textfiles/magazines/MISC/dgrd--03.txt

Message-Id: <9005161808.AA27690@decwrl.dec.com>
From: The Moderator <taylor%digital-games.Intuitive.Com@limbo.intuitive.com>
Date: Wed, 16 May 90 10:05:08 PDT
Subject: Digital Games Review Digest, #3
Reply-To: Digital Games Review <digital-games@digital-games.intuitive.com>
To: Digital Games Review Digest <digital-games@digital-games.intuitive.com>


                     Digital Games Review Digest, Number 3

                            Wednesday, May 16th 1990

Today's Topics:

Macintosh:			      "Omega"
IBM PC: 			    "Sorcerain"
Genesis: 			"Forgotten Worlds"
NES: 				"The Legend of Zelda"
GameBoy: 			 "Hyper Load Runner"
GameBoy: 		      "Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle"
GameBoy: 		    "Heiankyo Alien" and "QBillion"

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com (Dave Taylor)
Subject: Macintosh: "Omega"
Date: Thu May 3 11:05:28 PDT 1990

		Omega -- CyberTank Engineering for Fun

		   (C) Copyright 1990, Dave Taylor

"Good Morning.  As a new member of the Organization for Strategic Intelligence,
your first assignment is to use the neural cybertank design and simulation
system on your computer to help us create an unbeatable cyber, or automated
tank."

"We recognize that this might be a challenging task, so we are making available
to you the 200 page CyberTank Engineer's Notebook document for your reading, as
well as many other items of information and sample cybertanks for your
education."

"Since our vetting process revealed to us that you have an Apple Macintosh
computer, we have arranged for a copy of the OMEGA Mac Cybertank simulation to
arrive with this recording.  Characterized by an easy to use interface and a
complete implementation of the Cybertank "AI" programming language, it should
prove more than sufficient to get you well on the way to some tough and powerful
cybertanks."

"To further aid you in understanding, attached please find OSI Report
00234-BA-O/3, Common Questions and Answers About Omega."

"Message Ends."

Official OSI Report 00234-BA-O/3	DELTA-4 Classification

Common Questions and Answers About OMEGA

Q:  What is OMEGA?
A:  A sophisticated and well engineered high tech tank programming and
simulation program.  Based on the original CoreWars program as created in
the late 1960's, OMEGA is for those of you that like games that are more
thinking and exploration exercises than hand-eye coordination tests.

Q:  What's a CyberTank?
A:  A cybertank consists of the following elements; a chassis, including armor,
weaponry, and similar, and a tank AI module, which is the 'brains' of the tank.
When designing a tank, you can choose from a great number of different weaponry,
engine, and armor options, relative to your credit level (which is a function of
how well the tanks you design perform in combat simulation or "validation") and
then are expected to spend most of your time designing the program that "runs"
the tank.

Q:  Cybertank AI module?
A:  Let's look at an incredibly simple example:
		START
			DO SEARCH
			DO DESTROY
			BRANCH TO START
That gives us a very simple tank that can move around until it finds something
worth shooting at (an enemy tank or the enemy headquarters), at which point it
will sit and shoot until dead or the target is destroyed.  In the actual
simulation, however, you'll want more sophisticated tanks than that, like the
competition-winning AI module attached below.   Note its use of scanning and
identification of obstacles to improve the sophistication of the movement
and attack sequences too.

Q:  What does the simulator look like?
A:  Well, we can't include graphics here, but the display is typical of
the types of graphics one sees in a PC game ported to the Macintosh.
A typical display has lots of buttons, dials, and status indicators,
including, during cyber evaluation time, the following items:
	F	=	Fuel Remaining,
	I	=	Internal Damage,
	A	=	Armor Damage,
	T	=	Tread Damage,
	S	=	Scanner Damage,
	W	=	Weapon Damage,
	SL	=	Scanner Lock,
	DS	=	Defense Shield,
	LD	=	Listener Disengaged,
	T	=	Total number of battles to be simulated,
	B	=	Battles previously fought,
	S	=	number of successful battles,
	R	=	number of active Cybertanks remaining.

