Received: from uucp-gw-1.pa.dec.com by s.ms.uky.edu id aa06771; 15 Jan 92 22:58 GMT Received: by uucp-gw-1.pa.dec.com; id AA24441; Wed, 15 Jan 92 14:50:43 -0800 Received: by limbo; Wed, 15 Jan 92 14:41:10 pst Date: Wed, 15 Jan 92 14:41:10 pst Message-Id: <9201152241.AA06517@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.30) Digital Games Review Digest, Number 30 Tuesday, August 13th 1991 Today's Topics: PC: Chuck Yeager's Air Combat TimeQuest Martian Dreams Genesis: Super Monaco GP Phantasy Star III Arcus Odyssey Zero Wing SNES: Super Mario World [We're back from our summer hiatus with our first Super NES title review, even before the game system is available in the United States! Stay tuned, though: Nintendo is releasing it in about three weeks.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: masten@beta.lanl.gov (David A. Masten) Subject: PC: Chuck Yeager's Air Combat Date: Sun, 14 Jul 91 16:04:24 -0600 Being a flight sim nut and not being able to wait for Falcon 3.0, I decided to buy Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, which just hit the stores late June. In a nutshell, I found this game, which emphasizes air-to-air combat, to succeed in offering a realistic flight simulation, yet be challenging and fun to play. It compares favorably to other flight sims I have, which include: F15 II, Jetfighter, Strike Aces, F16 Combat Pilot, and Battlehawks 1942. The game lets you fly either a P-51 or FW-190 from WWII, an F-86 or Mig-15 from Korea, or an F-4 or Mig-21 from Vietnam. It comes with fifty preset "historic" missions, which include escort, recon, and ground attack as well as air to air. Missions from an era can be tied together in the "campaign" mode. Optionally you can create a mission where you fly one of these planes against as many as 15 enemy planes (max of 3 types and 5 of each). Among those included are the above planes as well as the B-17, B- 29, B-52, F-105, Fw-109, Me-109, Me-110, Me-262 (WWII jet), Me-163 (WWII rocket plane), Mig- 17, P-47, and Yak-9. In these designer missions, you choose opponent experience level, beginning altitude, and who has the jump on who. You do not choose geographic location, weaponry etc. Unfortunately, these missions are dogfight only. The ability to use cross-era planes is one of the games nicest features, I'm surprised no other game has allowed this till now. Graphics Doesn't break new ground. Gives a full range of views including various outside, plane-to-target, target-to-plane, missile view, from target cockpit, zoom, scan, etc. Some of these don't work quite as nicely as in Jetfighter I, but are more than adequate. The graphics speed is good on a 386 16mhz. Not up to the smoothness of Jetfighter, but better than F15 II, much better than Strike Aces and Battlehawks, and a little better than F16 Combat Pilot. One annoyance is that roll is easy to overshoot using the keyboard, as the response is sometimes a little slow (climb responds OK). Mouse control of the stick is an option, but I find that more difficult. Some nice touches include exhaust of trucks and locomotives, and translucent clouds. Terrain shows usual 3D pyramid mountains, rivers, roads, etc. Graphics of SAM and AAA sites is not as good as in F15 II. I haven't yet been fired upon by these, so I can't comment on their effectiveness. An overhead map view is available, but maps are not included with the documentation, so I don't know if the terrain is representative of the actual scenario locations. The bitmapped cockpit is nicely done, but gauges are fairly hard to read on my 12" monitor. I instead use the optional heads up display. Purists who wouldn't think of using a HUD in a WWII or Korean War vintage plane may turn this feature off. Colors are rich throughout, the dithered horizon is especially nicely executed. Their are a lot of key assignments, a few of which are confusing, so plan to take a while to get comfortable with flying. The 180 page manual is a pleasure to read, with a good amount of historical and tactical info. Flight model Seems a lot more realistic than Jetfighter I or F15 II. A flight envelope is included for each plane and the planes are supposed to have performance matching these different envelopes. This should be better than JF where all three jets behave identically. The plane will drop in a turn if some back-stick isn't applied. If not careful, its easy to stall when turning or climbing, or to exceed maximum speed in a dive (with resulting catastrophic effects). Flaps, gear, and breaks are included, however rudder is not. Enemies seem to fly intelligently, pulling Immelmanns etc. They don't just fly in the horizontal as in F16 CP. Hits: The VCR recorder alone is worth the price of the game. Playback can be viewed from any of the 18 angles allowed in normal flight. However, the games can only reviewed. It doesn't allow replay (as in Red Baron). You can black-out or red-out if you pull too many G's. The fading out of the screen is well executed. Yeager can act as your backseater, giving tips when you're in trouble. The digitized voice Yeager comments are an amusing bit of fluff added to the game. A time compression option is included (no boring 10 minute flights to the action as in Jetfighter). Damage is cumulative. It takes a number of bullet shots to down a plane. In addition, different subsystems may be damaged first. According to the manual, Vietnam era missiles are not terribly effective (2 and 4 mile range). So probably no simple fire, take out the enemy, search for new target, like F15II. Radar (on Vietnam planes only) is look ahead only, and allows earlier detection by enemies radar warning receiver. This is more realistic than the 360 degree radars of F15 and JF, which almost compel you to fly by looking at radar, not out the cockpit. For those who prefer that type of combat, an optional AWACs like map window allows full view of all air traffic. Optional target window shows a blowup of the targeted plane with info on enemy maneuvering (similar to the camera view in F15II). Misses: Weaponry is fixed, depending on the plane selected only. No bombs or air- ground missiles (strafing of ground targets only). No editing/selection of waypoints etc. No designer ground attack missions. The PC speaker music is awful (luckily only in title screen). No modem support. One small bug (only) noticed so far (incompleted graphics on a certain B- 52 shot when in replay). Overall, I'm very impressed. I can't compare it to the most recent WW I flight sims (Red Baron and Knights of the Sky), but I do prefer it to the other sims I have. Qualifying that a bit: I really liked Jetfighter when I first played it (especially carrier landings and zooming aroound SF), but later found the missions were very repetitive and not terribly interesting. This game is not arcade-like such as F15, and easier to jump into than F16 CP (with better graphics). It would be nicer if the missions were logic oriented (outcome effects later missions). Alas, the missions are all separate, ala Jetfighter. More playing time is needed before I can comment on the lasting entertainment value of the missions. I did get my tail waxed in my first attempt. Seems promising. I'll give it an 8-1/2 out of 10. Reviewed on IBM PS/2 Model 80 (16 Mhz 386), mouse and keyboard (no joystick), no sound card used. The game supports CGA, EGA, MCGA, VGA, most sound cards. 