Subject: REVIEW: Body Blows Galactic - AGA
From: [email-masked] (David Zvekic)
Date: 9 Mar 1994 16:06:10 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

PRODUCT NAME

	Body Blows Galactic - AGA

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

	A beat-em-up game which pits 12 different fighters from 6 different
worlds against one another.

AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

	Name:           Team17 Software Ltd
	Address:        Marwood House, Garden St,
			Wakefield, West Yorkshire
			WF1 1DX
			England

	Telephone:      (0)924 201846

LIST PRICE

	#29.99 (that's Pounds)

	I paid $22 Canadian for it, but I bought a special copy that used to
be given away for free as a promotion for A1200's.  My copy didn't have a
box, just a plastic bag with 2 disks and a manual.

SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

	HARDWARE

		The AGA chipset is required.
		An old chipset (OCS) version exists however.

		1 MB RAM required.  Any additional memory will be used to
		store data during play.

	SOFTWARE

		None for PAL Amigas.
		On my NTSC Amiga, I had to use Chris Hames' Degrader 1.30 to
		get it to work in PAL.  The early startup control doesn't
		help.

		Body Blows Galactic works on all versions of the OS.

COPY PROTECTION

	Disk-based (the disk itself cannot be copied with DiskCopy).  I
couldn't get DMS to copy it either.

	NOT hard drive installable.

	The original disks are required for use; however, no data is ever
saved to disk, so you can leave them write-protected (and are encouraged to
do so in the manual).

	I rate the copy protection as somewhere between acceptable and
annoying.  People who are used to such things would not be bothered; however,
I'm worried that my original disks might get damaged.

MACHINE USED FOR TESTING

	A4000/030 - NTSC.
	2 MB Chip RAM + 2MB Fast RAM.
	1 external 880 k floppy + the standard A4000 disk drives etc.
	Commodore 1942 monitor.
	Kickstart 3.0, Workbench 3.0.
	Also used Chris Hames' Degrader 1.30 to switch to PAL mode.

	Also tried it on:

	A1200 - NTSC.
	2 MB Chip RAM + 4 MB Fast RAM.
	GVP SCSI+Fast Ram /w FPU option.
	Internal Clock.
	Commodore 1942 monitor.
	Kickstart 3.0, Workbench 3.0

INSTALLATION

	 None required.  Just DO IT!

REVIEW

	When I first arrived at one of my friendly neighborhood Amiga
dealers (YES, there are several in my town), I wasn't planning on buying
anything in particular.  One of my friends was picking up an A4000 which he
had on layaway (for almost a year, I believe).  Anyways, I'm not that big on
video games in general (anymore), especially the variety that take over your
machine and don't let you multitask, or heaven forbid don't install on your
hard drive.

	I did decide to pick up the first issue of Amiga Game Zone magazine
(which was damn good -- I'll do a review on that later).  When we were about
to leave, I saw a few games in the discount bin without boxes at
significantly reduced prices.  Body Blows Galactic was among them.  At $22
Canadian, I figured I couldn't lose, even if it was non-compliant with the
operating system.  I remember paying (happily I might add) over $50 for
Intellivision games, and upwards of $80 for Nintendo games.  This copy was
originally part of a special A1200 promotion, which explained the low price
and lack of a box.

	Anyway, when we returned from the dealership, I immediately tried the
disk on my friend's A1200.  To my surprise, it worked!  What didn't surprise
me was that the bottom 50 or so scan lines were missing from the screen.
This is typical of PAL games brought over to North America.  I wish
developers would show more consideration for North American Amiga owners.
But I digress.

	I tried rebooting with the Early Startup Control set to PAL, but that
didn't work (nor surprise me) either.  So without having a copy of Degrader
handy we tried out the game sans the bottom 10% of the screen.

	The first thing you'll notice when after the game boots is the
amazing intro music!  I'm talking real cool! Sort of a Techno-House dance
tune, with digitized effects and a chorus that occasionally chants the phrase
"Body Blows" in time with the beat.  Anime-style portraits of the characters
then appear one at a time, while flying pixels make neat patterns in the
backdrop.

	The title screen itself consists of beautifully rendered characters
which are reflected below as if on water.  This rippling water effect is
used later on in one of the scenes where the characters actually fight in
an ankle deep rippling pond next to several animated waterfalls.

	Pressing the fire button brings you to a main menu which displays
your typical playing options.  You can play against the computer or against
a friend.  In Tournament Mode, you can have either 4 or 8 players using any
of the 12 characters (yes, you can all pick the same character if you
like).  There are several game options also.  Matches can either be
determined in a single round, or by playing a best 2 out of 3.  A match can
have a time limit of 60 or 90 seconds per round or have unlimited time.
There are 3 difficulty levels when playing against the computer.  There is
also a special Mercy Mode, which prevents the other character from being
able to hit you immediately after you stand up (after being knocked down).

	Now the fun part:  playing the game.

	The central theme/plot/concept (such as it is) of the game is that 2
characters from Body Blows, after defeating the evil Max, "decide to take on
the universe and challenge the meanest and toughest in an Intergalactic
Competition, to become the ultimate Galactic Warrior." Yes it sounds hokey,
but it's an excuse to have a fight.

