Tecno Ninja / game / commercial
From: Michael Current (aa700@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 06/04/92-10:47:35 AM Z
From: aa700@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Michael Current)
Subject: Tecno Ninja / game / commercial
Date: Thu Jun 4 10:47:35 1992
Reprinted from Atari Interface, Vol. 4, May 1992
Tecno Ninja
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An 8-bit Game from Software Infinity
Ed Hall
AAAUA
Tecno Ninja is one of the new KE-Soft games imported from Germany by
Software Infinity. While most of the offerings in this line are strategy
games, Tecno Ninja is a futuristic action-adventure.
Its premise hawks up some rather lugubrious, hopefully tongue-in-cheek
names. Tecno Ninjas (untroubled by the missing "H" in their names) live on
the planet Trivator. One day, the magic stone of Sassafras is stolen, and
the warrior Garagon must travel to Sarcendor to recover it. Luckily he has
his, um, Vaginator Shield to protect him. Really.
There are 10 scenarios to puzzle through--an old temple, a lost city, an
underground lake, an alien spacecraft, a crystal cave and others. Each has 10
screens, and your Tecno Ninja must find an eye-shaped stone before he can
advance to the next level. The screens are interconnected in various ways, but
since there are only 10 per level, mapping is not necessary.
The play-action resembles a maze-and-platform game with the emphasis not
on hair-trigger reflexes, but on locating strategic items. Garagon (an agile,
soewhat hyperactive fellow) resonds quickly to the urgings of your joystick.
The graphics are excellent. Screens are well-drawn and detailed,
enlivened with spot animation. Mysterious discs rotate, energy fields
coruscate and terminals with line of scrolling static are like eyes rolling
endlessly upward in their sockets. Everything gleams with a metallic,
high-tech sheen.
The sound effects are convincing, and each level has its own musical
theme. The best piece greets you at the game's title screen, and is good
enough to cause you to linger there. Unfortunately, the screen itself is a
muddy disappointment--an anomaly among the otherwise fine graphics. A simple
keypress banishes it from view.
The only other complaint I have is the color selection used on some of the
play-screens. Occasionally I found them a bit garish.
But these are quibbles. Tecno Ninja is one of the best games in the
KE-Soft stable, and it delivers hours of enjoyment. I have no problem in
recommending it.
A point of interest about this game is that it's in compiled Turbo-Basic.
Readers who wish to advance beyond BASIC, but are not quite ready to take on
assembly lenguage, would do well to take a look at Tecno Ninja and see what can
be accomplished with Turbo-Basic (a PD language!).
The disk directory is not hidden, thus giving you access to portions of
the game. For example, the title screen is in 62-sector Micro-Painter format,
so you can replace it with one of your own (as I did). However, the color
registers are set by the main program, restricting you to the same ugly
combination as the original screen.
If you want to hear the complete musical score, know that RENDESV4.MUS is
the name of the theme for level 1 (the airport). A bit of renaming will
accomplish the rest.
The disk comes enclosed in a folded card with a pen-and-ink drawing on the
front and instructions inside. To play, you'll need an XL or XE machine and a
drive capable of reading enhanced density. The cost is $14.50 plus $3 shipping
& handling. Order from:
Software Infinity
642 East Waring Ave.
State College, PA 16801
Or call their 24-hour order line (814) 238-7967. VISA and MasterCard are
accepted.
--
Michael Current, Cleveland Free-Net 8-bit Atari SIGOp -->> go atari8 <<--
The Cleveland Free-Net Atari SIG is the Central Atari Information Network
Internet: currentm@carleton.edu / UUCP: ...!umn-cs!ccnfld!currentm
BITNET: currentm%carleton.edu@{interbit} / Cleveland Free-Net: aa700
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