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Subject: Digital Games Review Digest, #21
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                     Digital Games Review Digest, Number 21

                           Monday, February 25th 1991

Today's Topics:

IBM PC:    A-10 Tank Killer

Genesis:   Fire Shark
       Darius II
       Crackdown
       Musha Aleste

NES:        StarTropics
       Zanac
       The Immortal

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 3 Feb 91 16:25:10 MST
From: [e-mail] (Kip J. Guinn)
Subject: IBM PC:  A-10 Tank Killer

A-10 Tank Killer, from Sierra On-Line, is a very good simulation of
the Thunderbolt II Close Air Support plane in service with US forces.
In the game, you pilot the A-10, popularly known as the "Warthog", an
ugly plane with a nasty disposition and a flair for violence that is
unparalleled by its sleek, fancy rivals in the Air Force.  When the
A-10 flies, it's not very pretty, especially to the ground units
who take the heat...

The game uses 256 color VGA graphics, digitized pictures involving
real actors, costumes, and on-location photo-shoots, full color, detailed
scenes to throughout the game, and utilizes new 256-color drawing routines
that are faster than the 16-color routines used in previous games.  The
simulation runs very smooth and fast, and copies (for backups) well,
along with having a smooth hard drive installation program wthat allows
you to configure the system and save it into the game, so it will always
boot up ready to play.  Other graphics are supported as well, and it
runs well on 640k of RAM (you can run it with only 512k, but there may
be some problems, depending on your graphics package, etc--the manual
covers this).  Optional support of mouse, and Roland MT-32, LAPC-1,
Ad-Lib and Sound Blaster cards is included.  I don't have a sound
card (yet!), but the internal speaker does well.

The game offers a training course, to familiarize players with the
weapons the A-10 carries and to learn how to make attack runs with
them, and six missions guaranteed to keep you sweating.  You can
configure the plane for each mission, choosing threat levels (whether
the enemy is "wimpy" or "major bad news"), ammunition (standard or
unlimited) and damage (normal or invincible).  You can also tailor
the plane's weapons, choosing from pre-set loads.  One of the
loads will be marked "Recommended"--the one the game thinks you should
use.  There is a Campaign option, which allows you to take
your pilot through all the missions, presuming he survives...  The weapons
in the game are realistic, and for the most part follow real-life operations.
Of course, if you kick enough ass (and with the A-10, that's about all you
can do!), your mission will go into the Hall of Fame.  You can also choose
to review the victims, er, enemy units by choosing the Vehicle Preview
option, which shows the various units in the game as they roll by,
shooting off missiles or guns, whichever they have.  A very nice addition
to the game!

Each mission carries with it a briefing from Commander Cord, whose digitized
picture you will grow to love.  The game carries it off well--some missions
he is sitting quietly while he reads you the briefing, others he is shown
screaming at you to "get that tub up in the air!"  You then get your briefing
after take-off.  Talk about pressure to perform!  The A-10 is hard enough
to fly without Cord screaming at you.  The cockpit is represented well, with
only relevant istruments shown (i.e. tactical map, radar warning receiver,
message box) and, of course, the two most important instruments--the HUD
(heads-up display) and the TID (tactical information display).  The lack
of "serious" instrumentation is not a problem.  In fact, its a blessing.
The A-10 is aptly named--it's a _hog_!  You have to constantly fight the
plane to fly it.  It is hard to trim, and your altitude is always flucuating.
I imagine that's what the real A-10 is like.  You _can_ trim it so that it
will fly clean, if you are willing to work a bit.  You have to watch it,
though--flying close to the ground may be an advantage, until you scream
down on some hapless tank, raking it with the cannon, only to find that
you are about to park on top of it!  Flying higher (which, in the A-10
means 400-600 feet) makes attack runs easier, but also gives those
pesky SAM vehicles more room to launch on you.  In some missions, you also
get reports from the battlefield--either ground units wanting help, or
Cord telling you something.

A nice feature is your co-pilot (the game uses the two-seat version of
the A-10--not many of them in service) who informs you, in his own
imitable dry wit, how things are going.  You fly by choosing points on
the Strategic Map, choosing a tank platoon, for example, and then
following the pointer on your HUD until you reach the target.
Intelligence updates your co-pilot, (I assume) who then updates the map
during the battle.  In some of the missions, when things heat up, you
can find yourself flicking back and forth between the cockpit and the
map, choosing targets, wrestling the plane over to them, chewing them
up, admiring the explosions (the game has nice, gratifying explosions),
dodging SAM's, and doing it all over again!  A very frantic, and
satisfying, pace.  The Strategic Map has grid coordinates, and icons
representing various units, both yours and the enemies, so you can get a
good feel of the battlefield, any threats to your base (they can and
gleefully WILL overrun your base if you let them!), SAM vehicles and
their area of coverage (a circle around the SAM's shows you the danger
zones), and terrain features (like helpful hills to skim around,
allowing you to jump the hapless groundies).

