Received: from uucp-gw-1.pa.dec.com by s.ms.uky.edu id aa06403; 15 Jan 92 22:52 GMT Received: by uucp-gw-1.pa.dec.com; id AA24042; Wed, 15 Jan 92 14:44:55 -0800 Received: by limbo; Wed, 15 Jan 92 14:40:06 pst Date: Wed, 15 Jan 92 14:40:06 pst Message-Id: <9201152240.AA06424@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.35) Digital Games Review, Number 35 Monday, November 11th 1991 This issue we look at a variety of different platforms: Neo-Geo: Crossed Swords SNES: Super R-Type and U.N. Squadron Amiga: Altered Destiny PC: The Perfect General Wordtris Genesis: Devil Crash (Japan only) Arcus Odyysey NHL Hockey Lynx: QIX ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Emery@cup.portal.com Subject: Neo-Geo: Crossed Swords Date: Mon, 21 Oct 91 10:57:08 PDT Crossed Swords is similar to Super Spy, but in a medieval setting. It's a 2 player simultaneous action game (1 player has less enemies), where you explore the countrysides, castles, and dungeons to rid the land of evil enemies. There are 3 levels of difficulty to choose from, each is a different scenario. You must complete the 3rd scenario to finish the game. The players are in 3D first person view with see-thru wire- framed bodies. The enemies are solid, muscular, colorful, and plenty. Some of the bosses are huge and tough as usual. My favorite is the giant crab, the same size of a real dungeoness crab! The graphics and sounds are great (aren't they all on the Neo-Geo?). The gameplay is tough, as the enemies are progressively harder to kill. Each time you make a kill, you can pick up either gold or food or other power-up items. Collect enough gold and you can buy better weapons from merchants in town. Food, five swords and two axes with and built- in magics are available. You can go crazy with your weapon using "melee" mode (buttons A+B down) at the expense of your hit points (neato, but not recommended). You're also armed with a shield to block the enemies' blows, which would have been easier to use had it been assigned to buttons C and D. In addition, the people you save will also give you special weapons and shields to fight against the big bosses. Now if it begins to sound like an adventure game, let me tell you, it isn't. There's no puzzle to solve and you can't select where you want to go as with Super Spy; the computer does it for you. It feels more like being teleported from one scene to another, which is annoying to me. Those who hate unlimited continues will love this game: 1 continue is all you get, and then "Game Over". Of course you can always restart a level if you had saved it into the memory card. I truly appreciate the 2 SAVE positions. Is it worth buying? I consider it slightly better than Super Spy (especially the 2 player mode!). If you like arcade games and are looking for a good workout with the joystick, this cart is for you (and lots of luck with the final boss!). Otherwise it can be frustrating, although I'm sure with enough play-time, it'll get easier. Gameplay: 8 no puzzle, few strategy, strictly hack'n slash Graphics: 10 Amazingly arcade! Sound : 10 it's Neo-Geo! Music : 9 heard better in Sengoku Value : 8 I would pay $140 for it Overall : 9 One of Neo-Geo's best games! Crossed Swords for the Neo-Geo $170-$190 or lots of quarters in the arcade. ------------------------------ From: Vince Vitiello Subject: SNES: Super R-Type and U.N. Squadron Date: Mon, 21 Oct 91 15:45:38 EDT Super R-Type and U.N. Squadron are two of the first shooters available in the US for the Super Nintendo (SNES). This review will contrast and compare the two games. Although I have divided this review into several sections, I would like to note a few of my biases up front. I like almost every genre of video games, but if I had to make a list, shooters would appear closer to the bottom than to the top. Also, I would weigh gameplay as the most important factor in ANY review of ANY game. Lastly, I consider myself a much better than average player, and have entirely finished on the order of 50 games (this last comment is not for my ego but does help to clarify the gameplay description of Super R-Type :-) . Super R-Type by Irem is based on the company's coin-op games, R-Type I & II. You are in control of the R-9 spacecraft fighting off hordes of evil alien creatures in the BYDO empire. Irem has mixed and matched stages and bosses from the coin-ops and added a couple of new levels as well (7 stages total). U.N. Squadron by CAPCOM is also based on a coin-op title named Area 88. Unfortunately, I have never seen nor played the arcade version so I cannot comment first hand on the differences. However, I have read that this is a very close translation of the coin-op with only minor additions to better tailor the game to the home environment. The premise of the game is that you are a member of an elite group of fighter pilots trying to take back the land from enemy mercenaries (Project 4) who have taken over everything except one small air base named "Area 88" from which the U.N. Squadron operates. GRAPHICS Both games show off the abilities of the SNES by displaying "arcade" quality graphics. In general, the