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First I'd like to say that I'm definately *not* a fan of flight
simulators. I like my action arcade-style. Yet when I played Steel
Talons in the arcade I was pleasantly surprised. It was no doubt a
sim, but it had a lot of action. You piloted your helicoptor over
a desert-like terrain, hunting down another helicopter. Of course,
that other guy was hunting you. It was fun stuff. Mainly due to
the fact the terrain wasn't large enough to get you lost. Your
target was always smack-dab on your radar. If not right in front
of you. Part of the fun also came from the controls. Left and
right movements were controlled via foot pedals. And forward, back
movement was contolled with your standard joystick. It really gave
you the feeling of flight. The Lynx version however, falls flat.
It's one of the few arcade translations that come accross
*terribly* on the Lynx. Bad graphics, bad sound, and sloppy
controls sum up Steel Talons. And even if it was arcade-perfect,
I'm not sure a portable version of Steel Talons would have worked.
GRAPHICS: Steel Talons was one of the first games to use
polygons extensively. And that, alone, should have convinced
programmers that doing ST on the Lynx would be impossible. But
gawd bless'em they tried. And failed. The polygon graphics weren't
possible on the Lynx, so programmers tried to "convert"
them into traditional sprites. The result is a blurry mess.
*Everything* looks pixilated. Which is no surprise since
everything IS pixilated. Sheesh, you'd think the programmers
would've scrapped this puppy when they say this crap. *
SOUND: There was no sound in the arcade version. And no attempt
was made to change that. No opening theme, no background music.
Just the sound of your rotors and the *weak* sound of your machine
guns. At least with the Lynx you can listen to the radio while you
play. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. *
CONTROLS: The controls are quite good, actually. But without
the foot pedals and joystick from the arcade, you lose the
"feel" of flight. And since ST is *supposed* to be a sim,
you lose the very essence of the game. **1/2
OPTIONS: Options?! On a sim?! You'd think you. But alas,
nothing to speak of.
REPLAY: Well to replay a game, you've got to *play* the game.
And I don't recommend that with Steel Talons. To it's credit, ST
for the Lynx *is* a two player game. But that requires two Lynx's,
and two copies of ST. Believe me, there are WAY better games for
you and a bud to play. **
So...let's wrap this up. Steel Talons is a good arcade game. It
has interesting, simulator-esque controls, and just enough action
to hold your interest. Unfortunately, none of that made it to
Lynx. It's a bad translation of a good game, that's stuck on the
wrong kind of system. Simple as that. If you see Steel Talons in
the arcade, give it a whirl. But pass on the Lynx version.
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