Subject: REVIEW: ZOOL
From: [email-masked] (Michael Richards)
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 14:32:39 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

PRODUCT NAME

	ZOOL

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

	ZOOL is the much hyped `SONIC THE HEDGEHOG' (STH) beater from
Gremlin.  It is an arcade style platform game, and whilst an excellent game
in many respects, it is NOT better than STH. It has some minor flaws in
presentation, but these cannot detract from a marvellous game.  Recommended.

AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

	Name:		Gremlin Graphics
	Address:	Carver House
			2-4 Carver Street
			Sheffield S1 4FS
			England

	Telephone:	0742 753423 (inside the UK)
			44 742 753423 (outside the UK)

LIST PRICE

	25:99 Pounds (UK)

PRODUCT INFORMATION

	Works on all Amigas (1 MB RAM required) with Kickstart 1.1, 1.2,
	1.3, and 2.0.

	Requires a joystick.

	Copy protected (code wheel protection), not hard-drive installable.

	Contents:  2 disks, manual, poster, stickers (yep! stickers), code
	wheel.

        Review machine:  A1500, 2 floppy drives, 3 MB RAM, Kickstart 2.0.

MAIN REVIEW

	ZOOL has had more hype than any other game this year, and has been
described by Gremlin amongst others as a SONIC THE HEDGEHOG beater.  As a
result, I have been extremely critical of ANY of ZOOL's faults.  Many of
these are minor, and will not affect enjoyment of the game.  I don't own a
Sega Genesis (Megadrive), and any comparisons with SONIC are from a limited
number of plays.

THE PLOT

	This is asking for trouble....  Zool is an Intergalactic Ninja from
the Nth Dimension, travelling across the galaxy, when he is forced to land
on Earth.  There he must battle across 7 lands before he can prove himself
worthy of being an Intergalactic Ninja.  Now - I'll bet you're sorry!!!!

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

	Things didn't get off to a good start, with the disks refusing to
boot; however, a quick warm reset fixed this, and off we went.  Problem
Number 1:  Gremlin Graphics had the excellent idea of printing the code
wheel in glossy black ink on a matte black background, and it was difficult
to read the result.  Also, my wheel had been printed slightly off-center, so
some of the digits weren't visible.  

	There is an Options screen allowing you to select the mode of the
game (Normal or Fast), the amount of inertia affecting Zool, the music style
or FX, and the starting level.  These are all features that should extend
Zool's life considerably.

	Loading the levels involves a disk swap, and here came Problem
Number 2:  Zool doesn't recognise drive DF1:.  Although it isn't a unique
problem, Zool still gets a black mark in my book, for this lack of thought.

	Loading time is fairly short, during which you get to watch a lot of
acid heads bouncing round the screen, and a metallic voice squeaks `Get
Ready' -- better than a blank screen, but only just.

GRAPHICS

	Here is where Zool had to score extremely highly to beat Sonic, and
it nearly manages the feat.  Zool himself is a green bug with yellow eyes and
a natty black and red outfit, and does have passing resemblance to Sonic.
He is well animated with lots of frames of animation.

	The rest of the sprites are equally well designed (although perhaps
lacking in the animation department), and use the bright primary palette
extremely well.

	The backgrounds too are crisp and neat, but they do seem rather
plain next to those seen in FIRE AND ICE or WOLFCHILD.  They also don't
reach the standard of SONIC THE HEDGEHOG's.  However, they match the style
of the game to perfection.

	The screen is displayed in overscan mode (so there may be problems
on NTSC machines), with 32-colour sprites and 16-colour backgrounds.  There
is also a copper list backdrop in a variety of fluorescent shades.

	Scrolling is in 8 directions and can reach some blinding speeds, even
on the diagonal.  There is no parallax.

	Problem Number 3:  Zool relies on the amount of action on-screen to
give it its frenetic pace.  So when the screen gets cluttered with exploding
baddies, bonus objects, and a whirling Intergalactic Ninja, the scrolling
begins to glitch slightly, between an all-out scroll and bursts of
inactivity.  As well as being hard on the eye, this detracts from the
gameplay, and it is surprising that Zool was released with this bug.

SOUND

	The game has a variety of tunes available in play -- Rave, Rock,
Green and Funk.  All are extremely professional in sound quality, but
somewhat short.  They also remain constant during the game and begin to
grate on the listener ever so slightly.

	The FX can be described as OK.

GAMEPLAY

	The playability of ZOOL is the make-or-break feature.  Plenty of
platform games shine with the most mediocre of graphics and sounds, but if
the play sucks, so does the game.

	This is where Zool does shine.  The controls are perfectly laid out
and easy to use.  The main character responds to the lightest touch on the
joystick, and when you have worked out the inertia effects, you can place
Zool exactly where you want him.