286 10 MHZ or better recommended. Single player only (no modem play). Manual based copy protection (not too unwieldy). Gen. Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, Distributed by Electronic Arts, for the PC ------------------------------ From: Andy Phang Subject: PC: TimeQuest Date: Mon, 15 Jul 91 13:59:46 WST Time travel has fascinated us mortals for a very long time. If we were able to visit the past, perhaps we could correct all of the mistakes and lost opportunities that slipped by. And if we could know what the future will be, then we might be able to change ourselves today (assuming that such a future is fairly bleak) and have a happier tomorrow. Of course, all sorts of ethical questions arise from this. If you had the chance to go back in time, do you have the right to change history? TimeQuest does not delve into such heavy moral situations, but it does provide some food for thought. Designer Bob Bates (ex-Infocom author of Sherlock and Arthur) has crafted an adventure that looks at certain aspects of time travel in a enlightening as well as entertaining manner. In certain parts of the game, you will get to meet and "discuss" with different philosophers of the various eras you visit. Ultimately, such interaction will lead you into solving a vital puzzle of the game, but it also provides the player with an interesting and fresh perspective on the game's intentions. First and foremost though, TimeQuest is a computer game. An excellent computer game, in fact. TimeQuest is yet another enormous step in the resurrection of text adventures (although billed as a text graphics adventure, it is the use of words that provides most of the atmosphere and presence, similar to classic Infocom products). You are a new recruit into the Temporal Corps, a 21st century organization which uses the secrets of time travel to explore the future and prevent any potential wars, disasters, vice-presidential choices, and other forms of evil. It's also a good way of finding out lottery results or race results beforehand, and making a quick buck from it. Of course, the strict code of the Temporal Corps does not allow its members to partake in such petty matters. And that's why Lt.Vettenmyer, a highly ranked member of the Corps, has turned renegade. Building his own Interkron (time machine), Vettenmyer has gone back into history and altered ten major world events that could seriously affect life as we know it. Your job, should you decide to accept it (and if you don't, Vettenmyer zaps you anyway!) is to track down the Lieutenant and prevent his vile plans from achieving fruition. The ten missions in time range from preventing Caesar's assasination a month before the Ides of March, to convincing King John to sign the Magna Carta. The easiest ones to complete are the Caesar mission, the Churchill and Hitler job, and the Magna Carta assignment because they can be solved without the need of items you pick up after finishing other tasks. The Harun-Al Rashid mission, for example, requires the bread you get from the Grandstands in Rome 44BC (the time of the Caesar case). Often the more difficult missions will lead you through a merry chase from time to time (no pun intended), as you try to find those essential objects or clues needed to solve a particular puzzle. The quest to engrave Charlemagne's crown will sorely test your ingenuity (and patience as well!). Overall, there is a good balance between easy problems and difficult ones, with the latter (rightly) being confronted near the end of the game. One hint: Make sure your write down all the messages you find, in the order of the numbers that are contained in the message! You will need this, and a bit of lateral thinking, to make it past the Tower of Babel later... On the IBM, graphics use the 16-color high resolution EGA mode, providing the same quality pictures acclaimed in Legend's previous game, Spellcasting 101. Color cyling is used to provide animation in some parts, while in others TimeQuest features (for the first time in a Legend game) "real" computer animation (albeit brief ones). The pictures of the maps are drawn beautifully, and can also be useful in indicating the available travel options to the player. Musically, TimeQuest features another title track from an individual known as "Arfing Dog" (who also did the Spellcasting 101 theme), and again he (or she) has done a great job. While exploring certain areas of the game, you will come across a new tune which fits in exactly with the atmosphere (for example, the music in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, or the Bazaar in Baghdad). Sound effects use the PC internal speaker, and though the RealSound technology has greatly improved sounds like laughter, a knock on the door, and the neigh of a horse, I feel that it's time Legend used the superior sound qualities of the many third-party soundcards when available. It was fantastic to hear the quality of the music through my Roland, but the sound effects from the speaker were almost unintelligible (and quite soft too, since the game has a built in option to control the volume of the music, but not the sound effects). (On a cautionary note, it seems that the "bug" which afflicted Roland sound card owners in Spellcasting 101 might have made its way across to TimeQuest. Be prepared for a few system crashes if you do get a bugged copy!) As for the interface, it is exactly the same as Spellcasting 101. Using the mouse, select a choice of verbs or objects from the menu on the left of the screen (or use the keyboard). A compass rose shows where you can go; click on the preferred direction and you will move there. Other options include the map mode (brings up a picture of the map instead of the normal graphics), the full text mode, or the half text mode (both of which eliminates the menu of verbs/objects). I strongly recommend that when you're talking to someone, use the menu, as it displays all the possible subjects of conversation you will receive useful replies to. Those adventurers who shuddered at the raw and ribald nature of Spellcasting 101's humor (though I haven't yet heard