Received: from uucp-gw-1.pa.dec.com by s.ms.uky.edu id aa06741; 15 Jan 92 22:57 GMT Received: by uucp-gw-1.pa.dec.com; id AA24566; Wed, 15 Jan 92 14:51:13 -0800 Received: by limbo; Wed, 15 Jan 92 14:41:52 pst Date: Wed, 15 Jan 92 14:41:52 pst Message-Id: <9201152241.AA06569@limbo.intuitive.com> From: Info-Source To: abbott@ms.uky.edu Subject: Re: Your Request For Information X-Mailer: The Info-Source System (send Digital.Games/Digests/Digest.28) Digital Games Review Digest, Number 28 Sunday, June 30th 1991 Today's Topics: Amiga: Chuck Yeager's AFT The Killing Cloud Mac: Vette! PC: Warlords Last Days of Doom Genesis: Sonic the Hedgehog Dick Tracy Star Control Ringside Angel TG16: Bomberman Top and Bottom Ten Video/Computer Titles ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mike Powell Subject: Amiga: Chuck Yeager's AFT Date: Thu, 30 May 91 22:11:07 PDT Well, finally got my hands on Chuck Yeager's AFT 2.0 for Amiga... It comes to us from Electronic Arts, and comes with a manual written specifically for the IBM version (oh great.) with an insert that explains the exceptions for use on the Amiga. An entertaining audio tape is included of Chuck talking about AFT and flyin' in general. I even received a free ball cap. It seems to run well on my A3000... but it must be slllooowww on stock 500's - 2000's. And there is no hard drive support (of course) even though hard drives are supported for the IBM version (as usual). The only way I found to exit is the 'three fingered salute'. There is manual copy protection, and the disk is NOT in AmigaDOS format, although it does make copies of itself. I have used the original AFT on the IBM that had smoke trails flowing from the wingman's planes (making it easier to follow them through manuvers), this is sadly missing from AFT 2.0. Also, there is this HUGE FLASHING CURSOR that shows the position of your 'stick' that is drawn right on the window making it difficult to see the terrain and other planes and is a MAJOR distraction at times... I'd like to see an H.F.C. on/off option. Or at least to kill the flashing! There are large warning placards that appear with warnings/messages/ stats etc. that are WAY oversized and are again, drawn on top of the window blocking your view during flight.... this is especially troublesome during formation flying... Just imagine driving in a very small car with a single tiny window, at high speeds on a mountain road no less. Then having a number of bumper-stickers suddenly appear on your window, informing you to lock your door or some such nonsense, and you will have a fair idea as to how it feels to fly in formation in AFT. There is plenty of room on the instrument panels, why didn't they put in-flight messages there????? The world may never know. The scenery and ground objects are just so-so. ditto the sound. The selection of aircraft is pretty good (about eighteen) and you can fly from keyboard, joystick, or mouse (yea!). And the handling through the mouse is darned good (ala' FSII). It's about time someone made another sim that can be 'flown' pretty much like the aircraft being simulated (remember mouse control in Falcon 1.0? yeech!) The aircraft include: (partial list... from memory) - F16 - F117 - Cessna 172 - F18 - P-51 - Space Shuttle X-1 - X-15 - X-3 - X-29 - Spitfire - Spad - SR-71 And there are a number of locations to start from that can be selected by menu option. These include 10,000 ft., final approach, on the runway for takeoff, and in the hangar to name a few. Among the other more interesting features are stars that are visible during night or high-altitude flight. Air races and formation flight are also available in several levels of difficulty. These are especially challenging. There are no weapons on any aircraft... ok by me. There are no provisions for the user designing/flying custom aircraft. The only aircraft available are in the menu... It would have been nice to see a bomber or two... (B-1, B-52 ???) Maybe next time. The rudder is controlled with the left/right mouse buttons... and works well. This is a nice change to standard sims that usually coordinate the rudder with the alierons, preventing slips, slow rolls, hammerhead stalls, spins, etc... Knife-edge flight is great fun... (but try it in the SR-71 :-) There are a number of external views (that are not nearly as good as the ones in Interceptor) that I don't see as being too usefull, although you can rotate all of the views if desired. There is also a 'Replay' feature that allows replaying the flight similar to the ones found in FSII, Their Finest Hour, F-16... Although there is a rather substantial bug in it. Sometimes the replay doesn't remember thigs as well as it should.... I have made a number of amazing landings that I wanted to see externally in replay mode, only to find that I 'buy the farm' in a horrible crash... some replay eh? Some of the nice touches found in other sims are missing... seeing and hearing the landing gear extend and retract, carrier landings, afterburner, and pilot ejection would have been great. Also the crash detection seems to be limited to the ground only. I'll try flying into