From: honp9@menudo.uh.edu (Jason L. Tibbitts III) Organization: Blob Shop Programmers Subject: REVIEW: Night Shift Keywords: game, arcade Distribution: world Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.games Reply-To: david@starsoft.hou.tx.us (Dave Lowrey) Night Shift is a game in the arcade vein that requires both quich reflexes and quick thinking. It is fun to play and holds one's attention well, with good graphics and sound. [Moderator's Note: Mr. Lowrey submitted this review without the proscribed summary. My attempts to reach him by email have not been successful, so I have added the above myself. Please read the guidelines thoroughly before making submissions! Thanks! JLT3] A Review of Night Shift, an arcade game by LucasFilm Games. By David W. Lowrey You, F. Fixit (F. stands for Fred or Fiona), have a new job. You have been hired by Industrial Might and Logic (IML, for short) to work the night shift in their doll factory. Your job is to operate and maintain the equipment that produces the dolls. You start the shift with a quota of what type and color dolls to produce. You get paid for each doll you produce of the correct type and color. You are docked for incorrectly made dolls, and you are fired if you don't make your quota. Sounds simple, right? Well you might reconsider. To start off, the doll making machine is called BEAST, short for "Bingham's Environmentally Active Solution for Toys". Glenn Bingham is the creator of BEAST. It is made of stuff he scrounged from garbage dumps and defunct laundromats. It is literally held together with wire and string. The name BEAST is very appropriate. You start your shift with orders to make specific dolls, in specific colors. You have to charge up the machine's battery (by riding a bicycle that turns a generator), make sure all conveyor belts are running in the proper directions, make sure all the switches are in the proper positions, make sure that all of the burners and furnaces are ignited, etc. Once you have the machine operating, you have to adjust colors, head and body molds, and any equipment that goes haywire. You also have to fend off pesky rodents (called lemmings), that are attracted by the BEAST's byproducts, and lawyers (I have no idea why lawyers are attacking you, but they do). The BEAST is about 6 stories high, and you have to climb and jump about on various platforms and pieces of equipment. If you fall, you loose valuable shift time. Fortunately, at the beginning of the game you only have to worry about a few of the controls. Each shift adds complexity as more of the controls are brought into play. Each round in the game is called a shift. When the shift ends, and if you have produced your quota, you are given a security code that can be used to re-enter the game at that shift. There is no game save feature. There are a total of thirty shifts in the game. There is an occasional animated "intermission" between some of the shifts. You control F. Fixit with either a joystick, or the keyboard. A handy feature allows you to re-define (and save) the keyboard controls. I have found that I prefer the keyboard over the joystick. The "High Score" list is saved to disk. There are one and two player modes. In two player mode, players take turns playing the game. The game has no disk based copy protection. It has a "code wheel" that is used to enter a security code at the beginning of each game. The game also runs from a Hard Disk. The instruction manual encourages you to make and use a backup copy. The high score list is saved to the disk, so you need to have the game disk write enabled. It runs on "all" Amigas, including a 3000 (according to the label). I have a 2500, and it works fine. Amiga 500 users with only 512K will have to disconnect any external disk drives before playing. The game Multi-Tasks, to a point. Once you start the game, you can't get back to the workbench (or any other) screens. However, programs that are running when the game is started are still operational when you exit. The games Amiga Reference Guide states "Do not attempt to multi-task software with Night Shift as this may cause the game to malfunction". I have UUCP running in the background while playing Night Shift, and have noticed no problems with either program. The game play takes a bit of getting used to. You have to figure out how, when and where to walk and jump. You need to get the hang of using the various tools you are provided. And the @#$%#$@# lemmings can be a real pain. The play can get very hectic. My kids will sit there and shout about something I need to do, while I am trying to figure out how to do something else, and the BEAST's alarm is ringing, and I am running out of time, and.... well, you get the picture. This is not a game for people who don't work well under preassure. :-) The graphics are nice. When you first start out, most of the BEAST's components are covered. Once you get into the game, as more and more features are uncovered, the BEAST comes alive with many moving parts and effects. The dolls you are trying to make are all characters from various LucasFilm movies and games, including Star Wars, Zak McKracken, and Indiana Jones. The sound is well done also. As you move around the BEAST, various sound effects come and go, as you walk by the components. There is an unobtrusive soundtrack that plays in the background. Certain sound effects also can indicate what is going wrong (or right) with the BEAST. Documentation consists of an "IML Employee's Handbook". This handbook gives you some idea of how to operate the BEAST. Unfortunately, some of the pages are missing (on purpose), so that you have to figure alot of the procedures on your own. You also get an Amiga Quick Reference Guide, that contains Amiga specific instructions, and a few hints on playing the first several shifts. Also included is an excerpt from "Toy Executive" magazine, containing an article about IML and the BEAST. Complaints include that you don't automatically re-start a game at the last level you were in. You default back to level one, and you have to re-enter that appropriate security code for the level you want. I would also like the game to be fully multi-tasking. Night Shift, by LucasFilm Games. List price is around $39.00. LucasFilm Games P.O Box 10307 San Rafael, CA 94912 1-415-721-3333 (technical and orders) 1-900-740 5334 (Hint line @ $0.75/min) Reviewed by Dave Lowrey david@starsoft.hou.tx.us (713)-894-7447 (home) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- These words be mine. The company doesn't care, because I am the company! :-) Dave Lowrey | david@starsoft.hou.tx.us Starbound Software Group | Houston, TX | "Dare to be stupid!" -- Weird Al Yankovic