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              <h5 align="right"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#00025E"><img src="../../images/icons/shelf_final.jpg" width="191" height="240" align="left"><loonystart>Vol. 
                2, Issue 5<br>
                December 9, 1999<br>
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              <div align="center">
                <p align="center"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000FF"><i><font color="#904C10" size="3">The 
                  Top Shelf:</font></i></font></b></p>
                <p align="center"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000FF"><i><font color="#904C10" size="6"> 
                  Septerra Core</font></i></font></b></p>
                <p align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">by 
                  <a href="mailto:hb@loonygames.com">Noel &quot;HB&quot; Wade</a></font></p>
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              <p align="right">&nbsp;</p>
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              <p align="left"> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><img src="../../images/letters_new/h.jpg" width="26" height="39" align="left">ere&#146;s 
                an interesting concept: take one world, and split it up into seven 
                continents &#150; all on different levels. Connect all seven with 
                a biomechanical spine, and put some kind of super-computer at 
                the center. Add in some prophecies and legacies, make it an RPG, 
                add in some heavy anime influences - and you have the background 
                story for <b>Septerra Core</b>, a game by Valkryie Studios, TopWare 
                Interactive, and Monolith (being a publisher this time around). 
                Let me begin by saying that I&#146;m not a huge CRPG fan. I haven&#146;t 
                been since I was about 12 years old, banging away on my Commodore 
                64. However, the concepts for this game sounded cool enough that 
                I was awaiting this game since I first heard about it.</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">At first 
                glance, the introduction shows off an interesting mix of scenes 
                &#150; both full-motion CG scenes, and also in-game sequences. 
                The choice for this back-and-forth transition seems unclear to 
                me; although the CG scenes are fairly impressive. Sadly, the beauty 
                of this game ends mostly there. </font></p>
              <table border="0" align="right" bgcolor="#D7B582" width="98" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
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                  <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/2.5/shelf/images/septerra3.jpg&amp;w=640&amp;h=481&amp;back=/content/2.5/shelf/index.php&amp;name=The%20Top%20Shelf"><img src="images/septerra3_sml.jpg" width="96" height="73" border="0" alt="click to enlarge!"></a></font></div>
                  </td>
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                  <td height="18"> 
                    <p align="center"> <i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1" color="#000253"><ignoreme>The 
                      old dude and his prophecy (90k)</ignoreme></font></i></p>
                  </td>
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              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Graphically, 
                I find the game to be acceptable. I&#146;ve seen some other review 
                sites blast the game based on its 640x480 resolution; but to me 
                that seems fine. I <i>would</i> have preferred an 800x600 mode; 
                mostly because much of the artwork seems high quality &#150; and 
                would&#146;ve been even nicer in that mode. However, 640x480 doesn&#146;t 
                make for an unacceptably ugly game at all. It <i>does</i> occasionally 
                make items a little hard to see in a few cases, but I&#146;ll 
                get to that later.</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sound-wise, 
                I&#146;m alternately impressed and disappointed. Some of the music 
                and background pieces are wonderful &#150; and if you have a sub-woofer, 
                you&#146;ll definitely be rewarded with pounding sound effects 
                in some cases. But, some things get repetitive; and the combat 
                sounds, while fairly appropriate, didn&#146;t impress me in their 
                variety. And when the combat is as long as it is in this game, 
                you crave <i>anything</i> new.</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Since 
                I&#146;ve mentioned it, let me segue into the topic of combat. 
                Arguably, this is the worst feature of the game. Every time you 
                get involved in combat (which can happen simply by walking a little 
                to close to an animal), the map moves to some open ground &#150; 
                and you and your enemy (or enemies) do a big leap into the center 
                of the screen. From there, combat works out in &#147;real time&#148; 
                mode. Some games have managed to do this successfully; but I don&#146;t 
                feel that this game pulls it off. Characters must <i>wait</i> 
                as their timing/initiative/action (slash whatever-you-want-to-call-it) 
                bar crawls up through three stages (signifying weak/medium/strong 
                attack). The problems start to arise here &#150; since you can&#146;t 
                select your attack until the proper &#147;stage&#148; has filled 
                up, you must ready your mouse (or hotkey) to hit the proper option 
                at the <i>exact</i> time it comes available. If you don&#146;t, 
                the next &#147;stage&#148; of the bar starts to fill, and over 
                several rounds of combat you will find yourself feeling like a 
                lot of time has been wasted &#150; because computer controlled 
                enemies are always very precise in their timing. Which is also 
                another quirk of the combat system: If you select your action 
                but the enemy somehow does their action at the same time, your 
                key-press/mouse-click isn&#146;t accepted. You have to wait <i>through</i> 
                the attack, and then repeat your selection. Once you <i>do</i> 
                get an attack off, you&#146;ll watch your character make a big 
                leap forward (or sometimes not, depending on the weapon/combat-type), 

                make their attack, and then jump back. Then you wait again &#150; 
                and wait, and wait. Your enemies will do the same; but the computer 
                doesn&#146;t have any boredom circuits, does it?</font></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></loonystart></font></p>
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<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>
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