	Playability is extremely high. My little 11 year old Nintendo-raised
brother is bugging me all the time to play Body Blows Galactic.  According
to him, it is better than the SNES Street Fighter II. It's been a while since
I've played SNES Street Fighter II, so I don't remember.  The graphics are
certainly better than SNES SFII -- *THAT* I can remember.  Several of the
worlds in Body Blows Galactic AGA sport full screen parallax.  Objects in
the scenery scroll not only left and right but also up and down when a
character jumps. There are also objects which scroll in front of the action
as well as behind. One of them is a waist-high, wire mesh fence or divider
which you can actually see through. The paralax is about as good as I've
seen in a beat-em-up on a home computer or video game console.  It certainly
puts SFII or Mortal Kombat for Amiga to shame.  (Of course I'm comparing an
AGA game to 2 ECS games there).

	All of the scenery in Body Blows Galactic is very nice to look at,
and lend themselves well to the mood of the game.  The joystick control is
very responsive, and the moves are easy to learn.  There are 20 to 21 moves
for each character and Body Blows Galactic gets all of those using only a
1-fire-button joystick.  There is no keyboard support, so you need at least
one joystick, or two for multiple players.

	Each of the 6 worlds has unique background music which stays
comfortably in the background.  All of the songs are very well done, and the
music doesn't steal audio channels from the sound effects (nor vice versa, it
seems).  All of the characters make different sounds when they punch, kick
or whatnot, and this adds greatly to the game.  One character, Lazer, makes
sounds like "hik!" "hook" , "uk" and things along those lines.  A friend got
very frustrated when I kept catching him with the "hik!" move.  This led to a
joke that went along the lines of "all you need is a 'hik!' and everything
will be ok!"  It was funny at the time! :)

	I should mention that the AGA version sports more colours, better
quality sound, more sound effects and tweaked music over the old chipset
(OCS) version.  So I can't vouch for the OCS sound.

	All of the characters have very distinct personalities with all the
flavour and atmosphere of any of the other more well known beat-em-ups,
without resorting to look-a-likes:  for example, Sub-Zero and Scorpion from
Mortal Kombat.  You get 12 UNIQUE characters with Body Blows Galactic!

DOCUMENTATION

	The documentation is adequate.  It comes in 4 languages and explains
how to do the moves and a little history on each of the worlds. It also
includes a price list for other Team17 games.

	It was easy to read and mildly interesting for all of the 10 or 15
minutes it took to read.

LIKES AND DISLIKES

	What can I say.  The game should be hard drive installable.  And it
should be mode-promotable to DBLPAL.  At least it should provide a means for
switching to PAL from NTSC.  I know many pirate copies of games include PAL
booters.  What kind of a message does this send when pirate games are more
playable than store bought versions?

	If there isn't an NTSC version of this game, and your Amiga is
connected to your TV in North America, then you won't be able to play it.

	The music is superb. The graphics are superb. The feel and
playability are excellent. This is a game I will be proud to show my PC
loving, SNES loving and Genesis loving friends (along with Alien Breed II
AGA). Someone I know (who has never owned an Amiga) appears to be thinking
about getting a CD32 contingent on an NTSC version of this game and Alien
Breed 2.  Go TEAM17!!  Get some North American Support happening!

	I liked that I didn't need to get a 2 button joystick to use all the
moves; but at the same time, I sort of wish I did, because I'd really like
more moves.  Only 1 button is used in this game.

COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	There is no Comparison.  Body Blows Galactic is the best beat-em-up
on the Amiga I've ever seen.  I've played SFII (which I couldn't stand and
is completely unplayable and WAY too fast and jerky on my A4000, not to
mention lame sound effects), Mortal Kombat (which I could stand if I had an
A500, but I can't stand on an AGA machine even if it had parallax scrolling,
which it doesn't!), and some other game whose name eludes me but, rest
assured, is the worst of the 4.

BUGS

	If you could call the lack of PAL booting a bug, then it has a bug.

VENDOR SUPPORT

	I haven't had any need to call the vendor, although Team17 does
encourage you to call them if you experience problems.

WARRANTY

	I don't think there is a warranty.  Although I expect Team17 will
replace damage disked at a small cost.  But don't quote me on that.

CONCLUSIONS

	Overall I rate Body Blows Galactic a **** (4 out of 5 stars).

	If it had been hard drive installable, mode promotable and
multitasked, I'd have given it 5 out of 5.  If you are looking for a
beat-em-up for your Amiga, BUY THIS!

	This is a damn good game, and if you are a fan of this genre you
should definitely buy Body Blows Galactic.

	Final impressions?  I've rubbed my left thumb raw from playing Body
Blows Galactic!  I haven't done that since Double Dribble for the original
NES.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

	Copyright 1994 David Zvekic. All rights reserved.

	Permission is explicitly granted to distribute freely in any manner
as long as no modifications apart from spelling or grammatical corrections
are made.

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