69 lines
3.0 KiB
Plaintext
69 lines
3.0 KiB
Plaintext
UNREAL
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UNREAL, a fantasy arcade game by UBI Soft, is aptly named,
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what with its smooth game play, breathtaking two- and three-
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dimensional graphics, a brilliant musical score and lifelike,
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digitized sound effects. This one is a winner.
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But be prepared to have a quick trigger finger ready. There are
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creatures, goblins and fiendish traps all over the place, and
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while the level of difficulty isn't impossible to manage, it will
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take a considerable amount of patience and determination to
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finish all eight levels. (This review is based on the Amiga
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version).
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In this one-player game, you are Artaban, and your task is to
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capture your princess, Isolde. She has been taken by the evil
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Master of Darkness, and if you do not reach her within 21 days,
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she shall be forced to marry him.
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The Master of Darkness has used his awesome powers to create
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havoc on the planet of UNREAL, and you'll have to navigate some
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treacherous terrain. Armed only with a magical sword, you'll
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begin your search by clinging to the back of a friendly dragon as
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he whisks you through the sky. Later, you'll cross through
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dangerous forests and even battle snow, ice and harsh winds that
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will have you teetering on the edge of cliffs.
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It's typical, nonstop arcade fun all the way, but there are
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some kindler, gentler aspects to the game. Some arcade games are
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so difficult that the casual gamer is tempted to give up after
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only a few tries, leaving the game to collect dust on a
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bookshelf.
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The designers of UNREAL seemed to realize that when they built
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in a training mode. When you character is killed, the game
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automatically changes to a training mode. You're allowed to
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resume where you left off, with the training mode providing the
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opportunity the opportunity to practice the moves you'll need to
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successfully complete that area.
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The training feature alone should be enough to draw arcade fans
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to UNREAL. That feature plus the ability to save your position
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three times suggests that most players should be able to finish
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the game if they stay with it long enough, although the higher
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levels clearly are for more advanced gamers.
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Those features are only a part of what sets UNREAL apart from
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other arcade games. Chances are you'll marvel at the sound
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effects, such as the crackle of flaming logs and the rushing
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waters of a river. In one scene, I could hear birds chirping
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through my left speaker, the splash of boulders landing in the
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creek through the right speaker.
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Those are all nice touches that make the decision to try UNREAL
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an easy one.
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UNREAL, which has on-disk copy protection and cannot be
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installed on hard drives, will work on Amiga 500s, 1000s and 200s
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with at least 512K memory, but it will not work on accelerated
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Amigas. If you Amiga is equipped with a 68020 or 68030
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accelerator, you'll have to return to the stock 68000 mode to
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play. Amiga 1000 users must use Kickstart 1.2 or 1.3. The game
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comes on three disks, but excessive disk swapping isn't a
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problem.
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UNREAL is published by UBI Soft and distributed by Electronic Arts.
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