LA Games Compo #9: Datastorm

sydney · Last edited by sydney on Tue Dec 13, 2005 10:25 pm; edited 3 times in total

Due to the unbelievably busy schedule of our regular compo organiser, I have nominated myself to bring you the latest instalment of the lemon amiga games competition.

This month sees us playing Datastorm, possibly the greatest version of one of the best horizontally scrolling shoot em ups ever.

Fly around at unbelievable speed, shoot all the aliens while saving the scientists (or whoever it is this time round that have gotten themselves stranded on a planet under attack by hordes of alien nasties.).

Rules

This round of the competition starts now(12th December) and will end Monday the 2nd of January, 24:00 (midnight) GMT
Project-X

Score as many points as possible in one player mode.
Project-X

The use of autofire on joysticks is not allowed since one of the games powerups is autofire.
Project-X

Post screenshots of your high score in this thread, (it would also be nice if you could scale them to 320 x something, but don't bother if it makes the score unreadable, ).
Project-X

Don't cheat! Not once, not ever, not even slightly.

Dowload the game:
Project-X

Here you go.

Current Scores:

Remember that new members are always welcome to play!

Zagrebo · Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 8:51 pm Post subject:

The link to the adf doesn't work

sydney · Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 10:02 pm Post subject:

hannibal · Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 11:48 pm Post subject:

Had my first go, what a joy even though I died pretty fast.
43620

Just warming up. I remember getting more than 200.000 back in the days. I also remember that Søren Grønbech, the programmer of the game, had his hicore posted in a Danish computer mag, but I can't recall if it was 400.000 or 800.000. Anyway he was out of my league even though I really tried reaching his score.

I think I said it before, but I'll just restate my opinion: Autofire-controllers should not be allowed (at least with autofire turned on). It's a power-up in the game and a tremendous advantage to have.

It's late, but I think I'll just have another go....happy gaming, everybody! Very Happy

Edit: Sydney, now I resized the pic just for you and now the score is unreadable! I guess 320Xsomething is too small.....

hannibal · Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2005 12:12 am Post subject:

That was better....reached the skull but didn't manage to kill it since I lost autofire and was on the last life.
Things get really hot once you reach that level (lvl 8 I think). Still fun though...

82555

HoraceAndTheSpider · Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2005 1:24 am Post subject:

oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Embarassed

i have a very long way to go if i'm gonna do anything at all in this! admittedly this was only my third *ever* game of Datastorm, but hey, even my warm up was better than this...

1450. shall i just go home now? Crying or Very sad

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HoraceAndTheSpider · Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2005 2:10 am Post subject:

ok... enough for this session. i reached my improvement target and my playlist has just ended.

11375

hey hannibal, you're really missing out. You'll never get to know the satisfaction of badly clawing your way up to the 10k mark!
There are 2 things i can do better than you at this game tho.; suck & die.
Razz

some rules i must remember if i am to improve;

1) Don't die so much
2) Don't shoot your little "guys" or whatever they are, try rescuing them! (it has probably been a decade since i last played Defender, let alone one of its clones... so i really had forgotten everything!)
3) Don't die so much
4) Keep a playlist of banging electro tunes / remixes on, it keeps the pulse racing
5) Use the analogue stick on the PS2 pad, so much easier to flick the ship about
6) Find out what the smartbomb key / joy thing on the menu is all about.
7) DON'T DIE!
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sydney · Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2005 9:00 am Post subject:

hannibal · Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2005 12:25 pm Post subject:

HoraceAndTheSpider · Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2005 12:52 pm Post subject:

Apollyon · Groupie in Training Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 83

After the title screen there are some screens which explain how the game works. You can pause them with 'P'

Ingame the smart bomb is activated by 'any' key Smile

I picked up some missiles but how to activate those?

current score: 58.730

hannibal · Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:20 pm Post subject:

NYCeguy24 · Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:24 pm Post subject:

Many thanks for the tips Hannibal and Apollyon! I tried this yesterday before reading them and collected all the little pods and sent them to the beam. On the next level saw the little man and tried to collect him but couldn't. Didn't want to shoot him though. Obvious now that we can. Best score so far 8700 or so.
Think I'm gonna like this one, reminds me a bit of choplifter.

On another note, is anyone else having a problem getting this game to load correctly. Sometimes it does, other times it just keeps rebooting itself after the intro crack screen. The reboot routine seems to be random.
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5...4...3...2...1...Oh no! *POP*

HoraceAndTheSpider · Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2005 9:07 pm Post subject:

those tips did indeed work a charm... thanks guys! Thumbs Up

another, slightly briefer, session later...

32470

somewhat improved i think, still over 10k off Hannibal's first score tho. Sad

oh and thanks to the voters for introducing me to a game that i now actually quite enjoy. It's not quite as good as Llamatron but i confess it does have that same high-paced, pick up & play me appeal!
_________________

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hannibal · Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2005 9:48 pm Post subject:

3rd game:

144.875

I don't think I can keep improving with each game from now on.

I went into hyperspace in this game (when you lose all your pods), but it wasn't that bad, actually. As long as you have shield and autofire left you can just fly to the top and kill all enemies almost instantly, since they speed towards you. I cleared two level in a few seconds this way.

I'm glad you like it, Horace. I hope more people will get to know this gem through the compo. To me it is the best fast-paced action game on the amiga.