How's Genesis Master of Monsters?
Jennifer Schlickbernd
and that's a bit steep to risk. Has anyone here played it and what do you
think? Particularly interested in the multi-player aspect.
--
Jennifer Schlickbernd Jet Propulsion Laboratory
jenn...@jato.jpl.nasa.gov or elroy!jato!jenn...@csvax.caltech.edu
72466...@compuserve.com Voice:(818) 354-1167
James Hague
>
>Any opinions? I was looking at this at Electronic Boutique, but it's $64,
>and that's a bit steep to risk. Has anyone here played it and what do you
>think?
And what about the slew of games released in the past few months? I
just checked out Electronics Boutique at lunch today and there must be
at least a dozen newish games I've never heard mention of on the net.
Of course many of these appear to be still more scrolling shooters and
kick-everything-then-fight-a-boss games. Man, I can't believe these
things are still coming out in such force.
Offhand I can remember Caliber .50, Vapor Trail, El Viento (sp?), and
something with the word _slaughter_ in the title. Any comments or
opinions? I can't see anyone blindly plunking down half a hundred for
these games. Has anyone played a Genesis game released since November
*other* than Quackshot?
--
James Hague
exu...@exu.ericsson.se
Eric Castle
>Any opinions? I was looking at this at Electronic Boutique, but it's $64,
>and that's a bit steep to risk. Has anyone here played it and what do you
>think? Particularly interested in the multi-player aspect.
>
I picked this up a few days ago. I really like this game. You play a master and
you can summon various monsters to fight for you. There are 2 modes you can
play in, map mode and campaign mode. In map mode you and 3 other people can
play together or you can play against computer players. In campaign mode you
play against the computer and no other players are involved. There are quite
a few worlds to play in the map mode. The world is composed of these hexegonal
spaces with different terrain. There are all kinds of monsters each with a
certain number of hit points. There are various factors which determine how well
your monsters fight - like terrain, short or long range ability, time of day (
although I haven't figured out how this affects them ). As the monsters fight
they go up in levels and transform into more powerful monsters. Octopus becomes
a kraken, dragon becomes a sky demon, etc,.. You can also use magic and call
upon a elemental force once per turn. Which master you play determines what kind
of force and monsters you can summon. Basically the object is world conquest.
You try to defeat the other masters. You capture towers in order to produce more
monsters. The number of monsters you can summon is something like the number of
towers you own plus one. I've only played one game so far in map mode. It was
a lot of fun but the computer players weren't very smart. I talked to a
friend and he said the computer player is smarter in campaign mode. Don't
know why there should be a difference other than map mode is really intended for
multiple human players. I'm going to try campaign mode next. Also there is a
save feature ( no passwds ) that will allow you to save one game. One thing
I should mention is that you can't conrtol the monsters during combat, the
game switches you to a screen showing the 2 monsters and some animation and
you see what happens. At first I was dissapointed that I coudn't control
the monsters fighting, but its not that big of deal and it would probably slow
the game way down. The manual has some mistakes, so you have to kind of
discover some things for yourself. Since I bought this game, its the only thing
I've been playing. All of my free time as been spent on this game.
I'd say if you like world conquest type games, like to control mythical monsters
then you'll probably like this game. I don't think theres any other genesis game
like this yet. Hopefully we will see more types of games like this.
Just my opinion.
Eric Castle
er...@apple.com
John Oliveira
In article <1992Jan2.1...@exu.ericsson.se>, exu...@exu.ericsson.se (James Hague) writes:
>
> And what about the slew of games released in the past few months? I
> just checked out Electronics Boutique at lunch today and there must be
> at least a dozen newish games I've never heard mention of on the net.
> Of course many of these appear to be still more scrolling shooters and
> kick-everything-then-fight-a-boss games. Man, I can't believe these
> things are still coming out in such force.
>
> Offhand I can remember Caliber .50, Vapor Trail, El Viento (sp?), and
> something with the word _slaughter_ in the title. Any comments or
> opinions? I can't see anyone blindly plunking down half a hundred for
> these games. Has anyone played a Genesis game released since November
> *other* than Quackshot?
> --
> James Hague
> exu...@exu.ericsson.se
I've noticed that also, I went to Toys r Us the other day and I couldn't
believe all the games that they had. A lot of the games I never seen or heard
before. I didn't want to cough up $60 for games that I didn't find interested.
I own a Genesis and I have only 5 games for it, of all the games thats out I
haven't found one that would make me spend $60 or $50.
