We are still waiting on a suitable Amiga AGA emulator with robust recording features before tackling such games.
Trap
Trap, developed by Antony Crowther and published by Alligata software in 1986.
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Player's Review
"The Time - An age in which the ultimate deterrent may have become the ultimate destruction.
The Place - A distant corner of the galaxy where human life strains to exist in the void of space.
The Mission - Can violent aggression and mindless destruction ever be justified in the name of peace. That is the enigma, the TRAP in which you are to be placed as you energetically defend your planet, your people from a once peaceful ally.
Your Quest - To demonstrate the reactions and skills of a legendary space fighter or to show the genius of a master strategist will not be enough. TRAP has a secret that needs to be told, until it is revealed, you will never be able to rest in peace.
The Game
Test 1 - Manoeuvrability & Reflexes in flight through Space Mines.
Test 2 - Courage & Intelligence in flight down Zarkab Valley.
Test 3 Determination & Stealth on foot in search of ORBS.
Test 1 & Test 2 have to be completed and all aliens, boats and lasers destroyed before landing and proceeding on foot through Test 3. The better you are the faster and more furious the challenge. Every successful mission is rewarded by upgrading your ranking making the next in a higher rated spacecraft."
If there is a longplay that just seems like a whole waste of time, this would be one of them. The whole map is very short and loops constantly. There is a built in cheat menu (not shown - Activated with Shift + R A T) that allows to start on levels 0 to 12. The instructions state 'Special features - 14 levels" so this is what I was working towards. I probably should have stopped after showing final ship in use.
You start out in a basic slow shooting ship. On the bottom right is the objective. A = Aliens, B = Boats and L = Lasers (including turrets). After level one these start out as ! as in more than 9 which is annoying. Aliens are destroyed by shooting them down. Boats are destroyed by Bombs and lasers can also be shot but they can also be very annoyingly placed where you cant shoot them. In this case the Zappo function is needed (A Key) to clear the screen and doesnt count towards your goal. Occasionally, a cargo craft will appear and shooting this will drop a cargo pod. These can be collected or destroyed for points. You can hold up to four cargo and these can be dropped on people to gain an extra life! (It took me a while to figure out that the +/= key drops cargo and not return as listed in the instructions). Bombing the people is a bad idea as a police ship will appear and end you. Eyes will also be noticed later in the game and should be bombed. Ignoring them results in a police firing squad coming for you. Destroying them all gives a large score bonus!
One the objectives have been met, the screen turns red and when the map loops back to the runway you will enter the on foot section. Now its time to navigate the holes in the map and destroy or dodge any aliens in the way. The objective is the orb at the end of the stage. Shoot it for basic points or better yet collect it! You can only collect one orb per level up to a maximum of four. Each orb allows you to select the next level ship from the start screen. Each ship has additional characteristics such as faster movement, faster fire and greater fuel economy which is very important. Fuel is very important and should be kept topped up by bombing any fuel silos on the map. Failing to do so will warp you to level 10 where the game is very unforgiving especially for the basic ship. As you move up through the levels, the aliens get ever faster and deadlier with black and brown ships being indestructible.
I show fourteen full levels and as mentioned, it gets very silly aften level ten taking ten mins or more to complete as the objective requirements are obnoxious at this point. Also, for me, the on foot stages have completely broken down and corrupted by level ten onwards. At level 15, I let go of all remaining lives to finally get to the highscore screen. At this point I start a new game to get a few points so that I can return to the highscore screen. This time I enter the name as DEMO (must be top score - creative editing here) which shows a hidden story demo which is also a good opportunity to let the games title music play out in full.
Overall, what starts out as quite impressive with large fast moving sprites, soon becomes very repetitive thanks to the tiny map you fly over. The fact that you don't ever know the real number of enemy targets doesnt help and levels just get stupid after level 10. Ten levels and a congrats screen would have been more than enough. Getting through the stages and upgrading the ship is fun but after that, its a grinding score attack. The saving grace of the game is the hidden demo.