Q:  Do I need a security clearance?
A:  To enter the Organization for Strategic Intelligence you will have to submit
to a retina scan to verify your identity, and thereafter that, coupled with your
self-selected password, will be sufficient to allow you to enter the simulation.

Q:  Is the game fun?
A:  Something this serious should hardly be considered a game, per se, but
for the purposes of this document, yes, it is fun, and it's the kind of game
that a group of people could get enthused about and swap tank designs and
such, pitting them against each other in various simulated environments.

Q: What does the reviewer think of it?
A:  (excerpts from a classified review)

"...of the many thinking games I have for my Macintosh, OMEGA is one of the
finest, allowing my friends and I to compete for best tank design in a such a
way that we don't have to be all in th same room (with a stack of computers) at
the same time, but can still have lots of fun anyway."

"...quite playable, with the graphics - non-Mac and clearly a direct translation
from MS-DOS P being very slick.  The amount of effort that has been put into the
documentation also makes the CyberTank Engineering Notebook quite enjoyable
reading."

Q: Nothing bad?
A:  (excerpts from a classified review)

"... on the down side, it's a bit confusing to take all the steps needed to go
from a tank design to being able to create a simulation and have the tank a part
of the simulation."

"...as usual, the game only uses a Plus-size screen image, so if you have a
larger display as I do, you're stuck with it all in the top left corner.
Support for larger screens would be especially nice during combat simulation."

00234-BA-O/3   ENDS

Attachment 1:

	* CyberTank AI Module Listing by Steve Cantrell, Origin Systems

	Start
        		scanface = 1
	Scan
        		if scanface = 8 then Circle
        		scan for tank
        		if tank found then Attack
        		rotate right 1
        		scanface = scanface + 1
        		goto Scan
	Circle
        		scan for tank
        		if tank found then Attack
        		rotate right 2
        		do Movetank
        		goto Start
	Attack
        		align tank
	Looper
        		scan for tank
        		if tank not found then Start
        		if tank within range then Boom
        		if enemydist 5 then do Movetank
        		goto Looper
	Boom
        		fire at tank
       			fire at tank
        		goto Looper
	Movetank
        		detect at tank direction
        		if not obstructed then Go
        		if obstacletype = 2 then Go
        		if obstacletype 6 then Attack
        		if obstacletype = 6 then Turn
        		fire at obstruction
        		goto Movetank
	Turn
        		turn right 3
        		goto Movetank
	Go
        		move forward 1
        		resume

[ Ed. Note: the previous review was originally written for "Computer Currents" ]

------------------------------

From: nancy@mips.com (Nancy Louie)
Subject: GameBoy: "Hyper Load Runner"
Date: Thu, 3 May 90 14:10:13 PDT

Hyper Load Runner from Bandai America is based on many ealier versions of
Load Runner, including the successful Broderbund PC/Mac game.  For the
GameBoy, there are 50 levels in the game, 16 of which can be accessed
without a password.  However, even with this number of puzzles, the game
has proven to be very much a disappointment compared to other versions
that I've played.

The basis of the game is that you are a miner in a maze of brick and stone
platforms, each connected by numerous ladders, and you're trying to collect
piles of gold.  When you've collected all the gold available on a particular
level a magic ladder will appear to let you ascend to the next level.  Along
the way, you run into a number of robot-like droids that follow you and can
even carry a pile of gold.  If they run into you, they kill you.  However,
to slow them down (and to get them to release the gold that they might be
carrying) you can dig holes into the brick platforms.  By pressing the `A'
key you can dig a hole to the left, and the `B' key digs to the right.
Once they fall into the hole, you can walk over them to continue on your
search for gold, also picking up the gold that they had on them.  Be careful
though, because the holes eventually fill, and unlike the droids, if you
fall in, you're not able to climb out, killing yourself.  If, however, your
timing is good, you can kill the droids, thus hindering them as they are
reincarnated somewhere else on the level.

