93 lines
5.5 KiB
Plaintext
93 lines
5.5 KiB
Plaintext
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PAPERBOY
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This game has been around a while in its arcade incarnation -- since 1984, in
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fact, when Tengen first released it. Nevertheless, it's a joy to discover it in
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a computer version. The graphics are smooth and amusing, the music soundtrack is
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snappy and cheerful (a lot like the Charlie Brown cartoon music, but a little
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funkier), and the sound effects are often hilarious and always right on target.
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It's also nice to be able to find an arcade game these days that doesn't involve
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blowing stuff up. (This review is based on the Amiga version; Atari ST version
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notes follow.)
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You're a paperboy, and your job is to deliver the morning paper to all your
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subscribers' households. Sounds like an easy task, but there are a number of
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obstacles to deal with: Dogs, drunkards, workmen, skateboard fiends, lawn
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mowers, joggers, and little remote-control electric cars all may appear suddenly
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in front of your bicycle and cause an accident. There are curbsides to watch out
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for, and if you're traveling in the street, sewer gratings will grab your front
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wheel and send you flying over the handlebars. Every now and then, there's a
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gate across the sidewalk; if you choose to ride there, you'll have to cut across
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the lawn to avoid running into it.
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So you try your best to avoid the obstacles, but meanwhile, you're supposed to
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be delivering papers, remember? Your subscribers' houses are mapped out for you
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at the beginning of each round of play. You must aim carefully to throw your
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initial ten papers into their respective mailboxes. If you miss a box -- or even
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worse, break a window -- you lose that subscriber. If you break windows of
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non-subscribers' houses, you score extra points. You can also break headstones
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in the neighboring cemeteries...what an arm! (This nets extra points, as well.)
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Along the way, you'll find piles of newspapers; you can pick these up for more
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points. When you reach the end of your route for the day, there's a practice
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screen. You have a limited time in which to net additional points by hitting the
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targets along the practice course.
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PAPERBOY is simple but pleasurable fun. There's none of the mayhem and tension
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inherent in some of the more violent arcade games, and you end each round with a
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sense of having completed a job, even when you're just starting out. If you do
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well, you're rewarded with an amusing little graphic of a local newspaper whose
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headlines celebrate your abilities; if you do poorly, those headlines will
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scream to the world that you're a flagrant dolt capable of working only at the
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local fast-food shack. The game is not very difficult in the beginning, but it
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increases in difficulty with each day (round) you manage to complete
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successfully. There are seven rounds in all; as you progress, the number of
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obstacles increases, as does the number of subscribers.
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The game requires one disk drive, 512K of RAM, and a joystick. The disk is not
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copyable, but at least you may leave it write-protected, because nothing is
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saved to disk. There are also no document checks or password systems to contend
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with. You use the joystick to accelerate, decelerate, and move right and left;
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you throw your paper by pressing the fire button.
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PAPERBOY breaks no ground in design or technical achievement, but if you
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enjoyed the arcade game, or if you'd like something for your kids that's a bit
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educational, certainly non-violent, and immensely entertaining, this is just the
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thing. The music, sound, and animation will satisfy Amiga users who have even
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the highest standards, and the reward screen at the end of each round will
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motivate players to do better next time. All in all, a nice entry in the realm
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of arcade conversions for home computers.
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ATARI ST VERSION NOTES
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PAPERBOY is a port of the popular arcade hit. Already available for most other
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computers, the overpriced, color-only Atari ST version of this hokey and
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pointless game offers fine graphics, okay gameplay, three difficulty levels,
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joystick control, and copy protection. PAPERBOY can run on any ST (including the
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Mega series), although why anybody would want to run it is so mysterious, so
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unfathomable, that one's mind shuts down for repairs.
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The ST screen display consists of a vertically-scrolling neighborhood. You
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guide the bicycle along either the street or the sidewalk, tossing rolled-up
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morning editions into the mailboxes marked "Subscriber," or through the windows
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of homes without mailboxes. You can also slam a paper into the face of a blind
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homeowner; if you don't do this, or if you steer around him, he'll run into you
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-- and when anything runs into you (or vice versa), both you and the bike
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collapse. You'll have a box on your head (who knows where it came from?), and
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after six times, the five-star final edition will insult you.
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A joystick controls play: Forward accelerates, backward brakes, left and right
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steer, and the button throws a newspaper. The Spacebar pauses, "S" mercifully
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toggles the music, and ESC aborts the game.
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The PAPERBOY program comes on one copy-protected disk. The game looks good and
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plays okay, but it's ludicrous, and a waste of ST time. There are only two games
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dumber than this one: DOUBLE DRAGON, and the action version of INDIANA JONES AND
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THE LAST CRUSADE -- either of which should give you an idea of how horribly
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bogus PAPERBOY is. Fortunately, you needn't use ESC to abort the game: Simply
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refuse to blow your hard-earned cash on it.
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PAPERBOY is published by Tengen and distributed by Mindscape.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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