& LIGHT-YEARS! - TRS-80 Color Computer Archive

arcade game, Powerplay com
bines solid graphics with rea
sonably accurate gameplay to
produce a contest that's espe
cially fun between two players.
The problem is that hockey is
one of the most difficult team
sports to simulate properly,
but EA has managed to cap
ture a good part of the feeling
of a game always on the verge
of chaos.
128 Only
Here's some good news for
Commodore 128 owners. If
you bought your 128 under the
impression that 128-specific
software would be plentiful
and quick to arrive, you've
probably been quite disap
pointed. One of the 128's ma
jor selling points is its total
compatibility with the 64, a
point that's worked more
against the 128 than for it: Be
cause the 128 is also a 64, there
is very little reason for publish
ers to develop software tai
lored specifically for the 128.
Berkeley So'ftworks (2150
Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley,
California 94704; 415-644-
0883) is one of the publishers
that has made its packages
available for the 128.
GEOS128. geoCalc!28. geo-
Fiiel28—all have been re
leased for the machine, with
considerable appreciation by
128 users. Each program costs
$69.95. Timeworks (444 Lake
Cook Road. Decrficld. Illinois
60015; 312-948-9200) is anoth
er publisher with a strong line
of 128-specific products, offer
ing Word Writer 128 ($49.95).
Sylvia Porter's 128 Personal
Financial Planner ($49.95),
and several other packages
available in different versions
for the 64 and 128. For many
companies, though, the 128 is
given only lip—or, in ihis case,
boot—service. A few games
autoboot on the 128, but other
wise they are no different from
the 64 versions.
Some new packages add
to the 128-specific category,
though. Free Spirit Software
(58 Noble Street, Kutztown,
Pennsylvania 19530:215-683-
5699) has recently released
three titles, all exclusively de
signed for the 128. in fact.
54 C O M P U T E I
COMPUTE!. „
specific
these packages go so far as to
require not just a Commodore
128. but a 128 with a mouse,
the 64K video RAM chips,
and an RGB monitor. In other
words, you need a top-of-thcline
128 or, better still, a USD.
The 128D already has the vid
eo chips in place, and many of
these computers are sold with
the 1084 monitor. All three
programs support the 1750
RAM expansion unit and the
1581 3'/:-inch disk drive.
Spectrum 128 ($39.95) is a
paint program complete with
an interlace option for those
who own multisync monitors
or high-persistence monitors.
The package lets you draw and
color several classes of
shapes—boxes, circles, poly
gons of various kinds, spheres,
donuts. cylinders, and spools.
You can adjust shading and
lighting, and you can work
with individual pixels. You
can access 16 colors in high
resolution and 128 colors in
low resolution.
Sketchpad 128 ($29.95) is
a drawing program that uses
the 128's video capabilities to
let you draw smoothly curved
objects. Rays, boxes, circles,
arcs, and lines are available,
and you can load Print Shop
graphics directly. The Lock
command is a strong feature
lhat saves your picture to
memory while you experiment
with it and then lets you bring
it back intact if you wish.
News Maker 128 ($29.95)
is an easy-to-use desktop pub
lishing package designed for
newsletters, signs, posters, and
the like. The package includes
almost 50 fonts and five preset
page formats with different
column layouts. Using pictures
from Basic 8.0 or The Print
Shop, along with text created
on a notepad, you can pour
words into columns and wrap
ihem around graphics.
Because the company sup
ports the 128's superior capabil
ities and because its programs
aren't copy-protected. Free Spir
it deserves commendation.
But Berkeley Softworks
isn't left out of this 128-specif
ic discussion. Following close
on the heels of version 2.0 of
GEOS for the 64 comes ver
sion 2.0 of GEOS 128. The
same improvements found in
the Commodore 64 upgrade
have made their way to the
128 version, geoWrite 2.1 and
geoPaint are more powerful
packages, with more impres
sive features. GEOS now in
cludes geoSpell for accuracy,
geoMerge for mail-merging,
gcoLaser for printing on an
Apple LaserWriter, and Paint
Drivers for converting nongraphics
files into geoPaint
format.
In other words. Berkeley
has answered the criticisms
made by the host of GEOS
users. Given the 128's 80column
mode and its larger
memory, GEOS becomes a su
perior product. The program's
added support of the 1750
RAM expansion unit and the
1581 disk drive make GEOS
128 a serious productivity pro
gram. Even the problem of sys
tem lockup, which some users
have complained about with
the original GEOS, seems to
have largely disappeared.
— Nell Randall
School kids know this crimi
nal. She's been followed by
more children than the Pied
Piper. Carmen Sandiego, infa
mous star of Where in the
World Is Carmen Sandiego?
(as well as two sequels, Where
in the U.S.A.... and Where in
Europe... ), has been eluding
students for years, all the while
teaching them about geogra
phy, history, and cultures. But
now Broderbund's popular
educational scries puts on a
finer set of clothes for the Ap
ple IIgs. A IlGS-specific Where
in the World Is Carmen San
diego? works like the original
but looks so much better that
it's a crime if you have to play
the old version.
The plot remains the
same: Track down one of Car
men's minions (or Carmen
herself) by using clues scat
tered around the globe. You
search for evidence, decide
where to investigate next, and
jet from city to city in your
pursuit of these pilferers of na
tional treasures.
Carmen's success has al
ways depended on tricking
children into thinking that
they're having fun when actu
ally they're learning about ge
ography, culture, flags, and
more as they practice using a
reference book (Where in the
World... puts the 1989 World
Almanac in the box). The IIgs
version of Where in the World
Is Carmen Sandiego? retains
this trait and adds terrific
graphics, mouse support, and
pull-down menus to make
learning even more fun.
Although the graphics are
a peripheral part of gameplay
(they simply illustrate your
present location), their quality
ups the ante in Apple educa
tional software. More impor
tant to the pursuit of Carmen
and her gang, however, are the
dossiers on disk and the pro
gram's mouse support. The
mouse makes menu selection
simpler, and with the gang's
files on disk, kids hardly need
to crack open the documenta
tion to pinpoint the guilty
party.
Where in the World Is
Carmen Sandiego? retails for
$44.95. For more information,
contact Bredcrbund at 17 Paul
Drive, San Rafael, California
94903; (415) 492-3200.
Dinosaurs in Town
Kids and dinosaurs are nearly
inseparable. Take a quick peek
into most kids' rooms and
you'll find at least one dino
saur. Classrooms aren't im
mune, either, posters and
stickers of the terrible lizards
are everywhere. Computer
software publishers haven't let
this fascination of the little for
the large go untapped. From
Designasaurus to Dinosaurs
Are Forever, educational soft
ware packages have made