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D-Bug & Automation Forum >> Automation CD Menu releases >> Automation #005
http://d-bug.mooo.com/dbugforums/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1334396938 Message started by ggn on 14.04.12 at 09:48:58 |
Title: Automation #005 Post by ggn on 14.04.12 at 09:48:58
Typhoon Thompson in search of the sea child
This review started about 30 mins ago while on IRC: Quote:
Then I went to re-read an interview of Dan Gorlin I read oh-so-many years ago: Quote:
Of course I'm still feeling a bit sour because Choplifter was written for the Apple ][, and Fort Apocalype on the Atari 800 is a much better game IMHO but underrated while Choplifter is so famous etc etc etc. But I went and tried the game again. And this time I spent some time instead of going in guns blazing. And it actually made sense. And I found it a really nice game. I don't know the scenario, but it's safe to assume that you're playing errand boy to the spirits that appear at the beginning of the game (I guess "bring us the XXXXXX" is what tipped me off :P). The game is pseudo-3d, using lots of scaled sprites to simulate depth, but you get 360 degree freedom of movement so it's not like (for example) a racing game. At first you're given a puny laser but with each level more powerful weapons are made available (press F2 to see how to activate them). The object of each level is to go to the designated area which looks like a beacon with really small satellite islands. On each island there's a glowing star which when you shoot it transforms into an enemy vehicle. Kill that and then its pilot bails out. You have to be quick to pick up the pilot because if he/she/it swims back to the island, it converts to a star and you have to do it again. The level is over when you pick up all pilots (the game takes control and drives the player to the beacon when you get an animated sequence in which you receive the object in question). There's tons of animation frames, and it's really detailed animation even though the sprites are small. I really appreciate the amount of work that went into animating all this stuff. All said and done, it's a great game, with great mechanics and great presentation. If all you did was dismiss it like I did, do yourself a favour and go play it for 20-30 mins and I'm pretty sure you'll agree! http://d-bug.mooo.com/automenu/auto005.msa |
Title: Re: Automation #005 Post by ggn on 14.04.12 at 11:28:58 |
Title: Re: Automation #005 Post by MitchFrenzal on 15.04.12 at 15:36:36
Does that mean the C64 version of Fort Apocalypse was a port over? I preferred that to Choplifter too. :)
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Title: Re: Automation #005 Post by ggn on 15.04.12 at 15:56:22 MitchFrenzal wrote on 15.04.12 at 15:36:36:
Here's an interview with its author, the awesome Steve Hales :). |
Title: Re: Automation #005 Post by MitchFrenzal on 15.04.12 at 16:49:27
Thanks very much, I'd never read much into the background of Synapse before. Even though they seemed to have been involved with some of my fave C64 games. :)
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