Received: from uucp-gw-1.pa.dec.com by s.ms.uky.edu id aa06761; 15 Jan 92 22:58 GMT Received: by uucp-gw-1.pa.dec.com; id AA24644; Wed, 15 Jan 92 14:51:42 -0800 Received: by limbo; Wed, 15 Jan 92 14:42:03 pst Date: Wed, 15 Jan 92 14:42:03 pst Message-Id: <9201152242.AA06591@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.29) Digital Games Review Digest, Number 29 Friday, July 12th 1991 Today's Topics: SNES: F-ZERO Genesis: Batman Lynx: New Title Preview Mac: Space Warlock PGA Tour Golf PC: Renegade Legion Interceptor Heart of China. Freakin' Funky Fuzzballs [Note: the Digital Games Editorial Staff is going on vacation from 12 July through until 5 August, so submissions and other editorial queries will go unanswered until then. Until we return... -- Dave] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: John Leo Subject: SNES: F-ZERO Date: Tue, 02 Jul 91 09:44:08 PDT First I should say I'm not a huge driving game fan. I've played several arcade games, and played Pole Position way back when and so forth. I do enjoy them, but one is really enough for me. So I had Rad Racer for the NES and Afterburner II (not really driving but similar in a way) for the Genesis and was happy with just those. I wasn't particularly looking forward to F-ZERO but the reviews in Japan were remarkable. It received the highest ratings I've seen in Famicom Tsushin, and did the impossible by displacing DragonQuest IV and Final Fantasy III from the top of the reader's choice charts. Posters on fj.sys.famicom and even rec.games.video raved about it. "Best driving game ever." I started to look forward to it. And what can I say. I'll cast my vote. F-ZERO truly is amazing. Once again Nintendo has sacrificed realism for playability and made an enormously fun game. It actually took a little while to get hooked because it was rather complicated at first and and it seemed I'd never be able to win. But gradually I figured it out and then I couldn't stop playing; it was stiff competition even for Super Mario World, and that's saying a lot. I must have been kind of muddle-headed with the excitement of having the Super Famicom, because immediately I was really disappointed that F-ZERO didn't have a two-player game. Fortunately it didn't take too long to figure out why. I had somehow forgotten all about games like Final Lap and Big Run that have several machines hooked together. Strangely enough I made the same mistake last summer in Japan, when I was asking clerks about two-player Mah Jong games. Anyway, although the name clearly plays on the big F-1 craze in Japan, the game is set in the future and the cars are actually hovercraft, with maximum sustained speeds of a little under 500 km/h. There's actually a US-style comic in the rulebook providing a sort of story for the game; the text is in English with a Japanese translation included. Pretty silly, but not bad for that kind of comic. There are four cars to choose from, differentiated according to maximum speed and acceleration. So on one extreme the yellow car accelerates very quickly but has a low maximum speed (I think 438 km/h), while on the other the red accelerates slowly but has a high maximum speed (478 km/h). The blue and green cars are in the middle. This is just one of the great aspects of the game, so simple yet very important. Mistakes slow you down considerably, so if you can go through with none the red car is definitely the best bet, but otherwise.... There are other yellowish cars that are slower and make up the minor opponents in a race; they are mainly obstacles you have to pass, whereas the other main cars are vicious competitors. The feel and control of the game are fantastic. All six buttons are used, but two have the same function. Steering is done with the direction key as usual, but you can use the L and R buttons to bank the craft for really sharp turns, which gives a lot of variability. The B button is for accelerate, and Y and X are for brakes, but I never really saw a reason to brake so that simplifies things (you can just let go of B and slow down if need be). The A button is used for the super jets, which propel you to incredible speeds (I saw over 900 km/h) and then down to your maximum. You just have to tap the button to activate it. You pick up a super jet each time you cross the start line (there are 5 laps to a race) and can store up to three. It seemed the computer cars don't have super jets, but then they drive awfully well. There are also acceleration marks on some courses such that if you cross them they shoot you forward, also a lot of fun. As you can imagine the game is very very fast. Graphics are excellent. The scrolling is perfectly smooth, and the backgrounds nice although not very detailed. There are some great touches, such as the overhead shot of the start line which tilts down to the driver's perspective as the race starts, and when you crash the point of view continues beyond your car and then turns 180 degrees to look back at the burning wreckage. Music is also excellent; very catchy tunes (I still find myself humming the one for the first track, which I did the most) for each race, many of them very relaxed with provides a nice contrast to the hectic pace. Something else that makes the game very playable is how crashing and so forth are handled. The courses are surrounded by bouncy walls, and when