133 lines
7.3 KiB
Plaintext
133 lines
7.3 KiB
Plaintext
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INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (ACTION GAME)
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INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE is an arcade game from Lucasfilm, US Gold,
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and Electronic Arts. It offers crummy graphics, poor gameplay, screen flicker,
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joystick control, and horrible copy protection. This version of CRUSADE has been
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dubbed the "action" game; another incarnation, called the "graphic adventure"
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game, is also available. The only good point about this action game is that
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you're under no obligation to buy it. (This review is based on the Atari ST
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version; Commodore 64/128, IBM-PC, and Amiga version notes follow.)
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The CRUSADE action game comprises four levels, each one a scenario based on the
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movie. In Level One, you control young Indy, who must find the Cross of Coronado
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and then escape over the top of a train. In Level Two, you have to withstand
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rats and fireballs as you wander through the catacombs beneath Venice looking
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for the Crusader's Shield. In Level Three, you'll search a Nazi airship for the
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Grail Diary. In the final Level, you're to figure out the traps set by the
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Crusade knights, in order to reach the Grail and thus save the life of the other
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Doctor Jones, who has been shot.
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The ST screen display consists of the scrolling landscape of the current Level.
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In Level One, the caves of Coronado are made of ledges, ropes, and rickety
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wooden platforms. Obstacles include falling stalactites and failing light, as
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well as other grave-robbing adventurers seeking the Cross of Coronado.
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Below the action window are score, life, energy, and light indicators. When
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energy runs out, a life is lost; when all lives are gone, the game ends. When
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your torch goes out, you'll still be able to see a few moments longer, but
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you'll lose a life. Additional torches can be found along the way.
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The joystick controls CRUSADE. There are no instructions as to its use, which
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is fine because the game plays terribly. Although Indy can move left and right,
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jump, climb ropes, swing his whip, crouch, and throw a few punches, his
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performance is erratic at best.
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The CRUSADE package comes with two copy-protected disks, a newspaper that
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doubles as the instruction manual, and a pair of 3-D glasses. The back page of
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the newspaper is a calender to be used in the catacombs of Level Two, in
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conjunction with the 3-D glasses.
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I should point out that I never made it past Level One, partly because the game
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is so bogus, but mostly because of copy protection. Each time the game ends, the
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disk is accessed not only to reload Level One, but also to check for protection.
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The disk drive buzzes as it does when Psygnosis games make the drive buzz; then
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it spits out a long, wobbly raspberry -- a sound that became far too frightening
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for me to handle, especially after multiple restarts. Also, more than once, the
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words "GAME OVER" remained onscreen and the program locked up, forcing me to
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reboot.
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Graphics and animation on the ST are okay, although "okay" graphics on the ST
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should be construed as "crummy," while "okay" animation should be construed as
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"fine when the screen isn't flickering." Indy grabs his hat when he jumps left
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or right, but he jumps so high that he pushes stalactites through the top of his
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head: If this is arcade entertainment, I don't like it.
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The "action" game version of INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE is nothing more
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than money-grubbing merchandising from Lucasfilm marketing. US Gold, a talented
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and usually reliable development group, must have phoned in its code; Electronic
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Arts, well...they'll distribute anything. Go see the film a couple of times and
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avoid this package at all costs. If you must have an Indy arcade game, go with
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Mindscape's INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM. You'll be far happier.
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COMMODORE 64/128 VERSION NOTES
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INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE on the Commodore 64 is every bit as hokey as
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it is on the ST, a fact of life that knocks the ST version down yet another
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notch.
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Graphics on the Commodore are flat, dull, and uninspired; screen flicker is
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simply another facet of the game. The C64 program plays slightly better, due to
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less animation activity, but this isn't saying much.
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The C64 package is the same as the ST package. The lone disk is copy-protected,
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but in this case, it doesn't sound as if it is. There are plenty of wonderful
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Commodore games to purchase instead of INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE.
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IBM-PC VERSION NOTES
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The IBM version of INDIANA JONES comes on a single 3-1/2" diskette and two
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5-1/4" diskettes. The program is not copy protected, and can be installed on a
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hard drive. It supports CGA, EGA, and Tandy 16-color video modes. Note that the
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game screens shown on the back of the box are not from the IBM version, but from
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something better -- perhaps the Amiga.
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Even so, the EGA graphics are nice. However, screen action is relegated to a
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relatively small area: The bottom third of the screen displays the score, status
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lines, the "Indiana Jones" logo, and an ugly, low-res, black-and-white picture
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of Harrison Ford; the sides of the screen remain blank. This becomes even more
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frustrating as you quickly realize that onscreen character placement is
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arbitrary at best: Indy can punch or whip an enemy into submission without ever
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touching him. Worse, he'll fall from a rope even when he's nowhere near the
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bottom.
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INDIANA JONES supports both the IBM and Amstrad-type joysticks, as well as
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keyboard control. I preferred the keyboard because it gave me a greater degree
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of accuracy, which is crucial: You never know when Indy is going to fall off a
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ledge or bump into a stalactite.
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Playing on a 20 MHz 386 with a 512K VGA card, the graphics and action scrolled
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smoothly, but gameplay was slow. When I returned to DOS, my computer's clock was
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running 20 minutes fast, forcing an unwanted reboot.
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I was surprised by how unoriginal this game is; at best, it strikes me as a
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variant of PANGO. Although I never made it past the first level, I feel little
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incentive to continue trying to do so. There was far more frustration than fun
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involved in the "play" (and I use the term loosely).
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AMIGA VERSION NOTES
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I'd have to agree with the original reviewer of this game: It seems at best a
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movie tie-in designed to make profits from enthusiastic "Indy" fans. The
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standard arcade games available on a Sega SMS or Nintendo are all better than
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this one. The Amiga version doesn't have the scrolling problems mentioned in the
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other version reviews; nevertheless, control is frustrating and rudimentary. I
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found the use of newspaper for game instructions and copy protection
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particularly irritating; how long is newspaper going to last before turning
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yellow and crumbling to bits?
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Copy protection on INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE is extensive; not only is
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the disk copy-protected, but there's an eye-wasting look-up involved halfway
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through play requiring the use of a piece of red cellophane and the newspaper.
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Game instructions are virtually non-existent. And even the photograph of Sean
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Connery in the newspaper is terribly blurred!
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The game comes on one disk, which can be left write-protected (you are, in
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fact, encouraged to do so; high scores are not saved), and requires only 512K to
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play.
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INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE is published by Lucasfilm Games and
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distributed by Electronic Arts.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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