Game: Galactic Patrol

Reviewed By: Kirk Hiner

Genre: Action/Classic/shareware

Format: CD or download

Developer: Monkey Byte Development

Publisher: Monkey Byte Development

Minimum Requirements: PowerPC, System 7.5.3, 16MB RAM, 3MB hard disk space

Network Feature: No

3Dfx Support: No

Retail Price: $24.95 CD ROM, $19.95 download

Availability: Out now

 

 

Okay, everyone, put away your Gravis Blackhawk and put on your apron; we're going to have a little cooking show here. Here are your ingredients:

1 tsp Tempest

2 Tsp Galaga

2 tsp Vanguard

a pinch of Star Strike

Mix ingredients in Macintosh using mouse. If you have no mouse, beat relentlessly with keyboard until frustrated.

Serve.

Congratulations. You've just successfully prepared "Galactic Patrol" from the Monkey Byte Development Cookbook.

"Galactic Patrol" is billed as a 3D homage to the classic video games of the 80s, and that's exactly what it is. Taking its cue from three or four games from the glory days of the arcade, "Galactic Patrol" manages to save them all from their arch enemy...monotony.

The trouble with games such as "Galaga" and "Tempest" was that once you became good enough to last on them for a little while, you were suddenly good enough to last a long while. Wave after wave of enemies would swoop down on you, and wave after wave would be destroyed. As much as I hate to admit it, blasting space ships can and often does grow tiresome. That's why it was always important to not get too good at a game; you never had time to get bored.

The good people at Monkey Byte Development built this multiple game facet into "Galactic Patrol." It starts off as a cross between "Tempest" and Intellivision's "Star Strike." You view your space ship from behind, looking beyond it to the enemy. No matter where you are on the screen, your lasers always move towards the center. To destroy the enemy ships, you must line them up between the center and your ship. This is actually the most difficult viewpoint to master. When the screen is full of enemy ships and laser fire, it becomes quite difficult to tell who is within firing range and who is dangerously close to your ship.

After a few levels of this, the viewpoint shifts to emulate "Galaga;" your ship is at the bottom of the screen, the enemy swooping in from the sides before organizing and descending upon you. But unlike its mentors, "Galactic Patrol" allows you to move across the entire screen--as in "1942"--to avoid your attackers.

The third viewpoint is similar to that used in "Vanguard." Your ship is now on the left hand side of the screen, and your enemy attacks from the right after swooping in from all sides...including from behind. The key to this level is knowing where to position your ship as the enemies come in, so it may take a couple of plays to do well.

This use of multiple viewpoints is a nice touch, but it's not enough to make "Galactic Patrol" a "must have." Unfortunately, it seems that this feature drew programming time away from other important game elements.

My first and heaviest gripe is with the controls. As long as you're using the mouse for movement, you're okay. But I enjoy playing games such as this on my PowerBook, and I don't always have my mouse hooked up to it. The 3400c keyboard has all the arrow keys placed in a straight line, so it's impossible to use them for games. Remapping keys is a quick fix to this problem, but "Galactic Patrol" didn't give me this option. As far as I can tell, you have to actually open the config file to do any remapping.

Uh...wait a minute. You see, the reason I bought a Mac was so I wouldn't have to waste my time on this DOS crap. What's next? Entering my high score in ProDOS?

Also, similar games from companies such as Ambrosia always feature adrenalin pumping music to accent the action. "Galactic Patrol" has no music at all, causing the game to sound oddly empty. I mean the music was one of the coolest things about 80s games such as Vanguard (which borrowed heavily from Queen's "Vultan's Theme" from the "Flash Gordon" soundtrack). I'm confused as to why Monkey Byte Development left this element out of their tribute.

Otherwise, with its multitude of enemies and powerups, nonstop action and simple, colorful graphics, "Galactic Patrol" is an ample successor to the coin op classics of the 80s.

Now, who's hungry for some Galaxian Pie?

Applelinks Rating

Raised on Intellivision and "Tron," Kirk Hiner has been an avid gamer ever since he was tall enough to look through the viewfinder on the Battlezone upright. Although he makes a living using a PC (not by choice) to design websites for Dynamics Online, Inc., Kirk never strays from his 9600/200 or 3400c for computer gaming. When he's not playing the latest Logicware release, he can either be found working on his next "never to be published" novel, rereading anything by Kurt Vonnegut or watching RAW is WAR.

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December 02, 2008