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- ======================================================================
- AMIGA POWER Issue #35 coverdisk (.ADF/PAL) March 1994
- ======================================================================
-
- So, just the one coverdisk this issue. By next month we probably
- won't have any at all, then the month after that YOU'LL have to start
- sending US disks full of the best in demos and PD classics. See how
- you like it then. Yeah. (Look, just tell them what's on the damn
- thing. -- Ed)
-
- Introducing disk 35...
-
-
- STATIX
-
- This has to be the most original twist on an old puzzle-game theme
- we've seen in a very long time. Not only do you have lots of
- falling blocks to contend with, but now even the ground on which
- they're landing is a danger-fraught environment. It's scary.
-
-
- TETRIS PRO
-
- Stop! You might think this is just another Tetris, but if you
- thought that, you'd be so wrong that it just wouldn't be funny.
- This is Tetris with a difference, and it's a difference that makes
- all the difference. What is it? Turn the page...
-
-
- ARCADE POOL
-
- A time-limited demo of Team 17's newest release.
-
- Um... it's pool.
-
- You know, like in an arcade.
-
- Can I go yet?
-
-
- ======================================================================
- STATIX
- Authors: Black Legend
-
- You'll notice a bit of a puzzley theme on this month's disk, which
- isn't the kind of thing we usually go for, but we hope you'll agree
- that these are some of the most interesting variations on the normal
- themes to appear for a long time, and hence well worthy of a bit of
- exposure. Statix comes to you via Kompart UK, from top Hungarian ex-
- demo coders Black Legend (or is that someone else? We can't remember
- for sure), and it's a bit of a weirdy. Check out the rules and pay
- attention to them before you start playing it. You know it makes
- sense.
-
- ONE-PLAYER MODE
- The basic idea of Statix is much the same as Tetris or Columns. You
- have to make lines of like symbols, which then disappear. The
- difference here is that as well as the usual danger of a big build-up
- causing you to lose the game (in this case, by forcing the spring at
- the pivotal point of the seesaw down), you can also lose if you tip
- the seesaw over by placing too many blocks on one side. What this
- means is that you have to fight your natural instincts -- you might
- automatically want to drop a block on one side to make a line, but
- doing that and making those blocks disappear might cause the other
- side of the seesaw to become too heavy and hit the floor, losing you
- the game. So it's a fast-thinking game as well as a reaction one,
- especially as you have to drop each block inside a time limit
- (represented by the bar at the top of the screen), or it'll just drop
- by itself, usually just where you don't want it.
-
- TWO-PLAYER MODE
- Two-player mode is a bit scary. You both play at once, the rules are
- the same, but you can only drop your blocks on your own side of the
- seesaw. The objective is to make the seesaw touch the floor on your
- opponent's side, but not being able to affect them directly makes
- things a bit tricky. What you have to do is build up your own side
- almost to the point of no return, then clear lots of blocks at once so
- that the seesaw suddenly swings massively the other way. Of course,
- while you're doing this, your opponent is trying to do exactly the
- same to you...
-
- ======================================================================
- TETRIS PRO
- Authors: Logic System
-
- No, you're wrong. It's not just Tetris again. For a start, this is
- the Amiga's best Tetris yet, finally stealing the crown from the long-
- reigning Super Twintris. But there's more to it than that -- this is
- a whole new way of Tetris, and one which got the whole office playing
- the age-old game all over again. This is Tetris with a point -- no
- more boring old line after line of points-building to no apparent end,
- but one of tangible, reachable goals all the way through. The object,
- you see, is to build up pictures in the background. Every time you
- make a certain number of lines in the game (starting with single
- ones), a corresponding number of lines of the picture will be
- revealed. When the picture reaches the top of the game area, you've
- completed the stage and you get to start again with a new picture to
- reveal (and a new starting pattern of blocks to contend with). As you
- move through the levels, the requirement for picture revealing rises
- until eventually (around level 70, in our experience) you get no bits
- of picture unless you make four lines at once. Yikes.
- And that's not the only innovation in Tetris Pro, oh no. It's even
- got powerups! These come in the form of the square blocks, which have
- their powerup effect any time you use them to complete a line. The
- various types are as follows:
-
- BOMB: Erases all blank spaces on screen, causing all the other blocks
- to fall into the gaps created, usually giving you a whole clutch of
- lines at once.
- PANIC (two little arrows): Flips the screen upside down for 60
- seconds. Horrible. While the screen is upside-down, though, your
- scores are multipled by three.
- SPEED UP (plus sign): Speeds things up. (Natch -- Ed.)
- SPEED DOWN (minus sign): Slows things down.
- NEXT: Toggles the Next Block indicator on or off. When the indicator
- is off, scores are multiplied by two.
- BONUS (dollar sign): 10,000 point bonus.
- RESET (letter R): Resets speed, switches Panic off and switches Next
- on.
-
- That's it, really. We're all absolutely hooked on this (the current
- target to beat is Stuart's level 78, with 500-odd lines), and we think
- you will be too. Tetris lives!
-
- ======================================================================
- ARCADE POOL
- Authors: Team 17
-
- We had a bit of space on the disk this month, so we've brought you
- just a little tiny demo of Team 17's new budget game. Or
- alternatively, a really big demo, depending on how you look at it. As
- well as playing a self-running version of two of the versions of Pool
- included in the finished game (there are millions, from UK 8-ball to
- US 15-ball, to single-player arcade versions to the classic multi-
- player Killer Pool variant), this demo lets you play a full-feature
- one-player game yourself, but time-limited to a couple of minutes.
- (Otherwise, what would be the point of buying it when it hit the shops
- later this month, eh? Answer us that, if you can.) Control is very
- simple, just adjust the strength, spin and aiming with the left mouse
- button, and when you're happy with your set-up, hit the right mouse
- button to actually make the shot. Or, get a few mates round and have
- a right old knees-up listening to the authentically Cockney sounds of
- the old joanna, while looking at the title screen. We recommend
- playing the game.
-
- NB The title scren claims that the game automatically detects an AGA
- chip set for enhanced graphics and sound. This true, but (for space
- reasons) not on our demo. Sorry.
-
- ======================================================================
- DIZZY PATCH
- Authors: Codemasters
-
- If you've got an old A500 with a one meg upgrade (as many of our
- readers do), you'll have been disappointed to find that the Christmas
- Dizzy demo from issue 33 didn't work on your machine. This was due to
- a slight oversight in our checking department, but we're now happy to
- bring you a small patching program which will solve the problem for
- you. Simply get your AP33 coverdisk, run the Patch program from this
- month's disk menu, and follow the on-screen instructions.
-
- ======================================================================
- "April, April, laugh thy girlish laughter;
- Then the moment after;
- Weep thy girlish tears." Sir William Watson
-
- Amiga Power is printed in the UK. Copyright Future Publishing 1994
-
- Note: All games were verified to load under one emulator or another.
-
- Docs re-keyed courtesy of Knuckles Dragon. Original author uncertain.
- Please send clarification to: knucklesd@hotmail.com
-