• Commodore Free Magazine, Issue 86 - Part 12

    From Stephen Walsh@39:901/280 to All on Sun Apr 12 11:48:34 2015

    Of course the Namco version's screen
    size is completely different than the
    VIC, so the programmer has made some
    adjustments to the layout of the game
    so it fits with the VIC's hardware.
    It's possibly not until you see the
    games side by side that you really
    realise that the screen on the VIC is
    so much different from the original.
    You know something has changed but it
    doesn't ruin the game. The tanks
    suffer a little on rotation as they
    go stubby and fat, rather than on the
    arcade where they are the same no
    matter what the orientation. Again,
    this is a limitation of the hardware
    rather than the programmer. It seems
    that most of the features of the game
    have been implemented, even down to
    how the explosions happen, where
    there is a massive bang that looks
    like it would take out a whole wall
    but then it all seems to clear away.
    Again, this is how the arcade version
    works and is mirrored on the VIC to
    look and feel the same.

    PLAYING THE GAME:

    So this is you

    You have to look after your base and
    protect

    Enemy tanks look like this

    You see what I mean about how they
    change shape with orientation

    You must shoot the enemy tanks to
    protect your base. If an enemy tank
    hits you then its Game Over. If an
    enemy hits your base again the game
    is over, but kill all the enemies and
    you go to the next level. It's
    simplistic but that's why it's such a
    great game, easy to play, frustrating
    and fun.

    SCORES

    Graphics: 7/10
    based on the conversion
    Sounds: 6/10
    Gameplay: 6/10
    it's the speed that's killed it
    Overall: 7/10
    nice conversion suffering from a
    lack of speed

    SUMMARY

    It's a great conversion and I feel
    guilty for marking it down. IF the
    speed could be improved it would
    definitely notch the score up. I can
    see the work involved in getting the
    screen to fit and the whole mechanics
    to work, again another excellent
    conversion.

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