you hit them you don't necessarily crash. Rather your car has a certain amount of "power" and hitting the walls, or another car, or driving over certain obstacles reduces the power. You can refuel at certain places by driving the car through; this is all done at top speed. The walls are great and sometimes you find yourself bounced around like you're in a pinball machine. Of course you can push the other guys around too, and they do it to you. If your power ever reaches zero or you manage to exit the course you explode rather spectacularly. There are other obstacles such as gravel, which slows the hovercraft down, and also on some courses wind which blows you into obstacles. But the best are of course the jumps. There are small ones on the easy courses, which increase your speed in the air but then slow you down when you land, and if you hit them at the wrong angle you can go flying off the course and onto the surprised commuters below. Even better is the big and long jump on the last practice course, Port Town 1, and I'm sure there are more spectacular ones on later courses (I've even heard there's one where you can refuel in the air!). There is a pracice mode in which you can try out 8 of the courses, either alone or with a single opponent (which can even be the same car you have). The game has battery backup and saves the best 5 speeds for each track as well as the best lap time (it also keeps best times for the various races). It's definitely best to practice for a while before trying the races, and I found the most success as a beginner on the easy tracks by using the red car versus the yellow, because once I got good enough to avoid hitting the walls the difference in maximum speed was enough to win. The main attraction is the Grand Prix, which consists of three circuits--Knight, Queen, King--of increasing difficulty. Each has 5 tracks for a total of 15, and I'd guess there's some 16th track somewhere but I'm not sure. All the Knight courses are available for practice but only two of the Queen and one of the King, so you have to get to the others by winning. You have three "lives" and can get more I think by reaching certain scores (I never did figure out the scoring system); you lose one for each race you lose. The game is similar to Super Monaco GP in that a "limit" is set for each lap and you have to be in at least that place when you get to the start line or else you immediately lose. The limit for the last lap is 3. In the two days I had the game I made it to race 2 of Queen, race 2 of King, and finally managed to beat all of Knight although it wasn't easy. The ending when you win is quite remarkable; they show you going through the entire track (not your race but a set one) from a side-view perspective! That must have taken a ton of extra memory, but it's great to watch. A lot more to say about the game, but in summary my one racing game is now going to be F-ZERO. I can't wait to play again. Without a doubt a 10/10. [F-ZERO by Nintendo for the Super NES. Due out late August.] ------------------------------ From: Robert John Knaack Subject: Genesis: Batman Date: Wed, 10 Jul 91 13:51:33 -0500 Well, the dark knight has finally made his way to Genesis. The premise of the cartridge is basically the plot of the BATMAN movie. The Joker has kidnapped Vicki and you (Batman) have to save her. The game is your basic beat the bad guys as you run across the screen type game. At your disposal is your bat-rope to allow you to climb up floors and a limited number of bat-a-rangs. Additional bat-a-rangs can be found as you traverse the levels. Batman walks through most of the levels except on two. One of the levels batman drives hit Batmobile and the other, the Batwing. At the end, Batman must defeat the Joker to finally save Vicki. When I played the game I thought that parts of the game were too easy. The game didn't hold my interest very long and I found myself just getting frustrated with the game (not because of difficulty, but rather because of the poor playability). After all the articles on the game I guess I just had too high expectations. I thought that they did a good job on the art. The streets of Gotham had that eerie look to them like to movie (or the comic) and Batman looked pretty good (especially when he started the level--he comes down from the ceiling with his cape spread out) The sound-effects were pretty cool (good punching sounds). I thought the music was o.k. (nothing special). So after playing the game for three days I returned the game to Babbages and got SONIC instead (which has made me very happy). Graphics 9 Sound 8 Playability 7 Difficulty 6 (too easy) Overall 8 Batman, for the Sega Genesis, 4 MB cart, 1 player ------------------------------ From: Robert Jung Subject: Lynx: New Title Preview Date: Tue, 9 Jul 91 20:44:59 PDT CHECKERED FLAG. This is a one-to-six player auto racing game, and is easily the most impressive title I saw. Compared to F-1 RACE (Gameboy) and SUPER MONACO G.P. (Game Gear), this game leaves them _far_ behind. I want mine now! CHECKERED FLAG is literally crammed with game features. You can run for practice, drive one race on one track, or go for a multi-track tournament. There are 18 tracks to choose from, with enough twists and bends to satisfy everyone. You can race against up to nine opponents, from 1 to 50(!) laps (well, 