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                            - REMNANT - BETA VERSION
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developper... Songbird Productions
system....... Atari Lynx
tested on.... Handy Lynx Emulation o.8o on Pentium 233 MMX

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It doesn't took too long untill I found the homepage of the LYNX emulation and I
was really happy that there is an emulation for this genious handheld around, so
except Jaguar and Falcon there are emulators for all Atari machines available.

Later on I  found on the  SONGBIRD homepage  informations about  the forthcoming
Lynx game called "Remnant" that was called to be a frantic fake-tridi-shooter in
kind of Wingcommander  or something. They offered to download a playable demo of
this game as well and because I was searching for some stuff to run on the Handy
I leeched it and checked it out...

Here comes the preview...

Right at first I have to say that the  game reminds me hard  to the ST game made
by Frontier Software, called "Spacefighter" that  was released  2 or 3 years ago
if I remember  right. Maybe even the game "Starglider", released somewhen in the
late eighties, can be called to be a father of this game.



"Remnant" is a space shooter. In the preview version you just have to fly around
and to destroy asteroids and enemie spaceships that are trying  to blow you away
with big fire bullets as well. For this you have the view out of the cockpit but
the game isn't  a real tridi shooter at all, moreover it is  just a 2d one where
you can steer left/right and up/down. You can't give speed or something and only
a few asteroids are  coming from  the front  in your  direction, so it  gives at
least the impression that you're flying through the universe.

Ok, that's for the very  simple aim of the game... it is a mindless shooter, you
just need fast fingers, to press the firebutton and to avoid it  to collide with
the bullets your enemies (some kind of flying saucers) are firing on you. That's
all and that's not much as well.

The graphical side of this beta version  doesn't kick the  hype too, they aren't
bad, no question, but I have to admit that there isn't much to see on the screen
at all, just your cockpit, some asteroids and from time to time the enemies...
No  sequence, no special  animation, no intro  or something  else. I know, it is
just a beta, but it  doesn't leave  a good impression, looks a bit  thin, to get
right to the point. Hum, the grafix are doing their job... nothing more...



The sound is  a big drawback... you can just hear some noises and  the sounds of
your laser  guns as  well as the  incoming  bullets of your  enemies... Also the
small intro doesn't feature some music or so... just bad... for what  offers the
Lynx his stereo sound?

Furthermore I have  to say that the motivation doesn't hold on very long. At one
point I never matched it to kill just one enemy. Is it because of the point that
it is just the beta version? I dunno, in my eyes even a beta  or preview version
should be as  runable and playable as possible to give a right impression of the
things to come. Furthermore it is boring with the time, there are no new enemies
and nothing  more to see around, just the flying saucers, some asteroids and the
bullets of your enemies. Nothing more to come...

Moreover it is  complicate to be  motivated to shot  on something if  you get no
points for this. Your cockpit  just features statusbars for your energy and also
the hitpoints... And it makes me sick to  see my hitpoint bar  shrinking to zero
without the possibility to do something... bleurgh...

The final words...

Dunno if this  version  is really playable, 'coz I never  matched it to  kill an
enemie, and is thought to show  how the game will  look like. But so  it is just
some kind of  hyping something, if you make it leechable. This beta version does
not feature specials  like an intro or something. The grafix are quiet ok but it
is going boring with the time. The sound doesn't bright up the whole scenery...
The controls are ok as well. But all together leaves a bad taste...
Maybe the finished game will feature some more levels, enemies and so on but all
on one it will be boring with the time in  my eyes. Games of this  kind are just
break fillers, playable and interesting for  around 1o minutes... Fans of simple
shooter should  hold their eyes open, the rest should save the money for another
catridge...


video... 7o % - audio... 15 % - contr... 7o % - play... 4o % - motiv... 25 %

Rockas from Sirius                                                       moondog
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