The ground and background graphics are good, if a bit blocky.  But they
serve well enough--when you go screaming at full throttle around a hill,
banking your Hog so that one wing scrapes the dirt, you get a good sense
of what's going on!  One of the missions, The City, has a very good city
layout, with buildings, roads, etc.  The buildings are not finely detailed,
but again--it serves the purpose well.  The ground units in the game (they
are many and varied, from T-80 tanks to SA-13 SAM vehicles, trucks, planes,
airfields, etc) are only somewhat distinguishable.  I was especially
disappointed with the helicopters (both the US Blackhawk and the Soviet
HIND's are represented), which are flying trapezoids.  Your TID comes
in handy here.  Not only does it show you a nice picture of the unit
(much better detailed than the actual target), but it gives you the
range to it, and puts a box up on your HUD.  Also, friendly units are
shown in white, and enemies are red.

Actually, you _have_ to use your TID.  Here is one of my major gripes
with the game.  You can only fire when the target is locked by the TID,
and you can _only_ fire the "recommended" weapon-- i.e.  Maverick for
vehicles, LGB's for bridges and buildings, Durandals for runways, etc.
This is limiting, to say the least.  I understand the fact that the
Durandal is a runway cratering bomb, but wouldn't a 2000 pound LGB do
_something_ to the runway?  I think so!  The Rockeye cluster bombs are
the most frustrating.  Airfields, as you may imagine, have loads of
targets.  If you don't have LGB's, you _cannot_ attack things like the
supply dump, fuel dump, control tower.  Come on!  A few cluster bombs
could certainly be used on these things.

They may not take them out completely, but a few fires, destroyed munition
stockpiles (secondary explosions, anyone?) and ravaged control facilities
sure can screw up the enemy's day.  This problem limits the A-10's
capacity to chew things up--and when you have a hungry beast, you want to
feed it, no?  :-)  Another problem is lost ordinance--occasionally, when
you drop a cluster bomb, you hear the lauch blip, see the dot on your
radar screen showing the bomb is away, and then--nothing.  Nada.  Zip.
The big El Squat-o.  It just disappears.  While this may be realistic,
it doesn't do much for your frustration level!  The missions are relatively
problem-free, with the exception of  "Tank Killer".  If you don't engage
the tank platoons that are near the edges of the map first, it's over.
They will drive off the map.  You can chase them, but you will _never_
catch up!  The only way to engage them is with the Maverick, which somehow
manages to catch them at extreme range, but you soon run out of those...
I guess the game wants you to engage the targets _immediately_, to keep up
with the fast tempo the designers envisioned--but it's frustrating.
The last gripe is the background music/sounds.  The explosions sound alright,
but the music, which plays incessantly, is gruesome at best.  It's a
snappy tune, I guess, but it destroys your concentration.  While you fly
over this grim battlefield scene, dealing destruction to things, the music
(which is loud) grinds on.  And on.  Always.  You can turn it off--but then
there is _no_ sound, except the explosions.  There is no engine noise at
all.  This is a serious oversight.  The A-10 has two turbofan engines
each creating 9,000 lbs. of thrust--it is surreal at best to be in that
beast and be flying in total silence.  It doesn't work.

Another _good_ thing about the flight simulation are the various views
available to you.  You have three cockpit views (front, left, right) and
seven external views (sides, back, front), and two weapon views:  the
victim view, which keeps the target and the weapon in view until it hits;
and the engagement view, which keeps the target and your plane in view.
You can also call up a status screen which shows the weapons you have left,
and the damage you have taken.  Is your plane flying extremely sluggish
after you overran those SAM launchers?  You check the status screen, and
sure enough, they blew your left engine off!  But, being an A-10, you
fly it home... They have to better than that to take down a 'Hog!

The game comes with both 5.25 and 3.5 disks, and a good manual, which
includes specification data on the A-10 and it's weapons, an overview
of the enemy units you will face, and an interview with the technical
advisor to the project, Major Chuck "Hollywood" Temple, USMCR.  There
is a card with the relevant loading and control keys laid out, including
view keys, armament selection, etc.  Very handy.

