92 lines
4.9 KiB
Plaintext
92 lines
4.9 KiB
Plaintext
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FIRE HAWK: THEXDER THE SECOND CONTACT
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Thank goodness for Sierra On-Line. They seem determined, almost
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single-handedly, to turn back the tide of competition that the
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microcomputer games industry is facing from dedicated video game
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machines. Instead of capitulating to the inevitable and cranking out
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games for an entirely different audience, Sierra (with a little help
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from its Japanese friends at Game Arts) is producing genuine
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joystick-twitching arcade games for PC compatibles, something you
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don't see much of these days. Unfortunately, the awkwardly titled
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FIRE HAWK: THEXDER THE SECOND CONTACT (THEXDER II, since it's a
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sequel to the earlier THEXDER) is more likely to whet the PC game
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player's thirst for a real video game machine like a Sega Genesis or
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NEC Turbo-Grafx. (This review is based on the IBM-PC version.)
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Which is not to say that this is a bad game. Far from it. If you're
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looking for a fast action arcade shoot-'em-up that you can play on
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your PC, you need look no farther than this game. But the graphics
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are bargain-basement EGA, and the sound, at least on my Sound
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Blaster, is adequate but nothing to work up a lather over. Perhaps
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if Sierra and/or Game Arts had made the decision to go with genuine
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256-color VGA graphics on this one, I'd have better things to say
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about it. But for that, we may have to wait for THEXDER III.
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The premise of THEXDER II is that space colonies launched into
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orbit sometime in the near future by an overpopulated Earth are
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under assault by mysterious magnetic asteroids. The manual sketches
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the details of this premise with comic book pulpishness -- and,
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indeed, some of the story is told in (rather crude) comic book
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form. You are sent directly into the heart of one of these
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aggressive asteroids wearing a powerful battlesuit (or, in the
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manual's terminology, "dual-mode armored exoskeleton") known as a
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THEXDER, which has the remarkable ability -- shades of The
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Transformers! -- to convert itself into what looks like a jet
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plane. Needless to say, this marvel of postmodern technology is
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armed to the teeth with guns and missiles -- and you can pick up
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more weapons, plus refills for existing armaments, as you go.
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All of this is depicted via sideways (and occasionally
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up-and-down) scrolling graphics, as you make your way -- first
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through caverns, and then corridors -- into the heart of the
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asteroid. Alien machines, both flying and crawling, fling themselves
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at you suicidally as you zap them with your armaments. Weapon firing
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is fast and furious; when in suit mode (as opposed to flying mode),
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the THEXDER can fire multiple shots in multiple directions at a
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dazzling rate. Anyone who isn't thoroughly exhausted (or suffering
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from a severe case of joystick cramp) after fifteen minutes of this
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is either very fit or very young.
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THEXDER can be played via keyboard or joystick. I found a
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combination of the two to be most efficacious, though my joystick
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kept de-calibrating as I moved; players with better behaved
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joysticks probably won't have this problem. Switching the THEXDER
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between walking and flying modes is tricky and difficult to master,
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and _staying_ in flying mode after switching into it is even worse;
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I never did quite master the technique. Shooting aliens, on the
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other hand, is pretty easy: Just hold down the fire button and point
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yourself vaguely in the alien's direction. As long as the THEXDER is
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in walking mode, aiming is pretty much automatic.
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Although the installation program offers a 256-color MCGA mode in
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addition to the 16-color EGA mode, I can see no difference between
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them; they appear to be identical. The graphics are flat and
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garishly colored, a throwback to a much earlier generation of
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games; I've seen better on the Commodore 64. Fortunately, the
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animation itself is sleek and efficient and keeps up quite well with
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the hectic pace of the gameplay.
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THEXDER II is available for IBM, Tandy, and MS-DOS compatibles with
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512K of RAM and an 8Mhz or faster processor; it supports EGA, VGA,
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MCGA, or Tandy graphics. (CGA and Hercules Monochrome are not
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supported.) Hard drive and joystick are optional, and sound is
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output via Roland MT-32, AdLib, Game Blaster, Sound Blaster, or the
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PC speaker. Both 3-1/2" and 5-1/4" low-density diskettes are
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supplied in the same box. THEXDER 2 has no on-disk protection, but
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uses a look-up protection scheme: You're prompted to type a word
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from the manual before the game begins.
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If you don't own a Sega Genesis or NEC Turbo-Grafx and lust after
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Japanese-style video gaming action, THEXDER II will probably fill
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your needs; certainly the gameplay is there. But if you want
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state-of-the-art graphics and sound, you might consider -- dare I
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say it? -- buying a dedicated video game console. At least until
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Sierra and Game Arts bring their arcade offerings into the era of
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256-color VGA.
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FIRE HAWK: THEXDER THE SECOND CONTACT is published by Game Arts and
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distributed by Sierra On-Line.
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