107 lines
5.4 KiB
Plaintext
107 lines
5.4 KiB
Plaintext
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CAPTAIN BLOOD
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Welcome to the galaxy created by CAPTAIN BLOOD. It contains an
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incalculable number of stars, nearly 33,000 planets, 14 distinct
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alien races, and, unfortunately, CAPTAIN BLOOD. The "Captain" is not
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really a captain. And "Blood" is quite misleading because he's very
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nearly out of that precious fluid. This admittedly confusing set of
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facts comes together in the unique and intriguing role-playing
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game, CAPTAIN BLOOD. (This review is based on the Amiga version.)
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Blood's galaxy came into existence on his personal computer: Blood
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is a programmer and the author of computer games. For one such
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game, he created a galaxy and named it "Hydra." In addition to the
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features listed above, he gave each alien species distinct
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language, customs, and disposition. Some of these populations were
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at peace, while others were at war with one of the other races. He
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devised an inter-species, icon-based communication system called
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"upcom," and other technological nifties. He then capped the whole
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thing off with a hero -- a protagonist for the drama -- whose role
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would be that of the person playing the game.
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Along the lines (I suppose) of Lord British, who enjoys placing his
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own identity within his ULTIMA masterpieces, Blood named his hero
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"Captain Blood." Obviously Blood was a far better programmer than he
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was a debugger, for when he ran his program, he found it
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sucked...sucked him right into the Hydra Galaxy! Blood is now flying
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the spaceship he designed among the stars and worlds he programmed.
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But Blood is not exactly himself: The program, for reasons unknown,
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created five additional Bloods, each copy taking some of the real
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Captain Blood's vital fluids.
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The five clones are scattered throughout Hydra, and Blood needs to
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find them to regain his juices within several real-time hours. In
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order to locate the five copies, he must use his own "upcom"
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communication system to converse with the 14 races he created. As
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the clock ticks down, Blood's ship's computer is gradually replacing
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body parts with bionic bits. If this is allowed to continue, Blood
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will lose control over his body, and, ultimately, his humanity.
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This game is simply fantastic! Learning to use the upcom is a real
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challenge requiring many hours of linguistic exercise before
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progress can be made. Once there is communication, Blood will have
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to bargain and deal in Hydra's political jungle. A pencil and paper
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for taking notes during exchanges with the aliens is recommended.
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Some aliens will require your services before they give you
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information. You may need to rescue, kidnap, or destroy in order to
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satisfy the creatures. Your ship is capable of annihilating an
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entire planet, so you're not exactly without clout in Hydra. Your
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goal here is to learn the coordinates of each of the planets on
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which the clones are hiding. Each time a clone is recovered, your
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available time is increased. Once the clones are found and Blood is
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no longer in danger of becoming mechanized, there is still the
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problem of returning home.
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The sound and graphics are terrific. The interior of Blood's ship
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is made up of strange, techno-organic mechanisms: that is,
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everything is either a living mechanism or a mechanized organism.
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These are rich in detail, and are colored in deep shades of blue. At
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the controls you see Blood's arm; as time runs out, it slowly
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mutates into a less easily controllable robotic arm. On the ship's
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view screen, planets and stars shine with an unnatural light. While
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moving through hyperspace between the stars, the screen explodes
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into brilliant rainbow displays (which may be skipped over once you
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decide you've seen them often enough).
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The aliens Blood meets also abound in detail and imagination. He
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communicates with them using an "Oorxx." The Oorxx are creatures who
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make their eyes and ears available to Blood. They enable him to
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carry on his conversations with aliens as though he were down on the
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planet, even though he remains in his ship. However, the Oorxx must
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be guided to the planet's surface. This involves a brief arcade
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sequence in which you maneuver them through canyons on the planet's
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surface. The technique for doing this takes some practice, but it
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soon becomes effortless; the flight through the canyons is hypnotic
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and almost dream-like.
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Sound effects in the game are everywhere and are of the same high
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quality as the graphics. The ship's engines sound as if they're
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about to disintegrate during hyperspace travel. The Oorxx, as well
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as the aliens on the planets, make species-distinct noises when they
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speak or yell. Most impressive is the game's title-screen music,
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programmed by noted electronic composer Jean-Michel Jarre. (Atari
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owners may recall that Jarre composed the music for his albums on
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the ST.)
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There are so many reasons for recommending CAPTAIN BLOOD, I doubt
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I've covered them all. It is indeed rare for a game so rich in
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graphics to be such a winner when it comes to game play. This is a
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twist on the "Emperor's New Clothes" syndrome that applies to so
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many programs on the market: This time, the Emperor really does
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dress royally.
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CAPTAIN BLOOD requires 512K on the Amiga and is played almost
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entirely with the mouse. It uses only one disk on the Amiga, but
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other versions are distributed on two disks. A formatted diskette is
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required to save games.
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CAPTAIN BLOOD is published by Infogrames and distributed by
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Mindscape.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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