    Graphics:      9
    Playability:      10
    Complexity:      9
    Sound:      3
    Fun factor:      10

    Overall score:  9

    A-10 Tank Killer for the IBM PC and compatibles, by Sierra On-Line

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 30 Jan 91 17:51:30 -0600
From: Rav Tonsiengsom <[e-mail]>
Subject: Genesis: Fire Shark

Fire Shark is a vertically scrolling shooter in which you control a
high-tech bi-plane with some really awesome firepower.  You start out
with three way regular shot fire.  The object of the game is to blow
through all ten levels of the game just to reach an ending in which they
tell you to do it again.  Supposedly there are 99 levels to this game
though the backgrounds do repeat after ten levels.  There are other
power up that you can get besides the the basic threee way that comes
standard.  You can pick up "P"'s which will improve the strength of the
weapon you are currently using.  Other weapons include a green square,
which will give you a green spiral laser, a red square, which will give
you the awesome fire weapon, and a bomb power up which adds more bombs
to you arsenal.  You can also pick up 1-ups and 2-ups.

The graphics in this game aren't really fabulous.  Adequate is what I
would callthem.  There isn't that much detail to any of the enemies or
backgrounds.  I don't see any parallax scrolling as in most Genesis
shooters and the bosses look like bosses found in Nintendo games.  You
definitely do not want to buy this game if all you care about are the
graphics.  They are only mediocre at best.

The sound effects in this game were quite good.  The sound of the laser
and fire weapons were decent as well as the explosions.  The music in
this game has a lot of bass in it.  It's not a bad musical score but it
does seem like the music to every stage sounds the same after a while.
Pretty good overall, but I don't make it a point to turn on the stereo
as I do when I play Thunderforce III.

The thing that saves this game is its playability.  There are tons of
things to blow away from APCs, tanks, AA-Guns, planes, battleships,
cruisers, to submarines, missile launchers, and mobile fortresses.
There's literally dozens of different enemies with different attack
capabilities.  Shoot to survive may be the basic theme of Fire Shark but
if you want to rack up points you must collect "lightning bolt" icons
that give you bonus points at the end of each round.  This bonus total
is multiplied by the number of bombs you have remaining.  You may want
to figure out how to beat the end of round bosses without the bombs if
you want to beat you friend's point total.  Thus some strategy involved
in this game definitely adds to gameplay value.

Fire-Shark is a good game for any type of game lover.  People who love
shooters should especially give it a look.  However, be warned:  most
people either seem to totally LOVE this game or totally HATE it!  My
personal opinion is that it is a good game that is worth buying, but
just barely.  There are much better games coming out for the Sega in the
future.  If you have the money buy Fire Shark, but if you don't, save it
for future games like Aero Blasters, Gaiares (especially Gaiares),
MUSHA, Sonic the Hedgehog, or Galaxy Force.

    Graphics:         6
    Music/Sound:         7
    Playability/"Funness":     9

    Overall:         7

    Fire Shark, for the Sega Genesis, $49.99

------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Milton W. Kuo)
Subject: Genesis: Darius II

The name says it all - Taito's shooting extravaganza is finally
available for the Sega Mega Drive.  Boasting 8 Mbits of code, Darius II
features all 26 stages and multiple endings - just like the arcade
version.  Unfortunately, Taito's adaptation of Darius II for the Mega
Drive just isn't what an 8 Mbit game should be - while the game is big
with its 26 stages, the graphics and sound on Darius II are worse than
many cartridges sporting only 4 Mbits of ROM.  In brief, Darius II for
the Mega Drive fails to live up to the high standards of graphics and
sound set by it coin-op counterpart.  Needless to say, this is probably
the most disappointing cartridge I have bought to date.  I should
emphasize disappointing - Darius II is not the worst game I have ever
bought, just the one that least lived up to my expectations.

One of the most striking features of Darius in the arcades was the sharp
graphics displayed over three screens.  For its time, and even today,
Darius features some of the best graphics ever on a coin-op machine.
While the Mega Drive's graphics are definitely not up to the coin-op's
standards, there is no excuse for the poorly defined, murky graphics
found in this cartridge.  Enemy ships are small and ill-defined while
the big bosses do not move in any way other than the opening and closing
of their mouths to shoot lasers at you.  To make matters worse, Taito
has done a terrible job in color selection.  On some levels, it is very
difficult to distinguish the background from the objects in the
foreground.

