<html>

<head>
<title>loonygames presents: The Top Shelf - Outcast reviewed</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<style type="text/css">
a { text-decoration: none; }
a:hover { color:000000;  text-decoration: underline; }


</style>
</head>

<body bgcolor="#FFF4D0" link="#3333FF" vlink="#000000" alink="#000000">
<center>
</center>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#3596B3" height="58">
  <tr> 
    <td height="69" width="29%" align="left" valign="top"> 
      <div align="left"> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF"><b><i><img src="../../images/logo_new.jpg" width="182" height="63" border="0" usemap="#logoa"> 
        </i></b></font></div>
    </td>
    <td height="69" width="29%" align="center" valign="top"> <center>
<script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "ca-pub-2373963192914918";
/* 468x60 */
google_ad_slot = "3417104156";
google_ad_width = 468;
google_ad_height = 60;
//-->
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>
</center>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#3596B3" height="29">
  <tr> 
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <a href="../../../about.1"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF"><b><font size="2">about</font></b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <a href="../../../feedback.1"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF" size="2"><b>feedback</b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <a href="../../../archives/index.html"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF" size="2"><b>archives</b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <b><a href="../../../submissions/index.html"><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">submissions</font></a></b></td>
  </tr>
</table>
<div align="center"> <br>
</div>
<table width="100%" border="0">
  <tr> 
    <td width="72%"> 
      <h5><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">//<a href="../../../index.html"><font color="#7C420E">loonygames</font></a>://<a href="../index.html"><font color="#7C420E">issue 
        2.1</font></a>://<a href="index.html"><font color="#7C420E">The Top Shelf</font></a>://<a href="index.php"><font color="#7C420E">1</font></a>, 
        2, <a href="index3.php"><font color="#7C420E">3</font></a></font></b></h5>
    </td>
    <td align="right" valign="middle" width="28%"> 
      <div align="right"> 
        <h5><a href="../../cgi/printme.pl?url=%252F2.1%252Fshelf%252F"><img src="../../images/icons/print01.gif" width="27" height="27" align="baseline" border="0" alt="switch to printer-friendly version"></a></h5>
      </div>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
<br>
<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
  <tr> 
    <td align="center" valign="top" width="25%"> 

      <table border="0" width="99%" bgcolor="#D7B582" align="center" bordercolor="#E0E0E0">
        <tr> 
          <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="100%"> <font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> 
             </font> <p><webdog><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#0022A8"><b><font color="#693A0C">What's 
           new today:</font></b></font> 
          
<p><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="../../../index.html" target=""><b><font color="#00025E">New!!!</font></b></a><br></b>
  The archives have been cleaned up, dead links fixed, and the printable versions restored! Also, don't miss the new comments on the main page!</font></p>

 
<p><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="../../2.15/feat/index.html" target=""><b><font color="#00025E">Livin' 
  With The Sims</font></b></a><br></b>
  theAntiELVIS explores the wild and wacky world that is Will Wright's <b>The Sims</b>, 
  asking the inevitable quesiton, &quot;is <b>The Sims</b> the first step toward a virtual 
  life where everyone is Swedish?&quot;</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="../../2.15/pixel/index.html" target=""><b><font color="#00025E">Pixel 
  Obscura </font></b></a></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><br>
  Josh Vasquez on <b>Omikron: The Nomad Soul</b>.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="../../rl/index.html" target=""><b><font color="#00025E">Real 
  Life </font></b></a></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><br>
  Check out our newest comic strip, <b>Real Life</b>! Updated daily!</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="../../uf.1" target=""><b><font color="#00025E">User 
  Friendly</font></b></a></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><br>
  Updated daily!</font></p>
<p></webdog> </p>
 
            <p></p>
            <p> </p>
            <p></p>
             
            </td>
        </tr>
      </table>
      <br>
      <table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#D7B582">
        <tr bgcolor="#D7B582"> 
          <td> 
            <div align="center"> 
              <p align="left"><font size="-1"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#0022A8"><b><font color="#00025E">Random 
                Feature:</font></b></font> </font> </p>
              <p>
<p align="CENTER"><img src="../../images/v_thumb.jpg" width="64" height="64" align="MIDDLE"></p><p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">Hey <B>Half-Life</b> fans! Looking for some good reads? Check out Valve designer Harry Teasley's <a href="../../1.16/guest/index.html">guest editorial</a>, our <a href="../../1.16/topshelf/index.html">review</a> of Half-Life, or our interview with <a href="../../1.34/feat">Marc Laidlaw!</a></font></p>

