Text content (OCR)
FEBRUARY 1981
LOFTALKS:
37
Apple Galaxian. By Tony Suzuki. The people who brought you
Godzilla, Rodan, Gammera, and Mothra on the movie screen
have created a whole new set of monsters for the Apple.
Taking a page from American filmmakers, Tony Suzuki of
Star-Craft in Japan has written an invaders game with rabid
fruits as the adversary, a la Day of the Triffids or Attack of the
Killer Tomatoes.
December of 1980 proved to be a big month for the antiveg-
etarian folk. First, the movie Popeye revealed that the title
character has always hated spinach, much to the relief of all of
us who never wanted to pack cans of the green stuff around to
ward off bullies.
Now, the fruit haters can get their revenge by combatting
bananas, oranges, and apples.
Nasir’s Star Cruiser was the logical extension of the origi-
nal Super Invaders. Apple Galaxian holds the same relation-
ship with Star Cruiser.
In Galaxian, eighteen downright nasty fruits move across
the top of the screen in Invaders fashion. They also peel off,
singly or in bunches, to attack, perfectly willing to sacrifice
themselves in the best kamikaze tradition to effect your can-
non’s death.
Not only are these critters naturally mean, they seem to
take it personally if you succeed in gunning down some of their
ilk. The better you do, and the higher you score, the more vi-
cious and unpredictable they become.
Nothing yet created for the Apple matches the vindictive-
ness of a lone orange when your score is above seven thousand
and you've killed the other members of its raiding party. Con-
summate skill is required to do battle with this devil.
One of the more satisfying elements of the program, which
is beautifully done in colorful hi-res, is that each time you deci-
mate a raiding party, a win flag is hoisted in the lower right
corner of the screen. You will be destroyed eventually, but
your accomplishments are duly noted.
The author is a twenty-one-year-old college student who is
apparently without honor in his own land. As Gary Carlston of
publisher Broderbund tells it, Suzuki was directed toward a ca-
reer in medicine before he became hooked on programming.
He’s now switched his major to philosophy and spends his
spare time programming for Star-Craft.
Programming, being a fairly recent occupational develop-
ment, does not rank high as a vocation among tradition-orient-
ed Japanese. Suzuki is looked upon as somewhat of a disap-
pointment even within his own family.
However, Suzuki's programming accomplishment in Ap-
ple Galaxian merits the highest praise and greatest esteem.
Steve Shendelman, general manager of the Data Domain re-
tail outlet in Schaumburg, Illinois, called the program the fin-
est example of Apple hi-res graphics yet and the buy of the past
Christmas season.
Technical assets notwithstanding, anyone who hates fruit
enough to make them the villains certainly stands in high hon-
or in our household. ART
Apple Galaxian by Tony Suzuki. Star-Craft, Japan. Published in the
United States by Broderbund Software, Eugene, OR. Applesoft ROM,
48K, disk. $24.95.
ABM. By Silas Warner. A fast-moving new twist on the in-
vader games, ABM is contemporary, set on earth rather than
space. The player directs numerous antiballistic missiles in an
attempt to save six U.S. cities from missile attack. The mis-
siles begin their slow streak through the sky individually, but
the better your defense, the more missiles come at once and
the faster they fall.
Just when you think you've mastered it, you’re treated to
some missiles that work like fireworks, bursting into six
prongs, each aimed directly at one of the cities. If you can hit
these at the start of the forking, you can stop them; otherwise,
it’s time to choose between cities.
Although the game is no different in philosophy than space
shootouts, the fact that the cities being destroyed are ones we
all know and love may make the game unpalatable to those
who cannot divorce the computer game from reality without
the game's cooperation. When the game does cooperate—by
calling the enemy aliens, monsters, or even your own hang-
ups—the same people thoroughly enjoy the game.
Paddles control whether you fire inside or outside antibal-
listic missiles and placement of your shot. You must shoot at
the beginning of the oncoming streak: if you're short, your
ABM will explode too soon; if you're long, you'll merely cut off
the tail of the enemy missile, and the warhead will continue on.
its course.
ABM, based on a popular arcade game, was written by Si-
las Warner, creator of Robot War, in his spare time. It shows
the excellence of a game into which much time and effort were
put. NT
ABM, by Silas Warner. MUSE Software, Baltimore, MD. $24.95.
Phantoms Five. By Nasir. It seems as though a few weeks ago,
but actually it's a few months ago, few computer owners had
ever heard of Nasir. Since then, his prolific stream of beauti-