more things to test this out (not my normal mode of flying mind you), but I know I taxied right through the hangar without a scratch! But the best thing about AFT is that each aircraft has a distinct personality that really makes you feel like you have your hands on a "hurtlin' hunk of machinery". Some of the experimental planes are just about impossible to fly! It's great fun trying to get yourself out of a sticky situation. I once found myself flying (or should I say falling) tail-first at over 300 knots while rolling uncontrolably... no hope. No ejection seat either! (BTW, I did survive! I changed to an X-15, put her into high gear and eventually got her goin' the other way.... up! Neat trick. :-) Overall, AFT 2.0 is about a 6 to 7 out of 10 in my estimation. It's nice to have a sim that is designed to simulate *Flight* as opposed to all the ones that simulate air attacks. And as a result, you will probably find that the planes in AFT can do a lot more and do it more realistically than the ones in the combat simulators. Chuck Yeager Air Force Trainer, for the Amiga, from Electronic Arts ------------------------------ From: "Gary Burns, SS UISG Ayr" Subject: Amiga: The Killing Cloud Date: Mon, 3 Jun 91 03:35:11 PDT San Fransisco sometime in the near future, a toxic cloud hangs over the city. The Black Angels, a ruthless gang of criminals, roam the city and show no regard for law and order. You, a member of the SFPD( San Fransisco Police Department ) must hunt down these criminals and bring to them the punishment they so rightly deserve... GamePlay: Fly around the streets of SF in the next generation of police mobile, the x-500 hoverbike. The flying area is split into two, the top area where you see the tops of all the buildings and the low level where you dart around the streets of SF dodging buildings while in pursuit of your suspect. The game is split into missions i.e "Proceed to Chinatown where your suspect is driving about in a stolen van, capture him alive", before embarking on these missions you arrange backup which consists of placing Net pods (Fired at the suspect to snare him and allow you to arrest him) and PUPS (summoned when the suspect is arrested to retrieve him and take him back to the nearest police station) these can be places anywhere in the city for you to pick up, but be careful, the Black Angels have been known to blow up remotely placed PUPS when your not there to stop them. To arrest a subject you have to actually park your hover bike and move over to him on foot, after arresting him a PUP will be summoned to take him back for a suitably long period of incarceration. When the PUP has docked with the suspect its off to the interrogation room to force out some information, in this section you are offered a series of question to put to the prisoner, but you may have to knock some years off his sentence to make him answer... I like the Graphics, vector in style and while not being particulars smooth are very well detailed (Note : High medium and Low detail is selectable as is whether to make the street level contoured) the colours in the street level are various shades of red, which I feel adds to the atmosphere of the game. Sound is very average, i.e engine on, rat-tat-tat of machine guns, and could have been done better. Bad points/Good points: - Longish time to get into a game, forced to go through an animated sequence before play (A la dying sequence in Shadow of the Beast, but nowhere near as annoying) + Offers flight-sim like views when flying ie. Left, Right, External. - Disk Swap required when you die to restart the game, shouldn't be a problem with two drives. - Disk based copy protection, can't comment on Hard disk Installability Graphics 8 Sound 5 Playability 8 Lastability 8 (Well I haven't finished it) Overall 8.5 (I like games of this type, and this one has been done well. The overall feel of the game has added to the final rating) The Killing Cloud, from Image Works, for the Amiga (UK only) #19.99 ------------------------------ From: Dave Taylor Subject: Mac: Vette! Date: Tue, 25 Jun 91 10:53:51 PDT As a resident of the San Francisco area, a game where I could drive through the streets of the city in a variety of different hot production and custom Corvette's seemed like a cool idea. Released a few months ago, Spectrum Holobyte's long-delayed Vette! game for the Macintosh (and DOS) offers just that venue, or does it? While Vette! has the premise of the driver going from specific points in the city to other specific points within, or on the edge of, the city, it's clear that the game designers intended for people to just tool around and see the sites. Drive past Davies Center in downtown SF, for example, and it says "MACWORLD" on the side. (you can't get to the Moscone, as SoMa [South of Market Street] is one of the undefined areas of the city: they didn't have space for all of SF, alas). Drive up to the Carol Dodo sign and sure enough, her left nipple flashes erratically. Drive down Lombard and, well, it's awful twisty. Use the helicopter view while driving through the Broadway tunnel... and you don't have too much