Super R-Type enemies tend to be physically larger than those in U.N. Squadron. Most end level bosses from both games are full screen (or larger!) and very detailed. The backgrounds in Super R-Type are colorful and detailed with each stage displaying a different motif. The colorization used for the planets in the background for the first level is extremely crisp and a good example of what can be seen throughout the game. The background scrolling in U.N. Squadron gives the game a "3D" feel although the game is a two dimensional side scrolling shooter. Color and clarity are also excellent in U.N. Squadron. BGM AND SOUND EFFECTS The music and sound effects for Super R-Type greatly enhance the gameplay. I first tried the game with headphones in order not to disturb other members of the household, and I was, well, blown away! Even the letters on the title screen come flying in with a laser sound effect. The options screen allows you to sample all music and sound effects used in the game and the BGM is composed music instead of a few notes played over and over which occurs too often in home games today. The opening music for U.N. Squadron is excellent, but although the quality of the music during the game is very good, the content is just average in my opinion. The sound effects on the other hand are quite varied and somewhat make up for the less than memorable background music. Note: I can't emphasis enough how important it is to hook the SNES up to something that has stereo output! The SNES sound is its strongest feature by far. Also, no matter how you try, you won't get sound like this in a noisy arcade! GAMEPLAY As in earlier versions of R-Type, SNES Super R-Type allows you to power-up your R-9 by attaching a pod to the front or back of the ship. You can also shoot the pod out in front of the ship to lead the way. The pod can become one of five different types of weapons depending on the random power-up obtained. They range from reflecting lasers to a two colored, forward firing heat ring laser. In addition to the 5 types of pod weapons, you can get a speed power-up (makes the R-9 maneuver faster), and a missile power-up. The missiles are unlimited, drop directly out of the ship and come in two types: a blue one which drops straight down, and a red one which seeks out the enemy! Irem came close to making Super R-Type for the SNES its best R-Type version to date, but MISSED the mark terribly! Each and every time you lose a ship, which can happen at the blink of an eye, you must start at the beginning of the stage you are currently working on, and except in novice mode (modes are novice, easy, normal, and hard), you lose ALL power-ups obtained. This may not sound that bad, but it's makes the game very tedious and unplayable. I completed the game in novice mode, but could get no further than the third stage boss even on the easy level. After trying 30+ times, I sold the game :-( ! The manual states that if you finish on hard mode (and haven't yet committed suicide!), you get to play in "professional" mode - if you complete pro mode, something special will happen. Slow-down occurs in several places, but does NOT detract from the gameplay substantially. Others sources have stated that slow-down makes it unplayable, but I disagree completely. On the other hand, U.N. Squadron will make you understand why CAPCOM states that they are the world's leading arcade game designers. As with the options mode on Super R-Type, you can select the difficulty of play (easy, normal, hard). Unlike R-Type, you can also tailor the control pad to your own taste! You need to assign three buttons - one to fire vulcan cannons, one to select the special weapon, and one to fire the special weapon selected. You can quickly change the defaults in the options screen by simply tapping the button you wish to use. You get to select from three pilots each with different characteristics. One raises his power level the quickiest, another handles the most special weapons, and the last recovers from damage the quickest. There are 6 planes to chose from ranging from an F8E Crusader (weakest) to the F200 Efreet (strongest). You are given the F8E Crusader to start and must earn money by destroying enemies to buy other planes. With the money you earn, you must also buy weapon systems to outfit your planes (this is done at the start of each man). There are 11 different weapon systems that you can buy, but only the strongest plane can handle them all. All other planes can carry some combination of the 11 which gives each plane a different offensive strong point. The game consists of 10 missions (plus an EX mission which is a quick way to make money) with the last goal being the destruction of the Project 4 base. The last boss in the final mission is really cool, but ironically it is seems based on a similar looking enemy from R-Type! The display after winning the game is quite disappointing compared to the great introduction sequence, but U.N. Squadron as a whole is a winner! Super R-Type U.N. Squadron GRAPHICS: 9 8.5 BGM/SOUND EFFECTS: 10/10 (WOW!) 7/9 (wow) GAMEPLAY: 2 9 OVERALL: 4 9 Super