Path: menudo.uh.edu!usenet From: malbers@ns.ccsn.edu (Marcus Albers) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Cow Wars Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.games Date: 1 Jun 1993 18:28:01 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 135 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <1ug73h$9ju@menudo.uh.edu> Reply-To: malbers@ns.ccsn.edu (Marcus Albers) NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu Keywords: game, artillery, humor, public domain PRODUCT NAME Cow Wars, version 1.1 BRIEF DESCRIPTION A humorous artillery game. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Chris Richards Address: P.O. Box 3311 Iowa City, IA 52245 USA E-mail: crichard@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu LIST PRICE Free -- this program is in the public domain and available on the "Aminet" ftp sites in the directory /pub/aminet/game/shoot. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS None. The program is AGA-compatible. COPY PROTECTION None. REVIEW As a big Monty Python fan, I love a humorous game, and finally I have found one: Cow Wars. The title itself intrigued me, to begin with. My first impression was that it may be something based on the many cows of "The Far Side", but it is even better. It is Artillery gone Monty Python! The game that this is based on, called Artillery, is an old game that pits two players against each other, armed with cannons. Each player takes turns changing the angles on their respective cannons and blasting cannon balls at the other player over a mountain. Factors such as wind speed and direction and the amount of powder charge will affect the motion of the cannonball. A very addicting game. Now, it's better. Cow Wars uses the same basic rules and variables as the original game. But, instead of firing cannonballs, you are firing COWS! Strange, but true. Complete with a resounding "mooooooo" whilst they fly over the mountain towards their intended target. You have to fire and hit your opponent with three types of cows: styrofoam, glass, and (of course) real cows. The wind direction and velocity change constantly and are monitored by a small flag at the bottom of the screen. The wind affects the cow types differently: a styrofoam cow will blow around more than a glass cow in a strong wind, and a real cow is not affected as much as the other two. The cannons themselves pace back and forth on their respective sides of the mountain, making the positioning of constant shots that much more difficult. Both the maximum wind velocity and the maximum distance that the cannons should travel can be controlled by the user, or can be picked at random by the computer. The size of the mountain can be changed as well. Then there's the "fire penguin" (as if this wasn't strange enough already). He is an oversized penguin that floats back and forth above the playfield, ready to intercept any airborne Holsteins that may come his way. With a villainous laugh, he devours any cows that cross his path, making it even harder to hit your target. Is this game impossible to play, you ask? Not in the least. It is very playable, and it can be made as easy or as hard as you like. The game is set up as a two player-only game, but is a lot of fun to play by yourself. The fact that the other cannon moves around on the other side of the mountain makes it a challenge to hit even if it isn't trying to hit you as well. The program itself was written in Amos, the graphics done with DPaint III, and the sounds were taken from a disk of Macintosh sounds. DOCUMENTATION The documentation is well written and very complete. LIKES AND DISLIKES As for suggested improvements, the only one that I would suggest is a true one-player mode with a computer-controlled opponent. CONCLUSIONS I rate this game as a 9.8 out of a possible 10 points. COPYRIGHT NOTICE No copyright. Please distribute this if you feel it is that good. I only ask that you contact me via E-mail if it is sent to an FTP site or an on-line service such as GEnie or Compuserve. ABOUT THIS REVIEW This review is the first in a long series (I hope) of shareware and public-domain software reviews for the starving masses. Hope you like it. Please E-mail me with any changes or suggestions for future reviews, as I am by no means an expert writer. I have been using Internet for about nine months now, and by far my favorite spots are FTP sites. Being an Amiga user, I found it unbelievable that there was this much GOOD freely distributable software there. But, there are some duds. And, as my modem runs at only 1200 baud, I find it exaspirating when I waste an hour of time downloading something that is totally worthless. My purpose with these reviews is basically the same as commercial reviews: to keep you from wasting valuable time (instead of money, or both if you are on Tymenet) downloading something that you will find totally useless. I hope everyone finds these useful. ;^) Marcus J. Albers MALBERS@NS.CCSN.EDU --- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu