TILES OSMOSIS
Review directed by Cooper / Paradize.
Tuesday , February 17th. A new game appears from nowhere on www.atari-forum.com
A new game for STs ? Sounds nice :) I decided to investigate a bit, and have a
proper look at it... So let's dive into the details of this new release...
Who did what ?
==============
All the stuff has been done by a french crew, called Cerebral Vortex . This crew
used to be active during the early nineties (this game has been finished in 1994
but never spread due to a lack of any spreader or software dealer) . Cerebral
Vortex is composed of several dudes : Raz, gfxman (previously Ozone Design),
Azrael, mathematical side of things coder (formerly Mad Sup) and GT Turbo, Coder
(previously known as Digital Power) . A guy named Iwire also participated to the
graphical part of this game. The -more than well known- musics are performed by
Mad Max (don't forget we are in 1994 ;-)
What does this game deal with ?
===============================
This game is really light (80 Ko), but it's far from a bad game !
Tiles Osmosis is a mix between Tetris, Colums, and Match It. Appealing, no ? :)
The game starts with a special shape done by some tiles. Rules are easy to
understand : you must clear up the screen. To do that, you can either move
horizontally a row (by putting arrows in front of this row, pressing space then
moving in the direction you want all the tiles to go) or vertically (just do the
same process) to make two same tiles matching.In the lower border of the screen,
you can see how many tiles are remaining in this level. The whitest tiles
mean there are only 3 or less tiles like this one to finish the level , so take
care, you can easily get trapped !
Be warned, you have two restrictions to finish each level : you can only move
each row from -4 to 4 (look the counter near the arrow), and from -2 to 2
vertically,and there is also a time limit shown by the rasterized right vertical
bar. Rules can be a bit difficult to understand (because they are also difficult
to explain) but just give it a try, you'll see what I mean :)
Technically speaking...
=======================
Tiles Osmosis features some cool stuff , not mindblasting, but cool anyway :)
All the game is written in assembly.The title picture features a rasterized logo
on a tiles-composed background. This kind of feature is somehow easy to do , and
quite eyecatching :) Coders, don't hesitate to include colorfull pictures in
your releases ;) The main menu is classic , with a 8*8 scroller. The in-game
screen features a lower border removal, where the number of tiles remaining and
usefull pieces of information are stored. Regarding music, nothing to say , as
it's classical chiptunes.Don't forget to reset your computer to enjoy the little
reset-screen :)
Usefull things to know
======================
- Don't write anymore to the address written in the doc.
- This game is now freeware.
- use this version on a blank disk (or remove any disk for drive when playing
from Hard Drive), because the game saves scores on a special track of the
floppy !! Otherwise you can lose data !!!
- This game is STEEM compliant, but 2 bombs on Falcon (reported by Aldyn/STK).
Conclusion
==========
The little minor i can see in Tiles Osmosis is the lack of saving option. So you
are forced to go back at the first stage when you reached time limit or so...
Frustrating, eh ?
This game is not a blockbuster like RG games, but it is still a good game , and
any release is welcome for our beloved atari, even if it's 10 years-old or so ;)
Cerebral Vortex announced on www.atari-forum.com that some games are still in
the pipe, so i can only recommend you to stay tuned dudes :)
Cooper, for Alive.
(20.02.2004)
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