Questo splendido titolo per lo ZX Spectrum spesso viene liquidato, a torto, come una banale conversione del più illustre " Paradroid ", uno dei più celebri videogame di Andrew Braybrook. In realtà, si tratta di una considerazione piuttosto superficiale che non tiene assolutamente conto delle innumerevoli migliorie apportate in sede di riprogrammazione, la natura di queste, infatti, è tale da renderlo più un vero e proprio sequel che un pedissequo adattamento del medesimo concept. La vicenda si articola nel sottosuolo del pianeta "Quartech", all'interno di una serie di cittadelle populated by a multitude of alien robots, and sees us take on the role of the invaders. The idea of \u200b\u200ban attack on a large scale is not feasible because of the sophisticated countermeasures to protect the surface, therefore, similar to the first "Paradroid" organize a mission that involves a single that unfortunately fails to infiltrate the very nature of aliens. These, in fact, have proved immune to the powers of "persuasion" of our droid, but despite the failure, the limited information we have received have made it possible to develop a new type of automaton, the "Klepto", able to survive in environments snatching the technology of the most hostile opponents. At the command "KLP-II", the first prototype of this revolutionary technology, we have to clean every floor of the town from enemies, on the understanding that they outclass us in performance and therefore we are continually forced to equip devices with increasingly powerful. Each opponent has a droid alphabetical and numerical order: the first tells the class, that is, its rank in the community, according to the degree of sophistication. Automata are distinguished by the first letters of the most deadly since assembled with the most efficient technologies. During the action, we use a series of elevators to access various areas of the citadel, consult the "terminal" to get various kinds of information (maps and specific enemies), and our energy supplies rimpinguiamo positioning ourselves on special platforms in the scenario.
Opponents can be eliminated in several ways: through the gun included, stolen technological components and making them even fall from elevated areas. Destroying them in rapid succession will activate the red alert, in practice, a device designed to achieve a score higher and higher after each elimination. Once released a plan, will turn off the lights and we will dedicate ourselves to the next, although it's up to us to decide the order could be addressed. To steal the technology to competitors, we activate a special operating mode called "Grapple Mode" and then we want to collide against the robot, so as to interface with its electronic brain. The process of interfacing with an electrical pulse is in illuminating the largest number of segments that make up the brain. Our pulse will color these pages with a particular color, as well as those of the opponent will do the same with the other. The color, yellow or blue, depend on which side of the screen we decided to occupy. The impulses travel along a series of lines that go to connect to a particular segmento, la scelta dell'area in cui giocare è tutt'altro che casuale poiché deve essere decisa in base a come le sopraccitate piste vanno a collegarsi ai summenzionati settori. Le piste possono poi diramarsi coinvolgendo più o meno segmenti e presentano, spesso e volentieri, anche interruzioni, trappole ed altri ostacoli di vario genere. Il numero degli impulsi disponibili dipende sia dal nostro stato tecnologico che dalla classe del droide avversario. Tutto deve svolgersi entro un tempo limite, in caso di parità è previsto uno spareggio mentre nella peggiore delle ipotesi la distruzione, se non la perdita di tutti i componenti precedentemente collezionati. Una volta superato il sottogioco, ci verrà data la possibilità di selezionare i componenti da acquisire, questi, oltre a riguardare tutti i dispositivi che regolano le performance del nostro robot (generatore d'energia, propulsione, corazza, arma ed altri come scudi, radar e power-up), sfrutteranno diverse tecnologie e ci verranno proposti in una serie di varianti più o meno efficienti. Ciascun "upgrade" dovrà tener conto del nostro "output" energetico e sarà fondamentale per il proseguimento della missione, fermo restando che alcuni componenti non potranno essere installati poiché danneggiati durante il sottogioco d’interfacciamento.
Un altro aspetto piuttosto interessante di "Quazatron" about the conformation of the scenarios, they, in fact, take the third dimension, albeit through a isometric representation. The individual plans that distinguish the town are also characterized by a series of paths, ramps, raised areas and pitches that go to further complicate the original concept. The enemies, as well as among other things our own droid, suffer from the falls and, in addition to damage, can even destroy itself. The difficulty level is definitely challenging, also because of the perspective and the above-mentioned layer structure, however, that nothing can not be dealt with a bit 'of good practice. Once the first small town, "Quazatron" precisely, we both started with other names even more bizarre: "Beebatron", "Commodus" and "Amstrados", all inspired by the most famous period of the microcomputer. Technically, the game is not that bad, at least considering its complexity and the limitations of the machine running, although there is no lack of slowdown particularly in crowded situations and present a far from smooth scrolling. The graphics are monochrome but there is still a fair degree of detail with lots of animations for the most functional. The audio uses the buzzer of the "Spectrum", a series of sound effects so far that shocking, the intro song, however, has more than a catchy idea. For the rest, "Quazatron", as already said, has proved more than a mere conversion: a complex and fascinating, full of ideas that can accommodate various kinds of interactive entertainment: action, strategy and logic. Finally , the worthy successor of the masterpiece of Braybrook, highly recommended to all those who do not mind video games thick. The link: Download
Quazatron (Tape images)
NB: "Quazatron" can be played with a wide collection of emulators, there are perfect, at least with all those who support the file type . tap / . tzx . For my tests I used the ' EmuZWin .
0 comments:
Post a Comment