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GORF

Review

by Brett Alan Weiss

While Gorf does consist of four separate missions, none of them is particularly exciting. The first stage of the game is nothing more than a weak Space Invaders clone with less enemies to shoot, less strategies to employ and no shield bunkers. The Laser Attack mission is notable for its resemblance to the arcade game and its fast-moving alien invaders, but the shooting action is a little bit on the bland side. The third stage is slightly reminiscent of Gyruss, but you can't actually move your ship around in a circle. Also, there are far less enemies to shoot in this entire stage than when playing just a few seconds of Gyruss. The Flag Ship mission is very dull because your only job is to shoot a ship that is flying back-and-forth across the top of the screen.

Gorf relies more on aim and precision of your shots than it does fast reflexes and a quick trigger thumb. This is not necessarily a bad thing (Carnival comes to mind), but in Gorf it makes for a dull game.

By far, the best thing about Gorf is its sound effects. Not only do they do a good job of emulating the arcade game, but they are also utterly electrifying, pushing the Atari 2600 to its limits.

The graphics in Gorf aren't bad, but the game is missing one visual element that is germane to the action. The designers of Gorf elected to leave out the shields which are found in the Astro Battle and Flagship stages in the arcade game. Whether this is due to budget, time constraints or the Atari 2600's limited capabilities, I'm not sure, but it does take something away from the game.

Another substantial difference between this game and the arcade version is your fighter's movement. Here it is limited to sliding left and right, while in the arcade game your ship could maneuver around the bottom one-fourth of the screen.

Although it's missing a few key ingredients, Gorf is a decent arcade conversion -- but it's not all that fun of a game.


Graphics graphics rating

The enemies in the first stage look good, but much of the screen in all the levels is pitch black, so the visual demands on the game are minimal.

Sound sound rating

The sound effects in this game have far more range and power than those found in most Atari 2600 games. However, music fans will miss out as there is none in the game.

Enjoyment enjoyment rating

The action in Gorf is too slow, and there are too few enemies to shoot.

Replay Value replay rating

For a game with four different missions, the game gets routine very quickly.

Documentation documentation rating

The manual is adequate.