Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!mailrus!husc6!bbn!rochester!udel!mmdf
From: smith@nrl-aic.arpa (Russ Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Another (long) F/A-18 Interceptor review
Message-ID: <3019@louie.udel.EDU>
Date: 15 Jun 88 15:41:44 GMT
Sender: mmdf@udel.EDU
Lines: 63

[This note sent to the generic ARPA amiga-relay address, so pardon in advance
to all the techies that also get it...]

A friend got Interceptor the other day, came into my office with the
whole package, handed it to me and  said "Here, try this out and give
me your opinions". Well, I did and here they are...

First, copy protection. I thought that the use of a "code wheel" was a
good way to protect misuse of a program while at the same way allowing
infinite copies/hard-disk versions. Electronic Arts has managed quite
handily to ruin that impression.

Interceptor doesn't just require the use of the code wheel on program
INVOCATION, it requires the damn thing to be used over and over and over
again throughout the use of the program. This made my mood go from
shocked surprise that the wheel was required "again?", to frustration
when I misread the hard-to-read OCR-type font, to gross disappointment
in the lack of forethought of the writers. The code wheel, being composed
of three disks of thin cardboard attached together with a rivet, will
wear out long before the user is ready to stop using the game, that is
if the user doesn't throw the game out in anger (I think I used the wheel
20+ times at one sitting in the space of about two hours that I tried
the package out...YOU extrapolate that). No good at all.

Two, attitude control. Though I wasn't real fond of the "coordinated
controls" that JET uses (no rudder), I REALLY DO LIKE using the mouse
as a "stick". A mouse applies "position dependent" control forces
somewhat analogous to what a real (non-force) stick does. Cursor keys do not.
Cursor keys, as used by Interceptor, apply TIME-dependent control
forces. Consistently while trying out the "manuever practice" scenario
I would turn radically different than the instructor plane with no
good way to correct. Try to do "slow roll" for example..."trivial" with
a mouse-stick, next to impossible with cursor keys. No good. The
rudders were nice, though.

Third, scenarios unchanging. I LOVED the plots. Really neat. JET will
now be a drag when I retry it. BUT...how hard would it be to put the
downed pilot in a different location each time? Couldn't the 2 stolen
f-16s fly a different course?  Same applies to the presidential plane.
I found the above to be only slightly dissappointing I have to admit, but
such details ARE what make or break a game as far as THIS typer is
concerned. I don't want to "win" a game anytime soon. After you've
successfully been through the above scenarios, the next time through
rapidly becomes rote. Variation would, well, add variation...

On the plus side...some details of this game are NEAT! Sound is used
RIGHT. The Amiga excels at same, why isn't it used in more games?
Interceptor uses it. The HUD is definitely first rate (but no attitude
indication when aimed skyward! A minor lacking...). Missiles are
"realistic" as are the tracer-tracked guns. The MIGs actually seem to
have human pilots (only ONE "peeled off" to harass me when
I caught up with the stolen F-16's!). Explosions, splashes, sounds,
movements (the enemy actually seemed to follow realistic trajectories
unlike JET). Very very fine.

I won't be getting Interceptor myself. I just don't have the patience
to deal with that damn code wheel. When enough complaints come down the
line and Electronic Arts decides to implement good protection
correctly, I'll probably change my mind. I strongly suggest that you,
too, try it out before buying. Do a number of different scenarios. Get
into the game. Decide if you can tolerate the things I find intolerable.
In many ways the game has set new standards for total simulation
on the Amiga that I hope are followed SOON by others (realism that only
a few others try to achieve (Ferrari...)).