126 lines
7.5 KiB
Plaintext
126 lines
7.5 KiB
Plaintext
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MAGIC FLY
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Let's open with the usual comments about MAGIC FLY: It's a European import,
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it's tough, and it could have been documented better so that newcomers might
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ease their way into the game. With that out of the way, now I can say what I
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really feel: This game is lots of fun! (This review is based on the Amiga
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version.)
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Picture, if you will, a "Star Wars" style tie-wing fighter that has been sent
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on a mission to explore a very large maze of corridors buried deep within an
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asteroid. These corridors are chock full of alien craft, some of which fly, some
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of which crawl, and some of which...well, _move_. These craft are there to
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defend a new prototype secret attack vehicle (the Moth), which it is your task
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to find, identify, and destroy before attempting an escape.
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Along with the alien craft, there is a series of complex puzzles that must be
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analyzed and mastered before you can gain further access to the entire maze of
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tunnels. Some of these puzzles consist of merely figuring out which of your
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weapons will break through a barrier; others are almost as complex as Rubik's
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cube. Most of them will have you scratching your head for quite some time.
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Your fighter, designated the T2 (codename "Magic Fly"), is quite a vehicle: Not
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only does it come with a wide array of weaponry (three types of lasers, three
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types of missiles, two types of mines, a robotic rear gunner droid, and a
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tunnel-blocking web), it contains full instrumentation, including something
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called a "Map Radar," which essentially serves as an automatic tunnel-mapping
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device. This is a crucial instrument, as the tunnels extend in three dimensions,
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which makes recording where you've been (and analyzing the relation of where you
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were to where you are now) extremely challenging.
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Along with the radar, there are indicators showing both main and reserve energy
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banks, six different combat warning lights, throttle and thruster levels, damage
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control, turbo booster, and zone indicator. The latter is an ingenious device
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that provides a boresight view of your location in relation to the walls of the
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tunnel, so that you can tell whether you're centered or off to a side.
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The zone indicator is important for navigation, as you choose which branch of a
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tunnel to take simply by moving into the main tunnel zone most proximate to the
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branch you want. If you plan a right turn, for instance, moving to the right
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side of the tunnel insures that when you get to the intersection, your ship will
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navigate into the right branch.
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A number of the instruments provide further information at the click of a mouse
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button on the onscreen action triangles. These call up other screens (during
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which game time is paused) that provide fuller info.
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The map radar's A/T allows you to visually backtrack across three axes to see
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where you are in relation to already explored tunnels. The damage indicator's
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A/T allows you to set priorities for auto-repair of any of the ten systems that
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might be damaged. A single system can be set to highest priority for quick
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repair, or a number of systems can be set to medium priority or low priority,
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depending on how much of your energy you want to use up for repairs as you
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progress.
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The energy A/T gives you detailed info on how much energy you have left, what
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your current rate of usage is, and how much energy each of your systems
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requires, so you can better analyze and allocate energy where it's needed most.
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The weapons A/T provides you with a detailed database of all your weapons
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(complete with 3-D images you can rotate) for study.
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There's also another database that you build as you go, which consists of
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information on all the alien ships you've encountered. Activating a scanner
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instead of a weapon, and holding it long enough on the alien ship, pulls its
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info into the database for future reference. This info includes such things as
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the ship's name, speed, primary weapons systems, and weak points (if any).
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Rotatable 3-D wire-frame images of these ships can also be toyed with for
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contemplative purposes.
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As you negotiate the tunnels, you discover a series of resupply and repair
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bays. You can dock there and refuel, fix any damaged systems that haven't
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completed auto-repair, and re-stock weapons. You can also save games at the
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bays, which is crucial for effective play when you're first starting out and
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have had some successes.
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The control system in these bays is the one weakness in the game design: To
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make selections, you have to do the equivalent of playing slo-mo handball with
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the wall. To save a game, a series of six icons in the game manual have to be
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looked up and bounced off of, which can prove tedious. Still, it's all something
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you get used to after a while, and it doesn't interfere severely with play in
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any way.
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What does all this add up to in the way of fun? Well, MAGIC FLY is, I think,
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quite an intriguing spacecraft simulation that contains a range of potential
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attractions: Combat with the alien fighters comes to be a test of arcade skills
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and systems management; decoding the blocks in the tunnels can be as challenging
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as any good FOOL'S ERRAND-style puzzle; and if you like imagining yourself
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within complex mapped spaces, there's plenty of map here. The game's goals are
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well-defined, and the means to achieve them (once understood) are logical.
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In terms of graphics, animation, and sound, MAGIC FLY is quite lively and makes
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good use of complex, colorful wire-frame animation to keep things speedy and
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simple. Sound effects are all appropriate and nicely dispersed throughout the
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game. The ship's control panels all click up nicely, and seem logically
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organized. You're not going to wow anybody familiar with Amiga 3-D space sims
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with this one, but on the other hand, MAGIC FLY contains more in the way of
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useful instrumentation than any other spaceflight-style simulation I know of; it
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has some of the flavor of games like F-16 COMBAT PILOT and FALCON in that
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respect. (No way to comment on the realism of the flight equations, though --
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I've never been inside an asteroid tunnel.) The flight control system is
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effective, believable, and quite satisfying once you get a handle on how the
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thrusters work (and once you realize that hot pursuit is not the best policy).
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MAGIC FLY comes on one copyable disk that contains enough room for about three
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game saves (more can be made on another, standard AmigaDOS-format disk). Copy
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protection is invoked when you attempt a save, and consists of a manual look-up
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scheme (follow the bouncing ball). The game runs on all A1000s, A500s, and
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A2000s with 512K of RAM, and requires a mouse for control.
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The keyboard is used for some commands, and a joystick can be used in place of
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the keyboard for certain things, like throttle and roll control. (If you're an
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octopus, you can use all three at once.) MAGIC FLY is, unfortunately, not
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inherently hard-disk installable, though something may be possible with creative
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use of the ASSIGN command in AmigaDOS.
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I give MAGIC FLY a solid recommendation. The scenario is a fresh combination of
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familiar elements that makes this game different enough from others (like
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DAMOCLES or STARGLIDER II) to be well worth playing. Be aware of the initial
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difficulty levels, though. Electronic Arts has done its best to try to provide
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some hints in the manual, but they're quite introductory. You're going to need a
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good amount of patience at the start.
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MAGIC FLY is published and distributed by Electronic Arts.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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