Magnetic Pages Article | 1996-04-07 | 44KB | 144 lines
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?33<03
#
[33mPRODUCT INFO
"Vanishing Point""
[33mShareware
* One Disk
* 1 Mb Chip required
* Autoboots (not on wb1.3)& * An eye-opening look at contemporary! life in the suburbs of Sydney,
Australia.
[33mPRODUCER
The Dream Team 8 Margerison Crescent Road
Ilkley
LS29 8Q2
ENGLAND$
[33mREVIEW MACHINE
1 Mb chip A500 (1.3)' One of the more slightly original'games to grace the Amiga would have to'be Cannon Fodder. Cute little people'killing other cute little people,'brilliant title music, and ever so'clever extra touches (`Get Orf me'lawn'). The only thing Cannon Fodder'did not have was a two player mode. The'happy chaps from `The Dream Team' saw'this fatal flaw and took it upon'themselves to rectify the problem, the
result is Vanishing Point.' The year is 2279. Earth has become a'dribbling old person at the hands of'some evil reptilian creatures from'outer space (or somewhere in that'vicinity). Of the few remaining humans'(around ten million) little sub-groups'have formed. Survival is hard and the'sub-groups spend most of their time'being mean and nasty to other sub-'groups (instead of fighting the "true'enemy"). And that is the plot
(vaguely).' The actual game involves two teams'of eight "blokes" each running around'various battle zones (only two in the'reviewed version, ten in the full one)'trying to make each other living'impaired. There are about eight'different weapons available. These'range from the powerful but slow firing'shot gun, to the long range, fast'firing, but not so powerful laser'weapon. There is also your typical hand grenades and dinky little mines.' The game is controlled using the'mouse with the buttons having similar'behaviour as when playing Cannon Fodder'(left to move, right to fire). One'slightly annoying thing is that the'little `blokes' can not shoot and walk'at the same time (poor motor skills'probably). The members of the group can'be set to stay on guard (shooting'anything that moves, especially people'who do bad William Shatner impersonat-'ions). Men, for Vanishing Point is not'a `nineties' game, can also be grouped
together for easy movement.' The technical side of the game'ranges from average to quite impress-'ive. The graphics are decidedly'average, the main game graphix look'very much like Who Dares Wins from the'C64. The `blokes' are not nearly as'lovable as the ones in Cannon Fodder,'and where is the blood? Scrolling is'very fast but that is only because the'programmers have cheated, using one'large bitmap instead of the normal'`jig-saw' method of storing the'landscape. This is, as far as I can'tell, the only reason the game requires'1 Mb chip memory. It usually runs'smoothly (at 50 Hz) though it does slow'down drastically when every body is on'the screen at once. One other thing to
also note is
that the game
has the inter-
lace mode switch
on, though the
graphics do not
reflect its
usage. How odd.
The sound is
probably the
game's weakest'point. A pleasant tune plays on the'title screen, and goes slightly loopy'during disk access (due to the game'using the operating system for disk'stuff). The sound FX do not inspire any'great emotions and no silly little'snippets of digitised speech could be
found. ' While the sound and graphix are only'average it has to be said that the'programming is nicely above the usual'standard of Shareware. The soldiers'walk around any obstacle in their way'very nicely, automatically. This is in'contrast to Cannon Fodder where the men'can end up kissing the flora (and'perhaps fauna) quite frequently. The'grouping of the little guys and the'guarding modes are both handled well as'are the firing of the bullets and
throwing of grenades.' Playing a two player Cannon Fodder'game has been interesting, causing the'usual arguments and physical violence'as with any other two player game'(least we forget two player Lemmings).'Vanishing Point is not the greatest'game in the world, nor is it the worst,'but it is definitely worth a look (and
perhaps a sequel).
[33mOPINION
Graphics: ***
Sound: **
Presentation: ***
Playability: ****
Programming skill: ****
OVERALL: ***
NPS: To the people at The Dream Team: Don't expect any payment for the fullNversion of your game in the near future from the reviewer. He is flaaaatNbroke, and any money he gets is going to go towards an new internal disk driveN(and perhaps a `real' computer (Ha) for Uni). Don't loose hope though, he mayNone day actually get a job. (This message also goes out to the author of Jump
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