<i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"> 
                </font> </i></p>
            </div>
          </td>
        </tr>
      </table>
      <br>
      <table width="99%" border="0" bgcolor="#D7B582">
        <tr> 
          <td> 
            <div align="center"> 
              <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/custom" name="">
                <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><b><font color="#339900">Search 
                the Archives!</font></b></font> 
               
                 <INPUT TYPE=text name=q size=12 maxlength=255 value="">
 <INPUT type=submit name=sa VALUE="Google Search">
 <INPUT type=hidden name=cof 
VALUE="LW:216;L:http:/home/loonygames/loony.timedoctor.org/content/images/logo1.jpg;LH:55;AH:center;S:http://www.loonygames.com;AWFID:13a298c7abe84fd0;">
<input type=hidden name=domains value="loonygames.com"> 
<input type=hidden name=sitesearch value="loonygames.com">               
</div>
              </form>

              <p align="left"><i> </i></p>
            </div>
          </td>
        </tr>
      </table>
    </td>
    <td width="75%" align="center" valign="top"> 
      <table width="90%" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center">
        <tr> 
          <td width="50%" valign="top"> 
            <table width="98%" border="0">
                <tr> 
                  <td width="55%"> 
                    <div align="left"> 
                      <p><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000FF"><i><font color="#904C10" size="2">The 
                        Top Shelf: </font><font color="#904C10" size="4"><br>
                        Outcast</font></i></font></b><br>
                      
