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Hottest 5 (1995)(PDSoft)[!].iso
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Wrap
Text File
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1980-11-26
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7KB
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141 lines
A BLAST FROM THE PAST:- WALKER FROM PSYCNOSIS
----------------------------------------------
What am I doing reviewing WALKER in an A1200 Disk Magazine? Well
there are a couple of enhancment's that are enabled when you load it
on an A1200, but I'll get to them later.
I picked up WALKER at the 'All Formats Computer Fair' recently for
£11. Not bad considering WHSmiths are still selling it for £29.99.
Well I won't go into the background story of WALKER because lets face
it, who wants to know the background story to a shoot-em-up, and
that's exactly what WALKER is, a superb, adrenaline pumping shoot-em-
up!
After the game has loaded, you will see a short intro, not very good
and not much to do with the game when I think about it.
The next thing that hits you is the title Music. Very good, in a
Techno-Disco-Rock kind of way.
You then have the choice of playing in EASY mode or ARCADE mode. If
you choose EASY you only get to play the first two levels. This and
the fact your opposition are pretty naff and are easily disposed of!
This level is great for practising the game and getting to grips with
the controls and distinguishing the different enemy's.
I will concentrate the review when playing in ARCADE mode.
When the game starts you are in control of a WALKER. A machine very
similar to those seen in EMPIRE STRIKES BACK on the forest moon of
endor.
Z and X move your walker left and right and the mouse controls the
walkers gun sight. The aim of the game is simply progress through the
level going from right to left killing and maiming absolutely
everything!
The graphics are superb, the walker its self is a pure work of art.
The way it lumbers across the screen in a stunningly realistic way is
a joy to behold. The background graphics are very good, but you have
to remember this was written for an A500 so the colours are
restricted. The enemy sprites are also very well detailed, with the
tiny soldiers, although small, looking very nice indeed.
You progress through 4 levels. Berlin, Los Angeles 2019, Middle East
and the Great War 2420. The backgrounds changing level to level.
There is absolutely masses of speech when playing this game on an
A1200 due to the extra chip ram, phrases such as "Die scum bags!"
emanate from your speakers, together with "They are history Sir!" the
list goes on. The S.F.X are superb, with the screams of dying
soldiers as they fall to there deaths from buildings, ear shattering
explosions, clanking metal, machine gun fire, wow! You have to play
this game with the volume right up to get the full benefit.
Also due to the A1200 68020 processor things don't slow down when
there is a lot happening on the screen, this makes for better
playability.
What's better as well is that someone has released a P.D program that
installs WALKER to Hard Disk!
Well to some it up, a fantastic blast, especially suitable for
players in Germany because they can see what it is like to actually
win a war! Fabulous graphics, superb sound, wonderful playability and
you will come back to it time and time again, just to see if you can
progress that bit further.
Don't pay £30 for it, try and pick it up for around a tenner.
SEEK AND DESTROY
----------------
BY MINDSCAPE
------------
The best way to describe this game is to call it Desert Strike from
above. What I mean is you are looking down on a helicopter viewed
from above. The surrounding scenery scrolls around your helicopter
through a full 360 degrees. There are 14 Different missions to
complete and each mission is split into different stages. The
missions take place over desert, sea, snow and jungle.
You have a variety of different weapons, ranging from a machine gun
(which in two player mode is controlled by player 2) to heatseekers
to air to ground missiles plus many more. These are selected with the
Function keys.
I'd class this game as a shoot-em-up, with small sections of strategy
thrown in when you have to land and rescue POW's.
On loading the software automatically detects the A1200's CPU and
chipset and enhances the game accordingly, with extra speech,
smoother scrolling and extra graphic effects.
Unless you have two drives you will find that disk swapping can be a
bit annoying as the game comes on 4 disks.
The graphics through out the game are very simple, the surrounding
ground detail is very sparse, they could have done a lot more
considering the power of the AGA chipset.
The sound on the other hand is superb, the soundeffects are great the
speech excellent and, are yes, the music. The Title music has to be
one of the best pieces of game music I have ever heard. A fabulous
drum beat, catchy melody, and superb samples, especially the guitar.
The snatches of music that accompany the intro screens to the levels
are also superb and really add a lot of atmosphere to the game.
After the first couple of go's you will think it is very hard to stay
alive, but if you bear with it, you will learn what to avoid and
where to move to stay alive.
Response to the Joystick is excellent, there is no delay, and the
helicopter go's were you want.
They could have gave you a couple of extra lives at the beginning of
the game, but that is not really a criticism.
To sum up, a very enjoyable game, if you like shoot-em-up's I'd
recommend you get this game.
I picked mine up for £9.99 at a show, so you should be able to pick
up a copy rather cheaply.
Don't be put off by the simple graphics, it's the gameplay that
matters in the end.
Remember to play the music through a hi-fi, it's fabulous!!!
ALIEN BREED II (AGA)
--------------------
TEAM17
------
I picked this game up for a tenner as well. It plays exactly the same
as the first one, but with very good graphics, great speech and
S.F.X
There are 17 levels, and my instructions said that I would be able to
pick from 4 characters, but on loading you can only choose from two!!
The idea of the game is the same as AB Special edition, wipe out all
the aliens, and clear the base.
It is much harder than the first game, as there are a lot more aliens
on the screen at any on time (They also move a lot faster!). There
are some smart intro screens that accompany some of the levels. The
game however does not have the same 'FEEL' or the same 'ATMOSPHERE'
as the first game, I can not put my finger on it but something is
missing!
It might be the fact that there are now more than one type of alien.
These other types of alien don't look remotely sinister, and one of
them fires a laser from its head, hmm, very silly!!
If you liked the first game, you will like this even more.
If you didn't like the first game, well, don't bother.
Reviews (C) of Paul Horton for Channel Z 1994.