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I'm really surprised no one has entered a reply yet on this topic.
This game has been getting very good reviews in magazines, and has
won some type of "Best Game Boy game of the year" to boot. So,
naturally, in my quest for portable video game fulfillment, I picked
it up.
It's far and away the most sophisticated and fun game I've seen for
the Game Boy to date. The game is played in a maze, where you are
given a 3D perspective from inside the maze. You use the arrow keys
to rotate right or left, or move forward or backwards. The "A" key
fires a projectile, while "B" is used to pick up "power up" items
such as shields, band-aids, camouflage, etc. Pushing "SELECT" during
play gives you an overhead view of the maze which only maps out
regions you have visited so far. Each maze has an exit (flashing
wall) which sends you up to the next level of which there are 70.
Enemies on each level look like "have a nice day" faces (hence the
name), and become progessively harder-- in the early levels they
are nothing but passive targets, in harder levels they take 3 shots
to kill and chase you around the 3D maze once they spot you. As
in many games, you start with 3 lives, and can get extra lives at
certain point levels. Three enemy shots will kill you, but your
status will improve slowly over time if you can find a place to
hide. All in all, a pretty amazing game considering what storage
limitations must exist in a Game Boy.
The game can also be played with 2 to 4 players (using the game link)
separately, or in teams. Furthermore, there is an option where you
can specify the maze and enemy type if you wish to only play one
level at a time.
I don't have any comments on strategy yet, as I haven't had much time
to play. It seems, though, that you're in big trouble if you get
spotted by a difficult enemy before reaching the exit since it's hard
to turn and retreat without getting hit. More later.
D
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| I'm surprised that nobody has written anything about this game yet. I
bought it a couple of months ago, just after its UK release and I am
quite impressed with it.
Basically, there are three modes of play. The first, Cyberzone, is through
a series of mazes of increasing size and complexity with gradually more
powerful opponents. There are various bonuses and power ups to be found,
some of which are temporary and others that are permanent eg faster speed
or greater protection. There is also a mapping function that draws a map
as you proceed. I believe that there are about 70 levels in all and
each is accessed by sucessfully fighting through a maze to its exit.
The second style, Arena, is set in a single maze. There are several
different ones which can be selected and you also have the capacity to
define the number and types of opponent. The object is to "tag" 10
opponents before taking 10 hits yourself. Personally, I found this
option more interesting than Cyberzone.
You can also play this game with up to four other players using the
optional adapter. I imagine that that could be quite interesting.
Basically, this is a pretty good game and with the multi player options
should last well.
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Boy, it sure is quiet in here...
I hadn't tried out the arena mode until a few days ago. The main attraction
to me with this mode is that the game duration is only a few minutes or
so. A game in the Cyberscape could conceivably go on for hours since
levels have switches, hidden doors, warps, etc. I doubt that I've seen
even 20$ of the all the Cyberscape maze features.
Also, to really get the full benefit of the game, you probably have
to start pretty close to the easiest level (this is optional, BTW).
If you start at Average, Hard or higher, you will likely be skipping
over levels that contain valuable permanent power-ups such as armor,
auto-mag and speedup. Haven't found a speedup yet, though.
Anyone know the locations of useful warps?
One strategy tip on dodging enemy shots: Unfortunately, you can't move
from side-to-side in this game. You can get the same effect (lateral
movement) one of two ways. The first way is to be up against a wall
at an angle and try to advance (if facing the wall) or retreat (if
backed to the wall). You will slide along the wall as long as you
are not facing the wall directly.
The second way is to move in an arc by pressing a rotation key (i.e.
-> or <-) while moving forwards or backwards. Thus you are actually
pressing two direction keys at once. Check out the intro screen
by not pressing START to view the demo-- that's how I picked this
up.
Have a nice day!
D
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