141 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
141 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
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TANK
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TANK is Spectrum HoloByte's simulation of modern armored warfare, the first
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installment in their Electronic Battlefield System. That system promises to one
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day allow gamers to command a number of different vehicles on one cohesive
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networked battlefield. An exciting prospect, but for now the question is: How
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well do these simulations stand on their own? The best way to answer that in
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this case is to compare and contrast TANK to its closest rival, the
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widely-acclaimed M1 TANK PLATOON from MicroProse. (This review is based on the
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IBM-PC version.)
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A TANK game begins by selecting one of 15 missions in three different theatres:
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Fort Knox (training), Central Europe, and the Middle East. The five missions in
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each theatre are connected in theme but not in execution. There is not, as in M1
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TANK PLATOON (hereafter M1), a campaign game where each mission outcome
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influences subsequent missions. Offsetting this is the increased complexity and
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detail of TANK's missions. M1's missions are generated by randomizing several
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factors -- terrain, enemy and friendly forces, starting positions, time of day
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-- to create more variety between them. The price you pay for such variety is a
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rather simplistic mission structure. TANK takes a different route by giving you
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a limited number of rich and extensively developed missions.
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After choosing a mission, you may select a difficulty level, time setting, and
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control method. Difficulty level affects primarily the amount and accuracy of
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information that you have available during gameplay, while the third and highest
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level also increases enemy skill and AI. M1 is comparable in this area. The time
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setting's greatest impact is of course on visibility. Night time provides an
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element of stealth, but since it gives the same thing to the enemy, the type of
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mission being undertaken has to be considered here. M1 makes a random
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determination of its time setting. Finally, keyboard or joystick control can be
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selected. Unfortunately, Spectrum has shown its accustomed inability to write
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satisfactory joystick drivers. Control is jerky and frustrating at best, and
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totally infuriating at worst. This is in direct contrast to MicroProse's usual
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smooth joystick controls in M1.
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Moving to the armament screen allows you to load each tank platoon with your
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preferred split of HEAT and Sabot rounds. M1 allows you to set this for each
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tank, rather than by the platoon.
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Once the mission has begun, you may elect to play the game in a number of
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different ways. If you enjoy the strategic side of things, an entire mission can
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be played from the Operations map. This map shows the topography of the region
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by using different colors to indicate varying ground levels. It also shows all
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friendly forces in their respective locations, as well as any known enemy
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forces. Commands are issued by moving through numerous levels of menus and
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submenus activated by single key presses.
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This is where gameplay first starts to break down. The organization of these
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menus is unnecessarily complicated, and moving through all of them in the heat
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of battle can be a bit frustrating. Making matters worse is the sluggishness
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with which the game accepts key presses. Apparently the keyboard is not being
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polled often enough, and the result is that more often than not, it takes
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several key presses before the game recognizes a menu selection -- and there are
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plenty of selections to make. From this screen, you can: set movement paths for
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your tanks (the ability to set multiple waypoints is a big advantage over M1);
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control their speed and formations; call in air support; recon flights or
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artillery; and obtain current intelligence information on enemy troops. You can
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also zoom in and out on the battlefield, although movement of the zoom box is
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another exercise in frustration.
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Remaining at this operational level, however, will deprive you of the single
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finest element in the game: the 3-D polygon-fill graphics. Due to the slow
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frame-rate required by a tank simulation, Spectrum was able to create 3-D
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landscapes that really convey a sense of "being there." There are no flat
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battlefields here, and that's a big plus over M1. The only negative side to the
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graphics is the limited choice of colors in the EGA palette. You see these
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graphics from a number of different perspectives.
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In what is the closest similarity to M1, you can move between different tanks,
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and within those tanks, between several positions that your crewmembers occupy.
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At all of these positions, it is possible for you to take an active role in the
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game. From the driver's screen, you can take control of the tank itself; from
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the gunner's view you can select and fire on targets, etc. By doing so, you may
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reach the lowest level of the game -- that of the individual. But if such
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arcade-like exercises don't interest you, the computer can handle these routines
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adequately. In fact, that's probably good advice, since the interface
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difficulties extend to these sequences as well. Driving the tank is not too
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difficult, but aiming the gun is all but impossible.
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On a more general note, the tactics and strategies required to succeed in TANK
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are quite accurate. The major omission in this area is that of infantry.
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Infantry is a critical element of modern tank warfare, and it is conspicuous in
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its absence here. M1 _does_ implement infantry.
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A mission can end either when all of your forces are destroyed or immobilized,
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or when you attain the mission objective(s). The latter will yield a score,
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referred to as a "FitRep" or "Fitness Report," the top five of which are
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recorded for each mission. This score is determined by a number of factors,
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including difficulty level, timeliness, and number of friendly forces remaining,
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but it's generally a bit nebulous considering the time and effort that goes into
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playing a mission. And speaking of time, TANK has _no_ time compression feature.
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This has become something of a standard feature in this gaming genre, and is
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sorely missed here. Waiting for things to happen in real-time can become quite
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tedious.
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Development work on TANK is continuing, with several features being added and
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changes made based on early users' suggestions. Version 1.1, which was available
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for this review, adds a command to align the hull with the turret, a highly
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useful command that M1 provided. Gun stabilization was a problem with early
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versions, but has been corrected now. A new scoring system shows a detailed
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breakdown of friendly units remaining intact and enemy units destroyed, along
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with their associated point values and a brief comment on your performance.
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Joystick controls have been improved, but are only marginally better than the
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original. Mouse support has also been added, but it's not implemented very well.
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Spectrum provides these updates of the program to registered owners either free
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(for those having problems with bugs and such), or for a reasonable charge.
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TANK requires an IBM or compatible, with either a 286 or 386 microprocessor,
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and 640K of RAM. More significantly, the disks included in the package require
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either a 1.2Mb 5-1/4" or a 720K 3-1/2" floppy drive; 360K floppy disks can be
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obtained with the "Disk Exchange Coupon," but the game cannot actually be played
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from 360K disks: You must install the program onto a hard drive if you only have
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360K drives. However, there's no copy protection at all on TANK, so a retailer
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willing to do so could transfer the files to 360K disks. Graphics are EGA only,
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and joystick control is supported.
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Incidentally, it's possible to play TANK head to head with another player, via
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modem or direct connection. That feature wasn't tested for this review, but
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reports are that it doesn't work very smoothly, and that it's quite limited in
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scope.
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So which game do I recommend? M1 TANK PLATOON, without a doubt. And that's
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unfortunate, because the potential in TANK is tremendous. However, the
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realization of that potential requires a lot more development time. Moreover,
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the major obstacle to enjoying TANK is its interface. This is becoming an old
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story with Spectrum HoloByte. They need to take a look at how top game
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publishers handle their interfaces and put some more emphasis on this in the
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future.
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As it is, TANK's interface gets in the way of the game itself. Good interfaces
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allow the player to think about what's going on in the game, rather than _how_
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to execute specific actions. M1, with its keyboard overlay and smoothly
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responsive controls, is excellent in this regard. With so many other aspects of
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gameplay being similar or identical, it's easy to see that M1 is the more
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engrossing and playable simulation of modern tank warfare.
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TANK is published and distributed by Spectrum HoloByte.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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