T
TelcoLou
Guest
I have foggy memories of the '80s. Luckily, one of the brighter moments of clarity surrounds the game Blue Max, published in 1983 by Synapse, written by Bob Polin for the Atari 800 computer. This game is a simply presented, well-exectued example of great gameplay, and is a refreshing break from today's more complex, graphically-intensive games.
You pilot a WWI-styled bi-plane in a scrolling, randomly-generated isometric landscape armed with machine guns and a limited supply of bombs. Your goal is to shoot down enemy planes, bomb bridges, roads, buildings, anti-aircraft guns, boats and tanks en route to the enemy's base camp ... which you need to blow up as well.
Controls are simple and intuative; left and right move appropriately, up and down changes altitude, up+right moves toward the top of the screen, down+left moves toward the bottom of the screen. Pressing the game's only action button (Big Red, as he is affectionately referred to
) fires the machine gun, when pressed while pushing down on the stick releases bombs.
Gameplay is basic, and perfect for short sessions on a handheld; shoot and bomb everything for points. You start off with a full tank of fuel on your runway; after your plane starts its takeoff, you need to watch the speedometer ... after it reaches 100mph, you can take flight by moving up (which you need to do or else you'll crash at the end of the runway :lol Keeping your plane at an altitude of 21-24 feet allows you to destroy ground objects with your machine guns, but be careful ... go too low (20 feet or under) and you'll crash.
Bombs can be used at any altitude, and are needed to destroy larger objects like buildings, bridges and boats.
Your HUD (On the bottom of the screen .. technically making it a HDD, but I digress...) shows info about remaining fuel, remaining bombs, airspeed, altitude, wind direction, incoming enemy plane alerts, landing strip alert and damage taken. Damage effects the functionality of your plane in several ways; fuel leakage, loss of machine guns, bombs or manuverability. Luckily, at regular intervals, you approach a friendly airstrip which you can land on to repair/refuel. Simply press fire when the "L" alert appears, then move down as you approach the landing strip. After refueling/repairing it's off to fight once again.
This repeats until you arrive at the enemy's base ... destroy all the buildings and you win the war! You even get a nice ranking to show off to your friends ... who will promptly brag how they could beat that score/ranking with their hands tied behind thier backs, and they give it a go ... couple this with several beers & some weed and you have a blast of a weekend.
How the hell did he cram all that fun into ~64k? Give this game a try; you'll have fun ... and that's what gaming is about. Word. B)
You pilot a WWI-styled bi-plane in a scrolling, randomly-generated isometric landscape armed with machine guns and a limited supply of bombs. Your goal is to shoot down enemy planes, bomb bridges, roads, buildings, anti-aircraft guns, boats and tanks en route to the enemy's base camp ... which you need to blow up as well.
Controls are simple and intuative; left and right move appropriately, up and down changes altitude, up+right moves toward the top of the screen, down+left moves toward the bottom of the screen. Pressing the game's only action button (Big Red, as he is affectionately referred to
) fires the machine gun, when pressed while pushing down on the stick releases bombs.Gameplay is basic, and perfect for short sessions on a handheld; shoot and bomb everything for points. You start off with a full tank of fuel on your runway; after your plane starts its takeoff, you need to watch the speedometer ... after it reaches 100mph, you can take flight by moving up (which you need to do or else you'll crash at the end of the runway :lol
Keeping your plane at an altitude of 21-24 feet allows you to destroy ground objects with your machine guns, but be careful ... go too low (20 feet or under) and you'll crash.Bombs can be used at any altitude, and are needed to destroy larger objects like buildings, bridges and boats.
Your HUD (On the bottom of the screen .. technically making it a HDD, but I digress...) shows info about remaining fuel, remaining bombs, airspeed, altitude, wind direction, incoming enemy plane alerts, landing strip alert and damage taken. Damage effects the functionality of your plane in several ways; fuel leakage, loss of machine guns, bombs or manuverability. Luckily, at regular intervals, you approach a friendly airstrip which you can land on to repair/refuel. Simply press fire when the "L" alert appears, then move down as you approach the landing strip. After refueling/repairing it's off to fight once again.
This repeats until you arrive at the enemy's base ... destroy all the buildings and you win the war! You even get a nice ranking to show off to your friends ... who will promptly brag how they could beat that score/ranking with their hands tied behind thier backs, and they give it a go ... couple this with several beers & some weed and you have a blast of a weekend.
How the hell did he cram all that fun into ~64k? Give this game a try; you'll have fun ... and that's what gaming is about. Word. B)
