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| Welcome
to Game of the Week! Each week there will be a
new featured game on this page. The game may be good,
average or diabolically bad, it really doesn't matter!
Just look at the pics, read the text and enjoy the nostalgia!
:-) Game of the Week! is open to contributions so if you
would like to contribute
a game article for this page you're more than welcome
to! Every article we receive will be considered! |
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ICUPS
1986 Odin Computer
Graphics
Programmed
by Robert W. Tinman
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text of the present article comes from the review published
in the sixteenth issue of the British C64 magazine ZZAP!64
(street date: July 10th, 1986). |
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ICUPS
Odin/Firebird,
£9.95 cass, joystick or keys
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ICUPS is, or rather are, a bunch
of terribly decent fellows who spend their time preventing
mankind's masses from being blown up by any evil and
marauding aliens. They're a talented bunch of guys and
are good at their task, consequently it's no easy job
getting drafted into their elite ranks. Many budding
ICUPSsters fail on the road to
becoming an ICUPS commander, but
you, who have had compulsory conscription for ICUPS
training, aren't going to fail are you?
After
months of training you're ready to tackle the ICUPS
training ground -- complete it and you'll become a commander.
Fail and it's back to the dole queue. The training course
is split into two sections, the first testing your flying
skills and the second a commando mission into an alien
environment where you have to recover and assemble the
four pieces of a computer. You're only given three chances
at the mission; throwing away the three chances results
in instant expulsion from the ICUPS
academy.
When
the mission starts, a tug rocket pulls your nimble craft
onto the screen and then whizzes off, leaving you alone
in the void. What you have to do is fly up the vertically
scrolling screen, dodging the various suicidal and bomb
dropping robot ships. To complete the first part of
the mission you have to get through three separate stages,
each stage getting progressively harder, making you
rely more on your offensive missiles and bumping abilities
to reach the end of the stage.
Once
you've completed the flight stage you're automatically
transported to the second part of the course, a sort
of mini Arc of Yesod with a jet pack. What you
have to do is make your way around a large, flick-screen
map and find four bits of the computer. When you find
a piece it can be picked up by blasting the top off
its container and moving your man over it. When all
four pieces have been recovered, locate the central
computer room and assemble them there to complete the
training. Sounds easy, but the complex is infested by
horrible aliens which sap your energy when they touch
you. If they stay close for too long then you lose a
life. Luckily they can be shot; just press fire to blast
them to bits. He he he.
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I
couldn't believe my ears when I heard the title
screen music -- a direct rip-off of the Mighty
Bogg's Detergent, and a rather poor rendition
at that. Small wonder that Bogg has virtually
given up writing tunes. Disgusting. Anyway, title
screen music aside, ICUPS
is a fairly mediocre game. The first stage struck
me as being a soft of Bumping
Buggies
variant (yawn) -- the second stage is like a simplified
Nodes/Arc
of Yesod,
and soon palls. I'm surprised that Odin have come
up with such a weak title -- at least the graphics
are up to their usual standards, ie very good,
but that's no reason to buy the game.
.
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Presentation
75%
Nice on-screen presentation and a couple of options.
Graphics
85%
Very pretty sprites and backdrops.
Sound
51%
Poor rip-off of a good Bogg tune
and weak effects.
Hookability
65%
The great graphics attract...
Lastability
46%
...but the horrible game repels.
Value
For Money 46%
A tenner's a bit steep for what
it offers.
Overall
49%
The first poor offering from the
Odin stable.
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Htmlized
by Dimitris
Kiminas (17 Aug 2006)
Only the second of the above screenshots existed in
the original review.
Can
anybody rip the SID tune out of this one?
Other
"Games of the Week!"
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