This time around, I'm reviewing the free Flash game
Atlantis.
Atlantis is a fun game which...
...whoops,
wrong Atlantis.
No, here we go.
By the way, they could probably have avoided using the Space bar altogether, since this is the only time in the game they use it for
anything. I don't really see why they used it here.
Anyhow, you're briefly barraged with a Star Wars style scrolling infodump, which you can skip if you want. Here it is.
Hm, the rebels call themselves Red Baron? This is curious. Why...?
Oh, look, you pilot a
white robot.
Just call him Snoopy.
Anyway, you start the game docked to the Atlantis, which is a
huge freaking mothership which will tend to your every need.
Out of ammo? Badly damaged? Need bigger guns? Atlantis will provide with its reload and upgrade stations.
The ship also automatically charges its main cannon (you won't get to use it often, so save it up) and the pool of energy it uses for upgrades, which obviously is convenient. (You get more energy when enemies blow up, as well.)
Also present are three Mermaids, smallish escort vessels which constantly hover near the Atlantis, protecting the mothership while you run around killing stuff.
Yes, they're called Mermaids. Pretty weird...
...but they're effective enough. (The orange beams come from the Mermaids.) What's even better is that you can replace them when they're destroyed, and even upgrade them as a group-and they do their job without any input from you. (You can also upgrade and repair the Atlantis, but since they're the most expensive upgrades in the game, I've never had the chance to.)
Anyway, let's get to the actual combat.
The little blue line is a "phaser" shot from your rifle, the blue teardrops with circles are missiles, and the little orange flecks are "head vulcan" shots. (The rifle is the most flexible weapon. Missiles are probably the most consistent, and home in on the nearest target-meaning you theoretically can hit two relatively distant enemies at once. The head vulcan is pretty much the last weapon to run out of ammo-in fact, I've never actually run out-and is also nearly useless.)
The interface is simple; you can turn your various weapons on and off, you can cycle through your rifle's three modes, etc. Don't worry too much-the game seems to think you should worry about conserving ammo, but I don't see why, since all you have to do to replenish it is go back to the Atlantis for a minute.
The simple and elegant portion of gameplay, which is what makes it addictive, is that you steer with the arrow keys, aim with the mouse, and shoot with the left mouse button. This means you can dodge and bob around while keeping your weapons locked on target.
Your most important weapon is the rifle, mainly because of its flexibility. In addition to its rather weak "phaser" shots, it can also fire a powerful continuous laser.
The laser can punch through multiple targets, letting you hit a lot of guys at once, and can also be swept back and forth across multiple targets. Since it does damage continuously, it is devastating; however, it also uses up your ammunition
very quickly.
Something of a compromise is the "blaster."
(The little clustered green shots are the "blast.") The "blaster" mode is the one that I use the most, because it doesn't suck up quite as much energy as the laser, but does a lot more damage than the phaser. It's also convenient because it is more likely to use up your ammo at the same rate as your missile ammunition, meaning that you aren't wasting time at the reload station.
There are a lot of different kinds of enemies, but relatively few of them are distinctive enough to really pay attention to.
First up are these... guys.
I don't know what's up with them, but they seem to do more damage than a lot of the stupid robot enemies, so keep an eye out for them.
Then there are the enemy ships, which are a teeny bit bigger than the Mermaids.
While the Mermaids outgun them, I'd suggest concentrating fire on them, especially laser mode if you can.
The next enemy is one of two types that are probably purely meant to annoy you.
These little buggers hide near the bottom of the screen and shoot salvos of some kind of red thing at your ships. The Mermaids can't reach them with their guns, so you have to hunt them down when you start seeing the little red blasts.
The next kind of pest is actually a useful pest.
These little plane things only attack
you. Since enemies come in discrete waves, if you let these guys live for extended periods, it gives you time to build up the main cannon charge and the Atlantis's energy pool, and you can relax in the repair bay, where you don't even have to worry about dying accidentally if you stop paying attention.