from anyone who has) will be pleased to know that Bates has taken a more mature, and subtle (but still funny) approach to humor in TimeQuest. Spend some time talking to the various characters, especially Shakespeare, the Old Man, and Vettenmyer. Explore the surroundings, and don't forget the bush at the Academy (the author seems to enjoy Bush jokes! Speak to the mother in Baghdad about her son...). Fans of Infocom games will be well aware of the different things you can try in a text adventure of this kind, and I'm happy to say that you will have quite a bit of fun with the TimeQuest parser. So start Yelling away! Jumping from high places! Kicking, attacking, destroying, even drugging every character in your sights! I have to say that TimeQuest is the best text-graphics adventure to hit the shelves this year. The polished interface, the ingenious puzzles, and most importantly the atmosphere and strong storyline make this an essential buy for all adventure fans. When you complete TimeQuest, you will be filled with a sense of satisfaction that brings back memories of Wishbringer and Trinity. Unfortunately, it looks like there won't be a sequel to TimeQuest (at least, that's how I interpreted the ending), but I am certain that there will be a lot of new and improved Legend Entertainment products soon. [TimeQuest comes on 5 3.5 low density (720K) disks, and 10 5.25 low density (360K) floppies. Nope, no high-density versions available at present. Included with the package is the TimeQuest Manual, a Mission Briefings booklet which outlines the ten major assignments you must complete, and a rather nifty though difficult to read Interkron datacard, which serves as copy protection. At present, TimeQuest is only available for IBM-PC and Compatibles, supports all graphic modes from CGA to VGA (though only hi-res EGA is used), and also supports major soundcards like the Roland, Adlib, and SoundBlaster. An Amiga conversion is a possibility, sometime in late 1992 (!)] Graphics: 10 Fun Factor: 8 Sound/Music: 9 Documentation: 9 Gameplay: 10 Ease of Use: 9 Overall: recommended for every adventurer, especially Infocom fans! TimeQuest, by Legend Entertainment (released 1991). Currently available on IBM PC format, and distributed by MicroProse Software, MD, USA. ------------------------------ From: Andy Phang Subject: PC: Martian Dreams Date: Tue, 30 Jul 91 11:05:21 WST After the enormous success of the new icon-orientated Ultima interface first seen in Ultima VI, and then Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire, Texan based software supremos Origin are back with Martian Dreams. The "Worlds of Ultima" label has been changed into Worlds of Adventure, but the interface essentially remains the same. Once again you are the Avatar, upholder of the eight virtues of infinity (and the three virtues of singularity, after your Ultima VI adventure). While fooling around with your PC, you hear a knock at the door. Why, it's none other than Dr. Johann Spector, your adventuring companion from The Savage Empire. He claims that you had summoned him to come; you know nothing about this. Then there is another knock at the door. Standing underneath the shadows is a mysterious woman, who hands you a package and then leaves. Inside, you discover a 19th century map of Colorado with directions leading to a laboratory, a photo of yourself and Dr. Spector dated 1895(!), and a book written by Dr.Spector about the Orb of the Moons (a secret known only to the both of you and Lord British), also dated 1895! That's just part of the colorful introduction to Martian Dreams. After a quick trip to Colorado, you and Dr.Spector find yourself journeying back in time to 1895, where you meet up with Nikola Tesla, Sigmund Freud, and Nellie Bly as they prepare for a rescue expedition to Mars. Apparently, during the 1893 World Expo in Chicago, a "space cannon" built by Percival Lowell and intended for use to explore Mars was fired a day behind schedule. On board were some of the best known men and women of the era, including Lenin, Wyatt Earp, Andrew Carnegie, Mark Twain, and more. After crashing onto the planet, this expedition managed to survive by discovering an oxygen-releasing substance known as oxium, and thus began to explore the red planet. Regular messages were sent back to Earth using a series of reflective mirrors, but for a year now the messages have stopped. It is your task then to discover what happened to the initial Martian expedition, and to return the explorers back to 19th century Earth. Warning! Be prepared for a VERY long wait when installing the game onto your hard disk. My installation process took nearly 45 minutes (although I did use the "Save Time" option, which takes longer to install but "saves time" during actual gameplay). Most of this time was taken up by "exploding" the compressed files, and "building the Martian world", rather than just copying the files from floppy to hard disk. Have a cup of tea ready! Control is via mouse (click on the direction you want to walk, or on the ten icons at the bottom of the screen representing various actions, like Combat, Look, Use, and so forth) or keyboard, or both (if you have sufficient RAM). Speaking of RAM, make sure you have at least 570K of free RAM when using VGA mode, or 575K for EGA mode, otherwise the game will not run. If you have either expanded or extended memory, then (along with a soundcard) you can hear the excellent tunes in the game. As usual, the music from a Roland is much better than from an AdLib or SoundBlaster. For the first time in its "Ultima" games, Origin has used the soundcard instead of the PC speaker for its sound effects. Footsteps, combat sounds, and other weird and varied noises come booming from your amplifiers (that is, if you've hooked one up to your PC!), promoting the atmosphere of the game. Computer gamers can expect future Origin releases to use soundcards for sound effects, including the upcoming Ultima VII: The Black Gate. Since Martian Dreams uses the same gaming system as Ultima VI and The Savage Empire, there are no major graphical differences between the three products. There is a nice blend of colors (especially the shades of red used for the Martian landscape), and the detail of on-screen characters and items are quite good. Several special graphic screens will be shown when you complete a major task in the game (for example, restart the furnaces or fix the electrical towers), similar to Savage Empire. The introductory and end sequences are presented in a "cinematic" style (similar to Wing Commander introductions). The game can be fast and slow at different times. If your party is filled to capacity (with five members) then movement across Mars can be very tedious indeed. It's