headroom, and... The down side, and one of the most frustrating things about the game is that there are major portions of the city that aren't included in the game map (though they are included in the printed maps included with the game, confusingly enough). Drive down Market street towards the Castro district and you smack into a wall, an "edge". It's vaguely like something out of a science fiction film, but it's annoying, and detracts from a great idea; of having a driving game where it's real roads you're driving on. (similar to Microsoft Flight Simulator letting you land at real airports throughout the world) On the other hand, when you are driving, well, it's a real blast, with a variety of typical Spectrum Holobyte touches. There are things that one learns playing this game too; for example, I now know that it's really hard to drive across the Bay Bridge at 250 mph unless you can remove the traffic beforehand. (on the other hand, a good strategy for medium traffic levels is to drive on the *wrong side of the road*, swerving around oncoming vehicles. Kids, don't try THAT at home!) I also found out that there's a street called MacExchange near, well, I leave it to intrepid Vette! explorers to find it... My summary comment is: if you like The Duel and/or Hard Driving, then you're going to flip over this game. If you know San Francisco, it's even more fun. The game has book-based copy protection which isn't too intrusive, reasonable graphics (includes color and B&W versions), some pretty nifty audio, and some very witty illustrations. The list of excuses when a cop pulls you over are great too... but I don't think I'll try them on a real cop. Oh! Another rule of thumb; don't try to push police cars off the Golden Gate Bridge if you're not in Trainee mode... They don't seem to like it very much... Graphics: 7 Sound: 6 Playability: 6 Fun Level: 8 Overall: 7 Vette! from Spectrum Holobyte for the Apple Macintosh (also available for the IBM PC and compatibles) ------------------------------ From: reagan@hubcap.clemson.edu (Reagan Schaupp) Subject: PC: Warlords Date: Fri, 28 Jun 91 8:31:34 EDT Warlords is sort of a mixture of Empire and Sword of Aragon, without the best features of either, but with some good ones of its own. It is a game of conquest, played on a map with 80 cities on it. There are eight players, and each one starts out with one city and expands from there. Each player is a different race/culture: the Horse Lords, the Elvallie Elves, the Sirians (human), the Grey Dwarves, the Storm Giants, the Selentines (human), the Orcs of Kor, and Lord Bane. You can toggle any of the eight to be played by human (you) or any one of four increasingly difficult level of computer play. Each city can produce one or more types of unit, at a certain cost. Units have different strengths, movement rates, maintenance costs, and bonuses for fighting in certain terrain (e.g. dwarves are good in hills, elves in forests, etc.) Each unit takes a certain amount of time to produce, a la Empire. As you expand, production can be "forwarded" automatically to cities on the front line, freeing the player from wasting time moving dozens of units to the front by hand. Some units include Elven Archers, Dwarven Legions, Giant Warriors, Wolf-riders, Navies, Griffins, Pegasi, heavy infantry, light infantry, and cavalry.. In addition to armies, you begin with one Hero (a la Sword of Aragon). Heroes provide bonuses to units in combat. More importantly, they can explore the many specialized locations on the map (ruins, crypts, towers, halls, caves, libraries, etc.) In these places they may find artifacts which increase their command bonus or combat strength, or they may defeat monsters and acquire gold, or they may receive an offer to be joined by any one of several special creatures (devils, demons, wizards, dragons, ghosts, etc.) These special creatures provide bonuses to armies in combat. More heroes will join you throughout the game, for a price in gold (up front!) To win the game, you must capture over 40 of the 80 cities on the board. Some positions are easier to win with than others. Certain combinations of units will provide bonuses to combat overall. For example, eight heavy infantry are not nearly as good as two light infantry, one heavy infantry, one cavalry, one griffin (air support), one undead (special bonus), one wizard (magic bonus), and a hero with a nice command item. These "A-Team" combinations are very powerful. Combat is done on a "everybody line up, first person in line fights the first person in the other line" basis (no more than eight units can ever stack). Each unit has two hits. When one goes down, the next in line steps into the breach. And so on, until everyone on one side is dead. Cities have varying strengths of walls, which can add defensive bonuses. PERSONAL COMMENTS Seems like a great game, and not one you can get bored with very quickly. If you win the game with one position, you can start again with another position. Or at a different difficulty level. Or play TWO positions, or more! Or Play against computer opponents whose skill varies with each position (e.g. the