From: marshall@nebula.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com (Bob Marshall)
Subject: AMAZON : Frustrated
Reply-To: marshall@nebula.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com
Organization: LMSC, Sunnyvale, California
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 06:48:31 GMT

Has anyone else gotten frustrated with Amazon yet? Several things about
the interface really annoy me. The one that annoys me the most is the
"SHOCK WARNING" stuff. When you get to a new screen that requires you
to do something, you only have about 20 seconds or so to poke around and
examine things to figure out what to do, and then you die. It takes about
five or six iterations (or more) to finally salvage enough time to
begin to figure out what to do. To frustrate me even more, I elected
to save my current game at a point that was about half-a-second before
I was going to die, so that now when I restart it I die immediately.
I can see having a game end when you explicitly make a bad move, but
to have the game end just by floundering around and trying to find out
what to do next (especially when you're only given 20 seconds to 
flounder) is a bum deal if you ask me. For example, you reach a point
where you are in a plane and are presented with a control panel. If
you carefully examine all the switches on the panel before doing anything
(which is the prudent thing to do, right? You don't want to just blindly
start flipping switches), then you crash within about 20 seconds. And
if you just sit and do nothing you crash, which again does not seem 
fair. I can see that if you push the wrong switch, or push it the wrong
way, or something like that, then you ought to be penalized. But I can't
seem penalizing you for being cautious and/or prudent. And if you are 
going to do so, then you need to allow more than 20 seconds. Especially
since often when you try to examine something without being right next
to it, the stupid game says "Move Closer", an operation that requires
about 10 seconds itself to accomplish.

Also very frustrating is the implementation of the "SAVE" feature. With
almost every other game I've seen, when you elect to save the game, the
file that will be used to save the game is the save file used most recently.
But in AMAZON the "default" game on the SAVE menu is the one at the top
of the list, no matter how old or stale it is. I accidentally wiped out my 
son's game by messing this up (geez, it's tough when your 11-year old won't
talk to you!).

And, I finally gave up trying to walk by using the mouse; I use the arrow
keys to walk most of the time. It was just too frustrating trying to walk
by using the mouse.

But, the graphics are fantastic if you have a good SVGA card! Plus, the
digitized voices are great! The game itself is sort of so-so, but the
effects make it worthwhile.
=============================================================================
Bob Marshall                     \\     "Women aren't as smart as they
Lockheed Missiles & Space Co.     \\     think they are; they think we
Sunnyvale, CA                      \\    men know a lot more than we
marshall@force.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com\\   really do."
"I tell the truth 'cept when I lie"  \\     - Tim the Toolman
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