~Fire & Ice Review of Fire & Ice(tm) (c)1993 Graftgold Written by Visage on 08/18/95 (That's 18/08/95 for you overseas people) Written for Cheet Sheets Magazine The opinions in this review are those of the author. OVERVIEW Fire & Ice is a platform game where you play the role of Cool Coyote, who is trying to stop the evil wizard, Suten. Your main weapon of choice are little ice balls which can be used to freeze enemies. Once they are frozen, touching them will make them shatter. There are also several other weapons which you will have to find out on your own. OBJECTIVE The object of the game is to (hopefully) live through all six continents, and to defeat Suten. In each section of each continent, Cool Coyote must find six pieces of each key which have been stolen by Suten and given to his minions to guard. Upon collecting all six pieces of the key, search out the exit. ITEMS Throughout the game, Cool Coyote will come across little spheres which give him extra power and enhance his freezing ability. There are too many to mention here, but you'll find them out yourself. There are also other things like... CLOUDS: These are probably the first thing you'll see. If you keep shooting it, the cloud will darken, and eventually release snow-bombs. But be warned though, after it has snowed enough, the cloud will blacken and strike the ground with lightning bolts... don't be around when this happens. SNOW-BOMBS: These are used by ducking down and holding the fire button. They deliver one hit to any enemy that is currently on screen. These are very helpful, so try to save them. ICE BLOCKS: These are usually hidden, but if you shoot them, they will release power-ups, or maybe even a snow-bomb or two. 1UPS: More commonly referred to as "Bone-Ups", these gigantic bones will give you an extra life if you manage to find them. HINT: They're usually found by jumping on top of ice blocks. GRAPHICS The graphics are really top-notch (well, for EGA & VGA 16 anyway!). No but seriously, they are really detailed. If you stand far enough back from your monitor, you'd swear you were playing a 256c VGA game. MUSIC The music is only AdLib, but still very nice, and goes along with the game at least. I guess after you listen to it awhile, it gets addicting. GAMEPLAY Easy to control for the most part. No 60-thousand buttons to remember. (A bit slippery at first, due to the fact that you start at the north pole. :>) TIPS 1. The best weapons I found to use are the shield (helps a lot when fighting enemies who shoot back at you, like those darn incas!) and also the snow cloud (rare) which helps by raining ice droplets down on top of enemies. Try to save these and use them only when necessary. 2. When you discover a hidden ice block by shooting, don't keep shooting it until all the powerups disappear. Instead, try to jump on top of it and keep jumping and shooting. You're more likely to find secret passages and 1-up's this way. 3. If you're surrounded by a ton of enemies, don't hesitate to use a snow-bomb. It may help you get out of dangerous situations by giving you time to escape. 4. Lead those cute little puppies to the exit to earn tons of bonus points and extra lives. 5. And last but not least... Using a snow-bomb can cause hidden ice blocks to appear. But be careful! If they're already on-screen, using a snow-bomb can cause them to disappear. SUMMARY ` Game Design ******** [ 8] ` Graphics ******* [ 7] ` Sound/Music ****** [ 6] ` Gameplay ******** [ 8] ` Difficulty ******** [ 8] ` Level Design ******* [ 7] ` Overall ******* [ 7] CREDITS Fire & Ice(tm) is (c)1993 Graftgold Thanks to Chris Wood for original programming Review written by Visage on 08/18/95 for Cheet Sheets Magazine Greets to go (in no particular order) Shockwave Rider - Carnage - EP - ITP - Guybrush - Phour One - ElMinster - Darkness/Imphobia - McGarett - Haws/Outlaws - Michael Kulpok - SFBZZ Thierry Delattre - Black Screen - Skypilot - Defiance/RiTUAL - Lithium - And to all you guys who use IRC! Interested in joining a game group? Contact me: 71562.1755@compuserve.com Hier ist schluss.