One of the most disappointing things is the tedium and frustration associated
with the game.  Rather than starting the game out with a somewhat easy level
to let you get used to the themes and controls, the first level is something
that I think would be more appropriate as level ten; it took three of us a
good few days to puzzle through how to solve it, and then another day to get
the timing right and succeed!  Even level two should be rated more like level
fifteen.  Many of the levels require very precise timing in order to get out
of spots where the gold is tucked away in hard to reach spots.  It requires
going over the same area numerous times in order to clear a column of bricks
and have them reform in a certain order so that you can get back out.

On the bright side, the droids are pretty stupid and will follow you just
about anywhere.  The only place that I haven't seen them follow is when
you're in the difficult corners trying to clear the bricks in a particular
order.  This comes in handy in the higher levels where you can use them to
bridge deep holes to get to the gold on the other side of the screen.

During play, only a portion of the screen is available for viewing, however
a nice feature that has been added is you can press START to pause the game,
then press SELECT to get a miniaturized overview of the entire whole level.
Since it's paused, you can stare at it for as long as you'd like...which
gives you a good idea of what you're up against.

Level sixteen is a challenge in itself, as it appears to be comprised of
multiple screens.  Once you clear the first level of the gold and get the
key at the top to go through the door, there is another screen that you're
put into.  Clearing this level puts you into yet another screen to clear.  By
the time I got to this screen, I was too bored of the game to continue further
for the day.

Overall, I wouldn't rate this game very high.  Rather than offering a high
enjoyment factor, it seems to specialize in frustration and aggravation.
Definitely try this one out at a store before purchasing, making sure to
try out numerous levels.  It's very questionable as to whether we'll be
picking this one up to play with again.

Probably a two or three out of ten.

------------------------------

From: echuang@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Ernest Y. Chuang)
Subject: IBM PC: "Sorcerain"
Date: Tue, 8 May 90 16:03:38 PDT

Sorcerian is part RPG and part puzzle.  Actually, it's mostly a puzzle.
It's similar to most RPG's in that you create a party of characters (you can
take up to four on an adventure) and take them on an adventure, looking for
monsters and treasure while trying to solve a quest.  There are 15 different
scenarios to choose from, each with its own maze and storyline.

Characters are limited in certain ways.  You can only choose from four
"classes/races": Dwarf, Fighter, Wizard, and Elf.  Dwarves are considered
as a type of fighter and Elves are considered as a type of wizard.  You can
also choose to be male or female.  The classes aren't as individualized as
I would like.  The only difference seems to be in the starting ability
scores and in what equipment the characters can use.  Wizards and Elves have
no innate spell casting ability.  All spells are imbued in magic items which
are found during adventures.  Hence any class can cast magic as long as
their intelligence is high enough; the only difference is that Dwarves and
Fighters use magical swords, armor, and shields, whereas Wizards and Elves
use magical rods, staves, robes, and rings.  Both kinds of items are found
in equal proportions in adventures and are similar in power, so there is
really no overwhelming advantage for Wizards/Elves in terms of magic besides
a higher starting intelligence.

Similarly, fighting is not limited to Dwarves/Fighters.  Any class of
character with sufficient strength can swing a weapon, be it a sword or
staff.  Dwarves/Fighters simply start with a higher strength score.

The magic system is rather unusual.  Items can be enchanted with "units" of
Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Moon, Sun, Venus, or Saturn, one "planet" for each
of the 7 ability scores (for simplicity I'm using the term "planet" to
include the Sun and Moon).  While wielding magic items, the total units
of each "planet" enchanted into your equipment will raise your corresponding
ability scores by the same amount.  Also each combination of 2 or more
planets corresponds to a unique magic spell which the item will allow you
to cast.  So there are about 120 or so different spells to choose from
(although admittedly a lot of the offensive spells do pretty much the same
thing with just a different name).

While not adventuring, your character can go to town where he has the option
of doing a variety of activities such as visiting the magician to enchant
another "planet" to one of your items, seeing the town elder to identify
unknown magic items, visiting the king the raise your level, visiting the
temple for healing, etc...  You can even visit the town musician if you
just want to hear the repertoire of music used in the game.  Characters
can also take jobs while not adventuring - different jobs will raise or lower
different ablility scores.  Time is important in Sorceria, characters will
age a year at the end of every adventure and will eventually die of old age.

