Software reviews¢----------------¢¢I hope to review a couple of cassettes¢each issue and maybe some PD disks too.¢I don't claim these are NEW releases,¢but they are still available from¢MILES BETTER SOFTWARE. I originally¢purchased them in Manchester, but the¢shops no longer stock Atari 8-bit¢software, I asked an assistant why and¢he said it wasn't because they were not¢popular, but because they were not¢being supplied with them!¢Anyway first to be reviewed is...¢*¢Stack Up from Zeppelin Games.¢¢Stack Up is yet another Tetris clone,¢but it is worthy of place in anyones¢collection! It was written by Barry¢and Brian Southon, who wrote such¢games as Arcade Fruit Machine and the¢Joe Blades, so you know you're in for¢something special.¢The game features the same falling¢objects as in Tetris, but instead of¢blocks falling different characters¢make up the object. You can choose¢what you wish to fall, you can have¢Coloured Blocks, Greek Symbols, Road¢Traffic Symbols or Mixed Symbols.¢The game is very similar to KE-Soft's¢Chromatics, except the graphics are¢much better and smoother.¢The object is split up into three¢different parts which can be swopped¢around with the FIRE button, you must¢try to position objects in lines of¢three (either horizontal, vertical or¢diagonal) and they will disappear, when¢they disappear all objects above will¢fall and thus sometimes make more¢combinations.¢In higher levels the play is made much¢harder by blocks appearing randomly on¢screen, black blocks that fall and¢cannot disintergrate, only diagonal¢combinations count towards your target¢(this is tough!) and the left and right¢controls of the joystick may become¢reversed!¢Stack Up has 22 rounds (so the cassette¢inlay says!) and each has a target¢number that must be reached to progress¢onto a higher level. You may get a¢CLEAR and a SPACE BONUS when a level is¢completed.¢Overall I enjoyed Stack Up very much,¢it has good graphics, a high score¢facility, quite addictive gameplay,¢progressive levels but unfortunately¢no sound (where was Adam Gilmore?).¢I can recommend you to buy Stack Up if¢you haven't already got it, if you¢have a pirated copy then buy the¢original cassette! Not only will it¢make you feel better, you would have¢done your bit for the little Atari.¢Think about it...¢*¢Air Rescue from Atlantis¢¢The best way of describing this game is¢not a Choplifter clone, but Choplifter¢with some slight visual differences!¢I wasn't suprised when I saw the author¢was G.Storey who wrote Dawn Raider (or¢Airstrike II). When I realised what was¢going on I wasn't in the best mood but¢I'd like to give it a fair trial...¢Air Rescue is not in the same class as¢say Stack Up but it is a reasonable¢budget game, I like it better than the¢original Choplifter but I am hardly¢addicted to it! Like I say a reasonable¢game, not brilliant, the graphics are¢reasonable, the sound is another¢rendition of Axel F which appeared in¢Dawn Raider. The actual aim of the game¢is to rescue 15 men from each of the 10¢levels, you must land your helicopter¢close to the houses and if it contains¢anyone who wishes to be rescued he will¢run out and dive into your helicopter.¢You must then take them back to your¢landing pad and thus safetey, sounds¢familiar doesn't it? Hardly mind¢blowing but worth purchasing if just to¢show your commitment to Atlantis and¢their support of the Atari 8-bit.¢*¢Kick Off from Byte Back.¢¢Originally published by Anco, Byte Back¢managed to secure the budget release of¢it, so at last you should be able to¢get it (did anyone actually see the¢original packaging?).¢¢The game loads and if you're watching¢closely you may actually see a loading¢screen! What's the use of having a¢title screen if it doesn't stay on the¢screen when loading? A plus factor is¢that the tape has been saved at 900¢baud, so it will load a little quicker¢than normally it would.¢Now onto the game, I personally was¢really looking forward to it, I was¢very, very disappointed. I don't know¢who Cirrus Software are but I hope¢nobody else asks them to do Atari 8-bit¢conversions, the game is pathetic, when¢playing a match you have these blobs¢running around a pitch, the blobs are¢forever flickering and sometimes just¢disappear altogether!¢You can play against a friend if you¢wish but I don't recommend it, I don't¢recommend you actually play the game¢at all!