64 replies to this topic

[patbb]

86,680

After the Camera my pattern does not work at all

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[atariron82]

I haven't quite nailed down the 'lock' aspect of this game, but I'm sure getting chased! Once I work out a strategy I may yet hear the Bonus whistle. It's pretty fun so far..

16,280

[patbb]

atariron82, on Thu Sep 15, 2011 7:49 AM, said:

I haven't quite nailed down the 'lock' aspect of this game, but I'm sure getting chased! Once I work out a strategy I may yet hear the Bonus whistle. It's pretty fun so far..

You can have a look at a video I made last year for inspiration.

Edited by patbb, Thu Sep 15, 2011 1:19 PM.

[thegoldenband]

First attempt, at 21,600 pts.  Haven't played this much -- it's not really my style of game.

Improved to 36,060 pts.

Edited by thegoldenband, Thu Sep 15, 2011 5:08 PM.

[IntellivisionGuy97]

It looks quite obvious that I will not win. But I will keep trying!

[thegoldenband]

Now up to 46,880 points.  Not sure how much more time I want to put into this game -- I find it frustrating, and the lack of pinpoint control doesn't exactly help.  Maybe it's more fun in an emulator.

Edited by thegoldenband, Fri Sep 16, 2011 8:47 PM.

[cparsley]

Golden, what problem you having? If Lupin isn't stopping where you want him to, use version 1 4K LNC. If you don't want him to stop mid-path, use the updated 6K version

[BydoEmpire]

I'm pretty terrible at this game, and I never really found it much fun.  Played a couple games yesterday, got just over 10k.  I'll post a pic when I get a chance, I don't remember the exact score.

[thegoldenband]

cparsley, on Fri Sep 16, 2011 9:56 PM, said:

Golden, what problem you having? If Lupin isn't stopping where you want him to, use version 1 4K LNC. If you don't want him to stop mid-path, use the updated 6K version

It's not so much a question of where he stops, but more whether the game permits you to make half-tile "sneak-ins".  IOW, when I try to duck halfway into a cell and duck back out (which is a standard tactic in these kinds of games), it never seems to work, and usually the game forces me to go all the way in.  Between that and the inconsistent collision detection -- sometimes Lupin is right next to an enemy, and gets killed only when the distance between them increases! -- it gets a little aggravating.

While I'm at it I also find the bonus scheme a little frustrating when playing for high score.  The cash in the middle appears after you've grabbed X number of dots from the maze -- I think it's something like 20? -- and it's easy to miss out on it.  Sometimes one of the cops will just park himself in the center and there's nothing you can do, or you end up triggering the bonus item when you don't want to because you grabbed more dots than you meant to.

Also, the cops are too clever for my tastes!  I'm used to games where the enemies move in predictable patterns of a certain kind and the main dynamic is pursuit.  But here it seems like they shadow you and wait for you to commit yourself, trying to get in between you and what you want to do.  You can get them to chase you if you stop at the end of a hallway, but the controls can't always cash that check IMHO.

Anyway, complain complain complain.    Obviously some of you are able to excel at this game, so the real issue is clearly my lack of skills!  Lock 'n' Chase gets a lot of love, so I'm grousing more freely than I would if we were playing a game that gets ragged on.

Edited by thegoldenband, Sun Sep 18, 2011 12:59 PM.

[cmart604]

Not my best effort ever but not bad. 53,760

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[gezkc]

Hi thegoldenband,

Lock n Chase can be frustrating at times, but then a lot of the best games are - it's what keeps you coming back to try to beat them next time!

As you say, the bonus cash appears at regular intervals and is dependent on the number of gold coins you pick up. If you're finding that the cash is appearing when you don't want it to, try to stick to sections of the maze that you've already cleared until you've drawn the cops away from the middle - they will move out eventually, you just have to tempt them towards you. Once the coast is clear, pick up some more coins and then make your way to the centre.

It's interesting that you mention the cleverness of the cops. You're right, they are are lot craftier than many in similar games of this type (personally, I've always found the red cop to be the cleverest, followed by blue, yellow and green, but that could just be my imagination!) but there are ways to trick them. Making use of the lock feature is the most obvious way and is absolutely essential to doing well at this game. Locking cops in the top left, top right and bottom left corners will make it much easier to get around the maze and collect the bonuses, especially if you're able to lock two or more of them in at a time.

I hope you don't give up on it - personally, I think it's one of the best games on the Intellivision and well worth persevering with. I hope you stick with it.

Good luck  

Edited by gezkc, Mon Sep 19, 2011 3:07 AM.