Another problem with Darius II for the Mega Drive is Taito's poor job in
programming the sound.  Taito's programmers failed to recognize a need
for balancing the volume of the shooting noises with the background
music.  As a result, the background music is drowned out by the sound of
shooting for almost the entire duration of the game.  Couple this and
the fact that some soundtracks seem to use only two channels of sound
and you end up with a game that quickly grates on your eardrums.  Again,
a job that is at best mediocre is made worse by the fact that the
original Darius had one of the best soundtracks ever.  The excellence of
the coin-op soundtrack just makes the Mega Drive version seem that much
worse.

Game play for Darius II is okay but nothing special - the typical
destroy the enemy and retrieve the power up.  Nonetheless, the game is
pretty fun when you become fully powered up since you can really wreak
havoc among the enemy.  Furthermore, Darius II is a game that can stand
up to multiple plays due to the fact that more than one path may be
taken to reach one of the multiple endings.  After finishing the game
once, the game can be replayed, new levels may be explored, and a
different ending can be reached thus enhancing Darius II's play value.
This is arguably the strongest feature of Mega Drive Darius II.

Overall though, Darius II is not a cartridge worth buying.  Given the
fact that it is an 8 Mbit cartridge, Darius II is going to be expensive
(it has a list price of 8900 yen which is about $60).  For the money,
you'd be better off buying something else.

     Graphics  : 7     (good in some areas, horrible in others)
     Sound     : 6     (can't hear the music for the shooting noises!)
     Gameplay  : 7
     "Funness" : 7
     Overall   : 6     (this game wins my award for "Most Disappointing
                        Mega Drive Game Of 1990")

    Darius II, for the Sega Mega Drive (the Genesis equivalent, in Japan)
        by Taito (Japan only), 8 Mbits (1 MB)

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 10 Feb 91 01:19:47 -0600
From: [e-mail] (Milton W. Kuo)
Subject: Genesis: Crackdown

Crackdown, based upon the Sega coin-op of the same name, is now
available for the Sega Mega Drive and will eventually be made available
for the Sega Genesis.  Crackdown takes place in the 21st century where
artificial lifeforms have been created.  Unfortunately, the evil Mr.  K
now possesses the technology to manufacture his own artificial life
systems and he intends on using them to conquer the world.  The two main
characters of the game, Ben and Andy, are government operatives assigned
to destroy Mr.  K's manufacturing facilities and put a stop to the
megalomaniac's schemes.

     Crackdown is played from a top view much like Gauntlet.  The
players each have guns, rocket launchers, and super bombs.  Guns are the
standard weapon but more difficult enemies take more than one hit to
kill.  For the more difficult enemies, the rocket launcher may be used.
The rocket launcher behaves like the gun except its shot is much more
powerful.  Finally, in times of dire need, the super bomb may be used to
destroy all enemies and enemy fire on the screen.  Throughout the course
of the game, more bullets, rockets, and super bombs may be picked up.
The goal of the game is to destroy Mr.  K's empire by placing bombs in
each of the levels (the game is divided into four levels each of which
has four areas to be cleared).  Once all bombs have been put into place
by the players, they must then leave the area through the exit before
the time bombs explode.  While attempting to destroy Mr.  K's
stronghold, the heroes of the game are constantly assaulted by Mr.  K's
artificial creations.  Upon reaching the fourth and final level, Ben and
Andy must destroy Mr.  K's headquarters and ultimately, Mr.  K himself.

     Although the graphics on Crackdown are almost exactly like the
coin-op version, that in itself proves to be the most troublesome facet
of the game since objects are too small and quickly induce eyestrain.
Nonetheless, if played sitting very close to the television screen, the
enemy and the maps are just like the arcade version.  Despite the minute
graphics though, Crackdown displays an unusual amount of detail -
enemies attack using different weapons and if one looks closely enough,
the method of attack can be recognized.

     One of the things that made Crackdown so much fun in the arcades
was the two player simultaneous play feature and this feature has been
beautifully preserved on the Genesis.  In the two player simultaneous
mode, each player gets half of the screen showing his view of the map.
While playing, players may choose to cooperate or compete in their quest
to complete the game.  Crackdown for the Genesis is made even more fun
because like the arcade, it has the tendency to "rip-off" players who
are doing too well by killing them in a mysterious manner.  While
frustrating in some ways, it makes finishing the game that much more
satisfying.