Sorcerian is different from most other RPG's (i.e. Curse of the Azure Bonds,
Might and Magic, Bard's Tale, etc...) in that it is made into more of an
"arcade" game.  Each character appears as a small half-inch icon on the
screen and you use joystick/KB to make them run around the screen, up stairs,
through doors, and explore rooms.  You'll actually see your characters
shooting fireballs, summoning lightning bolts from the sky, and other magic
effects.  A lot of the spells look alike though and they're not all too
exciting.

The reason I say it's mostly a puzzle is that combat is mostly a joke.
Fighting consists of holding down a button (or two buttons if you're using
magic) - your characters will swing a weapon up and down and if there are
any monsters in front of you they will disappear if you hit them enough
times.  No fighting technique is necessary at all.  Experience from fighting
the run-of-the-mill wandering monster is very little.  Most of the experience
points come from killing the "main" monster of each scenario and completing
the quest.  For this reason, fighting is kind of pointless.

The main goal is to explore the dungeons, find items, talk to people who may
give you hints, and complete various tasks in the proper order to allow you
to progress toward solving the quest.  Each scenario has a different
storyline, and most of the quests were fairly interesting.  One gripe,
however, is that a lot of them forced you to do a lot of pointless running
back and forth through the dungeon (for instance - Minor Spoiler - in one
scenario you need four or five batches of a white powder in a certain
part of the dungeon but the source of powder is at the opposite end of the
dungeon.  You can only carry one batch at a time, so you have to keep
running cross-country to get some stupid powder).  I felt that this simply
added needless tedium to the game without adding any interest.  The scenarios
vary in length, taking anywhere from maybe 30 minutes to 2 hours to solve for
the first time, but once you've finished a scenario once and learned where
you need to go and in what order, you can solve it again in 5 to 30 minutes
(depending on the scenario).

The design quality is very good.  Graphics are excellent, requiring EGA
or better, 512K, and is compatible with sound boards -- throughout game play
there is always one of nearly 60 music themes running in the background.
I played the game with an Ad Lib music card; most of the music helped add
to the game's enjoyment, but some themes were a bit dull and unimaginative.

The game was slightly "buggy" - or if some "bugs" were intentional, then I
question how carefully the designers thought this out.  For instance you
can buy anything from the town equipment shop for 9 gold pieces and sell it
back at the end of an adventure for a LOT more (e.g. you can sell back a robe
for more than 1100 GP -- not too shabby...).  Also, enchanting a magic item
at the town magician doesn't always give you the "planet" you asked for,
sometimes you even get a planet removed.

Overall, I found the game very enjoyable the first time through, but once
you've solved all of the quests, there's not much reason to play it over and
over again since it's the same every time.

Ernest Chuang
echuang@cory.berkeley.edu

------------------------------

From: c60c-2cz@web-3g.berkeley.edu (Teh Kao Yang)
Subject: Genesis: "Forgotten Worlds"
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 90 10:03:36 PDT

Forgotten Worlds:  This is probably my favorite arcade game.  However
the game lost a lot of its appeal in the Genesis version.  The music is
still awesome, the graphics identical to the arcade.  However what
killed the game for me was that they got rid off a lot of the monsters
that were in the original arcade:  they got rid of a boss monster and
maybe even an entire level or two.  They also really skimped on some of
the neat stuff..mostly graphics wise.  What made the arcade version so
great was that there were so many different critters coming at you at
the same time and so much variety and detail that it just blows your
mind.

The Genesis version seems too short and not as exciting.  Also after
finishing it you don't really feel like doing it over again.  If you
never played the arcade, you will probably still enjoy the Genesis version.
If you have, you will probably be disappointed. It is also too easy in the
2-player mode (with contines), but ridiculously hard without continues.

