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Falcon 030 Power 2
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F030_POWER2.iso
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ST_STE
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STPLUS19.ARJ
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stplus19.msa
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IS.STP
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IS.STP
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Text File
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1997-07-31
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5KB
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136 lines
<PICLOAD>JAGLOGO.DAJ
<PICSHOWD>000,000,320,123,000
IRON SOLDIER
Jaguar.
Review by Dave.
Ever fancied stomping on tanks or blasting a few helicopters out of the sky,
well, provided your into a little urban re-landscaping as well you'll be in
heaven with Iron Soldier...
This is one I've had for a while but there is so much to this one I felt it
unwise to review it in full before I completed the game, anyway, finally I did,
albeit on the easy level so, let's take a look....
You take you place as the pilot of a 42ft tall robot, the Iron Soldier [IS].
The simple task ahead of you is to squash the 'Iron Fist Corp', not an easy
task but one that proves to be massively enjoyable, on all levels...
<PICSHOWD>000,139,320,148,000
THE GAMEPLAY
IS is not a simple question of blast, bash and hope for the best, there is a
technique to playing and winning.
As is the norm for almost all games, you start off on the easy levels, they
serve as the 'paddling pool' to prepare you for what's' to come. At the start
of IS you've only got a rather large [if ineffective] assault rifle, not to bad
but much better weaponry awaits you ranging from oil barrel sized hand grenades
through to rather potent cruise missiles though the latter is only available
through later levels.
Should you run out of weapons you've always got your manipulator arm to fall
back on, whilst only good for 'boxing' with buildings it does enable you to
find those all important powerups and 'top' up's for your current weapons.
The IS unit itself moves very slowly, it's only just fast enough to catch the
little tanks that go scurrying away as soon as you close in on them though,
turning your IS unit around can be speeded up at least X4 by hitting a
combination on the jagpad.
<PICSHOWD>000,139,320,148,000
GRAPHICS
Very similar to Cybermorph although of course, your in a different setting,
whereas Cybermorph set's you on various, almost 'empty' planets, IS set's you
to work on heavily urbanised cities, seeing a huge skyscraper reduced to a pile
of rubble is a VERY satisfying experience although, I can't help being reminded
od Carrier Command when they do...Remember the volcanoes in Carrier command,
remember the square blocks that used to be ejected by them?...a similar visual
effect is used for the building explosions.
As I'm now used to the Jaguars graphics I can hopefully be more objective as
to the look of the games I see on it as there is no more 16 colour ST
comparisons to make anymore....
IS is graphically inferior to the likes of DOOM and AvP however, the gameplay
does however take your attention away slightly from the screen, after all
having a fleet of choppers batting you about does tend to make you re-think
your strategy of 'admiring the view' so to speak :)).
<PICSHOWD>000,139,320,148,000
SOUND
Most of the music is rather crap to be honest, it's obvious that a minimal
amount of time went into the various soundtracks. None of the theme's are very
inspiring, in fact I'd go so far as to say they were monotonous.
You are given a choice of tunes to listen to but each get's very tiresome
after only a short while, the best thing to do with IS to turn down the sound
on the monitor or t.v. and play something you like on your stereo.
<PICSHOWD>000,139,320,148,000
<PENCOLOR>2
OVERALL
<PENCOLOR>1
IS is a welcome addition to my growing Jag cart collection, I paid only about
10 pounds for a boxed [though unmanualed] second hand copy. Would I have paid
the full price for IS?...I think I would, there are 3 or 4 levels of difficulty
and 16 different missions overall.
You'll want to set a few hours aside for IS, this review alone took me almost
3 hours to complete due to excessive play evaluation [I turned on IS and got
hooked for too long] :)].
Does Iron soldier make the grade?.....
<PENCOLOR>2
Graphics: 73% - I've seen better.....
Gameplay: 92% - Nothing is more satisfying than taking down a skyscraper.
Sounds: 56% - There boring.....
Playablility: 87% - Mucho destruction :)))
Lastability: - 86% - As you've seen, it's consumes your time with consumate
ease.
V.F.M.: 98% - ...at least for me, full price I'd have to say about 84%...
Overall: 78% - Not one of the best but, certainly worth a look.