Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site ncr-sd.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ncr-sd!greg From: greg@ncr-sd.UUCP (Greg Noel) Newsgroups: net.micro.amiga Subject: Re: arctic fox beginner mode beaten Message-ID: <437@ncr-sd.UUCP> Date: Mon, 31-Mar-86 20:10:01 EST Article-I.D.: ncr-sd.437 Posted: Mon Mar 31 20:10:01 1986 Date-Received: Wed, 2-Apr-86 01:44:29 EST References: <191@atux01.UUCP> <348@sask.UUCP> Reply-To: greg@ncr-sd.UUCP (Greg Noel) Organization: NCR Corporation, San Diego Lines: 74 In article <348@sask.UUCP> hardie@sask.UUCP (Peter Hardie ) writes: >> Emphasis: get arctic fox - it is playable and enjoyable. >> >> The Miga-Militant: Perry S. Kivolowitz > >I agree with Perry's assessment of Arcticfox vs. Skyfox. ..... Let me check in with a dissenting opinion. While I agree that ArcticFox has much better graphics, I can't agree that the game is so much more playable. Based upon the recommendations I saw on the network, I bought a copy of ArcticFox and tried it. I'm afraid I'm dissapointed. The game simply doesn't respond well. When I move the joystick, the little hand on the screen is supposed to echo what I'm doing, and the viewport should reflect what is happening after a finite delay. Well, tain't so. When you try to do a series of quick operations, the little hand just flops around at random and the viewport does nothing reasonable. But the killer is that the response isn't uniform -- sometimes a small movement will get a small reaction, and sometimes a small movement will cause a violent, major reaction. Even real hardware is more predictable than this turkey. This happens with both the joystick and the mouse -- in fact, the game is all but unplayable with the mouse, which isn't what you'd expect, since the mouse is far better at transmitting a wide range of directional control. I experimented with the response by simply trying a series of the same simple operation. After moving the joystick, there was a three to five second delay before the operation was started. When the joystick was released, there was a zero to four second delay before the operation stopped. The mouse is even worse: sometimes there will be \no/ reaction to a three-inch move, but move it again and suddenly you are faced with a viewport moving twenty degrees per second. It seems to accumulate all the mouse movements for five or ten seconds and then do them all at once. Not intuitive. And the delay between triggering and firing is so long that you can't even anticipate it reasonably -- a target can crawl completely through your crosshairs between the time you trigger and the weapon fires. On top of that, it appears to be intentional, since the joystick/mouse is still live and can move the crosshairs in the interim (but not to track the target; it still moves randomly, as described above). If you want to talk about realism, I know of no modern targeting system that will allow you to pull off a target after you've said that you want to hit it; they will latch on to the target until the round is away. On the other hand, the concept is intriguing and I think it would be a fun world to explore. Given the senario, there are a number of strengths and weaknesses that I could exploit that the game won't let me; that would allow a strategic level to the gamesmanship that I would also enjoy. But it comes down to this: if I can't shoot back at least as accurately as they shoot at me, tain't worth it. On yet another hand, a friend loaned me SkyFox (hello, Doug!). Yes, the graphics are cartoony, the senario is unrealistic, it's mindless, and it is little more than an arcade shoot-`em-up, but if Doug wants it back soon, he's going to have to fight me for it....... And in a lot of ways, it's a lot more realistic -- the guided missles are actually guided and will take out anything at which you throw them; the pop up strategic displays will automaticly go away when you have to respond to a tactical situation; and many other niceties. And it's very responsive (perhaps even unrealisticly responsive), but at least when you go down, it's because of something \you/ did, not randomness in the game. I didn't mean to go on at this length. I suppose I'm half-hoping that someone will tell me that my version of the game is bad, or there's something I don't understand about how it works. But I doubt it. Speaking of games people play, if anybody needs proof that C-A is enjoying what they are doing, just look at the little whimseys you encounter from time to time. "Are you there, Fonts?" It still makes me grin; in fact, it almost makes up for how \slow/ it is to load those fonts every time...... -- -- Greg Noel, NCR Rancho Bernardo Greg@ncr-sd.UUCP or Greg@nosc.ARPA