much better to conduct your explorations in solo mode, then reload your saved game and explore the vital areas of Mars with your party. Origin has managed to instill some form of intelligence in the movement of the party members that you do not control, so that they will not wander off or get caught behind walls. Ever since Ultima IV, interaction between the characters has been an essential part of solving an Origin quest. Talking to the various non-player characters throughout Martian Dreams will reveal clues about your task, as well as giving the player some interesting information on that character's background and history. Remember to talk to the members of your party as well, and try asking characters like Spector and Sherman about Britannian days. Later in the game, you'll have to chance to meet up with a very familiar Britannian entity, named Smith... All in all, the designers of Martian Dreams have put a lot of effort into making this premise believable, and in many parts, they have succeeded. The scenes where you explore your "dreams" using the Martian Dream machine are well executed, and provides some thought provoking insights to boot. Your final confrontation will involve some enemies from the past that you thought you had defeated, but in the Dream World, anything can happen (and generally does!). There is one major flaw in the game (which concerns the logic and certain inconsistencies in storyline) but if you're just happy enough playing a great role playing game, and not a particularly picky Ultima fan like myself, then this "inconsistency" should not bother you. This game is recommended to all Ultima devotees, and to role playing fans in general. It's a worthy addition to your RPG collection (despite its memory requirements!). Martian Dreams is currently available on IBM-PC format only, and comes on 3 high density (5.25) disks. Documentation includes two booklets describing Martian life, a control summary card, and a color (paper) map of the Martian landscape. Graphics: 8 Fun Factor: 8 Sound/Music: 9 Documentation: 7 Gameplay: 8 Ease of Use: 7 (marks deducted for an extremely long "install") Overall: 8 Martian Dreams, by Origin Systems, Austin, TX, USA. Released June 1991. ------------------------------ From: exuhag@exurchn1.ericsson.se (James Hague) Subject: Genesis: Super Monaco GP Date: Thu, 25 Jul 91 12:30:48 CDT Over the past twelve months the Genesis market has been overrun with scrolling space shoot-em-ups and cliche' ridden role playing games. But when it comes to driving/racing games, the pickins are still pretty slim. Super Monaco GP (SMGP) is not only a driving game, it is basically the entire driving game genre for the Genesis. SMGP is Yet Another Pole Position Clone: race in a time trial which determines your position in the real race, do well in the real race and you get to race some more. It should all be fairly standard by now. SMGP is a good Clone and an all-round fun racing game. That said, I'll mention the down side of things... SMGP is plagued by the same problem most other arcade driving games have when they make the transition home: little clicky buttons just ain't the same as a steering wheel and floor pedal. This results in a tendency to shift while making tight turns. But except for an occasional fit of frustration, the controls are acceptable--and as a bonus, somewhat configurable. Unfortunately, SMGP is too faithful to its arcade counterpart. Every half lap or so the maximum position you can hold in the race (farthest back) is decreased. For example, at first you can't fall behind position 15, then after a while this is knocked down to 13, then later to 10, and so on. If you fall behind this position, the game immediately ends. I can see why this sort of artificial pressure might be necessary for a money-chomping, game-shortening coin-op machine, but it is VERY ANNOYING at home. If I'm having a lousy race I'd much rather just do poorly than be shut down for wasting processor time with my pitiful racing abilities. At the very least, there should have been an option to turn this feature off. Even after so painstakingly reproducing the arcade machine, Sega went ahead and added a quite substantial "World Driving Championship" mode to the home version. The standard Pole Position mode ALWAYS takes place on the same track. The Driving Championship variation uses a sequence of sixteen tracks of assorted difficulty levels. You start on track number one and progress on through, racking up "driver's points" all the way. To help get acquainted with the scenery, there is a "free practice" mode for whittling down lap times on deserted tracks. While this Driving Championship stuff is interesting, I find the standard game to be more straightforward and entertaining. I would *MUCH* rather have been able to play the plain vanilla variation on any of the dozen-plus tracks, a la Pole Position II, instead of the same fixed roadway. Rather than opting for this simple solution, Sega seems to have taken the long way home, adding extra complexity along the way, and not quite ending up with as much play value. Graphically, SMGP is very well done. There are some nice touches like tunnels and an overpass, plus the ground is not quite completely flat--no hills or anything, just some little barely perceptible "rises." My big complaint is that most of the onscreen fonts are really awful and often impossible to read. What idiot cooked up the "fancy" italics and drop-shadow lettering? At least much of it is restricted to the nonsensical volatile high score screen. Oh, and there is the obligatory grammatical error: "Prepare to 2nd race." Stereo sound is excellent. There is also a lot of low-budget-movie music of varying quality, but it doesn't add anything to the gameplay. Of course this is all secondary. If you're looking for a racing game, tight, fast gameplay is what matters. If you own a Genesis, your choice is basically funneled down to Super Monaco GP. Breathe a heavy sigh of relief--it's a good game. Gameplay/FunLevel: 8.0 (major factor) General Design: 7.5 (major) Graphics: 8.5 (minor) Sound/Music: 8.0 (minor) Overall: 8.0 Super Monaco GP by Sega for the Sega Genesis, $49.99. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Jul 91 09:55:34 -0500 From: Rav Tonsiengsom Subject: Genesis: Phantasy Star III Phantasy Star III is the latest RPG for the Genesis. In it you play the role of Prince Rhys of Landen who has had his bride stolen from him by a dragon on his wedding day. So begins the first in a series of three quests that you will need to solve in order to experience one of the four endings in Phantasy Star III. As Sega has advertised, your characters will marry, grow old and eventually die. At the end of all but the third quest, your character has to choose one of two brides to be. Their offspring then have their own quests to complete. The above feature makes Phantasy Star III a very good cart as far as play value goes. Being able to experience all four endings does take a while. Unfortunately, the first quest has no variation at all and the four different third quests have very little diversity. The two second quests though, are very interesting and fun to play. Nevertheless, the lack of diversity between the four paths that you can take make Phantasy Star III a much easier RPG than it could have been. Once you've solved it once, it is not too difficult to solve it again. Although, I must admit, going through the first time was no cake walk. Gameplay is typical of RPGs. You wander around killing monsters to get experience points and money to buy better equipment. Additional people can join your party (up to four) and you talk to a bunch of people to find out exactly what you are supposed to do. All in all, very typical, but very fun nonetheless. The only things that really annoy me about the gameplay is that there is not enough action in the combat system and the fact that you cannot see the monster groups before they have attacked you. From a 3-D maze perspective this is ok, but from a overhead view resembling the Ultima RPGs the player should be able to see monster groups before they attack. Hopefully Sega will improve these two aspects of the game in Phantasy Star IV. The graphics in Phantasy Star III are very good considering it is an RPG. The characters are well drawn and their individual portraits are very nice. Some of the mazes in the game also utilize an independently scrolling background. The monsters look very good too: very good detail and colorful. Sega could have animated them a little more though, in my opinion. The intermission graphics leave a little more to be desired, but considering that this game is not on CD-ROM, you cannot gripe too much. Sounds and music are pretty much what one would expect in an RPG from Sega: Very nice at first but not enough variety to hold you interest for long. Some of the tunes are kind of catchy though, but after a while one just wants to pop a CD in and listen to that instead. Overall, Phantasy Star III is a good RPG but not at a good price. Most places will charge $70 or more for the game. It is not worth this price, but if you can get it for less then it is a cart that is definitely worth buying. Scores Weights for RPGs(my preference) ------- ------------------------------- Graphics: 6 10% Sound Effects: 6 5% Musical Score: 6 10% Game play: 7 50% Play Value: 9 25% Overall: 7 Phantasy Star III, for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive ------------------------------ From: milton@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Milton W. Kuo) Subject: Genesis: Arcus Odyssey Date: 8 Aug 91 08:35:26 GMT Take some basic concepts from role playing games, infuse them into an action game and the result is Arcus Odyssey, Wolf Team's new action role-playing game. This is the first such game I have played for the Mega Drive and I found it to be an interesting way to add variety to what would otherwise be a typical action game. Arcus Odyssey is very similar in concept to Taito's arcade game Cadash in that you can talk to people, gain more powers with experience, fight battles in real-time, and use magic items and spells. At the same time, the overhead 3-D view and the game play is reminiscent of Data East's Gate Of Doom arcade game. All of Arcus Odyssey takes place from a quarter-view 3-D perspective similar to one of Wolf Team's previous games, FZ Senki Axis. Unlike FZ Senki Axis, however, the graphics in Arcus Odyssey are very smoothly animated. Unfortunately, Arcus Odyssey suffers the same problem as other Wolf Team games in that its graphics are not very sharp. This is probably due to the fact that Wolf Team never seems to use very many colors in their games and Arcus Odyssey is no exception. It is a well known fact that more colors can create an illusion of higher resolution -- it is a shame that Wolf Team cannot seem to take advantage of that fact. Despite the sparse use of colors, however, Arcus Odyssey has some very unusual graphical tricks. For example, in the introduction, there is a scene in which there is a panoramic view of the two sorceresses fighting. The 3-D effect in this scene is really remarkable -- it simulates depth in a way I have never seen done before (and it does look very 3-D!). One feature I really like about Arcus Odyssey is the choice of four different characters from which to choose from. Each character uses a different weapon and has a certain number of hit points. Furthermore, each of the four characters has a different type and power level of magic which makes character selection important in a two player game since both players must share the magic items found. In addition to the four main characters, there are non-player characters that can be picked up during the course of the game. Arcus Odyssey achieves a good balance between using weapons and spells in that neither one by itself is enough to win the game. It takes a combination of spells and fighting to successfully complete the game. From start to finish, Arcus Odyssey takes about an hour to finish if one knows where everything is. I really felt the game was too short and as a result, the interesting storyline associated with role playing games did not exist. In fact, some of the latter stages seem to be rushed and do not possess the complexity of some of the earlier levels. While there are four different type of magic (each character has his own type of magic), I feel that there were still not enough variety in the magic system of this game. Furthermore, there is no method of obtaining better armor and weapons can only be made more powerful by defeating bosses and picking up the power-up balls the boss monsters leave behind. Perhaps I am expecting too much from Arcus Odyssey but I really was hoping the game would be longer and more complex. The thing I absolutely hated about Arcus Odyssey is the lack of battery backup. The passwords used in Arcus Odyssey are not words but long strings of assorted letters and numbers. The password backup is made even more annoying by the fact that selecting a letter requires pressing the directional pad multiple times since holding the directional pad down does not automatically cycle through the alphabet. Of course, incorrectly copying the password means starting from the beginning of the game. Incidents like this have sworn me off of password games -- battery backup games have none of these shortcomings and are much more convenient. One other thing I did not like about Arcus Odyssey