87 lines
4.9 KiB
Plaintext
87 lines
4.9 KiB
Plaintext
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SKI OR DIE
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Regardless of the time of year, when your thoughts turn to summer fun, what
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better time for a skiing game? Er, let's try that again. Hey, dude...doncha miss
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the slopes? The action? The snow bunnies? Okay, Electronic Arts' SKI OR DIE (a
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sequel of sorts to SKATE OR DIE) doesn't have any snow bunnies. But it does have
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five winter events and a nicely warped sense of humor. (This review is based on
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the IBM-PC version of the game; Commodore 64/128 version notes follow.)
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You start out at Rodney's Ski Shop. Rod's a tad, um, gonzo, and he has some
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funny things to say. You can register for competition and select the appropriate
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options, but there's not a lot to do there, so why hang out when the slopes are
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waiting? (Actually, I really longed for the depth of the cycle shop in
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HARLEY-DAVIDSON, where there's a lot to explore and all sorts of goodies to
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buy.) Go to the Village Square, and choose your event.
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The "Downhill Blitz" has you (what else?) skiing downhill. There's an overhead
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shot of your character as you maneuver down a series of narrow paths. You'll
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have to make the occasional jump, and steer clear of the bodies of other skiers
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who never quite made the grade. The other skiing event, "Acro Aerials," has you
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making a jump and then performing some acrobatics, picked by a combination of
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pushing the joystick and pressing the fire button.
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"Snowboard Halfpipe" is more of a skateboard sort of event. Zoom down a tube on
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your snowboard, evading or jumping over obstacles. "Innertube Thrash" is what
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you might think: Go down the side of a mountain on an innertube, with the
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addition here being that you can pick up items on the way to puncture your
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opponent's tube or repair yours as it falls apart.
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And what winter would be complete without a snowball war? Certainly not this
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one, so there's "Snowball Blast." Standing in your fort, you've got one minute
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to take out the 50 little brats surrounding you, as well as Punk Penguins,
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Eskimos, "Most Abominable Snow Things," and yeah, okay, "Chainsaw Bunnies."
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The IBM-PC version of SKI OR DIE comes on two 5-1/4" diskettes (3-1/2"
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diskettes are available separately, or by mailing in an enclosed coupon with a
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check for $7.50). The game can be installed to your hard disk, after which it
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relies on manual copy protection each time you boot it.
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Graphics support is here for CGA, EGA, and Tandy. EGA graphics are very nice,
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with a lot of detail. Sound board support is provided for the Roland MT32 and
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AdLib boards. The game can be played from the keyboard or with a joystick.
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Most of the events are fairly easy to master, and I think only a select few
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will want to return to SKI OR DIE once they've gotten the hang of it. I kept
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hoping for a bit more depth -- perhaps winning money in events, which could go
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toward equipment upgrades; or maybe if there were some snow bunnies hanging out
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at Rodney's.... Still, SKI OR DIE earns high marks for its detailed graphics and
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sense of humor. It deserves at least a look.
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COMMODORE 64/128 VERSION NOTES
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Although some of the graphic extras are missing, the C64/128 version of SKI OR
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DIE is much the same as the above-described IBM-PC version. Everything looks all
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right -- not quite as all right as SKATE OR DIE (from which the always-topical
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Electronic Arts derived the SKI idea), but all right nevertheless.
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The Snowball Blast has no Chainsaw Bunnies, Eskimos, Bermuda Bears, Ski
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Instructors, or Most Abominable Snow Things; you will see lots of Brats, as well
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as Shovels, Stars (for rapid fire), and Snowball Stashes. The Innertube Thrash
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has no Lawn Darts, Patches, Mousetraps, or Beartraps; it does have Dinner Forks
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and Pocket Knives, useful for puncturing enemy tubes; and there are Pumps, for
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refilling your tube. There is also The Spike, which deflates tubes right now.
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Chainsaw Bunnies and Punk Penguins have been dropped from the Snowboard
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Half-Pipe; the Logs remain and the Stars are worth fifteen points.
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The C64 version of SKI is controlled with a joystick, and the game supports as
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many as six players. The Spacebar is needed to switch between North and South
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views in the Snowball Blast. The SKI OR DIE package comes with one double-sided
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disk that's copy-protected, a foldout poster-sized instruction manual, and a C64
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Command Summary card.
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SKI OR DIE on the C64 looks and sounds okay; it's easy to learn if you've never
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played it, and easy to play once you've learned it. The animation sequences of
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the Acro Aerials are especially notable, even if the judges in that event are
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really rough. Overall, though, there isn't much to the game, and the individual
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events aren't all that difficult. I think the thing to do here is to
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procrastinate: Invent excuses to prevent yourself from purchasing it now,
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because sooner or later Electronic Arts will reduce SKI's current price to
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something more affordable.
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SKI OR DIE is published and distributed by Electronic Arts.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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