	 Playability : 4.5
	 Graphics    : 9.5
	 Music       : 9
	 Overall     : 7

TehKao

------------------------------

From: Bard <24945863@WSUVM1.BITNET>
Subject: NES: "The Legend of Zelda"
Date: Thu, 10 May 90 13:48:52 PLT

There's a reason this game is a classic.  Not only does it contain
perhaps the classic quest (saving a damsel in distress), it contains
superb execution and smooth playing.

As a player, your task is to guide the diminutive Link in his
quest to rescue a princess and kill her captor, the evil Gannon.
During the course of your adventure, you explore the 128 screens
of the Overworld, and experience the nine dungeons.  There are
monsters to fight, and people to meet in every corner of this
well thought-out fantasy land.  The greatest challenge lies in
finding the objects and information needed to finish the game.

Before the confrontation with Gannon, it is necessary to gather
the eight pieces of the Triforce.  Each fragment is hidden at the
farthest reaches of the first eight dungeons and is guarded by a
ferocious monster.  Some monsters can only be killed by a specific
weapon hitting them in a specific spot several times.  That's what
stopped me at the end of the fourth dungeon, nothing I did to the
dragon seemed to hurt it.  Fortunately, after a posting to Games-l,
several people offered advice on how to kill the blasted thing, and
now it rests in pieces, slain by my sword.

My search for the items needed to reach the Tri-force fragments
has taken me to all corners of the Overworld, looking for people
giving away(or selling) information.  The game is complex, even
master gamers can expect to sink quite a bit of time into playing.
Others, like myself, can find a game dragging on for months as playing
time is scheduled around classes, work, and sleep(I recently started
a new game in my attempt to finish the quest, and things are going
much faster).  The save game and continue options are a literal
Godsend.

For the more technical aspects, play control is excellent, though
a little fussy at times.  I've found playing with a joystick is easier
than playing with the controllers that come with the NES base.  In
terms of game design, theme, and execution, Zelda gets high marks.
Like good adventure games, Zelda mixes arcade action(fighting monsters)
with a unifying quest that gives the game a point beyond seeing how
many Blooger Beings from the Planet Zarkon a person can blow up in
one session.  Since Zelda was one of the first NES games, the graphics
are not as detailed as say, the graphics in Contra.  But, in my opinion
that does not detract from the game itself.  And, for those who thought
the quest was over, try starting a new game, using the name 'Zelda'.

Rating:  **** +

Stephanie Manke
24945863@WSUVM1.BITNET

------------------------------

From: Dave Taylor <taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com>
Subject: GameBoy: Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle
Date: Tue, 15 May 90 2:18:46 PDT

Upon waking up this morning, we, Bugs Bunny Esquire, find that our
dearest Honey Bunny, bunny girl friend and general pal, has been
kidnapped and dragged through to the further reaches of the dreaded
Crazy Castle.  Not being a rabbit that shuns our familial duty, we
promptly dash to the front door and bang on it until it swings open
to reveal...

"Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle", for the Nintendo Gameboy.  Distributed by
Kemco-Seika Corporation, this game is one of the first for the GB
that uses easily recognizable non-Nintendo characters.  Indeed, it
represents one of the first licenses of the popular Warner Brothers
cartoon characters Bugs Bunny (who is celebrating his 50th birthday
this year), Wiley Coyote, Daffy Duck, Sylvester and Yosemite Sam.

The premise of the game is common to many other video games, and
thankfully not based on real life; your girlfriend has been kidnapped
and to rescue her, you need to fight through bad guys and puzzles to
get through the game.  At the end, hopefully, you'll be reunited with
her and live happily ever after.

Bugs is a real-time puzzle game (e.g. things keep moving and if you
turn away you'll get caught) where you move around on each horizontally
and vertically scrolling area to collect all the carrots.  Problem is,
there are a lot of rascals around (all the other Warner characters, each
of which tends to have a different level of intelligence in their
movement (or so it seems!)) and you need to evade them while you're
zipping about collecting carrots.  There is no time limit on any of
the levels and completion of each level results in another password
which can move you directly to that level again when you resume the
game later.

