93 lines
5.5 KiB
Plaintext
93 lines
5.5 KiB
Plaintext
THE DREAM TEAM Review
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Whenever I play a review copy of a game, I pull out a stack of 3 by 5 index
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cards. As soon as I think of something that I might want to say in my
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review, I write it down on a single line of the card. Usually, I have very
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few facts; most of my review is written from my memory and opinions. But,
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after just five minutes of playing THE DREAM TEAM (which is a three-on-three
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basketball game), I already filled four of these cards with nothing but
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negative comments.
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Normally, I don't get upset with installation programs. But of course,
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this one was an exception, or I never would have said anything in the first
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place. There are a total of 5 low-density 5-1/4" (360 K) disks, although
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3-1/2" disks are available in a separate package or from Data East for an
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additional fee. Somehow, the designers managed to put over 200 very short
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files over these disks. The game installation program is nothing but a
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batch file with the COPY command in it, so it is extremely slow (since it
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has to access the floppy at least one time per file). Unfortunately, due to
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the way DOS stores files, many small files take up much more space than a
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few larger files with the same information. In terms of THE DREAM TEAM,
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this means that 1.3 megs of data can take over 2 megs on a hard drive. There
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is no reason that the game has to use so many files, and it is hard to
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believe that anyone would even consider using so many for a game so small.
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But, unfortunately, the problems with this game have just begun.
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There is no way I could ever fit all of the information on my index cards
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into one review, so I will just have to point out a few of the "highlights"
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of the game. THE DREAM TEAM features a fairly standard manual look-up
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routine for its copy protection; you have to find the score given at the
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bottom of a certain page. But, when you get ready to type in the correct
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answer, there's no way to back up in case you make a mistake, and the
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program doesn't even echo your input as you type it in. Also, even with
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off-disk copy protection (and no on-disk copy protection), Data East will
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not provide any back-ups or replacement copies of the game after the 90-day
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warranty has expired.
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THE DREAM TEAM does run in VGA mode, and does support the AdLib card. The
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program outputs any attempts at voice synthesis through the standard PC
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speaker; no provision is made to use a Sound Blaster or other DAC. Owners
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of faster machines will have to adjust the speed of the sound before playing
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if they wish to hear anything that is being said (assuming that anything can
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ever be understood). There is no way to change the volume, and the sound can
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only be turned off by returning to the setup menu (after pausing the game).
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Additionally, the display is cluttered. The player under control is
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indicated by a colored patch by the feet of that player. In a three-on-three
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game, other players may "step" on the patch, making it very hard to find the
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controlled player, except through trial and error.
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THE DREAM TEAM might have still held a bit of promise if the controls were
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not so pathetic. After all, it does let you role play as famous professional
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players. But the shooting percentages are very unrealistic. In practice
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mode (which is just an opportunity to learn the controls), it is nearly
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impossible to make a shot. However, in a real game, a 2-point shot will
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almost always go in, no matter how far away the shot is from or whether the
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player is being guarded. True, pros do have high shooting percentages, but
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not so high under more difficult conditions.
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However, the worst part of the game is in trying to get a loose ball or
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rebound. You must position your player exactly in the proper location, or
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else he will not get the ball; there is almost no margin for error. However,
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it can be nearly impossible to interpret a two-dimensional image to figure
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out how high the ball is and where it will "land." So, you can forget about
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going for rebounds for loose balls.
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There is also a play editor, but you can only keep four out of sixteen
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plays active at one time. You must also create your plays by combining a
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limited number of individual player rotations. And, finally, you must call a
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play before passing the ball, even if you don't want to call one. The
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players without the ball follow their play rotations religiously, and never
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make an intelligent effort to get open for a pass.
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For some of the selected minor complaints, selections at the menus can only
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be made through the keyboard arrows, regardless of what controller has been
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selected. The manual hardly explains general rules for basketball. And
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there is no way to turn off the sound or exit to DOS without starting a new
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game and pausing it. I could go on for a few more paragraphs with picky
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little comments like this, but there would be no point.
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Obviously, the programmers paid little attention to overall design, leaving
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plenty of little holes and a few very large holes in THE DREAM TEAM. With
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the exception of a few big name stars on the package, and possibly some of
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the graphics, this game contains nothing that couldn't be done by shareware
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programmers. In fact, many shareware programmers could write a much better
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program with hardly a thought. In case this matters, I could find no
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mail-order company or store that sold this game, although this should come
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as no surprise to anyone who has seen the game. I can't even give THE DREAM
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TEAM a qualified recommendation to the most dedicated fans of basketball,
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much less to the average game player.
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