1-10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 laps). Your starting position can be determined at random, or by a qualifying lap. Your car can have a 4-speed automatic transmission, 4-speed manual, or 7-speed manual. For the extra touch, your Indy racer can be any of ten colors, and you can choose the gender of your driver. What about the race itself? The action is shown from behind your car, with your dash panel (speed and gear) and side-view mirrors on the bottom of the screen. A road map at the top of the screen shows the course and the position of everyone in the race. The roadside obstacles consist of trees, cacti, rocks, cows, and signs (Lynx game ads, naturally), which are easy to hit on sharp turns or passes. Hitting an obstacle costs time as you build your speed up, and hitting another car causes you both to spin out and lose speed. The joypad is used to both steer and change gears (on the manual transmissions), while the buttons provide gas and brakes. Players who complained about the driving in ROADBLASTERS will be happy here; the road never bends too sharply (though they are sharp enough!), and the car itself is _much_ easier to steer. Sounds consist of musical scores between races, the roar of motors and the squeal of tires during the race, and a well-done digitized "start your engines" countdown (complete with "P.A. echo" effect!) at the start of the race. On the tournament races, your ending position is worth a certain number of points; the driver with the most points at the end is the winner. The only bad news is that, according to Gary, the promised track editor may not be in the final release version (I couldn't find it). Still, even without the editor, this game is terrific! SCRAPYARD DOG. This is the Lynx's answer to Mario, Bonk, and Sonic. You play the part of Louie, a junkyard owner whose best pet dog has been kidnapped by the mean "Mr. Big". You must guide Louie through a horizontally-scrolling junkyard landscape (divided into stages) and try to rescue your pet. This game owes a lot to the Nintendo SUPER MARIO BROS. series, and has the same kind of "cute for kids" appeal. Enemies consist of mean animals, such as rock-dropping birds and "gangster mice", and junkyard obstacles, like grappling hooks and rolling barrels. You dispatch enemies by throwing cans at them, and maneuver through the area by walking and jumping. By crouching down while standing over boxes, barrels, and dumpsters, you enter secret zones. These consist of "stores" where you can buy additional weapons and protection, or try to win extra lives and money in contests of skill (jump on the right keys in a giant organ, or play five-can monte for a free man, for instance). There's a lot to see and a lot to try. The game looks like it's clearly intended for younger players, with cute graphics and light music to match. However, it's not a pushover, and is worth your attention. TURBO SUB. This is a first-person, shoot-everything-that-moves action arcade game. Your objective is to repel an alien invasion by attacking the fiends in your turbo sub, a flying, diving attack craft. Waves consist of an aerial assault, where you blast flying enemies and dodge their attacks and flaming debris. You then dive underwater, to fight more enemies, dodge undersea obstacles, and try to pick up purple gems. At the end of each level, you can use the gems to buy additional weapons (good only for the next wave), protection, and lives. For me, this game walks a thin line between good and bad points. On the one hand, there is a wide variety of enemies to see and destroy, and the action level is very high, with a lot of items to shoot and dodge. On the other hand, the game offers little variation (shoot to kill) or innovation, and reminds me more of SPACE HARRIER than anything else. The 3-D effect is almost absent; aside from seeing targets and an occassional cloud fly by, there is little sense of motion. The graphics are adequate, though not unusually inspiring, and the sound is simply functional. Perhaps the final product will be more impressive, but for the version I saw, the main appeal of TURBO SUB will come from the shooting action. VIKING CHILD. Though this is supposed to be based on a European computer adventure game, the game I saw was more of a scrolling action-adventure than anything else. You play the part of a Viking, walking and jumping past a green forest, trying to find a missing child (I think). The action is presented in a side view, which scrolls along with your movements. As you encounter monsters along the way, you fight them with your sword, and seize any money they leave behind. Lose too much health, and you lose a life; lose all your lives, and the game ends. You will find shops, where you can buy additional attacks and health. You will also find hidden areas and underground caverns, where you battle more monsters and find more treasure. The game appears to break the quest into several stages, and each stage must be completed before you can reach the next. A password feature (8 characters, letters, numbers, and punctuation) lets you skip to the later levels, and the game holds high scores for up to ten players. My biggest gripe with VIKING CHILD is the speed. The game moves at a respectable rate, but the Viking moved a tad too slow for my taste. Impatient players are advised to