     Overall, Crackdown is a pretty  good  game and anyone with an interest
in the coin-op version or two player  simultaneous play games will enjoy it
immmensely.  Crackdown's  only  real  fault is its brevity - four levels of
this addictive game isn't enough!

     Graphics  : 6     (objects are too small and hard to see)
     Sound     : 7
     Gameplay  : 8
     "Funness" : 8     (two player simultaneous is really fun)
     Overall   : 7

    Crackdown, for the Sega Genesis, by Sega Enterprises, 4 Mbits.

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 15 Feb 91 20:44:15 -0600
From: Rav Tonsiengsom <[e-mail]>
Subject: Genesis: Musha Aleste

The first vertical scrolling shooter on the Genesis to really impress
me, Musha Aleste is as much a favorite with me as is Blazing Lazers
(finally a vertical scroller for the Genesis as good as Blazing Lazers).
There is a cinematic demo at the beginning of this game, but since I
can't read Japanese I cannot give you the full details.  What I can
gather from the pictures and eventually solving this game, is that you
are a part of a squadron of mecha sent to evict some pretty nasty
aliens.  However, the aliens are stronger than expected and manage to
wipe out almost everyone in your squadron.  As the only one left able to
carry on the mission, you must fly your transformable robot (reminds me
of an Alpha Veritech) through seven grueling stages of extremely INTENSE
shooting action.

The graphics in Musha Aleste are just as good as those found in
Thunderforce III.  The backgrounds scroll independently, the enemies are
large and well defined, there is much use of the color palette, and even
scaling in some areas!  There is no noticeable flicker throughout the
game, but on later levels there is so MUCH stuff being shot at YOU that
the game slows down appreciably.  Nevertheless, graphically, this is the
best looking vertical scrolling shooter that I have seen for the
Genesis/Mega Drive.

Excellent music and sound effects make this great game even better.  The
sound effects are quite good from the firing of you main guns, to the
sound your thrusters make.  Explosions still aren't as thunderous as the
ones in Blazing Lazers (the standard by which I judge all non CD-ROM
sound effects and music) but they are very well done.  The musical score
on this cart is almost as good as Thunderforce III but just misses.  I
suppose the only difference is one's taste in music.  Otherwise, all
I'll say is that the music is just as intense as the game itself....

Speaking of intensity, Musha Aleste contains some of the most intense
game play that anyone will ever try.  The levels are quite long, even
though the game moves at a very brisk pace.  Even on the easy setting
the game gets extremely hectic.  On the normal and hard levels the enemy
is very aggressive as literally TONS of ordinance is continually being
shot at you.  To help you, you can grab little capsules which give you
"helpers".  These surround your mech and can be configured in six
different firing positions.  You can accumulate helpers since they are
not indestructable and can be destroyed.  Various power ups are
available in this game.  They can be powered up in four steps for some
really major firepower.  The power ups are:  electro-quark lasers,
cluster bombs, and barrier.  By powering up the cluster bombs all the
way you can get the "black hole" weapon.  By powering up the barrier to
level 4, the barrier will also sling bolts of energy out as it rotates.
You'll need all of this as some of the bosses and even the cannon fodder
can be pretty nasty.

A very fun, though not as challenging, a game as I first thought it
would be, Musha Aleste is another one of those must get games for the
Genesis.  To get the most out of this cart novices should start on
normal (really) and experts on hard.  Experts will BLOW THROUGH this
game on the easy level.  The first time I played on normal I got to the
end of level 4.  The second time I got mid-way through the last level
and the third time I played I put the thing on EASY and cruised right
through to the closing credits.  Great graphics, sound, music, and
gameplay still hold my interest though and I still play this game a lot
as I do Thunderforce III.  It is not out in the States yet but you all
won't have very long to wait.

    Graphics:     10
    Music/Sound:     9
    Playability:     8
    Funness        8

    Overall:     9

    Musha Aleste for the Sega Genesis; to be called M.U.S.H.A (Metallic
    Uniframe Super Hybrid Armor) here in the States.  Scheduled Feb '91
    release date by Seismic.

