70 lines
3.9 KiB
Plaintext
70 lines
3.9 KiB
Plaintext
|
||
|
||
HEAT WAVE
|
||
|
||
HEAT WAVE is a boat race simulation from Accolade. Subtitled OFFSHORE SUPERBOAT
|
||
RACING, HEAT WAVE offers good graphics and race animation, six courses, four
|
||
superboats, practice mode, joystick control, and copy protection. The Commodore
|
||
64/128 version is the basis of this review.
|
||
|
||
Although there isn't much to it, HEAT WAVE comes across as a decent package,
|
||
even if you don't put any value on the public figures (Don Johnson, Malcolm
|
||
Forbes, George Bush) who have taken to superboat racing. It probably won't fill
|
||
the gap between now and the time you become rich enough to purchase a 40-foot
|
||
superboat with 1300-horsepower Lamborghini engines, but it looks good and it's
|
||
easy to learn and play.
|
||
|
||
There are six courses: four of them in and around the shores of Miami, one in
|
||
San Francisco Bay, and another in the Mississippi River. There are four boats:
|
||
the Don Johnson Special, the Cougar Cat, the Warlock Catamaran, and the Top Gun
|
||
Cigarette. Both course and boat are selected from the Main Menu, where you can
|
||
also register for a race, make a pit stop, practice a course, enter the time
|
||
trials, attend the Driver's Meeting, watch a demo, start a race, and check the
|
||
Winner's Circle, which keeps track of the ten fastest times.
|
||
|
||
The only time you can make a pit stop is before the race begins, and it is this
|
||
option that lets you fuel your boat and stock up on spare parts (shafts and
|
||
propellers). Practice mode lets you race any of the boats on any of the courses,
|
||
without the pressures of qualification or competition. After you've selected a
|
||
course and a boat, you must enter the time trials; you must also run the trial
|
||
course in record time in order to qualify for the real race. Assuming you do
|
||
qualify, you can then choose to race.
|
||
|
||
The C64 screen display consists of the vertically scrolling course, which is
|
||
marked off by buoys. There is scenery in the background. Below the course is the
|
||
control panel of your boat: compass, clock, tach, speedometer, temperature and
|
||
fuel gauges, trim and bilge indicators, and starter.
|
||
|
||
There are also three status key indicators: Navigation, Time Sheet, and Damage.
|
||
When an indicator flashes, you can see what's going on by pressing the
|
||
appropriate number key. Navigation will show you where you are on the current
|
||
course; the Time Sheet records your times as you pass marker buoys and keeps
|
||
track of time lost through penalties; and Damage lets you change broken shafts
|
||
and propellers (if you have spares), tells how much gas you have left, and lets
|
||
you disqualify yourself -- which is what you'll have to do if you run out of gas
|
||
or if you can't repair your boat.
|
||
|
||
HEAT WAVE is controlled with a joystick and a few keystrokes. The stick
|
||
accelerates and brakes, and turns left and right. As a boat approaches its
|
||
maximum speed, it all but flies over wavetops, and it is the trim adjustment
|
||
(hold the button, move the stick) that smooths out the ride. The Return key
|
||
starts the engines; the Tab key kills the engines; the Spacebar pauses;
|
||
keystroke B activates the bilge pump; and Control-Q (or Disqualify from the
|
||
Damage screen) sends you back to the Main Menu.
|
||
|
||
The HEAT WAVE package comes with one disk that's copy-protected, an instruction
|
||
manual, an American Power Boat Association sticker, and an APBA application
|
||
form. There is no save option.
|
||
|
||
HEAT WAVE looks good on the C64: The graphics are bright and clear, and race
|
||
animation is smooth. The joystick works fine as a controller, the game plays
|
||
easily enough, and at the Driver's Meeting, you can get answers to questions
|
||
concerning boat capabilities. Basically, HEAT WAVE is a road race simulation;
|
||
the difference is that the road is liquid. And that's all there is to it. It
|
||
might help to think of the package as 24 separate games -- six courses, four
|
||
boats -- but don't expect to have a lot of trouble with any of them.
|
||
|
||
HEAT WAVE is published and distributed by Accolade.
|
||
|
||
*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
|
||
|