try this title before buying. Basic combat consist of jabbing your sword into an enemy until it dies, though the use of additional attacks spices up the combat somewhat. The game graphics are small but detailed, and the subscreens have entertaining touches (such as the troll in the shops who kicks your purchases towards you). Lacking a user's manual, I wasn't able to tell if the game has more complexity than I saw. The version I played was decent, but I can't shake the feeling that either the game is too shallow, or I'm missing more details. === THE BETA VERSIONS: COMING LATER === HARD DRIVIN'. Do I need to explain this? HARD DRIVIN' is an adaptation of the sensational Atari Games' driving simulator. You race a (manual or automatic) sports car, on a "speed track" or a "stunt track", trying to finish as fast as possible while avoiding a nasty crash and burn. The Lynx version I saw looked to be about 35% complete. The sound was mostly missing, while the graphics were more developed. Unlike WARBIRDS, which did its simulating with a combination of scaled sprites and filled polygons, HARD DRIVIN' seems to be _completely_ done with filled polygons. The most noticeable effect of this is that, compared to WARBIRDS, this game feels a little slow and is not as smooth. Though I could not compare directly, this game seems to play at about the same rate as the Genesis and home computer versions of the title. Though this was only a beta version, the game already shows signs of promise. As with the arcade game, you have a choice of manual or automatic 4-speed transmissions (no clutch). The track appears to have been duplicated exactly, with all of the familliar signs and obstacles. If and when you get into an accident, the instant replay feature will show you what you did wrong. The steering on this title was *INCREDIBLY* sensitive, though I was told that the programmers are aware of the problem, and are going to reprogram it. ISHIDO: THE WAY OF THE STONES. This title was a complete surprise to me, and is an adaptation of a computer game from Accolade/Ballistic software. Essentally, it is a strategy game; you have 72 tiles of six different colors, each marked with one of six different figures. The idea is to place the tiles on the board, adjacent to other pieces of the same color and/or symbol, in certain combinations to build points. Though I have not played the computer version myself, I have heard about it, and the Lynx adaptation seems to have left nothing out. You can choose the different colors and symbols for the tiles, to help identification. Game scoring can be in the "ancient" or "modern" method, depending on if you want to emphasise careful placement or quick thinking. Various hints and clues are available, and there is an "oracle" feature, which analyzes your playing strategy to "offer insights into personal questions". If nothing else, the oracle is harmless fun. I personally don't believe this is a beta card. The version of ISHIDO I saw looked almost complete, with elegant graphics and all of the game options available and installed. Don't be too surprised if you see this game out before HARD DRIVIN' is released. ------------------------------ From: rubin@majorhavoc.apple.com (Owen Rubin) Subject: Mac: Space Warlock Date: Tue, 9 Jul 91 10:42:00 PDT Space Warlock is a new game for the Macintosh from a company called Reactor. Available, so far as I can tell, only on a CD-ROM, it can be had for "only" $89 dollars (mail order). Price is slightly higher in your local software store. To play this game, you must own a CD-Rom drive, the faster the access time the better this game will feel, and at least 4 megs of "free" ram AFTER the system is running. And it must be played in color (or monochrome of 8 bits). The game will try and play in other depths, but is not recommended. Annoying was the fact that the game does not seek out a color port if one is available. If you have more than one monitor, the menu bar must be moved to the screen that you wish to play upon before starting the game. This game falls into the "MindScape" type of movie adventure game I have seen on the Amiga in the past. However, unlike previous movie adventures which seemed very canned, this game offered a bit more challenge and a few more decision points. But like movie games of the past, there were often times where one and only one answer would allow the movie to progress, but these were few and not a real problem. The screen display is shown with a movie screen aspect ratio, with the playing area on the top half of the screen, and a "aux control" and inventory area on the bottom. The art work and music sound track are outstanding. This was some of the best computer art I have seen in a personal computer game so far. Given that they had access to 125 Meg of data on the disk, I would have expected nothing less. Music and sound effects, as well as voices of the characters are saved on the CD-ROM as digitized sounds and played through the Macintosh's internal speaker. Connecting an external speaker made these sounds even better. On a scale from 1 to 10, the graphics and sound in this game rate VERY high! The game play, while rather simplistic at times, is interesting enough to keep your attention all the way through. There are lots of diversions and red herrings which keep the game even more interesting, especially