                      
                    <div align="right"> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">By 

                      <a href="mailto:hb@loonygames.com">Noel &quot;HB&quot; Wade</a></font></div>
                    </div>
                  </td>
                  <td width="45%" align="right" valign="top"> 
                    <h5 align="right"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#00025E">Vol. 
                      2, Issue 1&nbsp; <br>
                      November 10, 1999&nbsp; </font></b></h5>
                  </td>
                </tr>
              </table>
              <h5 align="right">&nbsp;</h5>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><loonystart>The other 
                great thing is that the game continuously throws challenges at 
                you. Just as you pass one major hurdle, another one will get set 
                to present itself. However, these aren&#146;t bulldozed down on 
                top of you with no break; and I&#146;m quite impressed with the 
                pacing of the game, overall. With all there is to do, it's nice 
                that the game doesn&#146;t time you. Just because you didn&#146;t 
                take care of something immediately, doesn&#146;t mean that you 
                have to load an earlier game and try again. Don&#146;t get me 
                wrong, you <i>can</i> fail tasks or die (most of the time by doing 
                something dumb like trying to pet dangerous animals; or in battle 
                against soldiers) &#150; but because its almost always a result 
                of something you <i>chose</i> to do, it doesn&#146;t get you frustrated 
                with the game developers so much as yourself.</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              
            <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">  <table border="0" align="right" bgcolor="#D7B582" width="98" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
              <tr> 
                <td height="43"> 
                  <div align="center"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="http:/home/loonygames/loony.timedoctor.org/content/cgi/image.pl?image=/content/2.1/shelf/images/outcast2.jpg&amp;w=512&amp;h=384&amp;back=/content/2.1/shelf/index2.php&amp;name=The%20Top%20Shelf"><img src="images/outcast2_sml.jpg" width="125" height="93" border="0" alt="click to enlarge!"></a></font></div>
                </td>
              </tr>
              <tr> 
                <td height="18"> 
                  <p align="center"> <i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1" color="#000253"><ignoreme>Exotic 
                    beasts populate the world of <b>Outcast </b>(44k)</ignoreme></font></i></p>
                </td>
              </tr>
            </table>
          The quests themselves vary from a simple message-bearing request, to 
            killing a monster, to searching an entire landscape for an artifact, 
            to going around and trying to get a whole group of merchants to lower 
            their prices &#150; and the proverbial &#147;much much more!&#148; 
            The major quests in the game seem to follow a common theme, but each 
            one requires different sub-quests and activities; so they never really 
            get boring - though I will say that the entire explorable area of 
            Adelpha is <i>vast</i>; sometimes taking several minutes to traverse. 
            Throughout these quests (which, basically, comprise the game), you&#146;ll 
            constantly be dealing with the natives of Adelpha. The voice acting 
            for these characters is superb; and the sheer number of people you 
            run into breathes a lot of life into the game. I&#146;d venture to 
            say that a full 60 to 70 percent of the populace is unique and has 
            different knowledge, needs, requests, and so forth. They also do a 
            good job of sprinkling humor throughout the game; which not only provides 
            a break from the seriousness of some of your tasks, but makes your 
            character seem more &#147;real&#148; &#150; and less of a goody-two-shoes, 
            or digital puppet.</font> 
            <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">It's amazing 
                that only a handful of people were used for the voice-talent of 
                these natives &#150; the digital processing and voice skills carry 
                a vast array of inflections, mannerisms, and tones that uniquely 
                identify them. Good variances in clothing and animation also help 
                avoid the &#147;cookie-cutter&#148; effect seen in most games. 
                There&#146;s some repetition; but its not so high as to interrupt 
                the enjoyment of the game. This brings us to the graphical elements 
                of the game. I personally think that a great job was done with 
                the graphics in <b>Outcast</b> &#150; nice particle effects, detailed 
                textures, and vibrant colors.</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The one 
                drawback (which <i>everyone</i> comments on) is the use of voxels 
                to render the terrain. While it makes for very detailed landscapes, 
                it forces the use of software rendering - <i>severely</i> limiting 
                screen-resolution (performance is almost totally CPU-dependant, 
                instead of video-card dependant). As a result, graphics are fairly 
                chunky and not very crisp in most modes (things seem to kick into 
                super-high detail during close-ups while conversing; which is 
                nice). While being &#147;ugly&#148; at first glance, I can remember 
                that only a couple of years ago, 400x300 mode was quite acceptable 
                for <b>Quake</b> and the like. And if you give the game a chance 
                (i.e. play it for more than 10 minutes), you will find that you 
                quickly become accustomed to it; and the graphics take a back 
                seat to the game-play and the story. As I mentioned before, however, 
                there is evidence that the graphics really <i>were</i> done well 
                &#150; as details and effects can be quite pretty, especially 
                in &#147;close-up&#148; mode. They also have included a bunch 
                of anti-aliasing and other rendering tools designed to &#147;nicen 
                up&#148; the graphics, even at their low-res., without causing 
                major performance hits - and they do help.</loonystart><br>
                <br>
                </font></p>
              
            <table width="100%" border="0">
              <tr>
                  
                <td width="50%"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="index.php"><font color="#7C420E"><b><font size="+1">&lt;&lt;Prev</font></b></font> 
                  </a></font></td>
                <td width="50%"> 
                  <div align="center">
                      <p align="left"></p>
                      <p align="left"></p>
                    </div>
                    
                  <p align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="index3.php"><font color="#7C420E"><b><font size="+1">Next 
                    &gt;&gt;</font></b></font> </a></font></p>
            
          </td>
                </tr>
              </table>
              
            
            </td>
        </tr>
      </table>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
<br>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#3596B3" height="29">
  <tr> 
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <a href="../../../about.1"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF" size="2"><b>about</b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <a href="../../../feedback.1"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF" size="2"><b>feedback</b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <a href="../../../archives/index.html"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF" size="2"><b>archives</b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <b><a href="../../../submissions/index.html"><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">submissions</font></a></b></td>
  </tr>
</table>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#3596B3" height="29">
  <tr> 
    <td height="20" width="35%"><a href="../../../index.html"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF"><b><i>loonygames</i></b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="65%"> 
      <div align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF">  </font></div>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
<p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">Credits: Illustration 
  &copy; 1999 Dan Zalkus. This review is &copy; 1999 Noel Wade. All other content 
  is &copy; 1999 loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited, 
  goldarn it.</font></i></p>
 <map name="logoa">
  <area shape="rect" coords="52,47,112,59" href="http://www.bluesnews.com">
  <area shape="rect" coords="3,3,179,46" href="../../../index.html">
</map>
</body>
</html>