R-Type by Irem U.N. Squadron by CAPCOM ------------------------------ From: hoffmann@ssd.Kodak.Com (Marty Hoffmann) Subject: Amiga: Altered Destiny Date: Mon, 16 Sep 91 08:47:30 EDT The graphics/text adventure "Altered Destiny" from Accolade casts you as a normal human being who gets sucked through your television and into a bizarre, alien world, just as you are settling down for a really cozy evening with your girlfriend (I hate when that happens). Unfortunately, you are a victim of mistaken identity, and it falls to you to save the known (and apparently unknown) universe from total destruction. Even more unfortunate, is the fact that the television at the beginning of the game is not the only thing that sucks. While the game itself might rate very high in the genre, the user interface makes it practically unplayable And what is the biggest problem with the user interface? It is SLOOOOOOOOW. To move the main character, you point to the desired destination using the mouse and click the left mouse button, at which point, the character on the screen stops and thinks about a good path to get to where you are pointing. On a stock (M68000 based) Amiga, it may take a few seconds of thinking before the character starts moving. If the path required is too complicated, the character will often refuse to go there, and a series of shorter moves are required to get him where you want him. Even more irritating than the delay between moves is the delay when crossing a screen boundary. The load time (even from a hard disk) is terrible. Other than moving the character on the screen, most interaction with the game is through typing messages on the keyboard. While this is not terribly bad, I prefer the "action menu" found in graphic adventure games by Lucas-Film. The graphics on the box are IBM VGA. The graphics in the Amiga version are not nearly of such high quality, although they are no worse than those of two very good games "Loom" and "The Secret Of Monkey Island", both from Lucas-Film. On the positive side, the game is hard-disk installable (code-wheel protected) and comes on six floppy disks, with a very nice installation program. Included with the game is a clue book. Overall, I'd have to give this game a "thumbs down". (On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being best)) Graphics: 8 Sound: 6 Story: 9 Playability: 4 Overall: 5 Altered Destiny, by Accolade, for the Commodore Amiga, (also available for the IBM PC) ------------------------------ From: Ken Fishkin Subject: PC: The Perfect General Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1991 09:52:50 -0700 "The Perfect General" by QQP (Quantum Quality Productions), is a simulation of tactical armored combat. It is *not* a hard-core tactical simulation along the lines of "M1 Tank Platoon" or its ilk, but rather a simpler (but more elegant and graceful, IMHO) system, somewhat along the lines of "Kampgruppfe", "Empire", or even "Tanktics". The player receives *n* "buy points" with which to buy his force. There are roughly a dozen types of units, each unit with its own cost. The game repeatedly boasts of "over a dozen years of playtesting", and this is one place where it shows. I have only been playing the game for a week, but it seems that they have done a very good job of balancing unit cost with unit effectiveness: no unit is obviously too cheap or obviously too dear. There is also enough variety in unit capabilities to give you a *very* wide gamut of possible forces: this is a major plus in the game, and greatly aids in replayability ("what if I took more artillery? What if tried to overwhelm him with cheap fast light armor?"). The unit types are as follows: 4 types of armor (armored car, light, medium, heavy), 2 types of artillery (light, heavy), infantry, bazooka (offensive power of a light tank, like infantry otherwise), mines, and engineer (build/destroy bridges/mines). The only surprise, at least to me, is that infantry is more worthless than you might think: it's really only good for holding occupied cities and flushing out ambushes ("sacrificing your body for the play", for you football fans). THE SCENARIOS The game comes with approximately a dozen scenarios. These are nicely graduated in difficulty and complexity, providing a nice way to gradually learn the game, not unlike an Avalon Hill "programmed scenarios" approach. When you play a scenario you can be either (a) the attacker, (b) the defender, or (c) "balanced". "Balanced" mode means that you will play the scenario once as the attacker and then immediately play it again as the defender. This is a very nice touch. On a per-scenario basis, you can also toggle various features which trade-off realism versus simplicity. For example, you can dictate that shots will always hit their targets versus a probabilitic approach, or that you can see all units on the map versus only those which are actually in LOS of your units. Scenarios can be played 0-player (computer vs. computer), 1-player, or 2-player. I have not tried the 2-player, so I cannot evaluate that. There is a modem option, but I haven't tried it. There is also a good handicapping