From: v089l3s3@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Jeremy B Horwitz)
Newsgroups: rec.games.video
Subject: Reviews: Rampart and Robocop 3 (SNES)
Date: 12 Sep 92 18:16:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

Review: Rampart, by Electronic Arts and Bitmasters for the SNES
List Price: $57.99, Retail Price: $59.99 [Electronics Boutique]
Summary: An excellent translation and revamping of the Atari games
strategy/action game, easily EA's best title.

	Everyone has seen that arcade game - the one with the primitive
graphics and the trackball, the General yelling out commands as three
people scramble to build a castle, place cannons, and then attack
each others' castles until devastated. Building the castles involved
using Tetris type pieces and rotating them to build walls, until
a rectangular box of land was created with enough room for cannons
inside.
	Now, take that game 2 years into the future. Add the sound chip
of the Super NES, the scaling and rotation effects everyone loves,
and toss in a totally new "Super Rampart" mode. Then, add dynamic 
visual effects for no reason, just to satisfy the player completely.
That's what EA did.

	Super Rampart mode shines with the following new features: Super
Cannons, which you can trade 3 normal cannons for, fire the deadly
red cannonballs which create fireballs in the ground; Propaganda
Balloons, which allow you to persuade enemy captains to join your
forces; Bosses to fight in some of the 15 new levels, instead of
just wave after wave of ships; a Final Fantasy II-ish 3-d perspective
when you run and gun in great form, watching scaling cannonballs
hurtle in all directions; and Sea Monsters to command.
	The Battlefield in both modes has been blown up for greater
detail, so you now scroll left and right when fighting enemy ships
as well as up and down. Every "stage" (ie: Build and Repair, Destroy
Enemy Ships, etc.) is begun with a scaling and rotating screen. In
between victories, you see 3-D rotating towers to indicate wins and
losses... Amazing!
	The sound is perfect from the arcade, and enhanced some. Voices
and echoing trumpets galore. The graphics are better than the 
arcade with the tossing in of new features and visuals to soup up
the game's somewhat drab arcade visuals. The play is better with
both modes requiring some new skills... too hard to mention them
all.
Graphics: 90% - Visuals are totally satisfying. It's no SF2, but it
does everything it does perfectly.
Sounds: 95% - Great beat, great music, great sound effects.
Play: 95% - The best strategy game around, in my opinion.
Overall: 95% - Totally worth the price of admission. Buy, don't
rent.
[Two-Player Option is also terrific!]

RoboCop 3 by Ocean for the SNES
List Price: $63.99 [Elec. Bout.]
Summary: Quite good adaptation of the arcade game, difficult and
asthetically pleasing with weak control.

	I won't say too much about this because I've only gotten through to the boss of the first level. The graphics are reasonably good - it looks like a larger version of the arcade game Robocop with new overhead scenes added
in for fun. Nothing amazingly great, graphically, but not bad.
Music is quite great, sounds are pretty neat. Play is just like the
arcade Robocop - if you like it, then you'll like this one, too.
The control mechanism allots one button for forward shooting,
one for punching, one for jumping and one for shooting directly
up. You shoot diagonally by pressing up and shooting forward.
Switching weapons uses the top buttons, and limited ammo can be
recharged. A dead gun is a dead gun, and your standard Auto-9 does
go dead.
	The digitized stills are great - some of the best on the SNES 
thus far. There's a lot to learn in it, too - dodging bullets is
half the fun.
No number reviews - it's too preliminary. It looks like a better
than average action game.

-> J
Newsgroups: rec.games.video