From milton@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu Sun Mar 24 02:36:57 1991
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Date: Sun, 24 Mar 91 02:36:35 -0600
From: milton@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Milton W. Kuo)
Message-Id: <9103240836.AA28316@minnie.cc.utexas.edu>
To: aa561@cleveland.freenet.edu
Subject: Review Of Daisenpuu
Cc: rjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
Status: RO

Game Name  : Dai Sen Puu
Game Type  : Shooting
Game Maker : Toaplan, licensed by Sega Enterprises
Game Size  : 4 Mbits (512 KB)

     Dai Sen Puu, meaning "large twisting wind" or tornado, will be nam-
ed Twin  Hawk in the U.S., if it is  released.  Twin Hawk  is a vertical
shooting game very similar in concept to the Sky Shark  coin-op  game by
Taito.  In Twin Hawk, you control a biplane and fly  across the land and
seas gunning down tanks and ships.  Destroy special trucks and boats and
various power up items will appear to aid you in your mission.  The pow-
er ups available are 1-Ups,  increased shot  power (you shoot more shots
and they cover a wider angle), and helpers.  Helpers,  when used, summon
a squadron of eight planes that fly with you and help destroy the enemy.
When necessary, they can be ordered to  crash themselves into the enemy.
Helpers may be used in another fashion by pressing the  summoning button
twice.  This  results in a large bomb being drop creating a large explo-
sion which either damages or destroys nearly everything on the screen.

     Graphics on Twin Hawk are  exceptional - from  the spinning propel-
lers of the plane to the  shadows of your plane  and its helpers, every-
thing in this  game is highly  detailed.  Tanks have camouflage markings
ings and all enemy vehicles are smoothly animated.  Background are nice-
ly done as  well and  exhibit a high level of  detail.  Needless to say,
Twin Hawk does an excellent job of showcasing the  Genesis' graphics ca-
pabilities.

     Unfortunately, though, graphics are the only outstanding feature of
Twin Hawk.  While Toaplan made the game graphically exciting, they fail-
ed to  make  other  aspects of the  game  come alive.  For starters, the
sound in Twin Hawk does not vary  much and in the entire game, there are
only four different songs for the background music.  The background mus-
ic is not very interesting and becomes obnoxious very quickly.  The only
other  sounds in  the game are the  sound of your plane shooting and the
sounds of  exploding  enemies.  The  sounds of the  explosions, like the
background music, are  cacophonous and  do nothing to  make me like this
game.

     Game play in Twin Hawk can best be summarized as monotonous and re-
petitive.  The entire game consists of shooting tanks and boats.  Unlike
Sky Shark, Twin Hawk  offers no  enemy aircraft to  shoot down.  To make
matters even  worse, there  are only four different levels in Twin Hawk.
After finishing the  fourth level, you are  restarted at the first level
with the only difference in the game being that the enemy craft move and
shoot faster.  As an aside though, starting with the eighth level, every
four levels completed results in your plane being changed from a biplane
to a helicopter, jet, and finally spaceship with  each form being faster
than the  previous one.  However, the  levels remain unchanged as do the
firepower of your plane.

     Overall, I  would not recommend this game since Toaplan has another
game  scheduled for release  called  Fire Shark (Same!  Same!  Same!  in
Japan) that looks to be much more interesting and fun.

Ratings:
     Graphics  : 8
     Sound     : 5
     Gameplay  : 6 (much too repetitive)
     "Funness" : 5 (repetitiveness and obnoxious sound killed this one)
     Overall   : 6 (not enough variety to justify its price)

Milton W. Kuo
milton@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu


