84 lines
4.4 KiB
Plaintext
84 lines
4.4 KiB
Plaintext
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HARRIER 7
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HARRIER 7 is a strategy/arcade game from Avantage, a division of Accolade. The
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Avantage game lineup features IBM/C64 disk formats and low prices. In addition
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to HARRIER 7, MENTAL BLOCKS, SHOOT 'EM UP CONSTRUCTION KIT, and FRIGHTMARE have
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been released. HARRIER 7 offers questionable graphics, four game speeds,
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keyboard or joystick control, and copy protection. This review is for the
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Commodore 64/128; IBM-PC version notes follow.
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Of the three Avantage products I've seen, HARRIER 7 is by far the worst,
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although the IBM version played much better than the glitchy C64 version, thus
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verifying the ancient adage: You usually get what you pay for.
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HARRIER 7 offers a single, twofold mission: Destroy seven enemy rocket bases,
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while protecting the aircraft carrier that serves as your home base. Your craft
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is a McDonnell Douglas VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) Harrier jet, armed
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with cannon, bombs, Exocet missiles, and anti-missile flares. Your opponents are
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MiG-21 fighters, flak, and other Exocets.
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You begin with three Harriers, each of which is lost when you run out of fuel
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or have absorbed too much damage before returning to the carrier. The enemy
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fires Exocet missiles at the carrier, and when the planes on it have been
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destroyed, the carrier will sink, with you soon to follow. Planes can be added
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to the carrier, depending on the aggressiveness and accuracy of your attack,
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thus preserving it longer.
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The C64 screen display consists of the action screen, which scrolls to the
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right. Below are weapon icons, radar, message window, fuel gauge, and score. The
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map screen shows the location of the seven enemy bases and the carrier, the
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current status of the mission, and serves as a Pause feature.
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HARRIER 7 can be controlled with either the keyboard or the joystick.
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Keystrokes "A" and "Z" control altitude; "N" and "M" perform clockwise and
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counter-clockwise loops; and the Spacebar fires the currently selected weapon.
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Keys 1-4 select a weapon, "F" drops a flare, and "S" activates the map screen.
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The stick duplicates the flight controls, and the button fires.
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HARRIER 7 comes on a flippy disk (IBM, C64) that is copy-protected on both
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sides. The games loaded quickly, after which there was no disk access except for
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the high score screen.
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The C64 version of HARRIER 7 is not very good. The graphics are barely
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passable, and that's only when they're visible: The screen flickered all but
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constantly; when it didn't, it appeared to be in 3-D, even though the package
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doesn't include special glasses. Much of the time the Harrier flew by itself, as
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though under remote control; it certainly wasn't reacting to the keyboard or the
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joystick.
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HARRIER 7, at least in its C64 incarnation, is not worth $14.95.
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IBM-PC VERSION NOTES
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HARRIER 7 looks and plays much better on an IBM than it does on the Commodore
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64. There was no screen flicker, and the limited (CGA) colors were several
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degrees brighter and sharper than whichever colors appeared intermittently on
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the C64 screen. This version requires 256K and supports the IBM PC/XT/AT and
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compatibles, and PS/2 Models 25, 30, 50, and 60, as well as Tandy 1000 series,
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3000/4000.
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Although the test computer was an IBM-compatible '386 equipped with a VGA card
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and multisync monitor, HARRIER 7 defaulted to a CGA color scheme; neither VGA
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nor multisync were used to their full capacity. Still, the colors were clear and
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the graphics and animation were smooth and free-flowing, with nary a glitch. The
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program operated identically at 6Mhz and 20Mhz clock speeds, and no
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software-controlled game speeds were available, unlike the Commodore version
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(which had four).
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The keyboard is the only controller for HARRIER 7, whether or not your IBM has
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a game port. The keystrokes are the same as in the Commodore version, although
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you can select a different set (Control and Alt for altitude, left and right
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Shift for loops), or define whichever keys you like. Additional keystrokes
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toggle sound effects, return to the main menu, and exit to DOS.
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The HARRIER 7 package comes with one, copy-protected 5-1/4" flippy disk. The
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instruction card explains the workings of both versions. The IBM version of this
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game is more or less worth the fifteen bucks, something that cannot be said for
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the junk on its flip side.
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HARRIER 7 is published by Avantage and distributed by Accolade.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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