Being a tough bunny, Bugs can easily jump off of platforms and land many
floors below him (of course, the pesky rascals are just as tough and can
also survive the falls...) and indeed each level is made up of a variety
of ladders (which you can either climb or walk past), steps (which you're
forced to walk up/down), pipes (which you pop into and then travel through
to wherever it lets you out -- often offscreen and with lots of rascals
hanging around the exit!) and elevators which take you from level to level
like stairs, but with the ability to pass rascals en transit.  In fact,
a crucial realization in the game is that you can actually ooze past bad
guys while moving along a tube or in an elevator without them attacking
you there.  Since each character in a pipe causes the pipe to distend
just a little bit, it makes for some amusing graphics when you're, say,
moving from right to left and you see another distortion travelling
towards you, through you, and past you!  Of course, it also spells big
trouble when you notice one zipping along right behind you!

The game has 80 different levels of varying complexity, and indeed I
think that they did a good job of gradually building up to some of the
more difficult and time consuming levels.  On the down side, though, I
remain confused over the fact that the booklet 1. says that there are
only 60 levels (and the GamePro review claims 58 levels!) (maybe the
rest are magic bonus levels?!) and 2. talks about "no carrot" signs
that are bad news to touch, but *never showed up* in the entire game
when we played it!  Since they're supposed to warp you to bonus levels,
it's rather disappointing that they seem to be missing.

Perhaps the greatest disappointment in the entire game was solving the
final puzzle and, instead of getting a happy reunion of Bugs and Honey
Bunny, we simply are treated to the legend "Congraturation! [sic]  You
are Good Player".  Bah!  The end graphic movie in Super Mario Land is
incredibly better and definitely worth the effort to get to it!!

Overall, though, even with the loser endgame and the lack of "no carrot"
signs, this is still a fun and amusing puzzle game, with the added appeal
of the popular Warner characters.  One other down side; it's addictive
and pretty easy, all in all, so it might not take you more than a week or
two to complete the game (Ric B. says he did it in 5 hours, and Nancy L.
in about 8...it took me a week or so) so it might be a good purchase for
a group of friends to pass along to each other after solving all of the
levels...In any case check it out!

		Graphics:  7 of 10
		End Game:  0 of 10
		Music:     8 of 10
		Fun Level: 9 of 10

	   Overall Rating: 8 of 10
							-- Dave Taylor

------------------------------

From: Dave Taylor <taylor@limbo.intuitive.com>
Subject: GameBoy: "Heiankyo Alien" and "QBillion"
Date: Tue, 15 May 90 15:02:30 PDT

Two new games that we've gotten within the last week that are quite cool
are "Heiankyo Alien" and "Q Billion", from Meldac and Seta, respectively.
They're both puzzle games, though quite different from each other, and
both seem engrossing.  So far Heiankyo is my favorite of the two, and
Q Billion is my SO's favorite...

The premise of Heiankyo is kind of similar to both Lode Runner and Boomer's
Adventures in Asmik Land (which we *also* have now!) in the sense that you
are placed on an edge constrained level and must kill the roaming monsters
through digging holes (using "A") and then filling the holes in (with "B")
when the aliens fall into them.  Lode Runner, however, has the further goal
of collecting all the gold dust (and solving the timing-critical (actually,
I think I'd rather say timing-pain-in-the-arse) puzzles of how to get to them)
while many of the bad guys continue to be regenerated, and Boomer has the
goal of finding the key that will allow you to get to the next level, as
well as the added wrinkle of hidden (buried) loot and goodies.  In Heiankyo
Alien, however, all you need to do to advance to the next level is get rid
of all the bad guys on the current level.  Problem is, the borders of the
level you're on aren't constant -- there are buildings that appear to waver
in and out of existance over the course of a 5-20 second cycle, and of course
when they're not around the aliens (and you) can zip through where they
were...

