--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             PREVIEW - SHINING ONLINE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

system .... ST, STe, STeem!, 1 MB RAM, RGB, Joystick

genre ..... role playing game

released .. demo 2, middle 2oo1

url ....... http://www.shining-online.co.uk/
            please not that DEMO2 for Atari isn't available atm, but DEMO1 gives
            a good impression as well (but is buggy)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What is "SHINING ONLINE"? A good question, indeed! This is going to be some role
playing game, based on  the SHINING series  on the  Sega Megadrive, Mastersystem
and so on  but since I  didn't found closer  informations about  SHINING itself,
even if  there are many homepages dedicated to  that role playing series  in the
net around... but  unfortunately I didn't  found  any site that  carries further
informations  about the aim of  the game, ughs... So I can't tell you much about
the aim of the game, sorry :)

At first I have  to mourn a bit since  it was quite hard to bring the game to my
STF since I don't wanted to run it on STeem! only. It didn't took too long until
I found out  that the .MSA-file is over  1 MB in size, hell! So I wasn't able to
copy it to my  ST since he  isn't happy about  HD disx. So I  smashed it onto my
Falcon, but  the machine wasn't  able to run  the game and  the reason  is quite
simple, it's done in STOS, using chip musix and so on.
But maybe my Falcon could help me out with the MSA file then? Yeps, he could and
the file turned out to be 15 sectors on 84 tracks, wow, strange  idea but so the
game that is thought for ST couldn't be copied to it...

Anyway, last but not least I matched it to copy the files on the disk (just 7ooK
then) on a normal DD disk and after all it was running on my STF...

After a long loading sequence  the game screen  pops up, giving  us some room or
something  in overhead  view. With the joystick  you're able  to move  your hero
around in the room, the guy is called "Cody". There  are standing several people
around in the  room and you can speak with them if you're going over to them and
pressing fire, but since it  is a demo  version, they don't have much to say and
give you only some phrases that should meant funny.



Errr... Has anybody said it has to make sense?!

So you can speak with everyone around, or better contact them and read then what
they have to say. If you want to leave the  house, just go to the "door" that is
marked with two black lines and press fire.

Surely this control is a bit tricky and unusual for common role players but this
is the way many of the  action rpg's are  played on consoles as well. Nearly all
actions  can be made with the joystick. Only to answers (that are given already)
must be given with help of the  keyboard, such as "Y" and "N" or the numbers for
the choice of different possibilities, like in shops and so on.

If you aren't in contact  with another guy and you press fire a  person oriented
menu opens, here you can decide if  you want to  use or drop  and item, the same
happens if you're going  to a church, now you can select the actions like praise
or cure, and if you're stumbling over an object the menu gives you possibilities
to examine and take it. Some of those menus  don't over the possibility to leave
via button, then you have  to press space btw. All  those actions are underlined
by sparse soundchip fx, the only sounds in this demo at all.

Ok, after leaving the  house (if you're  standing out there it looks more like a
tent) you're in  the city, there are  several other  tents, smaller  and bigger,
around. Some of them are just ordinary ones, others are bars and shops. The shop
is parted in two, one for potions and one for weapons I guess, unfortunately the
weapons shop is closed all day... Ugh.

So you can  run around, check  all the tents, listen  to the dumb things all the
people  have to say, look  where the  church is  and in the  end, if you want to
leave, the demo  ends up... Out of  the city there  is no way to go and asking a
guy staying there gives you the answer that you shouldn't  go unarmed, but since
the weapons shop is closed, there is no way to get a sword...



Bugger! I want but I can't!

Surely the demo ends here, but  after all it  is able to give a first impression
how the game could look  like. Unfortunately it  is quite  uncertain if the game
will developped further for  the ST. In fact it is in  development for ST and PC
and the latest demo version, no. 3, was made for PC only, there seems to be even
a 3D version in  work, but after  all there didn't  happened much  over the last
half year at all.

So let's take a closer look onto the  game. As you  can see on  the screenshots,
the grafix  are a damn weak  point here. They're  giving the  whole thing a very
childish style and I  think the team  behind the game lacks a talented grafician
as grafix  are always a  very important  point at  gfx adventures and  rpgs. The
sprites are very  small and  bad animated, the  surroundings  don't  give away a
special atmosphere too...

On the sound/fx side isn't much  implemented so far, a few  noises for different
actions, nothing more.

At last the controls, they're a bit unusual but running well. The little buttons
in the character and action menues are always described too so you don't have to
imagine what the makers could have meant with them.

A save option is planned but not running atm (it  will be possible in the church
as only there a save button appears in the menu).

More to say? Nope... just run down the final words...

final words... SHINING ONLINE stucks in a very early stage, I don't got the clue
               why the game is  called S "online", maybe  it will run  in a very
               same way as "Tales Of Tamar" as Email  based game too? Dunno, but
               I think we will be informed in time. Unfortunately the game gives
               not a burning  impression so far, the  grafix/animations are on a
               damn low  level, there isn't much implemented that we can call fx
               and musix and because of those two points, the atmosphere suffers
               a lot. The controls  are ok and running well. The movement on the
               screen is  quite fast and  the actions you  can take are all well
               described. After all it is just a demo version, maybe to show the
               people that something is in work... but unfortunately it was damn
               quiet around this project  since one year now (on ST) and I doubt
               that we will see more... :(

___ratings______________________________________________________________________

visuals .....  2o % - Ugh...
audio .......  1o % - a few chip noises
controls ....  9o % - unusual but running well, good descriptions
idea ........  6o % - zelda like action adventure
motivation ..  3o % - a bit lowered atm because of the limited demo

___overall_____54_%_____________________________________________________________

At last I have to  update my informations  a bit. Since I got  in touch with TY,
the programmer  of the ST version  I can tell you  that he thinks about going on
with the  development of the ST version  too since  the feedback for the ST demo
was much better  as for the PC version and he thinks that the ST scene itself is
more friendly. But maybe the  next demo will be recoded from  scratch then as it
seems that he drove into a blind alley with this preview...

_.tSCc.__________________________________________________________moondog_o7/2k2_