Computer + Video Games - Commodore Is Awesome

The people who brought you
Summer Games l
and mention Winter I L , Games, in a
nstunningly o t bold and creative move,
now bring you World Games!
t
The
o
game takes you on a whistlestop
tour of the world touching
down at eight locations as far afield
as Scotland, Russia and Mexico.
As with its predecessors, WG
relies on professional production
and slick graphics. But the formula
is beginning to wear a little thin,
Although the graphics are
undoubtedly pretty and some of the
events fun to play, others quickly
become boring and are, quite
A year ago C-1- VG carried a world
exclusive when they were the first
to publish extracts from the diary of
a Little Computer Person (LCP),
living inside their Commodore 64.
Since then L.CPs have been
discovered in a number of other
machines includinv the Amiga ;ITU1,
frankly, an insult to anyone tt Ito
can get past the "wooden" level in
(Iridium!
Barrel Jumping is a case in
point. Set in Germany, this event
involves skaters competing to jump
over the most barrels in a single
attempt. By moving your joystick
left and right, accelerate your skater
towards a line of barrels and press
fire to jump into the air.
Then pull down on the joystick
just as your skater is about to land.
When long jump and speed skating
came out in earlier Epyx sports
games that was one thing, but
barrel jumping is purely a
now it seems, the ST.
For the uraitiated. LC1's were
first discovered on June 1st 11185
by David Crane (of (hostbosters
Fame) and a musician named Rich
Gold.
Both had suspected the existence
sonifIlliniz ,T I n , in their
combination of the two, set against
a slightly different backdrop.
The average gamester in this
country deserves something a little
more "radical" before parting with
125 even if there are eight different
events on this two disk set.
'There is no doubt, though, that
devoted Epyx sports fans will still
find things in World Games to noh
and aah about, and the game is not
without its good points.
But I think, for most people, this
theme is getting a little tired and
Epyx do seem to be squeezing the
very last drop out of the recent
craze of sports simulation.
One of these is that is less likely
to have your trusty joystick
cringing in the corner as only three
of the eight events — Caber
Tossing and Barrel Jumping, and
Log Rolling— rely to any large
degree on "stick waggling", and, in
the case of Log Rolling, more skill
and less blind speed is required to
keep your man from falling off the
log.
Although difficult to get the
hang of, Bull Riding is also good
fun, offering enough variation to
keep you coming back for more
bruises! Having chosen which bull
you want to ride, you find yourself
astride more than 2000 lbs of
muscle whose sole aim in life is to
omputers after repeated and
inexplicable glitches (that's bugs to
you and I) continuously cropped up
in their code. But it wasn't until a
-
HCrane
that the first sightings were
made.
o
Now YOU can buy a "House on
a uDisk"
for your ST, and
experience s your very own 16-bit
e 1.C.P. The package conies with a
deed o of ownership for your house, a
14 page glossy magazine covering
such n diverse subjects as LCP's
a t toting rights and political leanings,
and D a guidebook full of tips on how
to
i
treat Your little friend.
s
Compared with the Commodore
original, the ST conversion of LCP
is k better in some areas but,
surprisingly, " it scores badly on
animation w and sound effects,
get you off his back!
Using the joystick to offsq
bucking and spinning N M , :!
you score points fo a n d
length of ride. ' ferocious
the bull t he -
tit will er you stay on that is!
yourp
practi nice which touch allows here is you the • 7 : 1
o i n t s
control you tall can the get 1_0(1. o w wof the i bull t hso I•r m o
y
various movements.
Other events in the pa
find will you weightlifiting with our
Russian comrades, diving off a
Mexican cliff, on the Piste in
Chamonix France bra spot of
slalom, and Sumo wrestling with
400 lbs of Japanese blubber — a
sort of Way of the Papioding
Waistline!
The St game is an enhanced
version of the 64 version currently
getting rave reviews in the
Commodore mags. Maybe ST
owners expect more?
Although World Games has its
high points, it is to be hoped that
the undoubtedly talented
programmers at Epyx don't go the
same way as the Ultimate group
who languished in the doldrums of
creative stagnancy for so long after
having been at the top of the tree.
Come of Epyx. Even Stallone gave
up after Rocky
where it mattered.
Instead he walks far too s
with feet sliding on the
like a hundred oth
sprites and he
talking tf
wit
e he is
b covered
paper!
her cute touches have
been lo e coversion; firstly
the little fe hands no longer play
the piano in dole ;he music
but randomly bob up
like a bad mime artist_
Secondly, when my I.CP (c
Michael) wrote me a
-saddened
to see I was not to be
treated letter, to the sight I and sound of his
typewriter carriage moving along
the w paper a sand
zooming back at the
start of each new line.
Even though you can play a
larger selection of games ,
a The graphics of the house are A
mini-chum
ith y
who
o
lives
u r
in a
great. They've been redesigned to
take
s
graphically impressive house, you
advantage of the ST's superior may be better advised to look at
graphical d capabilities. With I.CP on the Commodore 64 rather
meticulous e attention to detail, each than shell out f25 for the 16-bit
room s has been outfitted %t ith every version,
rood
i
con an LCP could dream of,
, -yen the clock pendulum swings!
g The house graphics represent a
significant n improvement over the
C64 e version, but the sprite
;Jnimation
d
and slam(' effects do not.
In
b
some cases they are worse than
the original, a crime when you
think y of the increased power at the
pri)grantmers• disposal.
In fact it is those tiny
he - spring details in the LCP's step when
he walks and the cute way lir talks
l i k e
that are sadly missing from this
version which could, indeed
should, have been so much better
NEXT ISSUE David Bishop will be
reviewing yet more ST games, like the
exciting Goa Miet clone from Epy*
called Rogue. Hell also be taking a look
at the long-awaited Star Trek game and
the incredible Gnemowore products
from MindscapeL All will be revealed in
,
l
u
s
t
2
8
d
a
y
s
,
SIDFCTACI ILAR