at the start, where the player's attention is most needed. Although the game wants to take itself quite seriously at times, a well placed comic flair is present throughout. Controlling the game is quite simple: point the mouse at something and click. If a direction, you go there. If an object, you pick it up. If an item can be controlled, it is! Items that you pick up along the way are displayed along the bottom of the screen, but ONLY when they can be used for something. I was bothered by this feature because it made figuring out what to do with an item much too easy. There is plenty of room to display everything one could pick up throughout the game. However, this might have let you shoot someone with a gun where it should not have been possible, for example, and these types of complications were eliminated. There is a bug I found with this feature: If you pick up the gun and start shooting where you are allowed, then leave the area where you can shoot, the gun and gun sight stay with you! Even when they should not be allowed. While you can't hit anything you shoot now, occasionally the gun sight graphic would become something else! Very strange. To bring on the Macintosh menu bar, simply click above the "movie display". There is built in help under the Apple menu, as well as Save, Reatart, and Load a game. You can also set the volume level here as well. I had only a few minor complaints. First, even with a rather fast CD-ROM player, data accesses were slow. There appeared to be no prefetching of the next scene, even when only one was possible. Clicking on a direction was annoyingly slow at times while the music and sound for that scene were loaded. The program is not copy protected, and if you just happen to have 125+ Meg of disk space lying about, and you don't mind renaming your hard disk to "SS Warlock", you can play from the hard disk at a much greater pace. Given that most of us do not have that much free space, and the ability to make one's own CD-ROM is still reserved for the very rich, I suspect copy protection was not considered an issue. My other complaint was the overall game length. For a game of this cost and size, I expected a MUCH longer game play. I was able to complete the entire game in three sessions of about three hours each. Much too short for the cost in my opinion. But these complaints are minor, and I actually did enjoy the game quite a lot. I do plan to replay sections to find other red herrings I may have missed. I suspect there are lots. Oh yes, that reminds me, you can save the current game state to a local disk or floppy and continue later. This was especially helpful as you approached areas where you knew you might die. And there were plenty of places like that! Lastly, while I understand after playing that a great deal of production time for sounds, music and graphics went into this product, and while I suspect that the programming was also not simple, this game's rather high cost is going to keep a lot of players away. And given the Mac's still rather small game audience, this may be a problem. I can only assume that the game play software can be adapted to new adventures in the future, and that these will come out at a more reasonable cost. Many people who watched me play said for $50 they would buy it tomorrow, but $90 would keep them away. Add to that the fact that you need a rather expensive Macintosh set up, and I suspect that Reactor is not going to see large sales for this product. Too bad for such a a great game. One can only hope they will better support slower and 2 bit monochrome Macs in the future. There is an ever growing Classic (and SE) market out there that Reactor is passing right over. Graphics: 11 (the art work is excellent!) Sound: 9 (some sounds were cheap!) Playability: 7 (there are still improvements possible) Fun: 9 (too short to earn a 10!) Overall: 9 (I look forward to a longer and better game!) Space Warlock, from Reactor, for the Apple Macintosh ------------------------------ From: nano@chaos.apple.com (Fernando Urbina) Subject: Mac: PGA Tour Golf Date: Wed, 10 Jul 91 11:01:05 PDT The newest Mac golf simulation game is PGA Tour Golf from Electronic Arts. I bought it for around $40 and it was well worth the investment! PGA Tour Golf is your standard golf simulation game but it is well done. The game runs on anything from a Mac Classic to a IIfx, although it does need 2 MB ram to run in color (in a color capable machine). More importantly, it is a well behaved application that IS System 7.0 compatible. I was impressed by the "software quality" of PGA Tour Golf: it has a good Mac interface; the sounds are great; the graphics are quite detailed and colorful. The game does have "soft" copy protection, where you have to answer a question by looking in the manual. (These questions are all related to length of the tee for a particular hole on a course from one of the tees). Summary: The game consists of 4 TPC (Tournament Player Club) courses. When you start the game, you are in the "Pro Shop." From there, you have the choice of going to the driving range, the putting green, to take a practice round, or to take part in a tournament. At the driving range, you can practive your woods and irons. The interface for the golf swing is pretty much standard. You click once to start the backswing, where you can go up