	I should point out that a steel shafted joystick is essential with
ZOOL; anything less will end up as a mass of broken plastic somewhere on the
first level.  Even a steel joystick such as my Competition Pro, which has
survived many a beat `em up, was making some very alarming noises at the end
of the Sweet World!

	Zool can jump -- vertically, diagonally left, and diagonally right.
When Zool is whizzing through the air, the Fire button turns him into a
whirling dervish that can shred the opposition.  Diagonal down makes him
slide in the appropriate direction, with the additional effect of killing
the bad guys.  Finally, he is able to fire shots at the baddies; and
although this lacks the finesse of the other methods, it is a LOT safer --
especially against the end of level bad guys.

	The game involves collecting Z tokens that are scattered around the
level.  A certain percentage must be picked up before the timer runs out, and
then Zool must reach the exit.  The time limit is TOUGH; it's all too
tempting to go off on an excursion for bonuses, whilst the timer ticks down
to zero.

	Also scattered on the level are ZOOL bonuses, which give things like
extra lives, bombs, higher jumps, and most importantly a ghostly Zool double
to help you out.  Although the bonuses are great, I would question the way
they are laid out.  The computer decides when a bonus is available -- not
you.  For instance, it's quite common to get a bomb in a screen that you've
just cleared of enemies, and then you'll come on an area which just cries
out to be bombed.

	The opposition comes in thick and fast.  Some show a small amount of
intelligence and home in on Zool, and others just bomb the hell out of him.
Killing bad guys can reveal bonus items; others release a little heart that
can be used to top up Zool's energy supply.  At the end of each world is a
bad guy that needs a LOT of killing.
 
	As is necessary for all good platform games nowadays there are hidden
levels and warps throughout the game.

	And here comes my biggest gripe about ZOOL, at the end of a game you
enter your name, and then - SWAP DISKS!!!!!!  If you want to play again, you
reswap the disks - mutter mutter....  Last month, I praised FIRE AND ICE for
sensible disk usage and using extra memory to hold levels.  ZOOL does
neither, so it takes a couple of minutes before you can play again.  This is
a major flaw in ZOOL and didn't impress me.  (But its not as bad as the
delays in PROJECT X).

	So how does ZOOL compare with similar games?  Well to be honest, if
you want SONIC THE HEDGEHOG you'll have to buy a Sega.  ZOOL looks and plays
well, but it never has the same `busy-ness' of SONIC.  It does however come
at the top of the heap of Amiga platform games.  Nothing I've seen is as
fast or as exciting as ZOOL.  The graphics are not the best on a platform
game (either WOLFCHILD or FIRE AND ICE must take that honour), but they do
have a certain stylishness to them.  And ZOOL must have the brightest copper
list in existence!

ROUNDUP

	This was tough.  I like ZOOL a great deal, but I never got the buzz
out of it I was expecting.  Because of the hype, perhaps I was expecting too
much of ZOOL, and came away slightly disappointed.  Its flaws are very small,
and in most games would not be noticed, but for ZOOL I expected better.

	ZOOL is NOT a SONIC THE HEDGEHOG beater:  it IS a very good game, but
not a classic.  With some small bug fixes and better thought on disk access
and memory, it could have been a classic.  ZOOL has flaws, mostly minor, but
they should have been removed before release if Gremlin wanted to have a
SONIC beater.

	Having said all that, you will enjoy playing ZOOL, and until
something better comes along it is the best of the bunch.  If you want speed,
look no further, but I think you'll play FIRE AND ICE for longer.

	Overall, well done Gremlin, but you must try harder.  (Nice stickers
though!!!!)
	
	The scores - GRAPHICS    : 8.5 / 10 : Cute sprites, copper lists,
					    : smooth scrolling -- but
					    : graphical glitches distract
					    : in the game.

		     SOUND       : 8.5 / 10 : Music is superbly arranged (as
					    : you expect from Gremlin), but
					    : there's not enough of it.
					    : Appropriate,professional FX,
					    : but nothing stunning.

		     EASE OF USE : 9 / 10   : Controls take a little getting
					    : used to, but are wonderfully
					    : responsive and easy to use.

		     CHALLENGE   : 9 / 10   : Nice and easy to start with,
					    : but quickly becomes a real test
					    : of skill.  Hardened arcadesters
					    : may solve it quickly though.
					    : The rest of us will take ages
					    : to get to world 7.

		     OVERALL     : 8.5 / 10 : A great game, let down by some
					    : bad design and graphical
					    : glitches.  Well above average
					    : in the Amiga market, ZOOL
					    : suffers only in comparison to
					    : the hype.

 				Mike.
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