system. The computer player exists at 3 different levels of smartness, and you can further fine-tune the handicapping by giving yourself fewer "buy points" than the default. When deciding on which scenario to play, there is online description available of each scenario, outlining the overall strategic situation, scenario length, and so forth. Nice. THE ACTUAL PLAY OK, so now that you've picked a scenario and your forces: what actually *happens* on a turn-by-turn basis? Each turn consists of a number of segments: plotting artillery (it falls the turn *after* plotted), receiving artillery (from the prior turn), fire, movement, fire. The sides alternate *within segments*: Attacker fire, then Defender fire, then attacker move, then defender move, and so forth. In addition to the two fire phases, units have up to three other chances to fire. Firstly, if somebody fires at you in their fire phase, you can "react" and fire back simultaneously. This can happen twice, as there are two fire phases. Secondly, if somebody moves into your range, you can fire at them. This happens in the opponents movement phase. However, a unit may only fire *once* per turn. A major aspect of the strategy is deciding which of the many opportunites for fire should be taken. Fire too early in the turn, and watch helplessly as your opponent runs by you, or moves up to you and blows you away. Fire too late, and you may be dead before you get a chance. This yields a very interesting enjoyable "cat and mouse" or "rock/scissors/paper" feel to each turn. HOW TO WIN Victory is judged purely by holding cities: cities yield a certain number of VPs per turn to the holder. Note that casualties are irrelevant! Cities require at least one unit to "garrison" them, however: I have had scenarios where my casualties where so heavy that although I owned the field, I didn't have enough units to occupy each city :-(. After the scenario ends, your performance is evaluated, with ratings not only of your VPs but of your firing efficiency, your casualties, and your "collateral damage". There is a good "hall of fame" feature, which keeps track of the best 3 performances as Attacker, Defender, and Balanced (attacker then defender), both per scenario and per player. This is very nice: you can look at a given Scenario History and see how attackers have generally fared, for example. THE GRAPHICS I can only evaluate the VGA graphics, and they are very good. The maps are crisp and clean, with very nice visuals for the various terrain types. The various unit types are easily distinguishable, and, again, have a very good visual look. One cute feature is that the battlefield gets "scarred" in the course of a battle: tank hulks, shell craters, and so forth litter the battlefield, although the "tank hulk" icon looks more like the "Ankh" icon from Popolous than anything else. Another nice feature is that the colors chosen are rich and not terribly saturated: well done! THE SOUND I can only evaluate the Sound Blaster audio, and it is OK. There is a rockin' little ditty that plays when the game starts, but otherwise sound effects are limited to reasonable replications of the sounds of gunfire and artillery shells. This could have been better. THE MANUAL The manual is clearly written and well laid out. It is only marred by an irritating cuteness ("Units may not fire at night: they are too busy partying", and similar drivel). A little of this goes a long way: the ending credits are particularly smarmy. Cuteness aside, the manual is well-done. SECURITY You are asked to look up a certain word in the manual. You are prompted with the first letter of the answer, which helps reduce mistakes. NITS As you can tell, I generally like this game very much. However, it does have a few problems: 1) When an enemy moves into the range an un-fired friendly unit with LOS to the enemy, you have the chance to fire at him. However, your only cue for this is that a small button at the right edge of the screen turns green. This is not enough, particularly since your eyes at this time are glued to the main display, watching his units move. An audio cue here would be *very* useful. 2) The main author of this game is one of the main authors of Empire (Baldwin), and I think he took the same mouse driver. Unfortunately, that means it has the same bug the Empire mouse driver had. Namely, you will sometimes find that the program thinks that your mouse has moved a great distance and then clicked. This can be tremendously irritating when you are deciding where to move a unit! 3) There is no scenario editor: what you see is what you get. The manual mentions that QQP plans to soak you for (er, I mean, "bring out") additional scenario packages. 4) The "Hall of Fame" feature is nice, but it has one glaring problem: there is no way to clear it out! This has a number of ramifications. Firstly, your personal performance will always be dogged by those first scenarios you played when you were first learning: *all* scenarios you play are "for keeps" forever. Secondly, computer-vs-computer play is also logged in the hall of fame, which I find clogs things up. The omission of a clear button, or at least *optional* inclusion in the hall of fame, is a real "oops". 