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- Path: news.uh.edu!barrett
- From: steve_cutting@guru.apana.org.au (Steve Cutting)
- Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
- Subject: REVIEW: Fury of the Furries, CD32 version
- Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.games
- Date: 24 May 1994 20:46:34 GMT
- Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
- Lines: 180
- Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator)
- Distribution: world
- Message-ID: <2rtp3a$39m@masala.cc.uh.edu>
- Reply-To: steve_cutting@guru.apana.org.au (Steve Cutting)
- NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu
- Keywords: game, platform, strategy, CD32, commercial
- Originator: barrett@karazm.math.uh.edu
-
-
- PRODUCT NAME
-
- Fury of the Furries, CD32 version
-
-
- BRIEF DESCRIPTION
-
- A single-player platform game with puzzles.
-
-
- AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
-
- Name: Mindscape International
- Address: Priority House, Charles Avenue
- Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 9PQ
- England
-
- Telephone: +44 (0) 444 239 600
- Fax: +44 (0) 444 248 996
-
-
- LIST PRICE
-
- I don't know the list price, but I paid 69.99 Australian dollars for
- it. In the UK, you can get it for 19.99 pounds from mail order companies.
-
-
- SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
-
- HARDWARE
-
- CD32 (PAL)
- Television or monitor
- Control pad (or Amiga joystick)
-
- SOFTWARE
-
- None
-
-
- COPY PROTECTION
-
- None that's noticeable to the user.
-
-
- REVIEW
-
- The manual tells the story of a race of small furball creatures
- called Tinies. Tinies look like tennis balls with eyes, and according to
- the manual, they have a horrid sense of humour. The Tiny King has
- apparently been taken prisoner and been imprisoned in his own castle by a
- Tiny with a particularly wicked sense of humour. Yes, this is where you
- come in. :-)
-
- When the game boots, you're shown a glitchy animated sequence
- portraying all this, accompanied by some decent CD audio. Once you're at the
- title screen, you can start a new game or restart one of four saved games.
-
- The object of the game is simple: take control of a Tiny and find
- your way to the exit of each level. Your Tiny can walk, run, and jump three
- different heights. As if that isn't enough, your Tiny is also able to
- transform into any of 4 colours, each one having a special ability:
-
- Red - eats through walls
- Yellow - shoots fireballs to kill nasties
- Green - swings and climbs on rope
- Blue - dives underwater
-
- Green is my favourite. It's great fun swinging the little critter
- back and forth on the rope, then letting go and watching him fly across the
- screen and do a couple of somersaults before landing on the ground!
-
- Not all of the abilities are available all the time. On some levels,
- you may only have one ability, and on others, you might get all 4. To make
- it harder, there are force-field type things which enable or disable an
- ability when you pass through them.
-
- You view the action from the standard platform perspective (side on),
- and the levels scroll in all directions. The game takes place over 8 areas,
- with each area having 10 levels based on the same theme. The levels are
- full of all sorts of obstacles designed to reduce your Tiny to an ex-furball
- before reaching the exit. There's trees, water, spikes and loads more, and
- of course the usual array of NASTIES. You must make use of the various
- abilities of your Tiny to negotiate these obstacles.
-
- As you progress into the game, the puzzle element starts rearing its
- head. As well as avoiding (or shooting) all the nasties, you also have to
- start solving problems in order to reach the exit. These puzzles range from
- simple things, like finding and using keys, to more complex ones, like moving
- blocks and finding secret entrances. The puzzles rely on the correct choice
- of abilities in most cases, and also require some pretty nifty joypad skills
- on some of the later levels.
-
- Every 5 levels, your position is saved in Non-Volatile RAM.
-
-
- DOCUMENTATION
-
- The booklet in the CD sleeve has instructions in English, French,
- Dutch, Italian and Spanish. It covers everything you need to know (not a
- lot, really) and has some nice black and white drawings.
-
-
- LIKES
-
- Great fun. It's playable, cute, and best of all: totally silly!
- There's something distinctly warped about a 10-pixel high ball of fluff
- letting fly with a Streetfighter-style fireball. :-)
-
- The game-saving feature means you can restart where you left off
- instead of playing through all the levels again. This adds a lot to the
- longevity of any game in my opinion; if I can restart where I left off, I'll
- keep coming back until I finish it (or go insane).
-
- The difficulty curve is just about right. There's plenty of easy
- levels before the brain mangling begins.
-
- The CD tracks on the intro and title screens are really good.
- In-game music is only Amiga based, but the tunes are great.
-
- Although he's very small and not very colourful, your Tiny is nicely
- animated and moves well.
-
-
- DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS
-
- The in-game graphics are pretty dull; they'd look perfectly at home
- in a 512K A500 game 5 years ago. It doesn't look like any more than about 16
- colours, definitely not 32bit CDROM stuff. Static title and between-level
- screens are more colourful though.
-
- The game doesn't use the full PAL screen. If you force it into NTSC
- using the boot-menu, it runs too fast.
-
-
- COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS
-
- If you liked The Lost Vikings, you'll like this.
-
-
- BUGS
-
- I've found a couple of graphic glitches here and there, but they
- don't affect gameplay at all.
-
-
- VENDOR SUPPORT
-
- An address and phone/fax number are provided for support. I haven't
- needed to contact them as yet.
-
-
- WARRANTY
-
- Unknown.
-
-
- CONCLUSIONS
-
- If you're looking to be blown off your seat with stunning visuals
- and audio, don't buy this game, because there aren't any. But do buy it if
- you want a game to *PLAY*, because it's got more playability and lastability
- than a lot of other stuff around. An enjoyable blend of platforms, puzzles
- and general silliness.
-
- My rating : 80%
-
-
- This review is freely distributable. Just leave my name in :-)
- 24/5/1994 Steve Cutting e-mail: Steve_Cutting@guru.apana.org.au
- -- Via DLG Pro v1.0
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- ---
-
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