97 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
97 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
|
|
|
|
CRASH GARRETT
|
|
|
|
CRASH GARRETT is an illustrated, animated adventure from Patrick
|
|
Dublanchet and Infogrames. Made in France and available through the
|
|
Antic Catalog, CRASH offers excellent graphics, animation, and sound
|
|
effects, fully-realized characters, wild sight-gags, keyboard
|
|
control, a save-game option, and a most wonderful sense of humor.
|
|
The Atari ST version is the basis of this review.
|
|
|
|
Not only is CRASH GARRETT flawlessly designed, great fun to watch,
|
|
and a pleasure to play, it is the coolest game in the world.
|
|
|
|
The setting of CRASH is pre-World War II America, circa 1938. The
|
|
plot concerns sinister Nazis, tattooed Arabs, beautiful women, "Hot
|
|
from Hollywood" columnist Cynthia Sleeze, and a lurid plan to create
|
|
Hitler's master race.
|
|
|
|
Tough and bumbling, Crash is a formerly shady character (bootleg
|
|
liquor, smuggled guns, and gang wars) gone straight. He's a
|
|
combination of Indiana Jones and George (of "George of the Jungle"
|
|
fame), with a variety of facial expressions and verbal wisecracks.
|
|
These days, with friend Grease Flanagan, Crash runs an air-taxi
|
|
business based in Hollywood.
|
|
|
|
While snooping into the suicide of film star Lana Torride, Cynthia
|
|
and Crash stumble into a nest of Nazis, led by the repulsive Baron
|
|
Engel Von Krul and the sadistic Gestapo officer Helga. This
|
|
fanatical group plans to kidnap beautiful women -- Lana Torride, for
|
|
example -- and use them to create for "der Fuhrer" the blue-eyed,
|
|
blonde-haired master race. Your goal as Crash Garrett is to foil the
|
|
plot and save the world.
|
|
|
|
The Atari ST screen displays a low-res picture of the current
|
|
location. Medium-res pictures of the characters overlay the location
|
|
shot. Text in cartoon balloons allows the characters to converse,
|
|
crack jokes, and threaten each other. The pictures slide around the
|
|
screen as the characters pace, as they enter or leave a room, as
|
|
they stagger from too much booze, as they dodge bullets. "BAM!,"
|
|
"POW!," and "ARGGHH!" appear when guns are shot, when fists
|
|
connect, and when pain becomes too much to bear.
|
|
|
|
Crash suffers from a lingering problem that has plagued him since
|
|
he recovered from a coma: He needs someone to tell him what to do.
|
|
He'll look at you and ask: "Now what?" or "What next? You'll enter a
|
|
command in the message area at the bottom of the screen; on its
|
|
acceptance, a new scene will unfold through dialogue and action.
|
|
When the scene is complete, Crash will again turn to you for help.
|
|
|
|
Crash has eight reservoirs of power for use in tense moments; these
|
|
are invoked with the "$" rather than the usual "Return" key that
|
|
validates a command. He can also carry as many as eight of the
|
|
objects that can be found during the game.
|
|
|
|
Like most adventure games, CRASH is controlled from the keyboard,
|
|
through which commands are entered. If Crash doesn't understand, or
|
|
if he cannot perform the requested action, he'll let you know with a
|
|
change of both facial and verbal expressions.
|
|
|
|
Games in progress can be saved on the program disk (this is not
|
|
recommended), or on a formatted disk. The game package is in
|
|
French, comes with two mini-floppy disks, and doesn't support
|
|
monochrome monitors or a second disk drive. (Antic now has a store
|
|
in CompuServe's Electronic Mall, via which CRASH can be ordered.)
|
|
|
|
Because of its cinematic design, CRASH GARRETT is one of the
|
|
easiest games to play. The command processor might seem limited in
|
|
its vocabulary, but it isn't: Precise wording, as opposed to
|
|
convoluted syntax, works well. What's more, editing features,
|
|
command shortcuts, and picture manipulation are completely
|
|
unnecessary: The niftiest parts of CRASH are in the game, not the
|
|
interface. I can't recall a game of this nature integrating
|
|
pictures, text, and screen action in so smooth and entertaining a
|
|
fashion.
|
|
|
|
Dialogue is humorous, spiced with sophomoric jokes, wise-guy
|
|
remarks, and lewd innuendos; the general story text is literate, and
|
|
advances the plot admirably. Dialogue and picture movement form
|
|
silly sight gags. Fists slide out of slots on the screen and connect
|
|
with jaws. Slaps, gunshots, and propeller noises are heard. The
|
|
characters are so real and the dialogue is so realistic, you can all
|
|
but hear the emotions in their voices.
|
|
|
|
The title screen features a 1930s big-band instrumental that is so
|
|
accurate digitally, it might have been lifted directly from a
|
|
scratchy 78 R.P.M. record.
|
|
|
|
CRASH GARRETT is the coolest game in the world.
|
|
|
|
CRASH GARRETT is published by Infogrames and distributed by ANTIC.
|
|
|
|
*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
|
|
|
|
|
|
|