to a percentage of the swing (including overswinging at more than 100%), then click again to stop the backswing, and finally, click one last time to hit the ball. If you hit it before it reaches the "0%" marker, you hit it with a hook; if you hit it after, you hit it with slice. Overswinging exaggerates the effects of not hitting the ball straight. The screen also displays the length of your shot if you were to hit it at 100% with no wind and including the roll of the ball after it hits the ground. There is also a wind meter that shows you where the wind is blowing and how fast. It is too "gusty" for my taste! It's a little hard to get used to the putting green. Other games show you small arrows with different densities to show the steepness of the different areas in the green. PGA Tour Golf uses a 3-dimensional mesh view of the green. Once you see this screen, it returns you to the regular green (which has no indication of its topology), and you putt away. You can aim from the 3-D screen, but it seemed a little awkward at first... I got used to it, though. The practice round allows you to play the course you select without having to play a tournament. You can even take mulligans! (Hit the ball again without losing a stroke). Each hole is preceded by a "bird's eye view" of the hole (like on TV), and a recommendation from one of the tour Pro's (stay on the right side of the fairway, can reach the green in two if the wind is at your back). Your automatic caddy selects your club (which you can change). On your second shot, your play will be affected by the lie of the ball, which can be one of 10 different ones. They range from "on the fairway", "in a divot on the fairway", to "half buried in the deep rough". When playing an iron into the green, you will get backspin -- so you have to be careful with your approach shots. The tournament round allows you to play against other players and/or the computer, while "real" PGA golfers play the same course. You'll get updates on how the "real" players are doing and you can see the leader board after each hole. You have to be in the top 48 to make the cut and advance to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rounds! (I haven't made it yet!). The game does not allow you to build your own courses. The screen size is limited to a 9" screen (that fits in the Classic). This is not as bad as it sounds, since the graphics are so good. When you hit a shot, you first see it taking off from where you hit it, and afterwards, the view changes with the ball approaching you. This is a nice touch! It also gives you the yardage for it shot you hit. You can also displays all sorts of statistics! I highly recommend this game. It's still challenging after a week! (BTW, I've only played it in color). Graphics 9 (nice approach shots, colorful) Sound 8 (good music, nice sound effects) Fun Level 9 Difficulty 4 (hard to get used to the putting) Overall 9 ( A great fun game). PGA Tour Golf, from Electronic Arts. For the Mac (Classic through FX), System 7.0 Compatible. ------------------------------ From: bhv@areaplg2.corp.mot.com (Bronis Vidugiris) Subject: PC: Renegade Legion Interceptor Date: Wed, 10 Jul 91 20:00:12 CDT As a longtime fan of various space combat games (such as, for example, Cosmic Balance, on my old apple II), when the price for RLI came down enough, I bought it. I enjoyed it, but I think that reflects my own interests, because the game has some fairly serious weaknesses. I suspect I'll be tired of it Real Soon Now. The game is basically a computer version of a hex-map game. It's probably a faithful reproduction, but I'm not familiar with the original. You can play against a background of bitmap 'stars', but I use the dots. The game mechanics seem to work better than some of the others I've seen, that is probably the best point of the game. The various weapons and the handling of turn-rates and acceleration make for an interesting tactical challenge. The negative points are a klunky user interface - though it's mostly mouse driven, you can't get information on an enemy ship by clicking on it, for instance - you have to cycle through all the ships with a 'previous / next' button, and the main viewing window doesn't scroll except by mouse clicks on four buttons which scroll by a fixed amount. This appears to be due to the fact that scrolling would be too slow otherwise. The game was apparently written in Turbo C, because there are BGI files on the disk. Because of the hex format, the main viewing area is very small. Fortunately, a tactical view is available, but it's hidden away in a 'utility' menu that I didn't notice for quite awhile. The computer plays a pretty stupid game - it's pretty easy to beat. There are a number of different missions, but there appears to be no way to select them, they come up at random and often repeat - I've gotten the same mission twice in a row. You keep the same pilots, develop skills and can get better ships once you have a high enough prestige. With a lot of prestige, you can build a 'custom' ship with your own choice of weapons, but those are quite a bit more expensive than the 'stock' ships. I've had the game crash once on me - right in the middle of one of the more interesting and challenging missions. (The computer even wished me 'good luck' right at the start. I was starting to really get