TurboPlay
Issue Number 3
October / November 1990
page 9
Last Alert
NEC
One Player CD-ROM
****
The international arms syndicate, The Force Project, lead by the genius physicist and all-around bad guy, Dr. Che Garcia, is up to its old bag of tricks__.trying to take over the world. One by one, all the top government agencies from countries around the world have tried to stop him, but each has failed. And now all eyes are on you, Guy Kazama, top CIA agent.
For years you've been dogged by Dr. Garcia and his motley crew. Much like Professor Miriarty was to Sherlock Holmes, Garcia always seems to be one step ahead of you. You may have stopped the crime, but the doctor always gets away, except this time. For now you have the full backing of the CIA, and that includes all their special weapons. And now it's your turn to show the world, and Garcia, why you're the best.
As in most CD-ROM games, Last Alert has visual scenes that will appear in between each mission. The visual scene is where you'll be told the story line of the game and find out what your orders are for the particular mission. Once through the visual scene, you'll be taken into the action scene or the actual game play automatically. In the action scene, you'll travel through six different areas mad eup of various terrains, which include an airstrip, frozen tundra and even space. The different missions will require you to perform one of three different tasks under a prescribed amount of time befor eyou can go to the next mission, which is indicated by a colored marker. A blue marker means you must simply fight your way to the end boss for that stage. After you defeat that boss, you'll be able to continue to the next stage. If you see a yellow marker, you must satisfy certain conditions such as planting bombs at designated places or rescuing a certain number of hostages, before you can move on. The final marker is red. This is an easy spy mission that doesn't require you to defeat any bosses or complete any tasks. It only requires that you make it to the end of the stage. What can make the spy missions more difficult is deciding to use a weapon other than your pistol. If you use another weapon, the number of enemeis that come after you will increase.
You start the game with a Colt revolver that shoots three bullets in succession. That's fine for the early stages but as you progress through the game, you'll need some heavy artillery. By defeating the various enemies that you encounter, you'll acquire the necessary experience points to move up in rank and handle the big guns such as a heavy machine gun or a missile launcher. As you defeat the enemies, you'll also come across a wide range of special weapons that range from hyper pineapples, which are high-powered grenades, to invincible satellites that will appear at Guy's side, to the disc launcher, which shoots high powered discs in four diagonal directions. Obviously, the key to success in the game is to get your experience level up as high as possible as quickly as possible.
Last Alert is another example of why CD-ROM games will be the wave of the future. With incredible graphics and sound, game players will be crying for more. But it's the game play of Last Alert that sets the game apart from the rest. Instead of just bullying your way through each stage, you'll have to remember what's required before you can leave. And the game will take a long time to finish in comparison to other action games. It's not that it is necessarily difficult, but there are times where you think the game never ends. Rarely do you see an action adventure game that provides you with so many different things to accomplish. This is something usually reserved for role-playing games. You'll definitely get your money's worth out of this one.
Tiger Road
NEC
One Player TurboChip
***
In Tiger Road, you'll become a bald-headed martial arts hero named Lee Wong. As a master of the awesome Oh-Lin boxing technique, Lee is responsible for cleaning up the mess that was left behind when the Dragon God ravaged the Oh-Lin temple. The sacred scrolls of the Oh-Lin ancients were stolen in the attack, and the Dragon God also left a heap of punched-out priests and mutilated monks as his calling card.
Seeking revenge, Lee sets out to battle the evil deity who caused this injustice. But first, he must fight his way through the Dragon God's army of skilled savages and his four "boss" henchmen. Lee gets to use a number of different weapons along the way, and the abundance of power-up items should be enough to keep him going until he reaches the training sessions at the end of each round. In these bonus areas, Lee can boost his power level or learn how to use the incredible "two-headed tiger technique," the most powerful recipe in the Oh-Lin cookbook.
With its cartoonish hero and bug-eyed bosses, Tiger Road doesn't look like much of a challenge. But it's a fairly difficult game, mainly because your opponents seem to operate at a skill level that's far beyond your own fighting abilities. Lee doesn't have any way of protecting himself from the kung-fu zombies and spear-wielding warriors who hound him; the best defense is a good offense. Some enemies are nearly impossible to avoid, like the armored samurai who leap straight up in the air before coming down at you with their giant swords aimed at your heart!
The variety of optional weapons that appear at various points in the game should have been helpful, but the narrow focus and short range of these weapons limits their usefulness. Be very careful about the bonus items you pick up; in addition to the less-than-desirable weaponry, there are a few icons that decrease your energy level instead of raising it as you'd expect.
Though the graphics and sounds are well-done, they're not quite up to the standards set by some earlier Turbo titles. Still, Tiger Road is an enjoyable contest, and it should be a hit with former Nintendo owners who are looking for something similar to classic NES games like Kung Fu, Kid Niki or Radical Ninja.