89 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
89 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
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FLOOD
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FLOOD is an arcade game written by Bullfrog Productions and published by
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Electronic Arts. It offers fine graphics and animation, excellent sound
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effects, 42 levels, password feature, joystick control, and copy
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protection. The Atari ST version is the basis of this review, and you'll
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need 512K, a color monitor, and a 720K disk drive. The double-sided game
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disk can be read by a single-sided drive but the title sequence and opening
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music will be missing.
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Bullfrog's first effort, the incredible POPULOUS, won lots of awards and
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landed on many Top Ten lists. Unfortunately, Bullfrog has either exhausted
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its supply of brainpower or wasted too much time listening to Jeff Healey
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and Metallica jams: Little more than a game of ladders and platforms, FLOOD
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tags the Bullfrog team with the sophomore jinx. The best part of FLOOD is
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the digitized sound, which is most excellent. FLOOD looks and plays okay,
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even though level changes occasionally caused the game to bomb out.
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The main character is Quiffy, the lone survivor of a race called
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Blobbies, and his sojourn into upward mobility begins when he learns that
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the caverns in which he lives are flooding. The object of the game is to
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guide Quiffy through the 42 levels and reach the surface. On each level you
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have to collect trash, deal with various creatures, and find the end of
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level teleporter, which will transport Quiffy to the next level.
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The ST screen display consists of the cavern for the current level, which
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scrolls in the cardinal directions based on Quiffy's movements. Below the
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action display are oxygen and life force bars, and score and trash
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counters. When Quiffy goes underwater, he loses oxygen, causing the bar to
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shrink. When oxygen is gone, the life force bar starts to shrink, and when
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it is gone, Quiffy will lose one of his three lives.
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The trash counter counts down as Quiffy collects trash, and when he's
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collected all that he must for that level, he must locate and enter the end
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of level teleporter, which is not to be confused with the in-level
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teleporters that zap Quiffy to another part of the current level.
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Weapons include grenades, flamethrowers, delayed-action dynamite, and
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boomerangs. Items include barrels, cocktails, orange cans, and parachutes.
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Creatures include the ghost of Quiffy's aunt (no kidding!), psychotic teddy
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bears, sparkling fungi, bulbous-headed Vongs, and vacuous gombos. Most of
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these creatures aren't particularly clear when they are onscreen.
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FLOOD is controlled with the joystick. The stick moves Quiffy
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directionally, but in an oddball way: He kind of falls on his face then
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stands upright and walks. He also sticks to and walks on walls and
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ceilings, and swims. The button fires the current weapon, which is not
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carried over to a new level. Keystroke "P" invokes the pause feature; "R"
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restarts the current level, knocking off a Quiffy-life in the process.
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The FLOOD package comes with one 720K disk that's copy-protected and
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readable by 360K drives, and a poster-size instruction sheet. There will be
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a documentation check. Technically there is no save option; some levels
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have a question mark which, when you guide Quiffy over it, provides a
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password for that level. Enter this password when you reboot and you can
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begin play at that level.
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FLOOD looks as good as any ladders and platforms game and it plays easily
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enough with the joystick. The digitized sound effects are most notable: The
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clinks and clanks, exaggerated drips and flowing water, occasional voices,
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and explosions are all clear and distinct. Repetitious sounds or a series
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of different sounds jam up the speaker, cutting them off early and letting
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you "hear the loop." This "looping" effect isn't necessarily Bullfrog's
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fault: the speaker in the ST's monitor is the problem, and not inefficient
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coding. Quiffy's ability to walk on walls and ceilings is most helpful,
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especially with the flood thing happening.
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Bullfrog knows how to program an ST, and I'm not at all knocking the
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group's individual or collective talents. I do have a question, though: At
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what audience is FLOOD aimed? Five-year olds, unless they're exceptionally
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quick with a joystick -- playing Nintendo 18 hours a day doesn't mean
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anything -- will promptly become neurotic and have to live out the
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remainder of their lives in quiet desperation; fifteen-year olds are more
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interested in VIGIJERK or RENEGEEK; and adults, well, only Satan knows what
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they want and in any case it can't possibly be FLOOD.
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FLOOD reminds me most of SKATE OR DIE, not because of any similarity
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between the two but because the intended audience for each game puzzles me
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greatly. No skateboard thrasher would be caught dead playing SKATE OR DIE,
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so I could never figure out who the game was written for. FLOOD seems too
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difficult for youngsters and anyone older than that is going to sneer at a
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character named Quiffy who comes from a race of Blobbies. However, based on
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the great success of POPULOUS and the obvious talent of the Bullfrog group,
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FLOOD deserves a playtest.
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FLOOD is published and distributed by Electronic Arts.
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