 (Excellent job!) Ninja Spirit for the TG-16 done by Irem Corp. $59.99 ------------------------------ Subject: TurboGrafx: Neutopia Date: Thu, 08 Nov 90 13:34:05 -0500 From: dmr@osf.org (David M. Rodal) I would like to start off as saying that my favorite games are fantasy/rpg type games. In this category I include games like Link and Legend of Zelda in addition to more standard RPG games like Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior. I very much enjoy games with a large map that has hidden items and hints that you need to explore to win the game. I also like using these items and hints in more action oriented parts of the games such as the dungeons in Zelda and Link. With that said I would like to say that neutopia is one of the better games I own. It is very much a clone of Legend of Zelda. However it is a beautiful (graphics wise) game to play and the stereo music in the background is very enjoyable to listen to while playing. You start out as Jazeta (or something like that). You have to find eight medallions and return them to the palace. You start out with a sword, some armor, and a shield. You must then set out and search for the 8 medallions and return them to the original starting place in the game. You also will come across better armor/swords/shields during your travels to find the medallions. Finding the dungeons isn't that hard because you always have a compass that points to the next dungeon. However there are dead ends and the like so it is quite easy to have the compass point to a door that is the entrance to the dungeon and not be able to get to it because a river is in the way and you have to loop back around another way. The dungeons reminded me greatly of zelda in that they had all sorts of creatures that looked and acted like the creatures in zelda. They had bats that flew, skeletons that marched around, little dog like creatures that threw arrows, wizards that shot magic at you, little blobs that when you hit them become smaller blobs and many more. They also had bombs that you used to blow holes in the walls to find hidden rooms. I felt like I was playing a very beautiful version of Zelda. The graphics were great. The creatures were very colorful and sharp with great amounts of detail. When they got hit they would have there outline and other lines in them turn a bright orange that flashed. This gave a very impressive effect. And killing creatures was not only fun but attractive too! The actual dungeons were rather drab looking compared to the monsters (and zelda too) but that was more than made up for by the fact that monsters in the dungeons were very colorful indeed. The only down side that I would say was it seemed like the bosses were a little easy to kill. They didn't seem like they were anything new and creative. Just big monsters that you had to kill and if you had the right tools it usually wasn't that hard. I felt this a lot while playing the game but I also had to keep telling my self that I had just completed Legend of Zelda with 1 life the day before I bought neutopia. Anyway the monsters at the end were actually a challenge and I enjoyed the game greatly. One last comment. The games uses the password feature of the Turbo booster plus, it is soooo nice to be able to save a long password in the file cabinet (provided by the turbo booster plus). Ratings: Gameplay (funness) 8 Graphics/artwork 9 The monsters are truly beautiful music/sound 8 I love the metal sound you make when you stab Challenge 7 It could have been harder Overall 8 If you like zelda you will like this. Neutopia for the NEC TurboGrafx-16, from HudsonSoft ------------------------------ From: ccastbh@prism.gatech.edu (Brad Hamlett) Subject: TG-16 CD: Final Zone II Final Zone II -- This is the sequel to the original Final Zone that has just been released for the Genesis. Final Zone is a shooting game similiar to the 'commando' style game. The story opens up like this.... You are Cpt. Bowie, commander of TOP. You and you're squad are enroute to a battle site when your drop ship is ambushed by "rebels". The ship is destroyed and only five of your number survived reentry into the planet's atmosphere. However, all five of your troops are widely scattered. Your primary goal is to reunite all surviving members. After that, your next goal is to figure out who the hell shot your ship down. The view of the game is a top-down view with you in control of one of the five characters in his or her NAP (New Age Power suits). Each character has specific weapons and damage soaking abilities. Each suit has a damage bar and two weapons. One weapon is an un- limited use weapon but has low damage inflicting abilities. The other weapon is a limited use more powerful weapon. The play is your standard scroll northward and beat of the bad guys type of play. At the end of each stage, the game pauses and gives an intermission to keep you up to date on the story line. Final Zone II is light-years better than the original Genesis Final Zone. The music throughout is good and the intermissions are entertaining (if a wee bit campy :). During the first three stages of the game, the NAP that you play is decided for you. After stage 3, you get choices on who you want to control. Each of the five different NAPs have different weapons, etc. They are as follows. 