Classic Computer Magazine Archive ANTIC VOL. 7, NO. 6 / OCTOBER 1988

ST NEW PRODUCTS

By GREGG PEARLMAN, Antic Assistant Editor

GOLD RERUNNER

As the commander of a single-wing fighter in GoldRunner II ($39.95), a fast-paced arcade game, you must rescue the stolen defense robots before they are turned upon your now defenseless planet. Two $14.95 Scenery Disks give you new territory to explore. Just pop a Scenery Disk into the drive instead of the GoldRunner II main data disk, and you're boldly going, as Captain Jean-Luc says, where no one has gone before.

If you prefer a game that's more down-to-earth, try International Soccer ($39.95). You can control game length, day or night play, team colors and formations, wind and weather in this joystick-driven soccer simulation.

Color monitors required. Microdeal (MichTron), 576 S. Telegraph, Pontiac, MI 48053. (313) 334-8729.

IN LIKE FLYNN

Captain Blood uses both fractal and vector techniques to produce stunning graphics. In this game (which has nothing to do with the famous film), Torka, Captain Blood's space squeeze, has promised to fill the house with the patter of 2,000 little feet. Blood would be equal to the task--except for a handful of Captain Blood clones scattered around the galaxy, sapping his energy. Your mission is to find and summarily dust the clones.

$49.95, color. Mindscape, 3444 Dundee Road, Northbrook, IL 60062. (312) 480-7667.

STARGLIDER SEQUEL

Starglider II features spectacular graphics, digitized sound effects and smooth animation as you fly around alien deserts, destroying Ergon patrol ships and rescuing colonies from the Ergons. (Each planet has its own characteristics and cultures.) Your state-of-the-art vessel is equipped with a 3-D instrument panel and sophisticated weapons.

$44.95, color. Rainbird, 3885 Bohannon Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025. (415) 322-0412.

TYPHOON THOMPSON

From the author of Choplifter! comes Typhoon Thompson: Search for the Sea Child, a 3-D arcade game that might also be called "Popeye and Swee'pea in Space." A cruiser has crashed on a remote planet and the only survivor is a baby boy. You've got to rescue him, fighting your way past sea sprites, ancient technology and spirits from a long-dead civilization.

$34.95, color. Broderbund Software, 17 Paul Drive, San Rafael, CA 94903. (415) 492-3200.

MICHTRON MONTAGE

GFA BASIC, Version 3.0 ($39.95) gives you more than 300 new commands and increases speed 40% to 60% over the previous version of GFA BASIC. Old GFA BASIC programs are compatible with the new version, and you can still use your old books.

In Version 3, once you debug a procedure, you can "hide it" -- only the procedure name is shown in the listing, making your visible code more readable. Other useful features include a clock in the menu field, the ability to place editor-marks in your program, and a line counter. Also, all AES functions have been implemented, as have joystick commands and case distinction (SELECT-CASE and ELSE-IF).

The GFA BASIC Programmer's Reference Guide, Volume I ($23.95) contains information on the commands for GFA BASIC, Version 2.0, and future volumes will be dedicated to Version 3. A special index lists each command by type, with cross-references to the appropriate page.

For beginners, GFA BASIC Training ReBoot Camp ($19.95) should do the trick. Features include a mouse-drawing program, Simon game, onscreen joke-book, tune player, simple animated game, dice game, graphics display program, programming aids and clear instructions.

On the GFA BASIC Reference Card ($4.95), each command has been grouped according to function, and each entry contains a brief description of the command and demonstrates the proper syntax for use. Now you won't have to interrupt your programming to flip through a manual.

MichTron has packaged five of its most powerful utilities into Utilities Plus ($59.85):

MichTron Utilities is a disk editor that lets you read and change individual bytes anywhere on a floppy or hard disk. You can search through files and change contents, alter file and volume names, adjust file attributes, format individual disk tracks, repair damaged disks, and more. The screen displays both the hexadecimal and ASCII output.

The commands in the DOS Shell utility are virtually the same as MS-DOS and let you list files, check the freespace left, copy files, etc., much faster than GEM allows. Global wildcards are also supported.

When recording disk contents with Super Directory, you can enter not only the filename, but also a category letter and remark of up to 20 characters. It also keeps track of disk number, filesize and pathname.

M-Disk, a RAMdisk program, and Soft-Spoon, a print buffer program, are combined into M-Disk Plus, while STuff is a group of 21 utilities and desk accessories including AUTODATE, which sets the system date and time without a clock card, AUTOFOLD, which changes the execution order of the AUTO folder programs, and GREP, which searches text files for selected character strings.

With the GEM-linked GFA Draft Plus ($159.95), a 2-D CAD program, you can quickly learn to design electronic circuits, create architectural plans and scaled technical drawings. Drawings can have up to 255 layers, 10 of which can be shown at a time. More advanced users have the specially developed MACRO command language at their disposal. Commands can be entered from the keyboard, or a series of commands can be stored on disk.

MichTron, 576 S. Telegraph, Pontiac, MI 48053. (313) 334-8729.

New ST product notices are compiled from information provided by the products' manufacturers. Antic assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of these notices or the performance of the product.