Hold on
to your hats, folks! We now have a bonafide winner to tell you about!! Till now,
we ATARI owners were only able to enjoy the really super graphics and
sound-effects our systems are capable of when people from ATARI had created one
of their fine machine-language games. Not any more... there's a new game out
called "JAWBREAKER" that will make every game-playing ATARI owner able
to show off this computer's power.
First
the data:
Program Name: JAWBREAKER
Author's Name: John Harris
Available from: OnLine Systems, 36576 Mudge Ranch Road, Coarsegold, CA 93614
Phone Number: (209) 683-6858
Price (diskette only): $29.95 + $1 for shipping & handling
Now to
describe the game... If you are familiar with the game "PacMan" (R)
then you will immediately see a striking resemblance between that game and
JAWBREAKER. In fact, some aficionados of PacMan have even said that they believe
JAWBREAKER is better! You use a joystick to control the movement of a
"chomping" set of teeth through a maze. As you move, you can travel
over evenly spaced dots that are worth 10 points apiece. You can also go over
bonus objects (such as a heart or a sailboat), if these appear, and get up to
500 more points for these. Sounds sorta dull so far, huh? Well, if this were all
there was to the game, it would get to be dull in a hurry.
The
catch is, there are these four rapidly-moving, rolling, tumbling, and spinning
"life savers" (circles with happy faces inside them) that exit from
their centrally located starting box and move around that maze looking for you.
And when they find you, you won't look the same as you used to. (To completely
describe what happens would rob you of some of the fine sense of humor the
author has used in crafting this clever game). You can, however, get revenge on
these nasty candies - there are four rotating circles which can be used (once
each) to turn those happyfaced critters into blue, sad faces for a short time
... and while they are in that state, YOU can chase THEM! When you catch up with
them, they are also worth up to 800 points. Just be careful not to let them
revert back to their original colors while you're too near them, because when
this happens, they'll start chasing you again.
The
author has done some other nice things in his implementation that also enhance
the fun of this game even more. There's some well-done music at the start of the
game (and also when you press the RESET key); a "wraparound" tunnel in
the maze that lets you travel through it faster than those pesky candies; some
other creative sound effects (such as a distinctive "gulp" when you go
over the bonus items). If you can survive through several complete cleanings of
all the 10 -point dots with your teeth still intact, you get a bonus set of
teeth. I've intentionally left out one of the funniest parts - just watch what
happens each time you get all the dots off the maze... a laugh is guaranteed. It
is this reviewer',, opinion that this is the best arcade-type game yet
implemented for the ATARI. I MOST highly recommend it! (On a scale of 1 to 10, 1
would give it an 11!
Note -
the diskette is non-copyable ... the store has indicated a 90 -day free
replacement for damaged media; after that, $5 gets you a new disk.