1). Capt. Bowie -- NAP "Lupus" Good Mobility, Good Damage points. Vulcan Phalanx (unlimited shots) Bazooka (limited shots, blast radius) 2). Cmdr. Franks -- NAP "Puma" Good Mobility, Good Damage points. Vulcan Phalanx (unlimited shots) Laser Cannon (limited shots, incredible power) 3). Agent Velder -- NAP "Tremor" Great Mobility, Good Damage points Saber (unlimited shots, short range) Laser Rifle (limited shots, good damage) 4). Lt. Hanson -- NAP "Ocelot" Poor Mobility, Great Damage points 3-Way Beam (unlimited shots, wide spread) Missle Launcher (limited shots, homing) 5). Sub-Lt. Ring -- NAP "Dugong" Supreme Mobility, Poor damage points Grenade Launcher (limited shots, blast radius) Assault Rifle (unlimited shots, powerful) GamePlay: 7 Graphics: 8.5 Sound/BGM: 9 Docs: 7 Overall: 8 (A good game, but not overly impressive.) Final Zone II Done by Telenet Japan for the TG16 CDROM price $59.99 ------------------------------ From: ccastbh@prism.gatech.edu (Brad Hamlett) Subject: TG-16 CD: Valis II Valis II -- Valis II is a side-scrolling adventure game in the same realm as Legendary Axe, Ghouls and Ghosts, etc. Valis II impressed me more than Final Zone II did. Here's how the story goes.... The place is Vecanti...the kind ruler King Rogress has died. Having no named heirs, the country falls into a state of civil war. An Evil army headed by the Emperor Magus has risen up and all but slaughtered the followers of the King. To combat this menace, a young woman by the name of Yuko is chosen to become a valis warrior. Yuko hasone asset that will enable her to be victorious; the legendary Sword of the Kingdom: Valis II. This sword is the only this that Magus fears. He has sworn an oath to destroy Yuko and become the new ruler of Vecanti. Valis II has all the elements that a good side scrolling adventure game should have. Multiple weapons and enhancements and plenty of tough opponents. Valis II is based on a damage system. With each hit, Yuko loses a little vitality; when it goes to zero, she dies. Three deaths and Magus wins. Like Final Zone II, there are intermissions at the completion of each stage. An animated sequence will also appear when you start the game. The one drawback is that the sequences in Valis II appear choppy at times as the CD is accessed frequently during an intermission. The music is of course, first-rate. Valis II is a welcome change...there haven't been any non-cartoony adventure games since Legendary Axe. Valis II is hard. Yuko has four weapons to help her on her quest. The normal weapon is a fireball. You can power up the weapon twice. The other weapons include a Homing missle, a 2-way fire beam, and a cutter weapon which block enemy shots. You can also pick up 'special weapons' which are limited use items. These include "Crusher" (damages all enemies on screen), "Power Surge" (temporary invincibility), "Protective Barrier" (gives Yuko protective 'satellites'), and "Hourglass" (freezes enemies for awhile). Other power up items include Vitality increases and defensive shields. The "Generals" at the end of each stage are HARD. A powered-up weapon is crucial to killing those guys. Valis II is a great game, even if the animation of the intermissions is a little choppy. GamePlay: 9 Graphics: 8 Music: 9 Docs: 8 Overall: 9 (Better than Final Zone II, but still no Ys!) Valis II Done by Sin Hihon Laser Soft and Telenet Japan for the TG16 CDROM price $59.99 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 Nov 90 12:49:47 PST From: jjung@alcor.usc.edu (Robert Jung) Subject: Lynx: Xenophobia It's some time in the undisclosed future, and a human colony in a far-off planet lives in isolation. Their tranquility is interrupted when their orbiting space stations are overrun with Xenos -- bug-eyed monsters very reminescent of what Sigorney Weaver fought off in ALIENS. If the Xenos get accustomed to human atmospheres on the space stations, they will eagerly attack the humans on the planet below. As a result, you (and up to three other friends) are called upon to kill the Xenos and save the day. Okay, storyline's over. For those of you who are not familliar with the original Bally arcade game, Xenophobe has you maneuvering a hero through 23 space stations, killing (almost) anything that moves. You pick a persona from one of nine human and semi-human characters (different looks, same skills), then crawl, walk, jump and fall your way through the stations, getting weapons and artifacts, fighting the numerous alien critters. GAMEPLAY: There's not too much variety in this game. You get to grab treasures, explore rooms, and operate