5) The attacker is always red and the defender is always blue. It would be nice if you could custom-tailor these colors. Of the weaknesses listed, only (1) is serious: I hope they fix that soon! OVERALL Overall, "The Perfect General" is a solid enjoyable piece of software, for those interested in not-too-complicated wargames. Its main strengths are its solid feel, excellent graphics, and excellent replayability potential. It will not take over my life the way "Railroad Tycoon" or "Ultima VI" or "Empire" did (long ago), but it has definitely earned a place on my "Top 10" DOS Shell game list. Graphics: 9 Sound: 6 Gameplay: 8 Documentation: 8 Overall: 8 ------------------------------ From: mmarkowi@pepvax.pepperdine.edu (Mike Markowitz) Subject: PC: Wordtris Date: Fri, 18 Oct 91 13:58:00 PDT Just when you thought there was no way to do another game based on blocks falling into a well, Wordtris arrives, fresh from the falling Soviet empire. Wordtris was born of the unnatural union of Welltris with a spell checker. Each falling block is stamped with a letter, and as they fall you have to shift them left or right, attempting to form words. The well is half filled with water, and the blocks "float" until other blocks push them under the surface. As soon as the program recognizes a formed word, either horizontally or vertically, the word disappears. You score points, based on the length and difficulty of the word. If you manage to form a "magic" word, displayed at the top of the screen the whole well is emptied. An "eraser" block falling randomly lets you zap a letter that may be particularly out of place. Letters with a question mark are "wild cards" that become any letter you type before they hit bottom. Wordtris has a 60,000 word dictionary and very fast recognition algorithms. Performance was very good on a 12 MHz '286. You can even add 1000 words of your own to the dictionary. Since this is a fairly difficult game, there is a "children's mode" that makes the letters fall very very slowly. There is also a sneak preview option that shows you the next letter that will fall. I recommend setting the minimum word length to 4 letters -- it's annoying to have the program constantly removing obscure 3-letter words when you are trying to build something more impressive. The package contains a 26-page manual, two 720K and three 360K disks. Some very poorly written on-screen installer instructions might confuse a beginner, but the actual game's options and controls are easy to use. You need to use the manual to identify a quotation before the game will run. With two computers and two copies of the game, you can play against an opponent over a serial cable, modem link or Novell network . Wordtris is a well-crafted game that should appeal to gamers who enjoyed its predecessors, Tetris, Welltris and Faces, and to those who love crossword puzzles, Scrabble and similar word games. Graphics: 8 Sound: 7 User Interface: 8 Play Value: 9 Overall: 9 designed by Sergei L. Utkin and Vjacheslav A. Tsoy published by: Spectrum Holobyte (1991) for: IBM PC compatibles (640 K, CGA, Hercules, EGA or VGA graphics, supports popular sound cards) list price: $44.95 ------------------------------ From: brackney@ecn.purdue.edu (Larry J Brackney) Subject: Genesis: Devil Crash (Japan only) Date: Fri, 25 Oct 91 13:38:41 -0500 Devil Crash MD is one of the few Genesis/Mega Drive games that I can honestly say I have eagerly anticipated. It's finally out, and it has lived up to my expectations. The graphics, music and terrific game play that I enjoyed in the PC engine version have been faithfully translated to the MD platform along with a few improvements. For those that are unfamiliar w/ Devil Crash, here is a brief description: DC is an extremely well done video pinball game featuring a horror motiv. Laughing skulls, fire belching dragons, wandering goblins and skeletons, and a circling coven of evil monks are just a few of the items present on the playfield which is roughly four screens tall. Hidden features and bonuses abound for example: the centerpiece of the game is a sleeping warrioress who awakens when certain targets are hit. As the game progresses, she transforms into a vicious snake woman. Yikes! It is also possible to reach special bonus stages by accomplishing secret "tasks." Each of the six bonus games is a pinball game in itself. You win the bonus games by defeating the nasty monsters that you are faced with. At this point, I'll mention that the bonus games represent the biggest improvement over the PC engine version. The backgrounds are beautifully drawn in the MD version, as opposed to the PC's spartan bonus stages. Also, four of the six stages are completely new to the MD version. (Only the six headed dragon and triple skull levels have survived the translation, the others are all new and IMHO better.) How does it play? I think a friend of mine put it best when he commented that DC plays like a real machine. I must agree. DC captures the "feel" of a good pinball game complete