Grey Dwarves played by a computer on "Warlord" level, while Lord Bane is played by the computer on "Knight" level). The role-playing twist with Heroes searching out ruins and finding items and allies is what really makes this game; otherwise, it's just another strategy game. The graphics are super. Each type of unit looks different (and a nice close-up picture of each one can be called up from the production screen). The terrain is done well. The interface is pretty good -- the overall map is on the right hand side, while the close-up window is on the left. You can zoom in on any area on the map by clicking on the large-scale map. Battle is so-so -- the units are lined up, and they just sort of "pop" as they die. Graphics: 8 (no fancy animation, but still good) Sound: 7 (nice digitized sound "phrases", but very repetitive) Playability: 8 (great except for the production interface) Fun Level: 8 Overall: 8 (somehow Empire measures up in spite of archaic sound and graphics) WARLORDS, from the Strategic Studies Group, for the IBM PC. ------------------------------ From: atkinson@vaxrom.cern.ch Subject: PC: Last Days of Doom Date: Tue, 25 Jun 91 13:27:26 +0200 Topologika, about the only company still producing text-only adventures, has just released (or is just about to release) "Last Days of Doom" by Peter Killworth (well-known as the author of Philosopher's Quest, one of the first games ever published for the BBC Micro). The game is available for PC, Amstrad, BBC Micro, Archimedes. Possible release for Amiga at some point in the not-too-distant future. The game is text-only, but on some machines the text changes colours during conversations so that you can see who is speaking, for instance. The "setting" is very faintly SF, like that of the previous two "Doom" games by the same author, but the style is very much in the tradition of "Colossal Cave" - there is no real story, just a nasty set of puzzles. As usual, the planet of Doom is in serious trouble. You must go to find out why. All sorts of creatures/friends/enemies from the first two games turn up again, but it does not matter if you haven't played the first two games. The first stage of the game is quite time-critical, and involves rescuing your robot dog from your ship and finding a way to enter a cave. You then go through and enter a city on the far side. The main part of the game is there. As is usual with Topologika, the puzzles interact in fiendish ways. One aid to exploration is a library which can teach you exactly two skills chosen from a list of four. Working out which two you need (and which two have effects which can be duplicated in ordinary ways) is part of the game, of course, but in the meantime this allows you to explore larger areas. Some of the puzzles stand alone - one of my favourites was the Muu Bird area - a zone inhabited by birds which fly through solid aluminium. You have a limited number of charges in your gun with which you must blast a way through. The end-game is in an area outside the city, and is not very long. You simply have to have ALL the bits from earlier sections, and to have made the correct preparations. Again, as is usual with Topologika, there are no "normal" mazes (ie mazes which you map by dropping objects to disambiguate rooms). The Muu Bird area is an example of an "unusual" maze. Also, as usual, this game is NOT for beginning adventurers. It is aimed at people who breeze through the likes of "Spellbreaker" or "Starcross". It is rather easier than Topologika's larger offerings like "Acheton", though, and rather harder than the relatively introductory "Sangraal". (One Topologika author once told me they were thinking of putting difficulty grades on the boxes like the Infocom standard/advanced/expert grades, only Topologika was considering something like "Hard", "Bloody Hard", "Absurd") The game should come with a hint sheet (a bit like the Infocom invisiclues booklets, but not as high-tech), which makes it possible to find out what to do when you are absolutely stuck. Of course, you shouldn't just read the whole sheet. Idea of difficulty: I did Starcross in 3 days, Spellbreaker in 4 or 5, Planetfall in 5 hours, Lords of Time in 2 days, Enchanter in an evening, Sorcerer in 2-3 days, Sangraal in 30 hours (competition for the playtesters!). Last Days of Doom took me a week. (And Acheton took me a month) Obviously, it is hard to say too much about games like this without giving away secrets. Also, I don't know the address of Topologika or how much the games cost. I don't think the company has an American distributor, so anyone who wants more details can contact me via electronic mail at ATKINSON@VAXROM.DECNET.CERN.CH or JRP1@phoenix.cambridge.ac.uk JRP1 should know prices and how to get hold of the games. I saw the pre-relase version rather than the final version, but I believe that the only difference in the final version is that the "congratulations" message at the end is now less than 10 pages long, and no longer makes the player want to vomit. Graphics - 10 (there aren't any! excellent! I hate adventures with pictures) Sound - 10 (for the same reason!) Playability - 10 (the parser is good - what else is there to say?) Fun value - 8 (I quite enjoyed it, but I prefer larger games. Also, as I said above, this game is only really suitable for text adventure fanatics.) Overall - 8 (Same as fun value since graphics and so on don't count) Last Days of Doom, by Peter Killworth, published by Topologika. for the IBM PC, Amstrad, BBC Micro, and Archimedes (UK only) ------------------------------ From: exuhag@exurchn1.ericsson.se (James Hague) Subject: Genesis: Sonic the Hedgehog Date: Thu, 13 Jun 91 11:36:28 CDT Every couple of years in the video gaming industry there is a blinding explosion of hype. And in the center of that hype is a usually pretty insignificant speck: a video game. Anyone remember the old Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man, the straw that broke that system's back when it didn't live up to expectations? Or Super Mario Bros. 3 for the Nintendo? Well, here we go again. But amid the whirlwind of fluff reviews and mounting sales figures, try to keep things in perspective. After all, hype has zero playability. Which brings us to Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis. In a nutshell, this is yet another one of those Super Mario Bros. 2 & 3 style games (which, by the way, have very little in common with the original Super Mario Bros. which has nothing in common with the almost forgotten Mario Bros.). You can waste little robotic animals by pouncing on them. You can collect rings and power-ups. And most importantly, you run around aimlessly. Ah, but in Sonic the Hedgehog, running around aimlessly is FUN. You don't just methodically trudge along as in Super Mario and friends. You can accelerate little Sonic until his legs are a cartoon blur, then sail off a cliff only to land on a springboard and rocket several screens straight up at nine-hundred miles an hour. And...well, this is all very difficult to explain. This gist is that in this game you can really move around FAST. And it is very easy to control and very fluid and very FUN. And herein is Sonic the Hedgehog's greatest contribution to the video game world: the difficulty is automatically "adjusted" to your style of game play. You can cautiously explore Sonic's surprisingly intricate universe, taking as few risks as possible. Or you can be the Hedgehog from Hell and wildly zip about, bounding over two screens at a time, only to land on an unanticipated set of rather pointy spikes. Or, as most of us will, play somewhere between the two extremes. As proof of this system's playability, bear in mind that there is NOT an options screen. (WHAT!?! No sound test!?!?) There are several other aspects of Sonic which in conjunction with the above make the game a joy to play. You are not forced to move to the right, as is so common these days. You are free to roam wherever you please. The levels are arranged in a refreshingly non-linear fashion which makes exploration all the more fun. You can fall ungodly distances with nary a scratch. And the "get hit when carrying rings, lose all rings but keep on truckin'" rule cuts down on the frustration of "barely nick a bad guy--BOOM" games. Don't get the idea that this is an easy game, though. Okay, now I'm gonna break all the rules for reviewing a hype-o-saurus and start complaining. As in the Mario games, levels are divided into sub-levels (called "acts" in Sonic). At the end of the third act on each level, you have to fight a "boss." Sigh. Yes, I know bosses are big and cool, etc., but these bosses are just repetitive and break up the rhythm of the game. Including them was a mistake, but I guess they were needed to beef up the manual's ridiculous "save Sonic's friends from the evil Dr. Robotnik" storyline... When I first played Sonic, I was amazed at the feeling of freedom and speed for all the reasons I've already mentioned. BUT, this only applies to Level One. The second level is just a bunch of Super Mario nonsense: hop on this "ladder" of moving platforms, push this block onto this button, carefully jump over this pool of lava (hmmm...sound familiar?). To top it all off, Act One is almost completely linear. I'm a super-fast hedgehog, by golly, and I want to run and play! I don't want to time a precise jump onto a little brick in the middle of a lava lake. It's maddening--what moron designed Level Two? Fortunately, it gets a bit better later on, but so far (no, I haven't seen all the levels yet), Level One is BY FAR the best. Okay, I'll admit it, Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the graphic wonders of the world, for the Genesis or any other system. But, and this is surprising for games of this type, I would have been perfectly happy if the graphics weren't quite so extravagant--just as long as the gameplay was still there. Of course, I don't mind at all that Sonic is visually incredible. Quite frankly, some of the graphic effects are amazing. I've done some video game programming in the past so I know what kind of work goes into this sort of thing, but there some effects in Sonic that I can't even begin to imagine how they were pulled off. This is some top notch programming. Some