Intellivision Reviews T-Z

Tower of Doom strikes me as a real work of art. I never would have guessed that the Intellivision was capable of an arcade-style D&D game of this magnatude. You get 32 dungeon levels, auto-mapping, and amazing-looking battle sequences! There are dozens of useful items to find, including magical artifacts, treasure, projectiles, and hand-held weapons. It's even possible to flee or bribe your way out of a battle if you're desperate. After a great first impression, my enthusiasm was dampened somewhat by the frustrating traps and pesky monsters. Once you learn what hurts and what doesn't hurt, however, Tower of Doom becomes much easier. The user interface is clunky but tolerable once you get used to it. The action never stops as you constantly stumble across something new. Each skill level has a certain number of dungeons in conquer (ranging from 6 to 32) and there's a real sense of urgency as you approach the end. It's fun to experiment with the magic items, which offer cryptic descriptions of their effects, like: "Who stopped the world?" As you progress through the dungeons, new and more powerful monsters emerge, but only one at a time. The skeletons (armed with shields) look especially cool. For some reason, slain creatures resemble steaming piles of dung. The battle sequences look impressive at first with their extra-large graphics, but in fact these tend to be fairly shallow. Simply hitting a creature over the head with a sword is enough to dispatch most of them - assuming you have a sword. If you don't, you're in for a world of hurt as creatures will hound you relentlessly. Frustrating situations like that keep Tower of Doom from reaching its potential. But with its impressive graphics and smooth animation, this is one adventure that's easy to get lost in. © Copyright 2003 The Video Game Critic.

If the movie Tron accomplished one goal, it educated children and adults alike to the little-known fact that tiny people run around inside of our computers, hurling discs and causing all sorts of mayhem. In Tron Deadly Discs you control a character in an empty rectangular room with doors around the perimeter. These doors unleash waves of disc-throwing attackers - usually three at a time. You're also armed with a disc which ricochets back after it's thrown in one of eight directions. It's possible to use the doors yourself, but their purpose was never clear to me. Tron's gameplay consists of a lot of running and throwing, but objects move slowly so it's not as exciting as it could have been. I find it funny how the manual lists the game's four available speeds as: slow, slower, slowest, and "fastest". Can you imagine a modern game with those options?! Another knock I have on the game is how your discs is harmless in its return flight. Being able to knock out enemies on the rebound would have added a lot more strategy. Every few waves a large horseshoe-shaped boss makes a dramatic entrance. The first time this thing appeared it caught me completely by surprise! This is a 1982 game, for Pete's sake! They didn't even know what a boss was back then! To defeat him you'll need to strike the white of his eye, and there's only a small window of opportunity. Tron's crisp sound effects are impressive. When you strike an attacker with your disc, you hear an amazing shattering sound. The low, rumbling sound of the boss is also impressive. I was a bit harsh in my original assessment of Tron Deadly Discs, but readers educated me to a few subtle nuances that improve the overall experience. First off, you can tap the throw button a second time to call back your disc immediately, instead of waiting for it to hit a wall. Next, you can use two controllers at once (one to move and the other to throw), which is far more comfortable than using a single controller. These tips make the game feel a lot less tedious, but it's still a little long. Deadly Discs' gameplay may leave a little something to be desired, but classic gamers will find it fascinating nonetheless. © Copyright 2009 The Video Game Critic.

If nothing else, Truckin' does a good job of simulating driving a big rig across the USA. You get to race other trucks and see a lot of interesting scenery along the way. Unfortunately, you're also saddled with the responsibilities of a real truck driver; including planning your routes, picking up and delivering cargo, resting, keeping your gas tank full, and avoiding the cops. There's no question that Imagic packed as much realism into this game as possible, but whether it's any fun is another matter. Truckin' has two main variations. The first is a speed contest where you race across the country through eight cities. The second involves delivering goods, which really opens up the strategic possibilities. As you can imagine, the user interface is pretty complicated. You'll need to use almost every button on the controller to switch between the slew of different screens. The main "road" display is pretty impressive, at least by 1983 standards. Even though it only takes up half the screen, it does feature a nice rear-view mirror. Huge trucks scale in as you approach them, but the scaling is rudimentary and the oncoming trucks swerve wildly; making them impossible to dodge at high speeds. It doesn't help that the steering controls absolutely suck. The scenery is blocky and changes abruptly, but at least it reflects the area you're driving through. Texas has oil derricks, Kansas has cornfields, and New York has skyscrapers. When you drive up the coast you can even see water on one side of the road. To adjust your course, you need to turn off onto side roads, which requires some tricky maneuvering. It's also necessary to consult a paper map (included), which is tedious to say the least. I didn't have the patience to be any good at Truckin', but if you're willing to stick with this for the long haul, you might just get something out of it. © Copyright 2003 The Video Game Critic.

