User:PresN/AtariReviews

Archon

 * Electronic Arts
 * A+

Recall those scenes from the movie Star Wars in which R2-D2 and Chewabaca are playing a chess-like game aboard the Millennium Falcon. The droid's game piece, projected by hologram as a lifelike, goblin-like creature, advances across the board to the square occupied by his opponent's piece and slays it. They must have been playing Archon.

Imagine a strategy board game similar to chess with fantasy, role-playing characters as pieces. The object of the game is to defeat each of the opponent's pieces in battle, or control the five power points on the board. Like chess, each piece has relative strengths and weaknesses, and specific movement factors. Unlike chess, the Light and the Dark sides have completely different men that, on the whole, are balanced in strength. Each side's game piece has a counterpart with similar strengths and weaknesses, but different fighting styles. For example, the equivalent piece to the pawn in chess is a sword wielding Knight for the Light forces, and a club wielding Goblin for the Dark forces. The Light forces have one Wizard, two Unicorns, two Archers, two Golems, two Valkries, one Djinni, one Phoenix and seven Knights. The Golems throw boulders while the Djinni hurls whirlwinds, and the Unicorn fires energy bolts. On the other side, the Dark forces have one Sorceress, two Basilisks, two Manticores, two Trolls, one Shapeshifter, one Dragon, two Banshees, and seven Goblins. The Basilisks attack with an eye beam, the Manticores with tail spikes, and so on. Both the Light force's Wizard, and the Dark force's Sorceress can cast spells in addition to fighting with fireballs and lightening bolts, respectively.

The battlefield is separate from the strategy board screen. When two foes challenge each other by occupying the same light, dark, or neutral colored square, they fight in a combat arena that has barriers carrying you through a luminosity cycle. When the barriers match the color of the background, they disappear. During the few brief seconds before and after this moment, opponents can walk through the barriers or penetrate them with missiles. The barriers slow them down. Meanwhile, lifelines at either end of the screen indicate the relative strength of each opponent. When one is wounded, its lifeline is reduced in proportion to the severity of the wound. When the lifeline is zero, the icon is "dead," and combat is over. Combat is a combination of strategy and dexterity skills. A weak, club wielding Goblin can sometimes defeat a powerful Unicorn who hurls fast energy bolts, if the Goblin can corner it and beat it over the head without being hit by the first bolt. The graphics during battle have excellent, realistic animation.

Both the Wizard and the Sorceress are powerful pieces that shouldn't be removed from the safety of their power square. These squares are important in that they accelerate the healing of wounds obtained in battle. The ability to cast spells by these two icons is important to the game's strategic play. There are seven spells and each can only be used once. Some of the more interesting spells can teleport a given piece to any other place on the board, exchange any two pieces on the strategy board, revive a dead icon, imprison an enemy icon, or summon an elemental spirit. This latter spell is particularly useful in attacking a very powerful enemy piece.

The imprisonment spell is useful for keeping an enemy piece on a designated square. During battle on a light square, the Light forces have the advantage, and conversely with the Dark forces on the black squares. Many of the squares (especially the neutral squares) cycle from light to dark in a set pattern. If a piece is imprisoned on a neutral square, you could more effectively attack it when it turned to the color that would give you the advantage. Another spell called Shift Time will reverse the flow of the luminosity cycle.

Archon is one of the most creative and original games that has come along in several years. I'll admit it has its roots in chess and maze-adventure type games, but it is this brilliant combination that works to make it an outstanding strategy and combat game. I tested it with both teenagers and adults. Both groups, regardless of their interest or lack of interest in chess, found Archon a totally fascinating game. Despite its complexity, it is quickly grasped by players of all ages. It has great graphics, and will will give a lifetime of pleasure.

Cosmic Tunnels

 * Datamost
 * B

In Cosmic Tunnels you try to break an energy embargo imposed by your arch enemies, the Jebs. To do this, you must retrieve sixteen precious energy bars located on four neighboring asteroids. These bars power a generating complex on your moon. To reach the asteroids, you must guide your spaceship through a meteor shower. If a meteor hits you, it depletes your ship of energy. You are safe from the meteors once you reach the gate to one of the four warp tunnels, but inside the tunnel you face space mines. If you hit one, your ship loses more energy. They take little effort to destroy, however, since you need only line up your ship, the mine, and the end of the tunnel to destroy a mine. The warp lasts twenty-five seconds.

Upon exiting the tunnel, you must attempt to land on an asteroid. The enemy defense system consists of bases and missile systems, which you can destroy by dropping bombs. You must dodge enemy fire and destroy all of the bases before you can reenter the tunnel and return home. The landing pads are in the open except on one asteroid, where it lies benath a heavily fortified ledge. Once you land, one of your three astronauts must retrieve the four gold energy bars at the bottom of the screen. During this attempt, you must avoid Space Turkeys, Dynobots, Electric Lizards, or Monstrous Munchers that patrol the asteroids. You can't shoot them, but rocks offer some safety. Pressing the button allows faster movement. Moving the astronaut to the Jetcopter or Rocket Springs launch pads lets you launch him like Superman (using the Rocket Springs) or keep him hovering for a short time (using the Jetcopter). He retrieves the bars one at a time. When he has completed his task, your pilot, Captain Sticky, is ready to head back to the moon base through the warp tunnel. You continue to the rest of the asteroids until you recover all sixteen energy bars or run out of energy.

The four separate screens give enough variety to the game to make it fun and interesting. The graphics are good. The music that plays during the title and high score screens is original. Although not overly difficult, the game is not easy to win.