of the greatest effects, though... ...have absolutely nothing to do with the game. There is a "secret room" kind of a bonus level thing which Sonic can get to occasionally. It's sort of...well, no it's...uh, it's beyond description. The room is really a floating maze in which Sonic can bounce around and collect things. It is tricky to describe because it is so unlike the rest of the game. In fact, it probably could have been released as a game in its own right, although probably not a best seller. It is not only difficult to describe, but to play as well. The first few times I reached this level I had no idea what was going on. And the hypnotic scrolling birds/fish didn't help matters any. Quite off the record, the secret room seems to be Sega's way of showing the world that they can match the graphics of the Super Nintendo, and nothing more. Think about it: LOTS of VERY fast super smooth rotation of really large objects. Yes, it is quite impressive, but it still doesn't fit with the rest of the game. Please note that this is just a personal theory and not any kind of inside information. People lose sight of the fact that these days, video games are more important than the systems they run on. One great game can make a system. The Genesis is drowning in a pile of chop-socky Rambo-commando garbage. While not the end all be all of video games, Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the few real stand-outs in the Genesis market. And, unfortunately, probably the first in a long line of sequels... Gameplay/Funness: 9.5 (the key factor) Concept/Originality: 6.0 (major factor) Attention to detail: 9.5 (intermediate factor) Graphics/Effects: 10.0 (minor) Sound Effects/Music 8.5 (minor) OVERALL RATING: 9.5 Not completely original, but execution & playability are excellent. Sonic the Hedgehog, by Sega for the Sega Genesis, $54.99. ------------------------------ From: milton@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Milton W. Kuo) Subject: Genesis: Dick Tracy Date: 22 Jun 91 07:56:25 GMT Having rented and played this game, I was so shocked at how incredibly bad this game was that I felt I had to review it. Although I rented this game, it still wasn't worth it! Here's my review of Dick Tracy for the Sega Genesis. Those of you who liked the game or movie might want to skip to the next review: This ain't gonna be pretty.... At first glance, Dick Tracy looks to be a promising game despite the fact that the movie stunk of week-old fish. The graphics are actually pretty good for a game that is so lacking in other areas. In fact, one of my friends who was watching me play and had never played this game before remarked that the game looked "cool." Beyond the decent graphics, however, is a game totally void of originality, game play, and other features which make a game fun. Take sound, for example. There are a probably no more different songs in this game than there are fingers on my hand (I am not a mutant so I have five fingers per hand :-) I played through nearly every level and heard only three different songs. To be fair, there may be many more songs but this game was so bad, I could not bear playing it anymore. Playing this game was such punishment that I am certain that in Hell, Satan would probably commission the people who wrote Hellfire to make this game more challenging for the damned. The damned souls would have to keep playing this game until they finished. Once they finish, they can move onto Sword Of Sodan or Hard Drivin'. The only good thing about the sound is that most of the time you are busy firing the machine gun or pistol and the shooting noises mercifully drown out the music. Dick Tracy brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "shooting game." You literally shoot anything and everything that moves. See a guy walking across the street? Well don't just stand there! Pull out your machine gun and blow him away! Sound stupid? Well, that's just about the whole game. Most of the game is comprised of walking around warehouses, restaurants, and streets gunning down thousands of villains who just pop up out of nowhere. There are also car chase scenes where you stand on the running board of a car and shoot cars which are loaded with baddies. In fact, some cars have six or more armed and dangerous criminals in them! Of course, to qualify as a stupid game, the car chase scenes cannot be fun -- and they aren't. They are just like the warehouse, restaurant, and street scenes except your mobility is reduced (i.e., game play is EVEN worse, if that is possible with this game). There are over five levels of the same boring, monotonous shooting with each level comprised of three areas. After every level, Dick Tracy gets to go to the shooting gallery to earn extra points and continues. Three dummies with faces will appear and Tracy must shoot the bad guys while not hitting those dummies who are good guys. Does this sound familiar? Well, the bonus stage's concept is straight from Hogan's Alley. The only difference is the dummies come out of the same place every time on Dick Tracy. Overall, this game is so bad that the silicon used