is it minimal use of stereo sound. This may be nitpicking but I contend that if a system is capable of producing stereo sound, the software should support it. Ignoring the sparse stereo effects, the sound on Arcus Odyssey is okay. If there is a great fault to Arcus Odyssey, it is the replayability factor. One of the problems facing many Mega Drive games is that once the levels have been thoroughly explored and the game finished, there is little or no reason to play the game again. Sadly, Arcus Odyssey is that kind of a game -- once the levels are mapped out and the game completed using each of the four characters, there is nothing more to discover. The two player option does help a bit but overall, this game just does not offer a lot of play value. Graphics: 7 (Typical Wolf Team graphics) Sound: 7 (Poor use of stereo effects. Otherwise good) Gameplay: 7 (Interesting game but passwords are annoying) "Funness": 8 Originality: 7 (First Mega Drive game I've played like this) Difficulty: 3 (Fairly easy two player, difficult one player) Overall: 7 (This game is too short) Arcus Odyssey, for the Sega Mega Drive, from Wolf Team (available in Japan only: the text is in Japanese). 8 Mbit + password ------------------------------ From: tehkao@tornado.Berkeley.EDU (Teh Kao Yang) Subject: Genesis: Zero Wing Date: 9 Aug 91 02:19:01 GMT Zero Wing is a 8Mbit shooter by Toaplan, the same company that created Fire Shark, Truxton, and Hellfire. It has been released in the arcades here in the U.S. by Williams, but it is pretty hard to find. Luckily, we have one here in the Berkeley campus arcade. So far no U.S. company has announced its release. I know what you're all thinking: "not another shooter!!!" But for shooter freaks, this game is certainly worth checking out, for several reasons. If you're a fan of this game in the arcades, or are just a Toaplan fan, then you'll like this game even more. If you're familiar with Toaplan games, then you know that they make the ultimate bullet-dodging games. Well I think Zero Wing is the most intense bullet-dodging game ever. Most of the time you will be showered with hordes of bullets, lasers, and such. So all you'll be mostly doing is focusing your eyes on your ship and dodging bullets. If this sounds distasteful to you, then you probably won't like this game. You can select from 3 different weapons, each of which can be powered up several times to some pretty awesome displays of firepower. The best weapon is the green homing missile, since you don't have to aim them to use them. The game has 8 long levels. There is a cinematic intro which is even better than MUSHA's I think. The BGM is some of the best I've heard on the MegaDrive; there are some really catchy rock tunes. (one of the tunes sound just like the Can-Can...but I'm not sure...) The graphics are very detailed, with some of the best art ever seen in a shooter. The game is very much identical to the arcade version: all enemies, levels, and attack patterns are identical. But there are a few differences. When you die, you have to start from an earlier section. This makes the game a lot harder. But the enemies seem to die easier in the MD version and you also get rapid fire, which REALLY helps. The game plays very well, and is just as intense and hard as the arcade version. The main problem with the game is that it suffers from occasional slowdown (which can really help you get out of tight spots), but there is absolutely no flicker at all. The graphics and backgrounds are also slightly inferior to the arcade version, but this is not surprising. Graphics : 8.5 (Some slowdown detracts) Music : 9 Fun Level: 9 (one of the most intense shooters ever) Difficulty : varies, depending on difficulty setting : can be from 6 to 10, I guess... Overall : 8.5 Zero Wing, for the Sega Mega Drive, from Toaplan (available in Japan only) ------------------------------ From: John Leo Subject: SNES: Super Mario World Date: Mon, 12 Aug 91 08:53:17 PDT SUMMARY Nintendo has done it again. Super Mario World, although it owes a lot to SMB3, is an extremely original and fun game. Most of the great ideas of SMB3 have been scrapped and replaced by new great ideas in this game. Beautiful graphics, stunning sound, an unbelievably enormous and rich world to explore...the game defies superlatives. I only played for two days and have only explored a small portion, but SMW vies with SMB3 as my favorite videogame ever. Rating: 10++. TERMINOLOGY NOTE The "Super Mario series" refers to SMB1, the original SMB2 (a disk system game not released in the US, similar to SMB1 but much harder), SMB3, and SMB4. The NES SMB2, while a great game, was adapted from another game and is not really part of the series. Also the Gameboy Super Mario Land was done by a different group within Nintendo. DETAILED REVIEW One of the first areas in Super Mario World starts with a line of turtles walking back and forth on a plateau, and a single shell on the ground. If you pick up the shell and hit all the turtles you get an extra life. The designers are clearly saying, "All right, these are the basics you already know. From now on everything is new." And indeed SMW, despite being part of the Super Mario series and owing much to its predecessors, is a completely new game, filled with the most originality seen in an action/adventure game since SMB3. For those who have played and love the Super Mario series, this game is a must. On the other hand I don't recommend playing SMW until you've mastered SMB1 and SMB3 (so practice up before it comes out!). The game depends a lot on being familiar with the earlier games, both for skills you need and to appreciate many of the details. As usual the designers love to play psychological tricks on you, relying heavily on expectations built up by the previous games and by earlier scenes in the same game. And there are numerous jokes that are even more funny if you know all the background. Indeed this is the funniest Super Mario yet, and I found myself laughing out loud on several occasions. The game, like the others in the Super Mario series as well as the Zelda series, was produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, my favorite game designer. Music is by Koji Kondo, who also did music for the previous Super Mario and Zelda games. I had already thought SMB3 was so far ahead of other games it would be years before they caught up. Well, Miyamoto and crew have outdone themselves again in a genre in which you'd think nothing new was possible. There is so much that is new in this game, and most of the fun is discovering the world for yourself. So, difficult as it is, I'll restrict myself to discussing fairly broad topics that are found in the rules or explained in the game itself. Note that