machinery, but the bulk of the game is killing the Xenos. There are 23 space stations of different sizes, hence 23 levels, and the manual hints at a "final confrontation" at the end of the game. Each level can end in one of three ways, from the high-scoring "destroy all monsters" (wasn't that a Godzilla movie of the '60s?) to the wimpy (and low-scoring) "escape with your life". Your hero stays alive as long as he has enough health points (lost when attacked by aliens or explosives); when he dies, you can pick another to continue the fight. People familliar with the original arcade game will find that the Lynx version has been expanded a bit. The stations seem much bigger, with a bit more exploration than before. There are new artifacts, like the flying jetpack and the health-restoring vitamins, to help you survive. The Xenos remain the same: crawling critters, rolling rollerbabies, hypnotic Festors, and more, all of them creeping all over the place... Early reviews of Xenophobe report that the game was too easy. Nah. In single-player games, you only get to play up to four characters before the game ends. In multi-player games, you play as long as undead heroes remain; when the pool of eight are gone, you all lose. With 23 levels of varying sizes, this game looks like it will take a while to master. A few other goodies worth noting: In multiplayer games, one player can choose to be an alien spitting Snotterpillar, and hunt his friends. Compared to the arcade version, the Lynx Xenophobe is easier to control, thanks to all the buttons being used. Finally, like SLIME WORLD, Xenophobe makes it easy to Comlynx everyone up: Just wait at the main title page, until the correct number of players is displayed. GRAPHICS/SOUND: Graphics are adequate. Nothing spectacular, yet not dissapointing. Like the arcade, Xenophobe graphics look more "cutesy" than scary, with heroes looking like caricatures, Xenos looking cartooney, and assorted goofy touches here and there. Sounds are also adequate but not outstanding. The opening title music is completely forgettable, and aside from a musical tune between levels, the only game sounds are the noises of battle. You want audio entertainment, go elsewhere. Overall, An average-decent game, good for players who don't want complicated gameplay to get in the way. Best recommended for fans of the original Xenophobe arcade game, quick-action gamers, or multiplayer game fans. Gameplay: 7.5 Graphics: 6.5 Sound: 6 Overall: 7 Xenophobe, for the Atari Lynx, Licensed by Bally/Midway, $34.95 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Nov 90 1:53:49 PST Subject: Lynx: Paperboy From: jjung@alcor.usc.edu! In Norman Rockwell's America, purehearted young men got their start in the financial world by delivering newspapers or selling fruit. In PAPERBOY for the Atari Lynx (an adaptation of the Atari Games/Tengen arcade title), you play such a young man, out to deliver a week's worth of papers on either Easy Street, Middle Road, or Hard Way. You start off with a bike, ten papers, and two blocks of customers. As you ride up the street, your objective is to deliver papers to your customers with a well-placed toss. Aim carefully -- breaking windows is a fast way to lose a customer. Between customers, throw papers haphazardly to destroy other people's property(!) or hit people(!!) for bonus points(!!!). At the end of the run, you can run an obstacle course and show off your bike-riding and paper-throwing prowlness. It's not all peaches and cream, though. Crashing your bike into an obstacle (incoming traffic, pedestrians, animals, etc.) will lose you a paperboy. Lose all your customers, or all your boys, and the game ends. Survive an entire week and you may actually keep your job. GAMEPLAY: A decent adaptation of the arcade game. Minute game details from the arcade original are preserved intact, such as the "hidden targets" (the catburglar, the birdbath --> periscope, etc.). Scoring and gameplay are identical enough that veterans of the original will feel right at home. There are a few nitpicky points that detract, though. For one thing, while you can slow down/speed up the bike, you cannot STOP. For another, the Lynx version seems a little bit easier than the original. Making mailbox "bullseyes", dodging obstacles, and generally staying alive are easier to do. You do get to pick three different streets of varying difficulty, though there's no way to refine the game further. One minor "cute touch" -- the Lynx version maintains a seperate high score table for each street. Get a score in the top five for the street, and you get to enter your name. No score-saving mechanism, however. GRAPHICS/SOUND: A mixed bag. Graphics are clearly distinguishable (breakdancers from drunks, trash cans from tombstones), but left me with a sense of "could have been done better". Every extra graphic nicety was counterbalanced by a weak point, leaving an overall OK graphics impression. Similary, the sounds