| ★ AMSTRAD CPC ★ GAMESLIST ★ SKATEBALL (c) UBI SOFT ★ |
| A100% | Amstrad Action |
In the steel drome, two evil cyborg mutants face each other. The arc lights glint off their armour plated bodies. Between their steel skates is a ball bearing the size of a football. Skate Wars is not just a game. The (misshapen) lives of the players are at stake. The bout starts. The silver player, Remistar, slams into his opponent, Mandrax. Both are sent flying. Mandrax is up first, and gets to the ball. He slides across to the enemy goal. He is hit from behind with sickening force, but manages to slam the ball in before he meets the steel wall. It's a goal! What they are playing is a sort of football on ice. There are no rules, and the play can get as violent and physical as you want it to be. Each team has three players and a goalkeeper. Only one player per team is in the rink at any one time, so it's one-on-one combat for possession of the ball. You have three-dimensional control of your player, who can also kick, using the fire button. Kicking is not just reserved for the ball. You must bump and barge your opponent to get to his goal, frequently knocking him off his feet. He does the same to you. Slam the ball past the armoured keeper into the steel chute, and your already hysterical supporters go berserk.
Five goals gets you to the next level. Here the rink has obstacles to bounce off, rather like a bar-billiards table. It is very satisfying to slam your opponent's face into one of these, and watch him collapse onto the floor. So far, you'll have been playing to win. Later rounds introduce the struggle for your very survival. The rink has large rectangular holes in the floor. If your player falls, or is knocked dowm one of these, he dies. If your remaining men survive they get to fight (rather than play) on a rink with touch-sensitive mines on it. These spiky objects kill you just as efficiently as the holes. Often during these later matches you end up fighting and kicking your opponent nearer and nearer to a mine or hole; the ball forgotten somewhere else on the rink... Those who have seen it will certainly be thinking of the movie Rollerball. The idea is very similar, but without the large teams or mopeds. Even the idea that it starts off with just nasty fouls and ends up with complete on-rink armageddon is mirrored. The futuristic cyber style of the game is certainly reminiscent of the film. You can play against the computer or another player. The computer sometimes lacks the killer instinct that makes us humans so superior when it comes to inflicting destruction, so it is usually possible to win by playing dirty. By far the most enjoyable scenario is when you play against another human. The distinctly aggrieved feeling you get when your friend (enemy?) has just knocked you down to get the ball back right outside his goal can only be matched by the feeling of savage elation you get when you smash him into a mine, killing him instantly. Brilliant! The graphics are great. Large, smooth-raov-ing characters who look as though they mean business. There is an echo of gladiatorial combat with the game, and the armour worn by the assailants heightens this. The movement is fine, with the joystick being a distinct advantage over the keyboard in two player-mode. Steel plates line the sides of the arena, and the goals look indestructible. At the bottom of the screen the remaining players are depicted, just waiting for the current combatants to die. Each player has a name, like Mandrax, Genghis or Zaxx, which adds to the atmosphere. They have differing toughness levels too -some are easier to bash into submission than others. The option also exists to change the names of the teams, so if you have a favourite cyber-name, you can use that. Unfortunately, sonics let the game down slightly; no incessant tunes or silly noises, but no hard and brutal thumps either. There is well over-the-top cheering for goals, however. The only other fault with Skate Wars is that it might not offer enough variety in the long run. The rink itself doesn't change, even though more and more deadly furniture is added. Also, it is necessary to play through the first three or four levels in which no one is killed to get to the real bloodthirsty action. That aside, though, it's a goodie. FIRST DAY TARGET SCORE : Kill your first opponent James 'Moonpie' Leach , AA |
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Page créée en 282 millisecondes et consultée 8254 fois L'Amstrad CPC est une machine 8 bits à base d'un Z80 à 4MHz. Le premier de la gamme fut le CPC 464 en 1984, équipé d'un lecteur de cassettes intégré il se plaçait en concurrent du Commodore C64 beaucoup plus compliqué à utiliser et plus cher. Ce fut un réel succès et sorti cette même années le CPC 664 équipé d'un lecteur de disquettes trois pouces intégré. Sa vie fut de courte durée puisqu'en 1985 il fut remplacé par le CPC 6128 qui était plus compact, plus soigné et surtout qui avait 128Ko de RAM au lieu de 64Ko. |