Talking about big bucks I also noticed that Toys r Us had Sword of Vermillion
for $79, now thats a rip off. This game is not worth $79, I know, I played and
I didn't like it to much.
I also have a SNES and I have 5 games for the system. So far I haven't seen
any other games been released that is interested other than Castlevania IV.
What is this, a plague..:-)
John
Michael Portuesi
In article <1992Jan2.1...@jato.jpl.nasa.gov> jenn...@jato.jpl.nasa.gov
writes:
>>but it's $64, and that's a bit steep to risk. Has anyone here
>>played it and what do you think? Particularly interested
>>in the multi-player aspect.
>>
>
>play a master and you can summon various monsters to
>fight for you.
[most of description deleted]
The description makes it sound like this game is a 16-bit
version of Archon and/or Archon II.
>One thing I should mention is that you can't conrtol the
>monsters during combat, the game switches you to a screen
>showing the 2 monsters and some animation and
>you see what happens.
Well, maybe it isn't, since the fact that you get to control
the fighting characters is one of the central elements of the
Archon games. It sounds like MoM would be a lot more
fun if you could control the monsters in combat; in a lot of
ways this game would be an updated, more sophisticated
version of Archon, a truly excellent work of game design.
m.
Michael Portuesi Silicon Graphics, Inc. port...@sgi.com
Christopher M Songer
I have played Master of Monsters for about 12 hours. If you are
a fan of wargames, you will like this game. The game is played on a
hex grid with various terrain types defining the map. There are up to
four different forces in most scenarios. Each force can be either
computer or human controlled.
Each force has a leader. This leader is a given type of spell
caster. Your choice of type effects two things. First, each type
has two distinct powers that the others do not. Second, each type
summons different types of creatures (though there is obviously
some overlap.) The use of powers and creation of monsters is
limited by magic points, with each power or creations taking some
number of them.
Arrayed about the playing field are towers and fortresses.
Monsters can only be summoned on a fortress or tower next to
your leader. Your monsters are limited to one plus the number
of towers you control. Monsters have a movement rate and a movement
"style". The rate determines how many hexs they can go in their best
terrain. The movement style determines which terrains are good for
them to move through. As an example, the sea serpent has a fairly high
movement rate, but only in water. He is very slow over land. Some
dragons move quickly over all types of land but cannot pass water.
Monsters gain experience and get more powerful as the game
continues as does your leader.
The game is fun with multiple human players. Not suprisingly,
the computer opponents lack the agression and strategic sense to
play competitively. The computer is primarily defensive and will
not attack to kill. This is limits the enjoyment of the game single
player. Additionally, multi-player cooperative is pretty much out.
If one player can beat three computer opponents, certainly two or
three palyers can beat one or two computer opponents, even if certain
recovery rates are biased toward the computer.
On the other hand, if you like wargames but don't like the thick
rule books and crazy charts that come with them, this game can be a
winner. In a multi-player competitive game, the game takes the
role of "rule book" and arbiter. The players are freed from figuring
out movement rates and combat results. You don't have to worry about
terrain modifiers or anything else -- the computer takes care
of it for you.
As a final comment, this game was clearly rushed to release.
There are many mispellings and further, there is a bug! When moving
the cursor around, it will occasionally disapper. Only by moving to
the lower right corner can it be forced to reappear.
Anyway,
-Chris
Dave Meeks
Well, I have played El Viento and SlaughterSport. I liked them both.
Slaughter Sport looks a lot like a game called Mondo's Fight Palace that got
horrible reviews, but no one ever saw. Maybe they redesigned the game
because I like this one. The graphics are good, the control and gameplay are
very good, and the idea is kinda cool. Basically, it is a simple fight game
where you fight against a variety of opposing alien creatures. You start out
as a humanoid creature and have the ability to buy certain magic spells,
depending on the money you collect. You use the spells and your physical
abilities to beat the opposition. Sort of a Mike Tyson 2999 or somethin.
El Viento seemed to be a game very similiar in play/style/graphics, etc, to
Strider. You are a descendent of a demon that is attempting to stop people
from resurrecting this demon again. Pretty standard horizontal game of this
type, but I liked it.
--
David T. Meeks ||"On the outskirts on nowhere,
VMark Software, Inc. || on the ringroad to somewhere,
uvmark!da...@merk.com || on the verge of indecision,
...uunet!merk.com!uvmark!davem || I'll always take the roundabout way."