are indifferential. The background music is a pale shadow of the original, but the other game sounds are appropriate and helpful (especially the musical riffs when you deliver a paper). The volume of the sounds vary widely, though -- you strain to hear a delivery riff and have your concentration broken by a (relatively) loud "car horn", for instance -- again leaving an overall balanced impression. Overall not a bad game, though not one of the Lynx's best. It's not a fast- paced breakneck-speed game, so people looking for relaxation should be interested. If you can overlook average-quality graphics and sound, and did not dominate the arcade version, this is worth trying out. GAMEPLAY: 7.5 GRAPHICS: 6 SOUND: 6 OVERALL: 7 Paperboy, for the Atari Lynx ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Nov 90 1:53:49 PST Subject: Lynx: Robo-Squash From: jjung@alcor.usc.edu! It's the 31st century, and after 200 years of peace, there is a conflict. The two political parties of the universe are arguing over a successor to the recently-deceased President of the World. Instead of settling the dispute through barbaric warfare or elections, both parties have sent a representative to play the zero-gravity game of Robo-Squash. The winning player will win the Presidency for his party. Guss what? You're one of the players. The Robo-Squash game consists of 16 rounds. For each round, you sit at one end of a zero-gravity corridor. At the other end is your opponent, and in the middle are spinning bricks and some icons. A ball is batted back and forth between the players, picking up speed and knocking out obstacles as it goes. A round ends when one player fails to return the ball three times, or one player hits the roving mecha-spider that appears when all obstacles are knocked out. The game is complicated by a few twists: First, missing a ball leaves a big red splotch on your end of the arena. This is more than a nuisance, it blocks your view of the ball and makes it harder to see incoming shots. Second, hitting the icons in the middle of the arena gives you (if you can catch it) power-ups: a ball grabber, a larger paddle, a fireball launcher, or a ball spotter are available. Before each of the 16 rounds, a player picks a ball in a 4-by-4 grid to play for. Winning a round wins the ball for the player, and at the end of all the rounds, bonuses are awarded for getting grid entries in 2, 3, or 4-in-a-rows. GAMEPLAY: ROBO-SQUASH is a nice, well-balanced "sports game" (okay, sport-like). The general concept reminds me of PONG, BREAKOUT, SHUFFLEPUCK CAFE, and ARKANOID. The game and controls are easy enough to learn, and the addition of power-ups, vision-blocking, and fighting for grid positions make it more interesting. The game has four difficulty levels, which affect the top speed the ball can get and the intellect of the coputer opponent. ROBO-SQUASH can be played either against the computer or another player. The computer opponent is good, but not unbeatable -- like video tennis games, alternating volleys to extreme ends of the arena can trip it up. Human opponents, though, are another matter; use strategic shots (to set up vision-blocking splotches) or fireballs (exploding bricks obscure the view temporarily) to distract your opponent. One minor annoyance: You can angle the return of the ball by hitting it on the edge of the padde OPPOSITE from where you want to go (make it go down by hitting it with the top edge, for instance). Once you understand it, ball control is easy -- but until then, it's a mystery. The manual is of little help here. GRAPHICS/GAMEPLAY: Coming from an original name of "3D Barrage", ROBO-SQUASH makes good use of the Lynx's scaing capabilites. The 3D effects of the game are very well done; the ball's size changes and the use of two ball shadows make it clear where the ball is, and the obscuring blotches are a neat idea. The rest of the graphics are functional, though the power-up icons are a bit cute (a dragon's head for the fireball launcher, for instance). Sounds are passable but not notworthy, repeating the trend in PAPERBOY and Xenophobe. The actual gameplay is mostly silent, with only the sound of the bouncing ball and smashed bricks punctuating. The only real music comes in the opening title tune, and while it's nice, it's not enough. SUMMARY: A good, slightly above-average game. Playing it by yourself is fine, since the difficulty levels let you tune the computer to your skills. I suspect, though, that playing it with another person would be more fun. Best for players who are looking for a sports-type game for the Lynx (at least until TOURNAMENT CYBERBALL comes out). GAMEPLAY: 7 to 8 (depending on difficulty/number of players) GRAPHICS: 7 SOUND: 6 OVERALL: 7 ROBO-SQUASH, for the Atari Lynx, 1-2 players, by Atari Games, $34.95 ------------------------------------- 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". 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