¢When the game loads you are presented¢with a rather drab mode 2 screen, with¢some pretty crap colours, I can't help¢thinking Zeppelin would have done an¢excellent job of this game but maybe¢I'm just biased?¢After the title screen you are giving a¢list of options including practising¢penalties of all things, there is a¢league competition but this is crap¢also. The cassette inlay claims each¢player has unique pace, stamina,¢accuracy and aggression. Yes right¢Anco, we believe you!¢Overall Kick Off is a very average¢game, I'd actually prefer to play¢League Challenge, so this shows you how¢bad the game is! Maybe I'm being a bit¢hard on it? It's just that I expected¢so much and got nothing.¢¢*¢The Atari Expo Demo 1991¢¢This is a Public Domain disk and should¢be available from P.D. stockists like¢Page 6, Excel or your local user group¢(if you have one).¢¢Anyway we boot the disk and after a¢short while loading we are presented¢with the intro screen. The words¢"The Atari Expo Demo 1991" are waved¢up and down, which looks quite nice,¢right where's the rest? Press START¢and part 2 will load.¢After part 2 had loaded you will hear¢the Plastron music and then the demo¢will appear, the words POKEY are¢depicted at the top of the screen by¢using squares that increase and¢decrease in size. This part is by The¢Missing Link and is hardly brilliant¢but it is reasonable. Press START and¢part 3 will load.¢When part 3 has loaded you will be¢presented with a piece of the Draconus¢title pic floating around the screen, I¢thought something was wrong because it¢was very flickery and not at all nice¢to look at, anyway if you mess with the¢console keys you will get the monster¢from Draconus floating around the¢screen also, it was all very flickery¢still so I pressed SPACE to load the¢next part. Since this time I have been¢told the monsters are actually sprites.¢Is this true? I'm no sprite expert so I¢can't really comment on this...¢Anyway part 4 is just a bouncy shaded¢bar containing Dutch text, when I first¢loaded this part the scroll started¢with... "GREETINGS xxxx FROM DEANOSOFT"¢(where xxxx is someones name) or¢something like this. Just shows you how¢lame some people can get, you'll be¢glad to know I deleted this but I¢couldn't put the original text back,¢not knowing what it was! Anyway if¢you're not Dutch this part won't hold¢much grabbing power for you, press¢START to load part 5.¢Now this is a decent demo! This part is¢by The Gatekeeper and he also wrote¢the tune (Michaels Jacksons' Eat it).¢The demo contains two scrolls, one runs¢across the bottom as norm and the other¢is in a nice wavy PMG, definetly the¢best on the disk up to now. Again the¢scrolls are in Dutch so I pressed¢START to load the next part.¢Part 6 is by The Comtech Crew and is¢another reasonable demo, a few PMG's¢float around the screen making the word¢YEAH and the font for the scroll is¢quite good, pity the scroll is in Dutch¢so let's load part 7.¢If you're watching the screen whilst¢part 7 is loading you may just notice¢the words HTT, so you know you are in¢for something special! And you won't¢be disappointed!¢The demo opens with a superb picture¢by Prizm, he has really excelled¢himself here, it is superb! In front of¢the picture is a bouncy tube which¢contains the scroll, the demo is by¢Frankenstein and is totally brilliant!¢The only complaint I have is that you¢have to read the whole scroll before¢you can access part 7b, it's alright¢first time you load the program but it¢can get on your nerves a bit if you¢load it again. Anyway part 7b is a¢digital musix demo, the musix is by¢Detail and if I'm right is taken from¢an early Pixel demo disk. It's not as¢good as "Ethnicolour" from the BIG¢demo but it's pretty decent.¢Also the scroll is in both English and¢Dutch, why couldn't this have been done¢throughout the demo?¢Overall the disk seems to get better as¢it goes along, I would have loved to¢have seen a part 8! Worth adding to¢your collection if only for the last¢demo, I'm not saying the others aren't¢good, they just don't come close to the¢last demo, but this is a trifle unfair¢because it was written by a member of¢the HTT and they are surely the best¢demo makers in Holland.¢What the disk does prove is that Poland¢isn't the only country that can¢consistently produce good demos.¢¢Next issue I hope to review The three¢Top Demos and hopefully a proper new¢release (fingers crossed!).¢¢reviews by John E. (TEBSF)¢
