From: iott@rtsg.mot.com (Joel K. Iott)
Subject: Rocky & Bullwinkle (was: I liked Black Rose...)
Organization: Motorola, Inc.
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 17:44:24 GMT

I played Rocky & Bullwinkle, the new Data East release, and found it a
bit... lacking.  It was hard to put into words what I didn't like, it just
didn't seems like much fun.  These recent posts about Star Wars started to ring
some bells..

In article <SBB.92Dec30184603@panix.com> sbb@panix.com (Steve Baumgarten) writes:
>[re: Star wars]
>It's a fun game to play if all you want to do is bounce the ball
>around and make R2D2 jump up and down and listen to all that great
>music and sound.  It's possible to get into a real scoring "groove"
>with it like you can (quite easily) in FISH TALES, but it doesn't
>happen often, mostly because the game doesn't play smooth, as you
>noted.

With R&B, Data East has pulled out all the stops on Dot-matrix animation. 
There's so much flashing up there all the time that it is hard to digest it
all.  And I do consider myself generally to have a high tolerance for
information - LW3 didn't bother me.  Like Star Wars, it's fun to watch somebody
else play it so you can see all the flashy effects and great sounds.  But it
isn't so much fun to play it yourself.

>[ comments that the components seem randomly placed and the game didn't
>  have a smooth feel to it. ]

R&B also doesn't have a "smooth" feel to it.  The right orbit shot has a
distressing tendency to drain down the middle after you make it.  The kickout
on the left also has a high tendency to kick the ball screaming down in between
the flippers. 

>
>   [Lyman Sheats writes]
>   [he would like some rubber on the inlane/outlane divider post]

Sorry, R&B has standard drain-o-matic rubberless lanes.

What Data East doesn't realize is that when a player saves a ball from
draining, he feels like he did something special.  You must put rubber on your
inlanes/outlanes to allow player to make more "great saves!".  In compensation
for the rubber, you can make the outlanes bigger so that the ball does drain
sometimes.  When the ball drains and the player had a chance to save the ball,
he feels like it's his fault, and wants to play the game again.  When the ball
drains and he had no chance to save it, he blames the game, and doesn't want to
play it again. 

>
>   And yes, I do like a kickback that doesn't require taking the glass
>   off or losing the ball to get the thing relit.
>

R&B kickback is easier to relight; seems like two right orbit shots will do it.
I'm not sure if they have to be consecutive or not.  I don't think it's
self-adjusting.

Finally, if the manufacturers always want to reduce average game time, why do
they keep putting in time-consuming video displays???  R&B has the longest
bonus countdown I have ever seen, and you can't hurry it up like in Creature. 
R&B also has "mini-movies" like LW3.  It sure would be nice if you could abort
these time-wasters by pressing a flipper button.


Now, for some positive comments.  I also played Premier/Gottlieb's Street
Fighter II and enjoyed it a lot!

There's all kind of fun shots and ramp shots to make, and a wacky "car crash"
mode.

There is not only rubber on the inlanes/outlanes, but a center post as well.

Looks like another hit for Premier.

--
Joel Iott


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