Tutankham is dungeon-crawling at its purest: grab treasure, shoot monsters, and get the hell out. I've played just about every version but this Intellivision edition has proven elusive. As one of the more rare Intellivision games, it commands over $100 for the cartridge alone. Fortunately my new ROM-playing cartridge lets me review games previously out of my financial reach. Now that I'm playing Tutankham at long last, I can tell you it's a glorious thing. The graphics look so colorful and clean! I love how the snakes, birds, and scorpions scoot around the mazes so smoothly and quickly. If only your explorer would get the lead out of his ass! His slow movement makes it difficult to traverse the narrow corridors, and the 16-point directional pad doesn't help! My friend Scott suggested that thing around his neck might as well be a boat anchor! Make sure the coast is clear while turning a corner, and for the love of God don't enter a portal if there's something on the other side! Red scorpions materialize so fast there's almost no time to react. The collision detection is unforgiving but at least the game restarts you exactly where you died. The shooting controls are excellent due to the fact you can use the keypad to fire left or right. Tutankham is challenging but addictive. There's a nice risk/reward dynamic as you decide whether to venture down a dead-end to grab some bling. Don't forget you have smart bombs! Upon reaching the end of a dungeon you're awarded with a strange looking item. Scott and Brent were arguing whether it was pizza or bacon, but I'm pretty sure it's a parchment of some sort. Tutankham has a very unique flavor on the Intellivision and that makes it a treasure in of itself. Educational note: King Tut's full name is Tutankhamun, but Stern shortened it for the arcade game. © Copyright 2016 The Video Game Critic.

World Championship Baseball is a big step up from Major League Baseball (Mattel, 1979), which was impressive in its own right. For some reason World Championship's title screen reads "All Star Baseball" as if Mattel couldn't decide which generic title to go with. Anyway, this game boasts an impressive feature list including fly balls, bouncing balls, manual positioning of fielders, overrunning bases, sliding, pitch-outs, errors, foul balls, leading off, stealing, pick-offs, and extra innings. Best of all, there's a single-player mode with multiple skill levels. No other classic baseball title offers this degree of robust gameplay. Overrunning of bases is a remarkable feature, and I love how sliding kicks up a cloud of dust. The graphics are basically the same as the first Intellivision baseball game but the diamond looks brighter. I love how the players quickly scamper on and off the field between half-innings. I just wish the controls were better. Each fielder is mapped to a key on the keypad, and switching between them is clumsy. I constantly find myself having to look down at the keypad to select the closest one. The computer is a worthy opponent. He doesn't swing at balls and won't hesitate to steal. In fact, if you walk away from the television don't be surprised if all the CPU runners have scored while you were away. Sneaky bastards! There's not much audio, but a series of beeps are used to simulate the umpire yelling "YER OUT!" and that sounds amazing. I'm just wondering why the voice synthesizer wasn't supported. The biggest flaw with the game would have to be its weak pitching controls; it's nearly impossible to strike anyone out! Even so, World Championship Baseball is exceptionally good. As classic baseball games go, only Realsports Baseball (Atari 5200, 1982) is in the same league. © Copyright 2017 The Video Game Critic.

For those who grew up with the Intellivision, this baseball game is one of myth and legend. In 1983 Mattel tantalized gamers with mind-blowing television ads depicting a baseball game with dramatic close-up camera angles. It's a shame so few of the Intellivision faithful ever got to experience this amazing game. World Series Major League Baseball (WSMLB) was only available via mail order, much like the Intellivision ECS (computer and keyboard) which is required to play it. WSMLB is a collector's dream, but in terms of playability, it's a little hurting. It plays like a technical demo, albeit an impressive one. You can challenge a friend, play the CPU, or watch the CPU play itself. The two teams (AL and NL) are stocked with fictional players like Smokin' Breen, Gunner Schnepp, Tex Barnes, and Papa Sells. Each player has a set of statistics that he allegedly adheres to. The action is presented via a series of "close up" camera views similar to those used in modern games. The players are blocky but gigantic by classic gaming standards. While pitching (or hitting), you view the action from the shortstop position, and the pitcher windup looks remarkably fluid. Unfortunately, it's hard to judge pitches from this perspective. In fact, you and a friend might want to agree to throw nothing but straight fastballs. The screen scrolls as the ball is tossed around the infield, and the outfield features scaling players. The runners on base are shown via picture-in-picture windows that are fairly astonishing - perhaps the most impressive aspect of the entire game. The controls are similar to the previous Intellivision baseball games, except you now swing via the disc. That's right - it's the first analog swing mechanism! WSMLB's slick presentation includes a batter introduction screen that displays his statistics along with his "close up", and players even have different skin tones. With the voice synthesizer attachment you'll hear a play-by-play man who does a pretty decent job ("He makes the catch!"). In fact, he's comparable to the announcer in Joe Montana II Sportstalk Football (Genesis, 1991) - a game released almost 8 years later! WSMLB is loaded with bells and whistles, but it can be a little tedious to play. Having to hit the space bar on the keyboard before each batter steps to the plate is truly annoying, as is having to throw the ball back to the pitcher after every pitch. When the ball is hit, the correct player is rarely selected so you'll need to hit the "switch" button. The camera angles are haphazard, and sometimes your player is completely out of the frame (especially during foul balls). You'll hear cheers and boos, and I love how the fans look in the stands. Sometimes they're calm and sometimes they're waving their arms, but there's always a lot of activity. The tall structure behind home plate looks like a building but it's supposed to be a net. The organ music and fanfares sound great, but I hate how the CPU pitcher waits for the music to finish before throwing the ball. It's quirky as hell, but World Series Major League Baseball was clearly way ahead of its time, introducing many innovative features that we take for granted today. Rough visuals and aggravating controls notwithstanding, classic gamers are bound to find beauty in this. © Copyright 2011 The Video Game Critic.