------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (John Leo)
Subject: NES: StarTropics
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 91 10:47:36 -0500

StarTropics is an action role-playing game set in modern times.  The
story involves you trying to find your uncle who mysteriously
disappeared.  But for Kyoko Watanabe and myself, the real mystery was
just who made the game.  StarTropics has not only not come out in
Japan--it hasn't even been mentioned as coming out in the future
there.  So maybe this was by some other company and just being
released under Nintendo's name, something they often do in the US, but
there was no indication of that.  So maybe it was the first game by
Nintendo of America...certainly some of the aspects of the game seemed
more American, whereas others were more Japanese.

We figured we'd find out in the ending credits, so we started playing.
And this is a really good game.  The game is one of the newer-style
action RPGs (the first of this style I know of is Capcom's Gargoyle's
Quest) in that the action and RPG aspects are separated for the most
part.  There are overhead scenes done in the typical Ultima/Dragon
Warrior style where everything is sort of square-shaped and you visit
towns, get information, and so forth.  Unlike other games there is no
combat possible in this mode, although there are mazes and so forth to
explore.  Also the game progresses linearly through a number of
chapters, each with a mini-story which is nice.  The "story" aspect of
the game is good, but certainly not outstanding.  I won't say how many
chapters there are in the game, since part of the fun is that the game
is a whole lot longer than you might expect.  It took us several weeks
to make it to the end, playing an average of a few hours each day.

Then there are the action scenes which are from a slanted overhead
perspective.  You start out with a yo-yo as a weapon and this gets
powered-up at a couple locations; there are also special weapons and
items to be found.  The action scenes owe a lot to Zelda and those who
have played Zelda will recognize quite a few borrowings from that
game.  One big difference is that you can jump in this game, and
jumping is a big part of the action.  It's a bit hard to describe
since it's rather unique.  Overall there are quite a lot of new
features, interesting enemies, and so forth in the game.  Perhaps the
biggest surprise is that there is a strong puzzle aspect as well.
There are a lot of areas which are almost impossible to get through by
force.  The puzzles are quite good and fit in with the game well, and
the game gives enough hints and has a very good learning curve,
typical of Nintendo.  And overall there is a freshness to it, and a
sort of magic, again Nintendo-rashii.

Yet there is one major failing of the game which really made us wonder
if Nintendo had done it.  One of Nintendo's greatest strengths is that
the play control and "feel" of its games are typically excellent.  One
reason we keep coming back to play Zelda again and again is because it
just feels so good to move Link around.  Unfortunately the play
control of StarTropics is pretty bad--on par with many other companies
(it reminded us a bit of Sega's Sword of Vermillion) but very low by
Nintendo standards.  There are many times when it's tough to turn your
character, tough to get moving, and then tough to stop moving.  We got
used to it to a certain extent, but it was annoying throughout.  With
much better play control this could be a truly classic game, but as it
is the game is just "really good."

StarTropics is a very tough game.  I can see a lot of people getting
frustrated and giving up, and certainly we took long breaks during
some parts.  Another Nintendo-like aspect is that they make it seem
very hard, and when you think that's hard enough they add something on
top of that to make it seem almost impossible.  But everything is
ultimately quite beatable in the game, and if you are at a place that
really does seem impossible you are probably missing something.  I
lost count of the number of times I shouted at the game that I hated
it, then thought it was great when I figured out what to do.
Playability overall is very good.  The game is automatically saved at
the end of the action scenes and there are intermediate points in
action scenes that you can start from when you die as long as you
don't run out of lives.  Still, there are a lot of spots where it can
be tough if you miss something or don't try something special out; I
can see a lot of people calling the game counselors for this game.

There are a number of interesting minor features.  StarTropics is
apparently the first game to use the MMC6 chip; Nintendo Power had an
article on their chips but it only went up to MMC5 so I don't know
what features this one has.  Apparently like MMC5 you don't have to
hold down reset when you turn the game off, although by habit we did
that anyway.  You don't ever explicitly save the game; instead the
game does that automatically.  The graphics are good but not
outstanding; we didn't much like the detailed stills of major
characters but the monsters and so forth in the actions scenes were
well done, the colors are good, and there are some very nice special
effects and surprises.

Aside from the rulebook the game comes with a letter from your uncle,
along with a number of warnings not to damage the letter (they decided
to glue it to the book, though, and I do recommend separating the
two).  If you end up losing or damaging the letter you are going to be
in big trouble, but it's a neat surprise when you find out how it is
used in the game.

Another nice feature is a review mode which allows you to go over the
last chapter you've completed, to review clues and maybe play the
action scenes again.  We actually didn't need to use this although we
tried it once.  You can save up to three games so when I got stuck
near the end I started playing from the beginning again and the game
is as expected a lot of fun the second time too.  Definitely one you
can play many times, and the early stages are still challenging.

