70 lines
3.9 KiB
Plaintext
70 lines
3.9 KiB
Plaintext
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HEAT WAVE
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HEAT WAVE is a boat race simulation from Accolade. Subtitled OFFSHORE SUPERBOAT
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RACING, HEAT WAVE offers good graphics and race animation, six courses, four
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superboats, practice mode, joystick control, and copy protection. The Commodore
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64/128 version is the basis of this review.
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Although there isn't much to it, HEAT WAVE comes across as a decent package,
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even if you don't put any value on the public figures (Don Johnson, Malcolm
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Forbes, George Bush) who have taken to superboat racing. It probably won't fill
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the gap between now and the time you become rich enough to purchase a 40-foot
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superboat with 1300-horsepower Lamborghini engines, but it looks good and it's
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easy to learn and play.
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There are six courses: four of them in and around the shores of Miami, one in
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San Francisco Bay, and another in the Mississippi River. There are four boats:
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the Don Johnson Special, the Cougar Cat, the Warlock Catamaran, and the Top Gun
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Cigarette. Both course and boat are selected from the Main Menu, where you can
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also register for a race, make a pit stop, practice a course, enter the time
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trials, attend the Driver's Meeting, watch a demo, start a race, and check the
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Winner's Circle, which keeps track of the ten fastest times.
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The only time you can make a pit stop is before the race begins, and it is this
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option that lets you fuel your boat and stock up on spare parts (shafts and
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propellers). Practice mode lets you race any of the boats on any of the courses,
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without the pressures of qualification or competition. After you've selected a
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course and a boat, you must enter the time trials; you must also run the trial
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course in record time in order to qualify for the real race. Assuming you do
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qualify, you can then choose to race.
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The C64 screen display consists of the vertically scrolling course, which is
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marked off by buoys. There is scenery in the background. Below the course is the
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control panel of your boat: compass, clock, tach, speedometer, temperature and
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fuel gauges, trim and bilge indicators, and starter.
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There are also three status key indicators: Navigation, Time Sheet, and Damage.
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When an indicator flashes, you can see what's going on by pressing the
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appropriate number key. Navigation will show you where you are on the current
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course; the Time Sheet records your times as you pass marker buoys and keeps
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track of time lost through penalties; and Damage lets you change broken shafts
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and propellers (if you have spares), tells how much gas you have left, and lets
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you disqualify yourself -- which is what you'll have to do if you run out of gas
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or if you can't repair your boat.
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HEAT WAVE is controlled with a joystick and a few keystrokes. The stick
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accelerates and brakes, and turns left and right. As a boat approaches its
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maximum speed, it all but flies over wavetops, and it is the trim adjustment
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(hold the button, move the stick) that smooths out the ride. The Return key
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starts the engines; the Tab key kills the engines; the Spacebar pauses;
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keystroke B activates the bilge pump; and Control-Q (or Disqualify from the
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Damage screen) sends you back to the Main Menu.
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The HEAT WAVE package comes with one disk that's copy-protected, an instruction
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manual, an American Power Boat Association sticker, and an APBA application
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form. There is no save option.
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HEAT WAVE looks good on the C64: The graphics are bright and clear, and race
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animation is smooth. The joystick works fine as a controller, the game plays
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easily enough, and at the Driver's Meeting, you can get answers to questions
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concerning boat capabilities. Basically, HEAT WAVE is a road race simulation;
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the difference is that the road is liquid. And that's all there is to it. It
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might help to think of the package as 24 separate games -- six courses, four
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boats -- but don't expect to have a lot of trouble with any of them.
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HEAT WAVE is published and distributed by Accolade.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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