into it, as more and more enemy with nastier and nastier armament kept showing up, then *crash*. Reboot time. Sigh.) Anyway, if a somewhat klunky computerized version of a fairly decent hex-map type spaceship board game sounds interesting to you, that's what RLI is. Graphics: 5 Sound: 5 Playability: 7 Fun Level: 7 Overall: 7 Review system: IBM 386 / 16mhz with VGA Manufacturer: SSI Copy protection: occasional questions from manual on game save Display: CGA / EGA ------------------------------ From: "Kamikaze" Andy Phang (phang_s@dropbear.cs.uwa.oz.au) Subject: PC: Heart of China. Date: Tuesday, 2nd July 1991. Heart of China is the second "point and click" adventure released by Dynamix (a subsidiary of Sierra On-Line). This time, the setting is the mysterious Orient, and the era is the 1930s. You are Captain Jake "Lucky" Masters, a rough and tough pilot operating an airplane service out of Hong Kong. Unfortunately, your company is in deep financial trouble, until your debts are suddenly taken over by EA Lomax. Good old EA is one of the colony's biggest industrialists, and it so happens that he has a slight problem. You are the answer. EA's daughter Kate has been kidnapped by a local Chinese Warlord called Li Deng while on nursing duties deep in China's heartland. It is up to you to rescue Kate from the evil clutches of Li Deng, who plans to make Ms.Lomax his umpteenth concubine. Aiding you in your quest is Zhao Chi, a streetwise Ninja with a penchant for jelly donuts and a fear of flying. Getting Zhao Chi to join you can itself be a problem, but the local bar is often the best place to go when you need to find someone... Once you pick up some necessary items from the local herbalist, it's off to the airport. "Set a course for Chengdu, China, Zhao Chi. What? You don't want to touch the controls? Oh all right, I guess I'll have to do everything myself." This is an example of the regular interaction between Jake and Chi, which can often be helpful, and is always guaranteed to be humorous. Dynamix has managed to create "real" characters in both Jake and Chi (and later, with Kate Lomax). The player can experience the swinging moods of the characters, especially when the two male heroes gradually warm up to each other. The building of relationships between Jake and Kate is also important, as the best ending for Heart of China is (predictably) a happy one between the two lovebirds. To further this relationship in the eyes of the gamer, Dynamix has included special "cutaway" scenes between destinations. These scenes reflect the feelings between Kate and Jake at any given time, and is represented by a thumping heart. If the heart is healthy and red, the sparks are flying, but if it's an icy cold blue, then you know there is no love lost between the two. Besides the usual "meanwhile" scenes that are non-interactive but provide additional information and enjoyment to the story, Dynamix has come up with the "plot branch" for Heart of China. If there are two or more methods of solving a particular problem, the game will display a "plot branch" indicating so. However, this sign will only come up AFTER you've chosen a particular solution to a problem. Be sure to try all the different ways of completing the game, as they often have new graphic sequences. On reflection, it's too bad that Dynamix didn't use the space taken up by these "plot branches" (which often end in disaster anyway) in making the actual game last longer. If you've played Rise of the Dragon (the first Dynamix adventure with the "point and click" interface), then you will probably be familiar with Heart of China's interface. Basically, you just use the mouse to click on any object on the screen, either to look at it or to use it. Drag the object to your inventory window if you want to pick it up, and click on specific characters in the game if you want to talk to them. That's all there is to it! Graphics in the 256-VGA version are excellent as usual, and Dynamix has used quite a bit of video footage for its scenes. Indeed, the introduction sequence has to be seen to be believed! There is realistic movement of characters, distinct facial expressions when you talk to others, and some sublime animation at work here. The manual lists a whole crew of actors who took part in the game, and it strengthens the philosophy of Dynamix (and most adventure game companies these days) to produce "Interactive Movies" instead of mere "Computer Games." The use of scrolling is clever and well executed, and the text which appears in message boxes or conversation bubbles is easy to read. The music sounds great on a Roland LAPC-1, with gentle Oriental melodies and thumping adventure tunes scattered throughout the game. Heart of China also uses sound effects with efficiency and excellence, from the sound of waves crashing into the Hong Kong dock to the rumblings of the Orient Express as you journey towards Paris. Unfortunately there is no speech anywhere in the game (not even in the introduction, unlike Rise of the Dragon). Note that speech cannot be found on a Roland soundcard, and I played Heart of China through with a SoundBlaster as well to verify the lack of speech. In the great tradition of Sierra and Dynamix games, the obligatory arcade sequences have been included in Heart of China. There are two this time, a technically excellent but