Once you make it to the ending the game saves itself so that you can
just watch the ending over and over if you like, and the ending itself
is very long and pretty good--in some ways standard but there are some
nice touches, such as a series of stills showing various highlights
from the game, done in a very differnent style from the action scenes
themselves.  And yes there are credits, and we found out the game was
done by Nintendo, in fact essentially the same team that did "Mike
Tyson's Punch-Out!!", one of my favorite games.  This game isn't
up to that one, but any new Nintendo game is a cause for celebration,
and here's a Japanese game we get to play before they do.

Originally Kyoko gave this 5 points out of 10, then by the end raised
it's marks to 7.  I started at 6, went to 7 for a while, and have
settled on 7.5.  If the play control were better I'd give it an extra
2 points; feel is very important to me.  Still the game was so good I
didn't mind that much, and although I can't recommend it
unconditionally I would say that if you don't mind somewhat poor play
control and are looking for a fresh, interesting and very fun game I
recommend this one.  I paid about $40 and feel StarTropics is well
worth it.  Especially now when essentially no other good games are
coming out for any system this is one to get and enjoy.

StarTropics, for the Nintendo Entertainment System, by Nintendo.

------------------------------

From: [e-mail]  (Teh Kao Yang)
Subject: NES: Zanac
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 91 11:01:58 PST

Zanac is not only the best shooter, in my opinion, for the Nintendo, but
probably one of the best shooters ever created.  The game was written by
Compile, who also wrote Blazing Lasers for the TG-16 and Musha Aleste
for the Genesis.  The other two games are also arguably the best
shooters for their corresponding systems.

Basically Zanac is a vertical scrolling shooter with stages and "boss
enemies" in between and at the end of each stage.  But Zanac is so much
more than your ordinary shooter.  There are so many great things and
original ideas in this game.

You can obtain an amazing number of different weapons.  Your ship is
armed in the beginning with just missiles.  You can upgrade your single
missle shots to triple missiles.  There are 8 other different weapons you
can obtain.  Each one of them is unique and effective in their own way.
One is a shield that protects your ship.  Another is a smart bomb which
destroys everything on the screen.  Another is an awesome machine-gun-
type blaster.  Each weapon can be powered-up to higher levels by grabbing
the same weapon consecutive times.  For example a guided bomb can be
upgraded to a double-bomb and ultimately into a devastating laser weapon.
Each weapon is also limited either by amount of shots or by a timer.

The scrolling in this game is amazingly fast and smooth.  Each scene has
its own unique background scenery which scrolls at different speeds.
Some scenes scroll so fast its comparable of intense 16 bit shooters
like ThunderForce 2 for the Genesis.

The sound in this game is great too.  The introductory music and the
ones in the game itself are all catchy, exciting tunes.  The sound
effects are great as well.

There is a bewildering variety of enemies.  Each require different ways
to destroy and defend against.  My favorite is the fat saucer which
drops a continuous stream of missiles at you.  The boss enemies are all
basically ground installations which don't move but have a lot of
different parts to destroy.  They also shoot at you A LOT.  The boss
enemies shoot so much that often the screen is completely full of
bullets.  Amazingly there is no slowdown or flicker at all, even when
there are dozens of thing on the screen at once.

There are 10+ stages in the game.  There is a continue feature plus a
secret level select feature.  So it'll help keep you interested for a
long time.

This game is a must have for any Nintendo or shooter fan.  It's an
utterly original and exhilirating game to play.  Amazingly this game was
released I think in '87.  or '86.  It's pretty old but since then there
hasn't been a game released that even comes close to Zanac.  One problem
is that it may be a bit hard to find.  You could probably get it for
around $20 from any good NES mail order place.

    Graphics:    10
    Gameplay:    10
    Music:        10
    Addictiveness:    10

    Overall:    10+

    Zanac, for the Nintendo Entertainment System, by Compile, $20.00

------------------------------

From: Jay Vosburgh <[e-mail]>
Subject: NES: The Immortal
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 91 13:55:48 PST

"The Immortal" is, quite honestly, the first game I've ever wanted to
smash into little pieces with a hammer.  The plot for this game isn't
too unusual:  A single character must work his way into the depths of a
dungeon to rescue somebody, who is incidently being help captive by a
dragon.  The implementation this fairly standard sounding plot is very
unusual, however, in many good and one extremely bad way.