I'm talking about the Japanese game here, although I expect the US version will be about the same (in the case of SMB3 there were a few changes, and the game was made a bit easier). The rulebook is similar to that for another Miyamoto game, MOTHER (to come out in the US in 1992 as "Earthbound"), in that it is a single sheet with the rules on one side and a map (with little detail) of the World on the other side. The rules are somewhat terse but quite useful, and an excellent feature of the game is that there are message boxes you run across as you play which give various information, hints and sometimes contribute to the mood. Those who have played the Japanese game but don't read Japanese may have missed some subtleties revealed in the rules and messages (not to mention the puns in names of various areas). Message boxes also pause the action which creates an interesting feeling when they are located in areas full of bad guys. MOVES AND POWERUPS SMB3 added a lot of moves to Mario's repertoire; some of these have been retained (for example sliding down hills) but most have been discarded and replaced by a plethora of new moves. All six buttons of the Super NES controller are used. The L and R buttons don't move Mario, but move the area around him, useful for peering ahead when you reach those long chasms. The different button arrangement means the A button is no longer the jump button; now it is B, with the previous "B button" (for running, etc) now the Y button (X has the same function as Y). The A button is now used for a special spinning jump, which has less control than the ordinary jump but allows you to attack enemies from the side. I thought it was more of an advanced feature and not too useful, but later learned, just before returning the game, that there's actually a lot you can do with it and it's quite important to the game. The button arrangement is good, and I found it easy to hold the controller in my favorite "arcade" style (fingers on Y and B). The tails from SMB3 are gone, but there is a new way to fly using a cape. This was beautifully designed and the feeling of flying is especially enjoyable. We still haven't learned all the subtleties, but nicely enough the game provides a practice area for flying! The cape can also be used to attack from the side. Fireballs have been retained, and the usual mushrooms. As in the Japanese SMB3, if you are hit wearing the cape or with fire you shrink all the way down to chibi ("shorty") Mario. You can't collect items to use later like in SMB3, but an excellent new feature is that if you get more than one powerup, the second-latest is stored at the top of the screen in a box. If you get hit, it falls down and you can try to grab it to power-up again. Usually this is not so easy to do. One other feature omitted is the variable directions mushrooms went in SMB3. Now like SMB1 they go only to the right initially. Mario can also walk up walls, throw objects upward...there are dozens of moves. However one thing I wish they had put in this game doesn't seem to be there, namely Kuribo's shoe from area 5-3 of SMB3. It was so much fun to ride in, only appeared in that area, and seemed to have potential for reuse. Maybe it's hidden somewhere...but I have a feeling we'll never see it again. FRIENDS One of the best additions to SMW is Yoshi, a dragon Mario can ride on. He is also part of the plot, in that you start the game in his house and have to save his friends from the Koopas. Non-player characters have been used in other games before, but none nearly so well. Yoshi hatches out of special eggs and waits patiently for Mario to ride him. If Mario is hit while riding he falls of Yoshi, who starts running frantically. If you can get back on him he calms down, and Yoshi chases join the previous mushroom chases as some of the funniest moments of the game. Yoshi, aside from having a stronger stomp than Mario, can also eat most of the enemies, even very large ones, and this is well done with a great feel to it. Items can also be carried in his mouth. Most interesting is when he eats the various turtles, which give him certain abilities depending upon their color. Eating a rare purple turtle allows him to fly. Once he eats enough he'll even excrete something useful. There are also supposed to be small Yoshis which grow as they eat, but I didn't run into them yet. Yoshi does have some disadvantages; for example he can't climb things. But Mario can dismount and Yoshi will wait for his return. Yoshi also doesn't like going in buildings, and waits outside. Of course we can't forget about the poor neglected Luigi, who enters in the two-player game. The two-player game isn't nearly as involved as in SMB3, as you can have two players on one area of the map, there's no concept of who has cleared an area (since areas can be explored multiple times) and there's no simultaneous game to play. If one player loses his lives he can no longer play, but a new feature is that one of the players can give the other any number of his lives. ENEMIES Very few of the enemies from previous games appear here. The Koopa brats are back, as is Bowser. After world 7 of SMB3 was filled with pakkun flowers, the only variety to return is the black, invincible kind, but there is a new breed which jumps out of pipes. The turtles are back but with several new features. The bone turtles are the same as before, but the others now pop out of their shells when you hit them; they then try to get back into the shells. There are red, green and purples ones with different personalities and some nasty surprises. There is also a multi-colored one that is particularly vicious and seems invincible. The most used enemy in this game seems to be ghosts, thanks to the number of ghost houses, and there is quite a variety of them. Ghosts are called "Theresa" for some reason in the Japanese game, and SMW adds "Atomic Theresa," a particularly huge one. There are enemies that pop out the ground, giant bullets...so many new enemies that many of them just appear in one or two areas. But perhaps the most interesting new enemies are the football players, often found near goalposts at the end of areas. Miyamoto had said earlier that he'd gotten inspiration from a trip to the US, and this must have been it. There are several varieties (one even throws baseballs!) with their own moves, beautifully animated and well thought-out. With their helmets they are tough to kill by jumping on them, and they can be quite difficult enemies. The Koopa brats are a bit more varied than SMB3 as well. The battle with the first one is one of the most ingenious I've seen; they design it so that the "obvious" technique only prolongs the battle. Just one of the many great games the designers play with