68 lines
3.7 KiB
Plaintext
68 lines
3.7 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
|||
|
|
TUNNELS OF ARMAGEDDON
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
You'll need patience and determination to grasp what's happening in TUNNELS OF
|
|||
|
|
ARMAGEDDON, a futuristic arcade game/spaceship simulation from California
|
|||
|
|
Dreams. (This review is based on the Amiga version).
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Your patience is tried from the start, where you have to pass the copy
|
|||
|
|
protection by lining up a color-coded wheel. All you have to do is align the
|
|||
|
|
colors according to the onscreen instructions, and use the mouse to touch the
|
|||
|
|
color that you end up with. That seems easy enough, but I somehow had trouble
|
|||
|
|
figuring out whether the color I was looking at was dark purple or light blue.
|
|||
|
|
And while _you_ need patience, the _game_ doesn't seem to have much. Unless
|
|||
|
|
you're quick to type the code, the game will enter a demo mode. This seems
|
|||
|
|
aggravating, and it is at first, but you get the hang of the codewheel after a
|
|||
|
|
few tries, and the learning curve becomes much flatter after that.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
TUNNELS is aptly named. The United States, after drilling under ice in
|
|||
|
|
Antarctica, has discovered a mysterious door made of material not found on
|
|||
|
|
earth. The door-opening is broadcast on national televison, and cameras peer in
|
|||
|
|
at what appears to be an endless connection of tunnels.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Then, an alien voice speaks, describing a collection of peoples who live deep
|
|||
|
|
in the tunnels and benefit from faster-than-light travel. The aliens are willing
|
|||
|
|
to give the U.S. the secret of their speedy travel, but to gain this, America
|
|||
|
|
must send its most skilled pilot to navigate the tunnel. Eventually the pilot
|
|||
|
|
will reach a point of no return. If he makes it past that point and reaches the
|
|||
|
|
end, the U.S. wins; if he fails, an explosion will occur and America will be
|
|||
|
|
zapped.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Of course, you are the pilot, and the game begins with you at the control of
|
|||
|
|
your spaceship, looking out of your windshield into the tunnels. You can see
|
|||
|
|
various gadgets on your control panel, and the cockpit and out-the-windshield
|
|||
|
|
views are quite nice, though not out of the ordinary.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
There is quite a sensation of speed as you hurtle through the narrow tunnels,
|
|||
|
|
making split-second decisions on whether to veer left or right, and taking care
|
|||
|
|
to pick up objects that suddenly appear. Bear in mind that the game isn't a
|
|||
|
|
serious spacecraft simulator. The emphasis is on arcade action.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
To be great at this game, you'll have to develop terrific hand-eye
|
|||
|
|
coordination, and you'll really have to be able to think on the fly. You'll have
|
|||
|
|
to learn how to review your cockpit gauges, and at the same time, keep your
|
|||
|
|
attention fixed out the windshield. You guide your craft using the mouse, and
|
|||
|
|
the left mouse button fires the laser that allows your base station to track
|
|||
|
|
your progress.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Along the way, you will have to keep a sharp lookout for objects such as bombs,
|
|||
|
|
ammunition, more energy, an autopilot, and a superbooster. You won't be able to
|
|||
|
|
finish without them, and you have to pick them up by zapping them with the
|
|||
|
|
laser.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
TUNNELS runs on A500s, A1000s, and A2000s with at least 512K of RAM, and a
|
|||
|
|
mouse. There isn't any on-disk copy protection, so backup copies can be made.
|
|||
|
|
The game comes on one disk, and can be installed on a hard drive, but it also
|
|||
|
|
runs fine from the floppy.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
TUNNELS, full of splashy color and decent sound effects, is well-designed. It
|
|||
|
|
encourages newcomers to continue by allowing them to pick up where they left off
|
|||
|
|
during the first few missions. While TUNNELS appears to lack broad enough appeal
|
|||
|
|
to attract large numbers of gamers, it's a nice "sleeper" of a game that should
|
|||
|
|
be considered, especially if the price has been discounted a few dollars.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
TUNNELS OF ARMAGEDDON is published by California Dreams and distributed by
|
|||
|
|
Electronic Arts.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
|
|||
|
|
|