And since they're fast, hard-to-hit little so-and-sos, it's really easy to
let them live for a long time.
Then there's the truly nasty enemy, the big ship.
This is what the main cannon is for. Save up, because you're not going to get a chance to let it recharge once these things show up. (I'd show you what the main gun's discharge looks like, but it's a bit tricky, and anyway, it just looks like the blast that the enemy heavy is firing there. Only much bigger.)
If you do save up your main gun, you may be able to take care of this big beast. It's a lot less likely that you'll be able to beat one without it, though I did manage it once right before losing. Emphasis on may-I've only gotten past the first one
once. (Hint-save up your energy pool, and get an armor upgrade before your weapon upgrades. But be careful playing it this way-I barely got the armor upgrade in time myself.) And even then, don't get too cocky-later you need to fight two at once.
Near as I can tell, this is a survival game-you just try to live as long as possible, and if you fail, oh well. If you survive for a long time, the music changes from pretty decent to awesome. But when this change happens, watch out, because the enemies get much more numerous and aggressive. And then this happens.
Obviously, even with this, you can waste a lot of time playing this game. Its easy interface and interesting gameplay make it a lot of fun. I recommend it.
-Signing off.
...he tries to defeat an opponent who made his reputation on being bulletproof just by using extra guns.
...whoops, wrong Atlantis.
By the way, they could probably have avoided using the Space bar altogether, since this is the only time in the game they use it for anything. I don't really see why they used it here.
Hm, the rebels call themselves Red Baron? This is curious. Why...?
Just call him Snoopy.
Out of ammo? Badly damaged? Need bigger guns? Atlantis will provide with its reload and upgrade stations.
The ship also automatically charges its main cannon (you won't get to use it often, so save it up) and the pool of energy it uses for upgrades, which obviously is convenient. (You get more energy when enemies blow up, as well.)
Yes, they're called Mermaids. Pretty weird...
...but they're effective enough. (The orange beams come from the Mermaids.) What's even better is that you can replace them when they're destroyed, and even upgrade them as a group-and they do their job without any input from you. (You can also upgrade and repair the Atlantis, but since they're the most expensive upgrades in the game, I've never had the chance to.)
The little blue line is a "phaser" shot from your rifle, the blue teardrops with circles are missiles, and the little orange flecks are "head vulcan" shots. (The rifle is the most flexible weapon. Missiles are probably the most consistent, and home in on the nearest target-meaning you theoretically can hit two relatively distant enemies at once. The head vulcan is pretty much the last weapon to run out of ammo-in fact, I've never actually run out-and is also nearly useless.)
The laser can punch through multiple targets, letting you hit a lot of guys at once, and can also be swept back and forth across multiple targets. Since it does damage continuously, it is devastating; however, it also uses up your ammunition very quickly.
(The little clustered green shots are the "blast.") The "blaster" mode is the one that I use the most, because it doesn't suck up quite as much energy as the laser, but does a lot more damage than the phaser. It's also convenient because it is more likely to use up your ammo at the same rate as your missile ammunition, meaning that you aren't wasting time at the reload station.
I don't know what's up with them, but they seem to do more damage than a lot of the stupid robot enemies, so keep an eye out for them.
While the Mermaids outgun them, I'd suggest concentrating fire on them, especially laser mode if you can.
These little buggers hide near the bottom of the screen and shoot salvos of some kind of red thing at your ships. The Mermaids can't reach them with their guns, so you have to hunt them down when you start seeing the little red blasts.
These little plane things only attack you. Since enemies come in discrete waves, if you let these guys live for extended periods, it gives you time to build up the main cannon charge and the Atlantis's energy pool, and you can relax in the repair bay, where you don't even have to worry about dying accidentally if you stop paying attention.
This is what the main cannon is for. Save up, because you're not going to get a chance to let it recharge once these things show up. (I'd show you what the main gun's discharge looks like, but it's a bit tricky, and anyway, it just looks like the blast that the enemy heavy is firing there. Only much bigger.)