to make the ROM should be turned back into sand and returned to the beach where it will be put to better use. At the rate Sega Of America is going, it won't be long before I ignore all of their stuff like I do Electronic Arts'. Needless to say, I think this game is so bad that I may even consider it dumber than XDR -- and that's quite an insult. The best part about this game was dropping into the return slot at the store I rented it. Graphics : 7 (The graphics are actually okay) Sound : 3 (There are only about three different songs!) (1 point for each song since I'm so generous :-) Gameplay : 2 (Over five levels of the same crap over and over) "Funness" : 1 (I'd rather watch a blank screen than play this) Originality : 1 (Even dead people can be more original) Difficulty : 3 Overall : 2 (Definitely not worth buying and not worth renting) Dick Tracy, for the Sega Genesis (4 Mbits/512 KB) ------------------------------ From: poret_jc@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Jay C Poret) Subject: Genesis: Star Control Date: Tue, 25 Jun 91 11:04:53 PDT Star Control is a space stragedy/combat game which takes place in the 27th century. The conflict is between the alliance of free stars against the evil Ur-Quan hierarchy. The game itself consists of 3 variants: the first is a practice mode which allows you to try out all the ships, and to learn how to manever in the combat mode. The second (melee) is ship vs. ship from both sides in a battle to the death. The most interesting part of the game are the 15 different scenario's which pit computer vs. player, or player vs. player under different stragetic situations. What makes this game so unique is the playing field is a 3-D rotating cluster of stars. The movement from star to star is not a simple left to right, up down type of movement, but a complex series of jumps which moves you to the desired location in the cluster. The star cluster rotates the entire time the game is in progress to allow you to see the entire star cluster. This concept is really difficult to explain, but the closest game to this is an old board game called 4000 A.D. I have to admit, it took a while to get used to the rotating cluster. It was really mind blowing to watch this thing rotate, but once you get used to it, it serves a very important purpose. It allows you to plan routes to send your ships to attack, colonize, or to find areas to fortify. The variety of ships that are available to both sides are pretty good. Obviously, each ship has its strong points, and weak points, but all in all the choice of ships is pretty good. Another really cool feature of the game is that every time a senario is played, the shape of the star cluster is different. The graphics are also good. The 3-D effects are handled quite well, and the close up battle scenes are really clear. The sound effects are excellent. To give you an idea, when one of the Ur-Quan ships fires, it sounds like the photon torpedo firing from the Enterprise in Star Trek. Most of all, there are no flicker problems (at least from what I have seen so far). Also, the planets look really detailed, as well as the rotating star cluster itself. Overall, I would give this game a 10 but two minor points prevent me from this. The first is the advantage of the Hierchy ships: in my opinion, these ships are slightly better then the Alliance. In the easy level this doesn't matter, but playing the computer on hard levels, the advantages become readily apparent. My second minor complaint is that Accolade spent 4 megs of RAM on pretty pictures which do not contribute to the game. This could have been used to increase the number of senarios, or to put more effects into the games. In summary, this game definitely rates above a 9 overall. This is really cool game which has excellent graphics, sound, and game playing elements. It is an excellent game when played against the computer, and even better when playing against a friend. Graphics: 9 Sound: 10 GamePlay: 9 Fun Level: 10 Overall: 9+ Star Control from Accolade for the Sega Genesis System ------------------------------ From: brackney@ecn.purdue.edu (Larry J Brackney) Subject: Genesis: Ringside Angel Date: Mon, 3 Jun 91 11:38:42 -0500 Although many games manufactured for the Japanese Megadrive system eventually find their way across the Pacific in the form of Sega Genesis Carts, many get lost in the shuffle. In some cases, the games are just too strange for American tastes. In other instances, American distributors may feel that the games are too violent or contain questionable elements. Ringside Angel, a lady wrestling game produced for the Megadrive, definately falls into the latter category. With the release of Sega's Wrestlewar being pushed back month after month, hardcore gamers might consider this title in its place. The game pits one player against the computer or two players against each other in a no-holds-barred wrestling event. (The computer can also fight itself in a spectator mode which is fun for a while.) Each player may choose a character. (There are around ten to choose from.) In addition to appearing differently on screen, each