69 lines
3.7 KiB
Plaintext
69 lines
3.7 KiB
Plaintext
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DEATHTRACK
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So you've played dozens of computer racing games, outfitted your car, made pit
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stops and changed your tires a thousand times. What's left? How about arming
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your car with lasers, missiles, landmines, and assorted other goodies and trying
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to blow your competitors off the track for good? Yep, it's DEATHRACK: "Monster
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Cars, Racing, and Gratuitous Violence," with the accent firmly on the violence.
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(This review is based on the IBM-PC version of the game.)
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DEATHTRACK is a race set in a future that's reminiscent of "Mad Max." As a
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driver, you negotiate a series of race courses in different cities, competing
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for first place. Armed with the latest in high-tech weapons, you also try to
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blow off more than just the doors of the other cars: Some drivers have bounties
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on their heads, and that extra money comes in handy for outfitting your own
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vehicle.
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At the start, you have three different cars to choose from. Then, with $10,000
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in hand, you'll check out the parts department: It includes not only the
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predictable tires, transmissions, and engines, but armor for your car, as well.
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And don't forget the ammo shop: Pick up some extra spikes or mines to drop
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behind you on the racetrack, and maybe a machine gun or a laser. In fact, why
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stop there? Add on a guided missile or two while you're at it.
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Now, select one of the ten tracks, or run a circuit of all of them. If you
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choose to run the circuit, there is a game save/restore function (should you
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survive long enough to need it).
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Your car contains a dizzying variety of displays. Sure, there's a speedometer
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and a fuel gauge and a rearview mirror, but they're not the half of it. Between
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"upper" and "lower" dashboard and "windshield" readouts, there are a total of 16
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different indicators -- everything from radar early-warning and damage level to
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something ODD (Opponent Detection Display), and something MAD (Map Action
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Display).
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Even if you race on Auto-Pilot (in order to concentrate on blowing your
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opponents away), you'll probably want to make a pit stop or two. In the pit, you
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can refuel, or shop at the parts and ammo stores.
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The IBM-PC version of DEATHRACK is distributed on both 3-1/2" and 5-1/4"
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diskettes, either of which can be copied to your hard drive. Activision uses the
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manual protection method. Graphics support is provided for CGA, EGA, and Tandy
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16-color cards (the latter requiring 640K of RAM, as opposed to 512K). EGA
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graphics are very detailed and colorful, and animation is exceptionally smooth.
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The game also supports the Roland MT-32 and Ad-Lib sound boards. You can control
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your car using either the keyboard or the joystick, although the joystick is
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probably a lot easier.
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If there's a flaw with the game, it may be -- surprisingly enough -- that it's
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too easy. The racing sequences "feel" good, but there's too much tolerance for
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what you can do: If you want to run off the track, that's fine; you'll slow
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down, but you can't seem to crash into anything. And your car will continue to
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race even when severely damaged; as it says in the manual, if all four tires
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blow out, you can continue to race on your rims.
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Perhaps the game designers should have made it tougher, starting you out with
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less money, for example (even in the future, $10,000 buys a surprising amount);
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or maybe the damage to your car should be more incapacitating. As it is, novice
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users might be put off by the dazzling variety of displays and options, while
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more experienced racers may find the game too quickly conquered.
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Still, with its terrific graphics and multitude of options, DEATHTRACK is well
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worth at least a test drive.
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DEATHTRACK is published by Activision and distributed by Mediagenic.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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