time wasting WWI tank simulator, and a surprisingly enjoyable punching battle on the roof of the Orient Express towards the end of the adventure. It will be a great relief for hopeless arcade players (like myself!) to know that Dynamix has included a Difficulty setting for the arcade games, and that you can even skip the games themselves and continue with the adventure as though you had won them. In the case of the latter choice though, you are likely to miss out on some of the "cutaway" or "meanwhile" scenes that occur between arcade battles. As usual, the most important element of any adventure is the puzzles, and Heart of China has quite a few of these. None are too hard for the novice adventurer, and most require the successful use of objects found in the game area, so there shouldn't be any need for hintbooks. Although there wasn't as many puzzles as I would have liked (especially for the price of the game), the strong storyline behind the puzzles, and the development of the characters during the game, more than made up for this. Heart of China is thus recommended to beginning adventurers as a fun and involving product. Along with the high density game disks (6 for 3.5 format, 7 for 5.25), Dynamix has included a Reference Card, a Guide to the Orient (with quite a few useful clues), and the Game Manual. Heart of China on the IBM comes in two different versions, a 256-VGA version and a 16 color EGA/VGA version, and supports all the major soundcards. Conversions to the Amiga (32-color) and color Macintosh (similar to 256-VGA) are planned. Finally, you do require a harddisk! Ratings: Graphics: 10 Fun Factor: 8 Sound/Music: 9 Documentation: 8 Gameplay: 7 Ease of Use: 8 Overall: 8 Heart of China, by Dynamix/Sierra, released on IBM-PC, 1991. ------------------------------ Subject: PC: Freakin' Funky Fuzzballs From: Marvin Raab Date: Fri, 5 Jul 91 4:09:43 PDT Combining the adventure of Rogue with the fast pace of Pac-Man, Sir-Tech has unleashed version 1.0 of Freakin' Funky Fuzzballs. Our hero, Fuzzy, needs our help navigating through a series of fourteen maze levels in search of the fifteenth. All the time, he is followed by the enemy, fittingly called "Enemy". It is on the final level that he will find dynamite with which to fry his foe. With a keen sense of intent and relentlessness, Enemy removes 10 units of strength from Fuzzy each time they touch. He pursues Fuzzy without fail from level to level, distracted only briefly by the random appearances and disappearances of wands. Frightened, Fuzzy has little defense. He needs to quickly explore each level, snatching food and other items, searching for the one passage to the next level. In addition to Enemy, Fuzzy finds that another obstacle -- disappearing floors -- also threaten his very existence. Once he walks over the same floor block twice on some levels, it vanishes, potentially leaving him without a return path. Of course, he can also use this fact to his advantage by separating him from Enemy. Another big problem is that Fuzzy cannot stand in one place for very long for if he does, he's finished. He has very little time to be fickle or to plot his next move. Throughout his journey, he uncovers items which he uses to assist in his quest. Although there is no object of force he can use to fight Enemy, he can utilize wands he uncovers to return vanished floors. In his flight, he also discovers scrolls for his fancy. Unfortunately, he doesn't know whether they will have positive or negative effects until he actually uses them. Potions and shields are also able to be found in the advanced levels. Perhaps the most prevalent item he finds is food. In fact, Fuzzy is a Junk Food Junkie with an appetite for Shakes, Burger and Fries, Sundaes, and Pizza. Surprisingly, the only fruits he finds are apples. Each food replenishes his strength with between 5 and 20 units. The game, as its ancestors of Pacman and Rogue, is addictive. The player begins to feel bad for Fuzzy and after a few hours, desperately wants to find the dynamite at all costs. However, there are various design flaws which need to be worked out for future versions. One such drawback is the need to switch from Fuzzy's movement keys (FFF uses the arrow keys and doesn't allow for user-defined keys) to the SPACEBAR in order to use a wand. Another is the lack of valuable information at critical times. Fuzzy needs to uncover a specific number of keys to open the door leading to the next level. The game flashes this number at the beginning of each level but it is quickly forgotten and the only way to find it again is to attempt to open the door. With disappearing floors and the constant pursuit of Enemy, this is often impossible to accomplish without fatal results. Cute messages, such as "Darn!" and "%!@&#@" flash accross the bottom of the screen during Enemy's forays but they are usually missed by the player due to the urgency to escape. All in all, it's quite a fun, despite frustrating game and fans of Rogue and Pacman will greatly enjoy it. At $29.95, it's not a bad deal. Requirements: 640k for VGA but can access EMS 512k for EGA 384k for CGA 1.2MB of disk space. Graphics: 9 Sound effects: 7 Playability: 7 Fun: 8 Overall: 7.5 ------------------------------------- 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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