On the good side, "The Immortal" has a lot going for it.  It's got just
about the best manual I've seen, except maybe for Final Fantasy.  It's
got good graphics, especially considering how small everything ends up
being.  The animation is excellent.  The dungeon you must explore
appears to be immense, with plenty of interesting things to do, items to
find and characters to meet, not all of whom exist merely to be killed.
I don't recall if there was any music at all (which can be viewed as
both good and bad), but the various sound effects were well done, and
certainly didn't detract any from the game.

Combat is reasonably well done.  When you encounter a foe, the game
switches to a closeup view of the two of you, with scales for damage and
fatigue.  You must dodge in the proper direction to avoid being hit by
the other guy, and attack in the right direction to overcome the other's
dodge.  The more you attack, the higher your fatigue goes.  The more
fatigue you have, the slower your attacks get.  Dodging never slows
down, and the manual recommends that you dodge until the other guy gets
tired and then beat up on him while he's too tired to fight back.  That
sounds good in theory, but dodging is fairly difficult to get right
consistently, so we generally just beat on the other guy as fast as we
can.  You don't slow down too much until your fatigue gets fairly high,
so this worked pretty well early on.  In the second level of the
dungeon, though, it rapidly got us pummelled into submission.

The number of items is pretty large.  In just the first two levels, we
found around 14 different things (one of which you can buy from a
merchant, who lowers his price if you keep pestering him).  Collecting
items is necessary to solving the game, since it appears that you must
do something special on each level to get to the next level.  For
example, on the first level (the only one we finished), you must find an
amulet and use it a special way to open a secret trapdoor.  The manual
includes an excellent walkthrough of the first level, and has a
"notebook left by your master" as well, filled with hints about the
deeper levels.  After you complete each level, you're given a password
(ours was about 14 characters long).  You get unlimited continues from
the beginning of the last level you completed, but you must finish each
level with only 3 lives.

The dungeon itself is very well detailed, with lots of traps and
assorted whatnot scattered about.  There are sections of floor (in the
room you begin the game in, as a matter of fact) where nicely animated
worms pop up and eat you.  There are pink cannon things mounted on the
walls that fire at random intervals.  My favorite, however, are the
"flame jets," which are scattered around.  These are little dots on the
floor, that occasionally shoot out a burst of fire.  If you're too near
when that happens, or you're foolish enough to step on the dot at any
time, they fry you dead.  There are also black (and incredibly hard to
see) bats flying around, they run into you repeatedly and damage you.
There are pretty much two categories of obstacles:  those that do a
point of damage, and those that kill you outright.  The ratio between
the two types is about 50-50, with the predictable result.

Now, lest you be deceived by all that praise, let me tell you about the
bad part.  The game is done in 3/4 perspective (you know, like Zaxxon),
and it's damn near impossible to control the main character with any
degree of precision.  If you push "up" on the controller, the character
moves "up" on the screen, which is generally diagonally across the room
you're in.  Since there are very few areas where you want to move
diagonally, it's usually very difficult to move with any precision "in
parallel" to the action, since you tend to veer one way or ther other if
you don't hit the joystick just right.  Plus, you move pretty fast in a
relatively small and crowded area, full of "flame jets" and other
assorted things to run into or step on.  You do get a fireball shooter
to blast things (like the bats), but your target is generally moving
parallel to the walls, and that's the direction you can't aim in easily.
If you do try to aim at them, you start walking and run into something
nasty that kills you, like the "flame jets."  The difficulty involved in
just moving the character without dying is so bad that we only played
the game for a total of maybe two hours.  I would've liked to play more
(since everything else is so wonderful), but I was getting very tense
and frustrated, and I got the game to relax and have fun with.

In summary:

A truly well designed and thought out dungeon exploration game, horribly
scarred by abysmal character controls.  If you can deal with the controls,
then you've got a real winner on your hands, but they just drove me up
the wall.  I found it to be the single most frustrating game I've ever
played, entirely due to the difficulty with the controls.  I'd say rent
it as the "one" on a "two for one" coupon at your local video store.

    Graphics:    8    (good, but small)
    Animation:    10    (let a worm get you once, just to see it)
    Sound:        5    (not fantastic, but not bad, either)
    Playability:    1    (if you can deal with it, good; I couldn't)

    Overall:    3    (A 9 if the controls were as good as the rest)

    "The Immortal," for the Nintendo Entertainment System,
        by Electronic Arts

-------------------------------------

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