88 lines
3.9 KiB
Plaintext
88 lines
3.9 KiB
Plaintext
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ALCON
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ALCON is a port of an arcade game from Taito Corporation. It offers
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decent graphics, vertically-scrolling landscapes, joystick control,
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and copy protection. This review is based on the Atari ST version;
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Commodore 64/128 version notes follow.
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Not only is ALCON an arcade game, it is also another clone from the
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ZAXXON vat. This translation to the Atari ST looks okay, but as
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you'll read in the C64 version notes, it doesn't stand out. ALCON is
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geared toward immediate frustration, although this can be overcome
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by repeated play. Then again, the game itself is the definitive
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statement for repeated play, so no matter how you look at it, you'll
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be doing the same thing over and over.
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ALCON is an acronym for the Allied League of COsmic Nations. Since
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it's in danger of being overtaken by alien hordes from Planet Orac,
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ALCON's Supreme Commander orders the experimental SW475 Starfighter
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into action. As the pilot of the SW475, you must withstand the
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lethal defenses of Orac and neutralize the master computer.
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The Atari ST screen display consists of vertically-scrolling
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landscapes over which you guide the SW475 Starfighter. Alien defense
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mechanisms appear ahead of you or come from the edges of the
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screen. Certain mechanisms, on being destroyed, become glittery
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yellow stars. When you fly over the stars, additional enhancements
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and weapons become available to your Starfighter: speed, side
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shots, ship size, bombs, lasers, homing missile, and shield.
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Speed can be enhanced up to five times; ship size can be chosen
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three times; the bomb enhancement lets you target explosions. The
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most useful weapon is th homing missile, which destroys all visible
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targets. The most useful enhancement is the shield, which provides
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invulnerability for a limited amount of time. The current
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enhancement is highlighted below the action screen.
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Enemy defenses include ground crawlers, tanks, cannon
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emplacements, and missile silos. Points are earned for destroying
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them, and for picking up the yellow stars. At 50,000 points, you'll
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be awarded an extra Starfighter.
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ALCON is controlled with a joystick and the spacebar. The stick
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maneuvers th SW475 around the screen; the button fires the current
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weapon. The spacebar selects the current enhancement.
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And that's about it.
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Graphics on the ST are fair, legible, and reasonably clear -- if
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slightly washed-out. Notwithstanding the constant movement you'll
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need to survive, the game plays well.
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ALCON aims at instant frustration; there are no easy levels. This
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can be overcome somewhat by constantly moving the SW475 around the
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landscape, much as you had to move the Lee Brothers all over the
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alleys in DOUBLE DRAGON. You can be neither stationary nor languid:
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Stay in one spot and you're dead meat. An enemy will shoot at you
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all the time, even as it's disappearing off the bottom of the
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screen.
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The constant movement and the repetition might have been good for a
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few quarters at the arcade; it's better for no quarters at home, but
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even then, ALCON quickly becomes tiresome.
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COMMODORE 64/128 VERSION NOTES
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The Commodore 64 version of Taito's ALCON is a near-perfect
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duplication of the Atari ST version (or maybe it's the other way
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around). The graphics look more or less identical to those of the
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ST, right down their washed-out appearance. The C64 version couldn't
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actually _be_ the ST version, could it? If it is, then you'll have
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to mentally substitute "C64" in the Atari review, and mentally
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substitute "ST" in these version notes.
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The only difference I could detect was in the general speed of the
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game: The C64 version seemed to operate faster, and it seemed
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smoother overall. This might have been an illusion. In any case,
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both versions look and play the same, which is to say, they're both
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tiresome.
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ALCON is published and distributed by Taito.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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