Conference hydra::amiga_v1

3750.0. "Game Review: Typhoon Thompson" by CRISTA::CAPRICCIO (Krusty was framed!) Fri May 04 1990 03:59

          Typhoon Thompson in Search for the Sea Child (Broderbund)

    For Amiga models 500/1000/2000 with 512K (1Mb for stereo sound),
    Kickstart V1.2 (or higher) and a mouse. Comes on a single, copy
    protected disk (non-standard boot code). Suggested retail price: $34.95.

    This is what I'd call one of the better shoot-em-up games. You (as
    Typhoon Thompson) are sent to an uncharted ocean planet to rescue the
    only survivor of a lost intergalactic passenger transport; a small
    child. Trouble is, the inhabitants of this place, frog-like creatures
    known as Sea Sprites, have adopted the child as one of their own. The
    Sea Sprites inhabit small island "villages" on the ocean water's
    surface but attack by riding in strange machines called "Flyers", left
    behind by a former race. You control a "Jet-Sled" that can maneuver
    above and below the surface of the water (being underwater protects you
    against some Flyers). You start out with only a Laser Cannon, but you
    are aided by the "Spirit Guardians" from the planet, which give you a
    limited amount of additional weapons (as well as lives and Jet-Sleds
    should you become departed from either) and direction. Your basic
    objective here is to blast at the villages (or just wait around long
    enough) to send the Sea Sprites airborne via the Flyers. Then you must
    avoid and blast the Flyers (some deadly, others just a nuisance), thus
    dislodging the Sprites and sending them into the drink. When stunned in
    this manner, you can scoop up the Sprites from the water but only while
    they're stunned. Once they regain composure, they dash, in frog-like
    leaps, back to the villages. If they make it back, they can man
    additional Flyers and the fun starts again. Once all the Sprites in a
    village are captured, you can trade them at the "Treasure Dome",
    located at the village's center, for an artifact which you return to
    the Spirit Guardians for additional weapons, lives, and objectives.
    After you gather all the artifacts (four in all), you set out in search
    of the child, as directed by the Guardians.

    The action is fast and dizzying and the 3-D animation is superb. While
    the background is rather plain (water as far as the eye can sea ;^)
    there's even animation in it, in the form of ripples; as if fish were
    feeding at the surface (sorry, that's the only way I can describe it).
    There's also a colorful horizon which seems to darken as you progress
    through the levels, as if the sun were setting. The sound is an awesome
    stereo (well, stereo on a 1Mb machine; mono on a 512K) and the effect
    is great; you can hear the Flyers as they buzz around behind you. The
    opening screens and demos are great too; in fact, even the in between
    animations are hilarious, for example if you surface from being
    underwater or get blasted by one of many different types of Flyers.

    The things I like best about this game are that you have an unlimited
    number of shots per weapon (and you can select from all the weapons
    available at a particular level), unlimited fuel for your Sled, and
    there's no time limit. This may seem wimpy for some, but for wimps like
    me, its great! Also, this allows the younger folks to enjoy the action
    at the lower levels without getting too frustrated. My 6.5 year old has
    a great time playing or watching (although watching someone else play
    makes you even more dizzy). I can hear her now; "Git that frog, git
    that frog!". The control panel at lower part of the screen displays
    number of lives, number of sleds, islands won/Sprites captured, elapsed
    time and a "finder" in case you get lost. And its relatively small, so
    it doesn't obscure the view. Maneuvering and shooting control is mouse
    only which I originally thought would be a disadvantage, but it really
    gives you superior control and fairly rapid firing. Game control is
    done via F1-F10 and the ESC key. There's also a high score facility.

    The only downsides to this game are you can't save a game, and at the
    upper levels things start to slow down when there's a lot of Flyers
    buzzing around and Sprites in the water. The latter is probably more my
    fault than anything, since I'm the type who shoots wildly at anything
    that moves. This is bad at the higher levels 'cause you have multiple
    Sprites per Flyer and stray shots trigger more and more Flyers. This
    makes for a slight lag in Sled response and shooting (maybe making an
    030 justifiable 8?), but definetely keeps things interesting! These are
    only very minor nits, however. The rest of this package make up for it.
    For example, the manual (while small) is very well written and complete
    and while copy protected, Broderbund offers a disk replacement policy
    (after the 90 day "free" replacement warranty) for $5.00 plus $2.50
    postage and handling.

    Overall rating: 9.5 out of 10

    Pete

    P.s. The package says,

          "The Deluxe Version of the Classic Action Game, AIRHEART."

         That means nothing to me; anyone have a clue?

    YES BUT IS THE B..... SCROLLING JERKY??????????
    
    -Rog
    

    The scrolling in this game is the fastest,and smoothest I have ever
    seen on the amiga. That is why you get dizzy watching someone else
    play. The graphics are also very good.an over all rating would have
    to Place it at least 8 on a scale of 10,and this is a conservative
    rateing.It just may be to fast paced for many people.reminds me
    of the arcade games that used to take all your consentration to
    play.
    							bill

    Re: .1

    The only side effect I've seen so far, is that when you get to the
    higher levels and *if* there are a lot of flyers buzzing around and
    sprites in the water. Then, the response time (and the animation)
    slows down considerably, but I wouldn't call it "jerky".

    Re: .2

    Sorry Bill, I'll have to stick with my original overall rating of 9.5
    out of 10. ;^)
    
    Pete