91 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
91 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
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RENEGADE
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RENEGADE is a street-level martial-arts game from Taito Corporation. A port of
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the arcade and Nintendo hit, RENEGADE offers good graphics, decent gameplay,
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joystick control, and copy protection. The Atari ST version is the basis of this
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review; Commodore 64/128 and IBM-PC version notes follow.
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RENEGADE has the misfortune of being a clone of one of the dumbest (and surely
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one of the most imitated) games in arcade history, DOUBLE DRAGON -- a
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mysteriously popular non-epic that consists mostly of running around and jumping
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up and down like an idiot. In RENEGADE, you can move but you can't run; except
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for two leaping kicks, you can't jump, either. Regardless of these shortcomings,
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you'll still have to engage in brawls with punks in the subway, the Angels of
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Death biker gang on the pier, Big Bertha's marauding street bimbos, and a pack
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of skinheads led by the gun-toting Mr. Big. Should you get past the game's five
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levels, you'll meet Lucy for a quick love encounter before starting over.
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The ST screen display consists of the particular city area (subway, pier,
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streets, warehouse hideout). It scrolls left and right as you move, but only so
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far, and the current gang of onscreen thugs has to be dispatched before going to
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the next level. You must lambast all assailants with punches and kicks. Knock
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them down and they'll disappear; two knockdowns usually does the job, although
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Big Bertha's babes need extra motivation, no doubt due to their daytime aerobics
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classes. The gang leaders can take more punches than a speed bag, and won't
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enter the fray until you've destroyed all but two or three of their
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henchpersons.
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You start with three lives and eight energy blocks. Each time you're decked, a
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block of energy vanishes; when all the blocks are gone, so is a life. The gang
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leaders also have eight energy blocks, which means they must be knocked down
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eight times. Killing all assailants, or just the leader, sends you to the next
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level.
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RENEGADE is controlled with the joystick. The stick alone allows movement in
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eight directions; with the button pressed, the stick invokes three kicks and six
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punches, four of which ("crouch and punch") are used to finish off a fallen
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assailant. "F1" toggles the music; "F2" pauses. The RENEGADE package comes with
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two copy-protected disks and an instruction manual.
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RENEGADE does deliver some arcade action, although it's difficult to imagine
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anyone over the age of 12 being really interested. The graphics are okay but
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unspectacular. Basically pointless, RENEGADE suffers from a marked lack of
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fighting maneuvers. Even the ludicrous DOUBLE DRAGON had greater variety; the
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moves were useless (what with all the running and jumping), but at least they
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were available. RENEGADE's strategy -- if strategy is the right word -- is
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simple. Since there isn't much to playing RENEGADE, buying it cannot be
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considered a sane consumer activity. And besides, GAUNTLET II is the Arcade Game
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of the Century.
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COMMODORE 64/128 VERSION NOTES
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I know it seems impossible, but the Commodore 64 version of Taito's RENEGADE is
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even more bogus than the ST version. The graphics are only fair, even by
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Commodore standards, though they aren't that much worse than those of the ST.
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The strategy, such as it is, is the same; the joystick works the same; my
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opinion is the same: Buy a different game.
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IBM-PC VERSION NOTES
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The IBM version of RENEGADE runs on any IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, Compaq, Tandy
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1000, or 100% compatible computer. Taito supplies the game in both formats: Two
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5-1/4" and one 3-1/2" diskettes are included. The program supports CGA, TGA,
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EGA, VGA, and Hercules 720x350 monochrome graphics modes; unfortunately, it only
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displays in one resolution (320x200). The AdLib sound board and Tandy 3 Voice
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Sound are also supported. RENEGADE requires 512K of RAM and DOS 2.1 or higher.
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It uses a key-disk protection system.
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Two eight-page manuals are included in the game package. The first describes
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how to load the game, set video and sound drivers, install the game on your hard
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drive, and run the game from each device. (To install RENEGADE on your hard
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drive, Taito supplies an Install utility.) The second manual describes
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operational details. When beginning the game, you're presented with a series of
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menus regarding graphics mode and sound devices. However, there are command-line
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parameters that allow you to bypass these menus, if you wish. Also before
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gameplay, you can calibrate your joystick, run a demo, read the instructions on
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how to play the game, exit to DOS, or redefine the keyboard.
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I played RENEGADE in CGA, EGA, and VGA modes. CGA display is, of course,
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limited to four colors at a time; everything looks bland. EGA and VGA modes
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appear identical to each other. The graphics are okay, and more colorful in the
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higher resolution. The sound, on the other hand, is terrible on a standard IBM
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speaker.
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Despite the choppy graphics, RENEGADE can be fun to play, but it's a bit slow
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at 12 MHz.
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RENEGADE is published and distributed by Taito Corporation.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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