|
I
was really pleased to discover that Lucasfilm's Ballblazer,
an absolutely superb futuresport simulation, will be
marketed in Britain for the 64. Ballblazer, or
Ballblaster as it was called originally, is another
Atari 'legend' from the makers of Fractalus.
The
game is a split-screen view-through-the-window two-player
head to head, although there are nine levels of computer
'droids' to challenge you. You are put in control of
an incredibly high-speed craft in which you sit, and
in turn it sits on a large playing arena. The object
is to outscore your opponent.
When
you start, a ball is blasted into the arena -- you move
towards it, collect and head towards the goal (usually
out of sight by now). The idea is simply to blast the
ball into the goal when you are in front of it. Sounds
simple, doesn't it?
The
speed at which the game is played makes things difficult;
you zoom around the most horrendous rate. The craft
also turns automatically to face the ball if you haven't
got possession or turns to face the goal if you have
the ball. The actual turning is a snap through ninety
degrees which happens so quickly it can be REALLY disorienting.
If you collect the ball, it will float in front of the
craft and it behaves elastically, so when you move it
wobbles about in the forcefield that holds it.
When
your opponent is in possession of the ball it's possible
to tackle by pressing the fire button at the right time,
blasting the ball from its possession. This sends the
ball flying down the arena. Real battles ensue and the
exhilaration of burning round the arena is marvellous.
I
won't say any more about it because there'll be a full
review in the next issue . . . we've seen a pre-production
copy and the game captures all the speed and thrills
of the Atari original. It's hot, really hot!
|