with the ability to bump (or tilt) the machine. The game controls well, and options such as flipper control, tilt control and ball speed may be set to taste. A two player option let's you play with a friend. There is even a password option to let you save the game in which you are feeling particularly lucky. (DC does have an ending if you "roll it over.") With so many hidden bonuses to discover, Devil Crash MD should hold the interest of pinball fans for quite a while. I don't believe a U.S. dist- ributor has commited to releasing this title domestically yet, but I will go out on a limb and recommend the game for purchase as an import. (It's that good!) Graphics - 9 (Just a tiny bit of flicker from time to time.) Sound - 8 (Standard video game fare here.) Music - 10 (MD and PC soundtracks are identical but awesome) Play - 10 (Almost like the real thing!) -------------- Total - 9 (No such thing as a perfect game!) Devil Crash MD from Technosoft of Japan, for the Sega MegaDrive (the Japanese version of the Genesis). Available through US mail order houses for around $55 ------------------------------ From: Steve Subject: Genesis: Arcus Odyysey Date: Mon, 28 Oct 91 08:50:18 EST Your quest - find the Sword of Leaty and restore light and good. Destroy the Darklords summoned by the evil Castomira. Choose from a list of 4 warriors, each having a different weapon and magical powers. Search for hidden magical crystals and potions and other helpful items. Eliminate the many creatures. There are 8 Acts, and in each one you must uncover a secret, eventually fight a boss and get to the next Act. In Act one, you must find the exit key. Act 2, kill the boss and jump on its back and ride it to the next Act. Act 3, find 5 swords to open various doors. (this is as far as I got-the 5th key is a bitch to find). You proceed through various mazes of outstanding colors and detail fighting creatures, picking up treasures from chests, and figuring out the maze. You can call up a window screen to use some powers you have obtained. After defeating a boss, a glowing crystal is left that changes color. Blue=increase your defenses, Red=increase attack power. So far, in Act 2, you can free prisoners and they will help you on your way by staying close to you and firing their own weapon. A great help when creatures are attacking from all sides. Also, there are a few people scattered about that you should listen to for helpful hints. This is just a small review, since I have only reached Act 3. I have played 2 player simultaneous and one player. Both ways are challenging and fun. The 3-D effect is extremely well done. The opening scenes before starting the game are truly spectacular. There are so many more little "things" that I have not covered and I am sure there are a whole lot more to discover. Renovation (with the help of Wolfteam) have themselves one super Genesis game in ARCUS ODYSSEY. GRAPHICS --- 9 SOUND --- 8 CHALLENGE --- 9 FUN FACTOR --- 9 GOTTA PLAY IT AGAIN --- 10 OVERALL --- A WINNER !!! ARCUS ODYSSEY - 8 meg, 2 player simultaneous, 3-D, 3/4 view, action/adventure/maze/slight RPG/, AWESOME ------------------------------ From: pdenton@ihlpb.att.com Subject: Genesis: NHL Hockey Date: Tue, 29 Oct 91 10:29 CST Electronic Arts has done it again with the addition of NHL Hockey to their sports line-up. From the same developers that produced John Madden Football, NHL Hockey is nearly flawless. My only comparisons will be with Blades of Steel (BoS) by Konami for Nintendo, a game I feel to be among the best in the sports genre. The game starts with an average title screen and below average title music. You are given a menu to chose from all 22 actual NHL teams (with both home and away uniforms), number of players (demo, one, two one-on-one, two team- mates), length of game (5, 10, or 20 minutes sped up time), penalties off, on, or on except off-sides), substitutions, and tournament play (single and best of seven). A brief comparison is then given between the two teams. The game has an overhead perspective, with goals at the top and bottom. Face-offs are done from a window, while graphically interesting, does not add to gameplay. Controls are responsive and easy to learn, offensively the buttons only shoot or pass, and defensively the buttons change to the closest player to puck or smash into an opponent. The graphics are very well done, players look and move realistically, the rink contains the home teams emblem in the center, and even the audience moves independently. The score, time, and period information is on the screen at all times. Between periods and during pauses, statistics are given about shots taken, power play goals, penalties, etc. During this time, you also get to see who is in the penalty box. If you are a hockey fanatic (sorry, I'm not), each player on the ice and in the penalty box has a number attached to him ( I only recognize number 99 for the LA Kings.) A nice feature is the instant replay. Instead of the computer choosing the play to be replayed, at any time you can pause the game and replay approximately the last ten seconds of play, in either slow-mo