Chisholm Trail: love it or hate it?

[InfernalKeith]

I've been putting in some time on my real iron lately on the original lineup of TI games. Even the most pointless games seem to have their defenders (I swear I saw someone sticking up for ZeroZap on these forums before). So I'm wondering where we all stand on Chisholm Trail?

 

It didn't intuitively make sense to me when I played it as a kid, so I skipped over it and never really gave it a chance. Taking the the time to read the manual and realize what these weird alien shapes were actually supposed to BE, why they launched the way they did, and how to clear a level, really helped me. I'm a few games in and I'm enjoying myself -- it doesn't get old the second you figure out the gameplay, like Tombstone City, but I don't think it's got what it takes to be a Parsec/Munchman classic.

 

What say you?

[Opry99er]

Better than Football.... Thats about all I can say about it.

[majestyx]

It seemed to me to be a knock-off of Sierra On-Line's Crossfire. Definitely wasn't one of my favorites. If I had to take Tombstone City or this one, I'd prefer TC.

 

[Opry99er]

There is a great Crossfire for the TI-99/4A as well.

[Jess Ragan]

Problem with Texas Instruments is that they tried to come up with original twitch arcade games for their computer without really understanding what makes twitch arcade games work. Chisholm Trail is a pretty good example of this... the objectives aren't clear and the control isn't crisp, so instead of being entertained, you're mostly just confused and annoyed. The Alien is another game that could have been great, if they'd only put some more thought into the design and made the control more responsive.

[InfernalKeith]

I agree with this, Jess, but I think I'm still developing a like for this dumb game. Did you mean The Attack when you said The Alien? THAT one's a piece of crap.

[mizapf]

Waiting for the competition to pick Chisholm Trail... :-)

[Jess Ragan]

I agree with this, Jess, but I think I'm still developing a like for this dumb game. Did you mean The Attack when you said The Alien? THAT one's a piece of crap.

 

Yeah, I think so. My apologies... I think it was originally planned as an Alien game though, right?

 

But yeah, The Attack was a cool idea in search of a good game. Blasting spores to keep them from merging into horrible monsters could have worked really well; it just doesn't work HERE.

[Opry99er]

I blame GPL.

[InfernalKeith]

I love the idea of a programming contest to make sequels to some of the moldy oldies in our catalog. Take the "atmosphere" and presentation of The Attack but design a real game around it. I dunno if anyone would want to devote that much time to breathing new life into a dud, but imagine the possibilities:

 

THE ATTACK II: THIS TIME IT ACTUALLY FEELS LIKE AN ATTACK

[digdugnate]

 

Yeah, I think so. My apologies... I think it was originally planned as an Alien game though, right?

 

But yeah, The Attack was a cool idea in search of a good game. Blasting spores to keep them from merging into horrible monsters could have worked really well; it just doesn't work HERE.

 

The game did have a cool concept, i thought- one of the things that really aggravated me about it is for it to be 'fun' for me the game needed to move a little faster, but if you set it faster your 'ship' never gets any faster, just the aliens

[digdugnate]

I've been putting in some time on my real iron lately on the original lineup of TI games. Even the most pointless games seem to have their defenders (I swear I saw someone sticking up for ZeroZap on these forums before). So I'm wondering where we all stand on Chisholm Trail?

 

It didn't intuitively make sense to me when I played it as a kid, so I skipped over it and never really gave it a chance. Taking the the time to read the manual and realize what these weird alien shapes were actually supposed to BE, why they launched the way they did, and how to clear a level, really helped me. I'm a few games in and I'm enjoying myself -- it doesn't get old the second you figure out the gameplay, like Tombstone City, but I don't think it's got what it takes to be a Parsec/Munchman classic.

 

What say you?

I liked Chisholm Trail, but it's not intuitive at all i would agree. Personally, I found it more engaging than Tombstone City (once I figured out how the heck to play it).

[+Ksarul]

Put The Attack into a tunnel maze and it could get ugly really quick. . .you'd need one of those scanner windows at the top (like Defender) to try and keep ahead of the spawning hordes.