of the well rendered characters has a different "specialty" move. For instance, one of the leather-clad wrestlers uses her chain belt to strangle the other wrestler. With nearly twenty possible holds and throws to choose from, game play remains varied for some time. The moves themselves are somewhat stiffly animated. Characters move around the ring slowly, and the game bogs down at times. The accompanying sounds and music are also dissapointing. Sound effects consist of simple "smacks" and "thuds" as well as a few poorly digitized sounds. (The refs count and an end of round bell) The music is fair but repetitive. (My suggestion is to turn down the sound on your TV and toss on an appropriate CD!) The next point is not so much a complaint as a warning for potential buyers. The game IS Japanese - read: the manual is in Japanese! As such, you have to figure out the controls yourself. Nearly all of the holds and throws are initiated by combinations of the three trigger buttons and the direction pad. Not too difficult to get the hang of, but something you should know about! As a one player game, this title suffers. The computer opponents are predictable, and offer little challenge after the second or third play. However, the game IS at its best in two player mode. Despite the poor animation and sound (poor for a 16 bit game) the game is great fun to play w/ friends. Where else can you toss your best friend out of the ring then kick them in the face when they try to get back in? (Nothing quite like ultraviolence!) Graphics : 8 (Characters are large & well drawn) Animation : 6 (Game bogs down sometimes) Sound effects : 5 (Basically NES quality) Music : 7 (Okay, but repetitive) Playability : 6 (Controls take a while to figure out) Manual : 0 (Who knows, maybe it would be a 10 if I read Japanese!) Fun Factor : 6/9 (Depends on the number of players 1 or 2) Overall score : 6 Recommendation : Low - Only if you get a good deal on it! Ringside Angel: Asmik of Japan, available through mail order houses in the U.S. (Price varies $59 - $89) Overseas price is more reasonable. (estimate $20 - $35) ------------------------------ From: ins_apw@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Philip Wong) Subject: TG16: Bomberman Date: Thu, 27 Jun 91 16:43:38 EDT As a single player game, Bomberman was ok. The first 7 levels were very easy...With the save game feature, you had virtually unlimited continues. The last level was difficult, but not in the way I like difficult. The difficulty is that you either die immediately or you survive to continue the level. The difficulty doesn't come from more challenging stages. The final battle was very good though (in contrast with the rest of level 8). The one player game was much too easy. An avid game player can easily finish the game in a day. As a multiplayer game, Bomberman shines. It is very fun to try to blow up your friends. I have only tried playing with 3 players total, but I suspect the more players, the merrier. For those of you who won't give up MotoRoader for anything, this game will also hold a special place in your hearts. The game starts each of the players off in a corner blocked off from everyone else. You must bomb your way to the other players, finding power-up items on the way. If you have a Turbo-Tap, this is a definite good buy. What's also nice is the new price. It's $44.99 at EB. That's a pretty good starting price...I'd like to see the trend continue (since most games start at about $55) Overall Value: 8 TurboBooster+/CD-ROM Save game feature used Bonus: up to 5 players simultaneous play special game for 2 player TurboExpress C-linked Bomberman, for the NEC TurboGrafx-16, $45 at Electronic Boutique ------------------------------ Compiled By: erc@radon.berkeley.edu Subject: Top and Bottom Ten Video/Computer Titles TOP AND BOTTOM TEN GAMES (5 VOTE MINIMUM) Votes Rank Title 16 9.9 Ys Books I And II (CDROM, for the NEC TG16) 33 9.6 Castle Of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (Sega Genesis) 28 9.6 Military Madness (NEC TG16) 8 9.6 Gaiares (Sega Genesis) 25 9.3 Dungeon Master (Atari ST) 22 9.3 Devil's Crush (NEC TG16) 37 9.2 Lemmings (Amiga) 30 9.2 Blazing Lazers (NEC TG16) 19 9.2 Final Fantasy Legend (Nintendo GameBoy) 13 9.2 Chaos Strikes Back (Atari ST) 10 3.3 Last Battle (Sega Genesis) 5 3.2 Sex Vixens (Amiga) 5 3.2 Manhunter: N.Y. (Amiga) 12 3.2 Goldrunner (Amiga) 7 3.1 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IBM PC) 8 3.1 Faces (...Tris III) (Apple Mac) 11 3.1 Ogre (Apple Mac) 5 3.0 Paladin (Amiga) 6 3.0 Orbiter (Apple Mac) 14 1.6 Gauntlet (Apple IIgs) In this list, games have been rated on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best and 1 being the worst. The general guideline for ratings is: 8-10 worth buying at full price 6-7 worth buying at a discount, or if you're particularly interested in this kind of game 3-5 only worth renting 2 only worth playing for free, and only for a few minutes 1 worthless ------------------------------------- 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. 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 *********************