What's most interesting about Heiankyo is that the cartridge actually
contains two completely different implementations of the "aliens overrunning
the town" puzzle; the so-called "OLD" game has what I could only describe
as early-1970's style block graphics, with much less appeal, yet a much
higher degree of challenge (for example, in the old, or classic, game, if
you're in the middle of digging a hole and an alien hits it, it simply
vanishes, but in the new game partially dug holes will detain the alien
for a period).  When aliens are flaiing about in a hole, as with Boomer,
another alien coming along will help it out, so you need to be very
careful of what's going on around you on the screen!

Retrospectively, Heiankyo Alien seems like a subset of Boomer, but
somehow, having both of them, I find Heiankyo more enjoyable, perhaps
because there is less complexity to worry about; you simply scurry
about and try to kill the evil aliens.  No confusion about finding keys,
worrying about which weapon you're holding, or anything of that nature.
Another plus with Heiankyo Alien is that it's a very well produced
game; not only are the graphics and audio slick (with the obvious caveat
that the old game looks like a veritable video antique) but between
certain levels scrolls roll out and little shows are played out on the
screen.  I figure that as the game progresses that the shows will
improve to the point of being quite interesting in a few hundred
thousand points!

My top score to date on this game is approximately 55000 in the new
game, and, uh, about half that in the old game, which is much harder.
One thing that I really like about the old game, when I'm in a sufficiently
masochistic mood, is that if you don't kill the aliens in a certain amount
of time, the game will suddenly go into double speed with lots more aliens
popping on the screen.  That's really amazing; it all becomes a blur and
you basically just cross your fingers and dig like mad!  Quite fun.

Q Billion, on the other hand, is a more sedate puzzle game vaguely in
the same vein as Ishido, if anyone is familiar with that (btw: Nexoft
people tell me that Ishido will be on the GameBoy within a few months!!)
In Q Billion you're Mr. Mouse and your presented with progressively
difficult stacks of different height tiles.  The rules are simple enough
in the game; you can push a tile off if you're adjacent to it on a pile
that is one tile lower in height.  Tiles with patterns on them (like a
star, circle, or square) can be removed by pushing them around until
you form one of a number of different four-tile patterns.

Again, this game is broken into two parts, the first being straight, no
time limit puzzles.  In this mode there are, I believe, 120 different
levels and, very worthy of note, the first level or two has an actual
on-screen tutorial presented, which will quickly teach you some of the
basic moves required to solve the harder puzzles (like if you've a
3-stack, a 2-stack, and a bunch of 1's, you can move the ones around
so that you create a 1 high "pathway" to move the '2' along until it's
adjacent to the 3-stack, at which point you can hop on it and push the
3-stack down to a 2-stack, and then to 1 stacks).  I think that the
addition of this tutorial is a fantastic innovation and I strongly
encourage other game developers to check it out!!

In the 'b' game things get more complex, since you now have much more
complex puzzle setups, the addition of a 100 second timer to solve
them, *and* you have a premise for solving them too; you're playing
a giant game of tic-tac-toe against the computer (or a videolinked
friend) and to win a square in the board, you need to solve the
puzzle it presents in the time limit given.  This is very tough!!

One thing about the QBillion interface that I've found quite
confusing is that the designers overloaded the "B" key so that it
means "take away this set of blocks" and "undo my last move".  I
seem to continually get into spots where I end up doing my moves
over and over again because I accidentally press the "B" key at
critical moments.

In Summary

If you're into puzzle games, then I recommend both of these highly;
in different ways they're both engrossing and enjoyable, and I
certainly expect both carts to get a lot of use in my house!

	QBillion:
	   Graphics:	6 (though the mouse animation is cute)
	   Sound:       4
	   Playability: 6 (the double meaning of the 'b' key is quite confusing)
	   Fun Factor:  8
	      Overall:  7

	Heiankyo Alien:
	   Graphics:    8 (even the old game is kinda nostalgic...)
	   Sound:       9 (very catchy theme tune while playing)
	   Playability: 7
	   Fun Factor:  8
	      Overall:  8

						-- Dave Taylor
Intuitive Systems
Mountain View, California

taylor@limbo.intuitive.com    or   {uunet!}{decwrl,apple}!limbo!taylor

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End of Digital Games Review Digest
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