[cparsley]

I was going to say Blue and Yellow were the most mischievious, followed by red and then green (he's like Clyde)... Red also loves the top of the maze, Green the bottom, and yellow/blue go everywhere.

The coin count is correct, 16 (400pts) for the first $ bag, another 20 (400+500(plus 500 if you got $ bag #1 (1400) for bag 2) haven't counted beyond there, but could if ever was caring to....

Yes, luring cops is a great LNC tactic... popping up on the same line a cop in the money box is will about 90% of the time get them to come out (with the exception if a green lock door closes on em preventing them to)

Keep playing GoldenBand

[gezkc]

106,740

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[crade]

thegoldenband, on Sun Sep 18, 2011 12:59 PM, said:

cparsley, on Fri Sep 16, 2011 9:56 PM, said:

Golden, what problem you having? If Lupin isn't stopping where you want him to, use version 1 4K LNC. If you don't want him to stop mid-path, use the updated 6K version

It's not so much a question of where he stops, but more whether the game permits you to make half-tile "sneak-ins".  IOW, when I try to duck halfway into a cell and duck back out (which is a standard tactic in these kinds of games), it never seems to work, and usually the game forces me to go all the way in.  Between that and the inconsistent collision detection -- sometimes Lupin is right next to an enemy, and gets killed only when the distance between them increases! -- it gets a little aggravating.

While I'm at it I also find the bonus scheme a little frustrating when playing for high score.  The cash in the middle appears after you've grabbed X number of dots from the maze -- I think it's something like 20? -- and it's easy to miss out on it.  Sometimes one of the cops will just park himself in the center and there's nothing you can do, or you end up triggering the bonus item when you don't want to because you grabbed more dots than you meant to.

Also, the cops are too clever for my tastes!  I'm used to games where the enemies move in predictable patterns of a certain kind and the main dynamic is pursuit.  But here it seems like they shadow you and wait for you to commit yourself, trying to get in between you and what you want to do.  You can get them to chase you if you stop at the end of a hallway, but the controls can't always cash that check IMHO.

Anyway, complain complain complain.    Obviously some of you are able to excel at this game, so the real issue is clearly my lack of skills!  Lock 'n' Chase gets a lot of love, so I'm grousing more freely than I would if we were playing a game that gets ragged on.

I'm not very good at this game, but from what I can tell it's all about paterns.  My brother can always kick my ass at lock and chase just because he found a pattern that works most of the time and sticks to it like glue while I absolutely refuse (re: can't manage to) to do that hehe
Sometimes I think you might have to switch patterns at a certain point in the game too.
I've considered just watching a video of someone with a really high score and trying to copy their pattern

Edited by crade, Mon Sep 19, 2011 5:25 PM.

[BydoEmpire]

[atariron82]

Bonus whistle time! Cool inspirational video patbb..thanks

25,840

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[cparsley]

My toss 66,580 points.

[cparsley]

I am willing, based on others thoughts, of extending Lock 'n Chase's timeframe for an additional week? Thoughts?

[cparsley]

Scores are updated as of this post.

[patbb]

cparsley, on Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:52 AM, said:

I am willing, based on others thoughts, of extending Lock 'n Chase's timeframe for an additional week? Thoughts?

That's fine with me.
That will give me time to reach my 100k goal.

[cparsley]

Per hearing no negative remarks to the suggestion, this game will close NEXT sunday instead of tomorrow...

Play on

[gezkc]

cparsley, on Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:52 AM, said:

I am willing, based on others thoughts, of extending Lock 'n Chase's timeframe for an additional week? Thoughts?

That's fine with me.

[IntellivisionGuy97]

I see the deadline has been extended, so I still have more time, although I will still lose because I am very bad at this game.

[patbb]

gezkc, on Tue Sep 13, 2011 2:56 PM, said:

106,720

Made it past the 100K mark this time  

cparsley, on Tue Sep 13, 2011 4:02 PM, said:

I dare you now, start the game from that point... GOOD LUCK, you'll need it!

By the way, CONGRATULATIONS on that score!

Looks like I will not get 100k.
I'm curious, what happen when you start a game after you brooke the 100k?

I improve my score a little.
92,360

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Edited by patbb, Sat Oct 1, 2011 7:15 AM.

[cparsley]

patbb asked:

Looks like I will not get 100k.
I'm curious, what happen when you start a game after you brooke the 100k?

Answer: The game starts with the bonus whistle going off, automatically forcing you into the top speed (if you had tried to start at any lower speed, it auto kicks you to the top speed (white). In addition, the cops are more direct and agressive to the players, preventing any current pattern you may have devised from working It's a miracle with the 4-6k (depending on which LNC you play with) to get this in there as well, a true programming marvel.