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| Mecha platforming! |
Publisher/Designer: Enix Corporation
Release Date: Nov 1, 1985
Systems (played on): Sharp X1
Well, now it's time for an unfamiliar game on an unfamiliar system, an event that will remain common for awhile. The Sharp X1 was a Japanese computer and apparently a somewhat popular system for gaming during its availability between 1982-1988 before being completely overtaken by the PC-8801. This game is the only X1 exclusive on the list, so let's get started on it.
First of all, almost everything in this game is a huge step up from Montezuma's Revenge. The graphics have depth and variety, gameplay seems varied even at early stages, and there is even a soundtrack! There's also a feeling of progress that was missing in the last game, as I discover new items and their uses and make it further into the game. There are still moments of old-school difficulty, but nothing seems so insurmountable as Montezuma's Revenge.
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| FIND IT OUT AND BE BACK. |
The game is still using a 1-hit equals death kind of rule, the same as
Montezuma's Revenge, but now you can gain lives by killing enough robots. It's still frustrating to have all progress wiped out when you run out of lives, rather than sent to a continue, or respawn point, but so far what progress I've made feels more substantial than anything in the last game
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| I stared at this for way too long. |
Immediately after starting the game, if you head to the left you'll come across an impervious robot that doesn't hurt you, but prevent you from continuing through the buildings in the background. Serious Metroidvania realness: something to look forward to exploring later. Heading to the right leads you through an endless plain. with no buildings or items in sight. I spent nearly 20 minutes heading this way, in the hopes I would discover anything of interest, but with no success.
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| Anti-Hurdle Bot |
I listened to the only song loop on repeat a number of times, before finally getting frustrated and starting again, assuming I missed something earlier. I went back to the initial, path blocking robot and spent another few minutes trying to push him, jump over him, or otherwise interact with him, with no luck. This was frustrating to a certain degree: I can find no manual to refer to, the occasional scrolling text on the bottom of the screen is mostly Japanese with a few numbers thrown in, and I had exhausted all two of my apparent options.
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| There is a very small gun here. Yes, it's easy to miss. |
Heading right again, figuring I must have to go even longer than before, I was surprised when I noticed a few out of place pixels, that turned out to be the gun.After firing a few celebratory blasts, I headed back into town. The robot died in one shot, leaving a small crater. And then his flying friends came in and killed me, just as quickly as I had killed the nearly-stationary robot.
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| Incoming flying robots. |
I restarted and proceeded more carefully. The flying robots died easily enough, even if the controls got in the way. Which brings me to my only serious concern with Brain Break: sticky controls. This being a computer release,the keyboard is used to control your character, which is fine, except most actions are slow. While the gun fires off quickly, it is slow to turn around, start moving, or jump. There is a small pause before your character responds to your command. Due to this, I've died a number of times being unable to turn around in time to shoot an enemy.
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| The battle has scarred this land.. |
Sitting somewhere uncomfortably between annoying and amusing, these controls conspire to create a repeated frustration: when you kill one of the ground robots they explode, possibly damaging you, and leaving a crater in the ground. If you walk or jump down into this crater, you will be able to easily kill and dodge the flying robots. Unfortunately the craters are small, and if you do not chain together at least two craters, you will end up in a crater too small to easily exit.. Due to the lag on the controls, and the inability to turn in place, jumping out of the crater rarely succeeds.
There are no horizontal velocity changes while jumping, and, because of this you can not jump over an object you are flush against, and turning around will take most of the space between the two walls. While these craters offer needed protection against the flying robots, and the stiff controls make them somewhat of a hindrance, over all the game has been a blast to play so far. Next posting I'll go into more details about the graphics, and go further into the city.
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| GAME OVER |
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