From: Michael Richards <mhr@aber.ac.uk>
Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Jason L. Tibbitts III
Subject: REVIEW: Project X
Keywords: game, arcade, commercial
Path: karazm.math.uh.edu!amiga-reviews
Distribution: world
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.games
Reply-To: Michael Richards <mhr@aber.ac.uk>
Project-X is a horizontally scrolling shoot'em up in the R-Type
mould. It is an excellent game, using the Amiga's graphics
capabilities to the full. Extremely tough even in rookie mode.
PROJECT-X : TEAM 17 : 25:99 Pounds (UK)
4 Disks, copy protected, Not HD installable
All Amigas with 1Mb+ All Amigas with KickStart 1.2 1.3 2.0
Joystick and keyboard. Supports Megadrive joysticks.
[I.e. two button joysticks are supported. - JLT3]
PAL ONLY !!!!!!
Contents: 4 Disks, manual, poster
Review machine: A1500, twin floppy drives, 3Mb, Kickstart 2.0
[An A1500 is a British model A2000 with an extra floppy drive. - JLT3]
The Amiga has been lacking a decent scrolling shoot'em up (shmup),
for some time now. The last really good one (INMHO) was Silkworm (now
available on budget), and the more recent R-Type II was not nearly so good.
So along comes Team 17, fresh from their success with Alien Breed
and believe me, they've done no harm to their reputation with this number.
For the technical freaks out there - Project-X runs in overscan mode, (the
last game that did this was Speedball), in 32 colours (excluding the gorgeous
copper listed backgrounds) at 50 Hz.
THE PLOT.
You want a plot? in a shmup? Oh deary deary me... well if you insist.
Centuries ago mankind created bio mechanical creatures and dumped them on the
planet Ryxx. Now you've got to go back and destroy their mutated descendants...
FIRST IMPRESSIONS.
The game has an amazing rave sound track that plays throughout the
titles (and this is from someone that HATES rave!!!!), but if you prefer, you
can select old-timer mode to get a Tangerine Dreamesque tune. There are plenty
of options to choose from, namely: the ship you will control (although I found
that I was equally bad in each ship). You can select the speed of the game
(Rookie or Arcade); only the very masochistic will go for arcade, although
rookies will only see the first three levels. (This last point is purely
academic, NO ONE will see Level 4, unless they're superhuman!!!!!)
GRAPHICS.
Oh wow!!!! In the league of drop dead graphics, Project-X must come
at the top. Every single object has been beautifully coloured and designed
by the artist Rico Holmes. Although Team 17 says it's only 32 colour it
looks a lot more. This is complemented by the superb use of overscan mode -
the bigger screen makes a noticable improvement to gameplay.
The scrolling is absolutely perfect, not a glitch in sight no matter
how busy the screen gets. As well as the main right to left scroll, there is
a small amount of vertical scrolling that increases the playfield further.
Sprites fill the screen, moving smoothly and glitchlessly even when
there seem to be hundreds on screen. There seems to be no slowdown that mars
many shmups at critical moments.
A mention must go to the gratuitous blitter effects that fill this
game - rolling screens, fireworks, transparent effects, yes they've even
found a use for all those vector ball demos of yesteryear!!!!
SOUND.
As previously mentioned, Alistair Brimble's opening music is
quite simply brilliant, and knocks most `professional' arrangements for
six.
The speech (which for once is actually useful in the game) is not
quite as clear as I would have liked, but is more than adequate for its
purpose.
However, my first quibble with Project-X is the awful droning noise
that rumbles on in the background - irritating in the extreme, I would
much have preferred silence.
GAMEPLAY.
Its okay having great graphics and superb sound, but this counts
for nothing in a shmup without appropriate gameplay. Here I put Project-X
up against Silkworm. How did it do?
Firstly, Project-X is a lot tougher than Silkworm, even in rookie
mode. Despite the large screen, the gameplay quickly becomes frantic as
sprites fill the screen. The length of the levels is much greater, it will
take you some time to reach the end of level one alone.
Secondly, Project-X has a lot more destructive power than Silworm,
the build ups are necessary if you are to make any progress whatsoever. This
leads to frustration when you loose some of the build ups, the game rapidly
becomes impossible without the necessary guns.
Alright, a minor quibble, when the screen gets extremely busy, I found
that the control of the ship became slightly distant, there seemed to be a
lag between pulling on the joystick and the response. Nothing major, its
probably due to the perfection of the control at other times.
ROUNDUP.
Project-X is a smashing game, placing the Team 17 programmers amongst
the very best in the Amiga world. (A slight digression here, why does it
seem that the best programmers all come from Scandinavia - is it those long
Nordic nights, or is everyone over the age of 5 a dedicated programmer?). As
a demo it would leave people wanting more, as a game it takes the Amiga to
new levels of excellence. Personally, I would rank it as the number one shmup
around - on any system.
The quibbles are minor - see above. I would just add a slight
annoyance to the list. Even on an expanded Amiga, it takes over a minute to
start the game again after being killed. Was it necessary to load all the
data again even if you died on Level One?
But that wait makes the game all the more enjoyable. Its tough,
wrist breakingly tough, but I guarantee - you'll be addicted!!!! I can't
wait for the next Team 17 release.
The scores - GRAPHICS : 10 / 10 : Sprites, backgrounds, blitter fx
: they're all the very best yet
: seen on the Amiga.
SOUND : 8 / 10 : Fantastic rave title music, lots
: of reasonable speech. Okay fx.
EASE OF USE : 8 / 10 : You can shoot can't you?
CHALLENGE : 10 / 10 : You'll need a new wrist before
: you beat this one!!!
OVERALL : 10 / 10 : A magnificent achievement by
: Team 17. A great buy as well,
: turn off those neurons and enjoy!
: Those looking for an intellectual
: challenge need not apply, the
: rest of use are in paradise!!!
Mike.
E mhr@uk.ac.aber (UK) \S Mike Richards \V
M mhr@cs.aber.ac.uk (inet)\N Dept of Computer Science \O +44
A ...!mcsun!ukc!aber-mhr \A University College of Wales,\I 970 622449
I (uucp) \I Aberystwyth, Dyfed. \C
L \L SY23 3BZ. UK \E
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