Obviously, even with this, you can waste a lot of time playing this game. Its easy interface and interesting gameplay make it a lot of fun. I recommend it.
The the Return of the Aztecs is the "Strong Bow and his Warriors" feature from Space Western Comics #42.
So Strong Bow is attending some kind of secret tribal ceremony. Presumably, they're touchy about this kind of...
...then again, perhaps they're itching to mention it to everybody.
Of course they're Aztecs. You wouldn't expect there to be none in a story called the the Return of the Aztecs, would you?
Because Space Western Comics, that's why.
Dude! Aren't you guys supposed to be buddies?
-coincidentally hit the Aztec rockets, which are returning.
Ooh, self-propelled explosive arrows...
And in that heavily expository piece of dialogue, they reveal that they come from Vulcan. No, not that Vulcan. If it was that Vulcan, they'd have brought phasers instead. They're talking about the hypothetical Vulcan. (What's scary is, I remember reading other old junk that took Planet Vulcan seriously, too.)
Do you get the feeling this won't end well?
...they give the good ol' fire attack.
What's worse is that Strong Bow gives himself away by his ignorance.
Wait, whaaaat?
And he suddenly turns into Reed Richards. ...Well, no, not really, he just looks uncannily like him for the rest of the story for no apparent reason.
Hm, could there be any significance to that other guy objecting to his statement?
Why would he lure the Aztecs into a cold, cold cave?
...That's not very nice, dude. (Of course, logically speaking, they ought to be dead. But maybe their atomic blood protects them.)
You cruel, cruel so-and-sos.
...
It's kinda weird looking, I know... When I took it, then looked at it on the camera's preview screen, I kinda freaked out a little bit, because it seriously looks really weird...
Long story short, when I was taking that picture of Mr. Machine, I set him up on a stool and put him against a (peculiarly shiny) wall. This dog loves the sounds the camera makes, and comes running and flips out whenever it's on. I decided to show her that it wasn't that interesting by letting her take a close look at it... She seemed to think I was hiding the real camera from her somehow-she apparently has the idea in her head that the camera is something fun, exciting, and tasty, and the camera I showed her doesn't fit those criteria.
...Mr. Machine!
Well, okay, not really.
Like the majority of such games, you grow over time as you eat other fish-in fact, in Fishy this growth is probably the most significant in any of these games I've ever seen.
I'll note that this is a low-production value game-the fish all look the same, even yours, only distinguished from each other by color.
There's always a bigger fish, and here it's you.
...it gets worse.
Apparently, if you're successful at the game, you become a fishy of mass destruction (or worse). Which, all things considered, is appropriate enough... I mean, really, if the fish outclasses the other fish in intelligence and maneuverability to that extent, it's a godlike superpredator, and that ecosystem's got no natural enemies for it. I mean, obviously the bigger fish are a threat, but not enough of one...
Oh, good grief, are these people blind or what? I mean, every single one of those is blatantly shaped like a lumpy human figure. Even that live cactus is kind of suspicious-looking.
And the flowers agree with me, with interest. (Also, note Strong Bow's... rather peculiar joke about Rapid Fox's name.)
What does this have to do with stone men from space? Not much, it would seem...
...except, of course, for the fact that they just randomly choose that exact moment to wake up.
They don't actually sound very excited about it, do they? "Stupid world, we must conquer you now."
And it turns out their primitive weapons have no effect on the stone men.
Resistance is apparently futile, and the stone men promptly tie them to the pluvia tree.
At first, their open declaration that they couldn't be held by ropes struck me as incongruous, but then I realized-the stone men don't speak English. And I thought, "Wow, the author could have done more to make that clear."
Wait wait wait, you're not even going to try heavy conventional weapons? What's wrong with you, man?
Guess, I dare you.
They're trapping the stone men in a huge mess of rapidly growing Martian trees.
Why do they make such a point of saying that these are "non-petrified" trees? What? Huh? For that matter, why do these guys even know what trees are? Do they have those on Canis?
-wait, what?