you. THE WORLD A friend remarked that while there were numerous new enemies, there didn't seem to be many new kinds of areas. This is true. There are only a couple new kinds, the ghost houses and the puzzle/game areas. The ships are gone, replaced with more ordinary castles. Mostly there are the typical outdoor areas, caves, and water areas. But as the designers show there is still a lot more to be done in those places! As much as Mario is a fantastic action game it is also a fantastic exploration game, and SMW takes this to a new height. At first glance the game doesn't seem that large, much smaller than SMB3. But actually it is much larger; most of the world is hidden and you have to find it. There are at least four levels of exploration in the game; you can get through most of the game only on the easiest and go back and search for all the things you missed. A great new (and essential) feature is that an area can be explored any number of times. Of course one can abuse this to get extra lives and so forth, and in fact the designers are very open about letting you get as many lives as you like. They designed the game so that even with these cheats there is so much to the game that it doesn't get boring. The first level of exploration is the direct one, just getting to the goal as fast as you can. The goals are closer to those in SMB1 than SMB3, and are like football goalposts or high-jump bars. The horizontal bar moves up and down, and you try to hit it as close the top as possible. If you hit it (not so easy as it looks!) you get a number of stars depending upon the height; when you get 100 stars you can play a special game to earn up to 8 extra lives. The second level is to really explore each area thoroughly. To help you in this respect, every area has five dragon coins; if you collect them all you get an extra life. But of course one or two of them will be quite hard to find, or difficult to get once you've found them. The game encourages both further exploration, and further development of skill. A third level of exploration is to find all the hidden areas of the game. Many areas are marked on the map with red dots, which means there is a second exit. You exit this way by finding a key and keyhole; of course one or both of these are difficult to find and reach. Once you go out this way whole new groups of areas are opened up to be explored. The fourth level is perhaps the most exciting. It is the level of finding the flutes and white mushroom houses in SMB3, in other words the most difficult level in which few clues are given. I only managed to find one of the three flutes in SMB3 with no help, so I'm really looking forward to finding these special things (such as an island in the shape of a star) on my own. Ah, where to look...? SMW is a huge game, and it would be time-consuming to have to start from the beginning every time you wanted to play. So one great feature is that the game has battery backup and you can save up to three games. You can only save at certain points, such as when you clear ghost houses, castles, and a few other areas. The entire state of the game, except your number of lives, is saved. However this feature can be used to get essentially an unlimited number of lives, because you can always save the current state by going back and clearing an earlier ghost house. This reduces any tedium in playing to an absolute minimum. One would think this feature also obviates the need for warps, but they still seem to be included, if you can find an object known as "Yoshi's wings". As in the previous games, and even moreso in SMW, there are many things in the game with simple mechanics, but when combined together the combinations become amazingly complex. The designers have thought of many of these combinations, and this also is one of the most fun parts of the game. The puzzle solving aspect is also very strong in the game, and you have to think quite a lot to get through. GRAPHICS AND MUSIC I love SMB3's simple colorful graphics, and was worried that SMW would try for wow-em graphics that are the emphasis of so many 16-bit games and lose that magical appeal. But fortunately the simple colorful graphics have been retained. More detail has been added, and things look a bit more three-dimentional, but the look of the Mario series is still there. Overall I'm very happy with the graphics, although they aren't especially stunning. The sound and music, however, are especially stunning. The sound quality is easily the best I've heard in any non-CD game, and the sound effects themselves are unsurpassed. Furthermore the integration of sound effects, music, graphics, and events is done beautifully, and it's obvious a lot of work went into doing it just right. For example check out the first encounter with Yoshi, in which he pops out of his shell to an excellent sound effect, and a message comes up at just the right momemnt. Some sound effects have been changed from before, and at first I was disappointed that the sound of collecting coins was not the familiar one. But I got to like it, and in general the sounds are deeper and richer than the previous games. There are many new sound effects; another favorite is when you put on the cape. Then of course there is the echo of all sounds when you're in a cave. The music is similarly excellent, my second favorite of any game (the best is still MOTHER, composed by Suzuki and Tanaka). Much of it consists of variations on the original Mario tune, all of them great. Again the sound quality is supurb, and features sampled (and then modified) instruments such as a banjo and honky-tonk piano. Lots of percussion, and one of my favorite details is that an extra drum line is added whenever you're riding Yoshi. There was even an interview with Kondo and Miyamoto in the March 1991 issue of "Hippon Super!" devoted to the music aspect of the game. And a 2-CD set has been released in Japan with all the music and sound effects of all games in the Super Mario series. CONCLUSION It wasn't until I played SMB1 that I realized video games could be more than a test of dexterity, that they could be an art form as well. Later games in the series furthered the art even more. SMB3, and now SMW, are so carefully designed, so well-done in so many ways, so much fun to play, and so far ahead of other games that it's unbelievable to me that such good games could be made. But they exist, and you can play them. And I can't wait to see what Miyamoto and friends come up with next. Super Mario World by Nintendo, to be packaged with the Super NES. Available in the US starting September 1991. ------------------------------------- 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. 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