March 2008 News Posts
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Zap
2016 review by David Eaton |
Date: |
06/02/2003 |
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It's hard to believe
that it's been over two years since Astraware first brought us Zap
2000. This game almost single-handedly put Astraware on the map and
proved to the world that the Palm OS was a viable platform for
arcade games - and to think that was before color screens!
Two years and
numerous revisions later Zap 2000 and Zap 2016 (the games are
virtually similar with the exception that Zap 2016 had been designed
for screens supporting 16-bit color) still stand out as the best in
their field.
Zap 2016 is a
smooth-scrolling (and I do mean smooth) arcade game in which you
steer a space ship through seven of the most awesome levels that you
have ever seen. As my son would say, the graphics in this game are
enough to give you drop-jaw syndrome…
You steer your
spaceship left, right, forward, and backward to shoot at the aliens
while dodging their attacks and other obstacles that may come up,
you collect points. These points can be used to upgrade your ship
and its weapons. You can even, on a few of the levels, get a nuke to
use on the enemy. (Shhhhh…. Don't tell President Bush….)
At several strategic
points in the game you are also given the opportunity to save your
game. This is particularly handy since you face what seems like
thousands of aliens and obstacles and it would really suck to have
to start at the beginning again.
There are a total of
seven different levels in the game with the first couple used to "get
your feet wet" and accustomed to the game play. Then the real
fun starts. Starting in level 3 you not only have to fight the
aliens but also have to navigate through a asteroid field. Other
levels include an underwater world and one full of insects.
Each level gets
progressively more difficult (with a "Big Boss" at the end
of each level) until you finally confront the granddaddy of them
all. I'll leave the details out for now so I won't spoil the
surprise…
When you finish the
game you can start it all over again - but this time without any
help! You see, along with settings for sounds, auto-fire, and
auto-shields, the game also comes with settings for the speed,
graphics (beneficial on slower machines). You can even cheat (not
that I would dream of doing such a thing…)
Actually, Astraware
has posted several codes on their page of hints and tricks which
will allow you to live long enough to make it to the end. Without
them I would have died off on the 3-4th level although my son seems
to fare all right without them.
The game controls are
all configurable and include directional controls along with Fire,
Nuke, and Shield. As I mentioned before, the Fire and Shield
controls can be set to automatic in the options menu.
One note: Astraware
warns that, in order to maximize the graphics ability of the PDA,
the program accesses certain portions of the hardware directly. This
may cause problems with some hacks such as CPU over-clockers. Be
sure to read the documentation that comes with it if you experience
any problems.
If you enjoy this
game and plan on spending much time with it on your Clie, I would
definitely recommend purchasing Sony's Game Controller (reviewed
here). Sony thought so much of this game that they included a
shareware version with the controller!
Conclusion: this is
by far the best shooter-type arcade game for the Palm OS. While
there are other similar games on the market, I have yet to find one
that meet's Zap 2016's smooth graphics and game pley.
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