or normal. You can also position the overhead "camera" anyplace you'd like, though I have to say I rarely use this feature. What makes this game unique is the ability the play with a friend as teammates. Some coordination is required, in that you have to constantly switch players and position yourself to make an attack. But at least both players can now enjoy the thrills of victory without the humilation of the other. I hope they attempt to implement this feature on future sequels to their sports line-up (Lakers vs. Bulls?) Drawbacks to the game? The first time I played the game, I noticed that there was no control of the goalie. This bothered me, since I was used to BoS, where half the fun was being goalie and blocking attacking shots from your opponent. Later on I didn't mind as much, the computer controlled goalie plays a good game so defense now relies on you as a defensemen not allowing the opponent to get a clear shot against the goalie. Gameplay now relies on solid checks, capturing the puck, and manuvering your player around the arena ( momentum a clear part of this game on ice ). I would have also liked difficulty levels, or at least increasing difficulty during gameplay or tournament. I would guess since the teams are modeled after pro teams that some are better than others, but I think that it should be nearly impossible to win ( or score ) against an all-star team if playing with the San Jose Sharks. Again, in comparison, BoS has three levels of difficulty which vary greatly. The digitized grunts and cheers add to the realism, as does the siren after the scores. But, the white noise audience is nausea inducing, the worst I've heard in a game. The fight scenes are a bit boring and actually slow the game down a bit. Back out, go in and punch, back out, etc... wins 99 percent of the fights. I would have liked for the fights to be zoomed in (eg. Buster Douglas Boxing w/ Hockey uniforms) ala BoS, and variety in punch selection (eg. Double Dragon). Again, this is more nit-picking than anything else. Overall a very good game. Plenty of options, good controls and fun play. Easily the best sports game available for the Genesis system. Graphics: 9 (Crisp, sharp, nice) Sound: 6 (Average at best) Gameplay: 9 (Very realistic, very fun) Documentation: 8 (More than adequate) Overall: 9 (Great game) NHL Hockey, by Electronic Arts, for the Sega Genesis ------------------------------ From: rjung@aludra.usc.edu (Robert Jung) Subject: Lynx: QIX Date: 30 Oct 91 05:24:15 GMT Telegames, the first developer of third-party Lynx games, strikes the market again with QIX. This is an adaptation of the Taito arcade game from the early 80s, named after the Qix, a swirling helix of colored lines. The player's goal is to draw boxes on the playing field, restricting the movement of the Qix, while avoiding contact with the Sparx, Fuse, and the Qix itself. Each level has a percentage threshold, and the level ends when you have claimed the limit, with bonuses rewarded to extra territory. Higher levels offer more Qixes, Fuses, and Super Sparx to outsmart. GAMEPLAY: The original QIX was a simple game by today's standards, so it is not surprising to find that the Lynx version plays exactly the same. The Qix dances around the field, and you lose a life if it touches your drawing lines. Points are awarded for drawing boxes, with more points given for daring to draw slowly. There are 256 levels, each with its own combination of game elements, and a password to avoid the earlier levels. Two players can compete by alternating turns, while built-in instructions and a Practice Mode help beginners learn the game. There are a few problems, however. The arcade game used separate buttons for slow and fast drawing, but this version uses only one, which is awkward. More annoying are the sensitive controls; a wayward diagonal can cause the marker to jam, leaving you vulnerable. Finally, the Qix is proportionally larger on the Lynx, making the game slightly harder. None of these flaws are crippling, but they do diminish the game. GRAPHICS/SOUND: The simple graphics of the Taito QIX have been renovated slightly for the Lynx. Each level uses a different pattern to fill in claimed space, and the other visuals have been duplicated here. Sound effects are fairly simple, consisting mainly of the buzzing of the Qix and two short tunes, though the title page uses a nice, short digitized rock rift. SUMMARY: QIX on the Lynx is a steady translation, offering no more and no less than the original. Whether it will appeal to today's players is questionable, but longtime devotees and people who like unusual games will probably enjoy this title. GAMEPLAY: 7 GRAPHICS: 8 SOUND: 6.5 OVERALL: 7 QIX, for the Atari Lynx, 1-2 players, a horizontal orientation game, by Telegames, Inc., $39.95 (no stereo) ------------------------------------- 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@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". To obtain them via anonymous FTP, connect to "eklektik.cs.pitt.edu" [130.49.2.135] and look in 'videogames/digest'. 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