00:00:00 Title / Instructions
00:02:05 Level 0
00:03:40 Level 1
00:06:32 Level 2
00:09:40 Level 3
00:13:00 Level 4
00:16:37 Level 5
00:20:39 Level 6
00:24:23 Level 7
00:29:15 Level 8
00:33:55 Level 9
00:39:16 Level 10
00:46:48 Level 11
00:53:30 Level 12
00:59:30 Level 13
01:08:00 Level 14
01:17:18 Level 15
------------------------
01:21:00 Hidden Demo
The Place - A distant corner of the galaxy where human life strains to exist in the void of space.
The Mission - Can violent aggression and mindless destruction ever be justified in the name of peace. That is the enigma, the TRAP in which you are to be placed as you energetically defend your planet, your people from a once peaceful ally.
Your Quest - To demonstrate the reactions and skills of a legendary space fighter or to show the genius of a master strategist will not be enough. TRAP has a secret that needs to be told, until it is revealed, you will never be able to rest in peace.
The Game
Test 1 - Manoeuvrability & Reflexes in flight through Space Mines.
Test 2 - Courage & Intelligence in flight down Zarkab Valley.
Test 3 Determination & Stealth on foot in search of ORBS.
Test 1 & Test 2 have to be completed and all aliens, boats and lasers destroyed before landing and proceeding on foot through Test 3. The better you are the faster and more furious the challenge. Every successful mission is rewarded by upgrading your ranking making the next in a higher rated spacecraft."
If there is a longplay that just seems like a whole waste of time, this would be one of them. The whole map is very short and loops constantly. There is a built in cheat menu (not shown - Activated with Shift + R A T) that allows to start on levels 0 to 12. The instructions state 'Special features - 14 levels" so this is what I was working towards. I probably should have stopped after showing final ship in use.
You start out in a basic slow shooting ship. On the bottom right is the objective. A = Aliens, B = Boats and L = Lasers (including turrets). After level one these start out as ! as in more than 9 which is annoying. Aliens are destroyed by shooting them down. Boats are destroyed by Bombs and lasers can also be shot but they can also be very annoyingly placed where you cant shoot them. In this case the Zappo function is needed (A Key) to clear the screen and doesnt count towards your goal. Occasionally, a cargo craft will appear and shooting this will drop a cargo pod. These can be collected or destroyed for points. You can hold up to four cargo and these can be dropped on people to gain an extra life! (It took me a while to figure out that the +/= key drops cargo and not return as listed in the instructions). Bombing the people is a bad idea as a police ship will appear and end you. Eyes will also be noticed later in the game and should be bombed. Ignoring them results in a police firing squad coming for you. Destroying them all gives a large score bonus!
One the objectives have been met, the screen turns red and when the map loops back to the runway you will enter the on foot section. Now its time to navigate the holes in the map and destroy or dodge any aliens in the way. The objective is the orb at the end of the stage. Shoot it for basic points or better yet collect it! You can only collect one orb per level up to a maximum of four. Each orb allows you to select the next level ship from the start screen. Each ship has additional characteristics such as faster movement, faster fire and greater fuel economy which is very important. Fuel is very important and should be kept topped up by bombing any fuel silos on the map. Failing to do so will warp you to level 10 where the game is very unforgiving especially for the basic ship. As you move up through the levels, the aliens get ever faster and deadlier with black and brown ships being indestructible.
I show fourteen full levels and as mentioned, it gets very silly aften level ten taking ten mins or more to complete as the objective requirements are obnoxious at this point. Also, for me, the on foot stages have completely broken down and corrupted by level ten onwards. At level 15, I let go of all remaining lives to finally get to the highscore screen. At this point I start a new game to get a few points so that I can return to the highscore screen. This time I enter the name as DEMO (must be top score - creative editing here) which shows a hidden story demo which is also a good opportunity to let the games title music play out in full.
Overall, what starts out as quite impressive with large fast moving sprites, soon becomes very repetitive thanks to the tiny map you fly over. The fact that you don't ever know the real number of enemy targets doesnt help and levels just get stupid after level 10. Ten levels and a congrats screen would have been more than enough. Getting through the stages and upgrading the ship is fun but after that, its a grinding score attack. The saving grace of the game is the hidden demo.
00:00:00 Title / Instructions
00:02:05 Level 0
00:03:40 Level 1
00:06:32 Level 2
00:09:40 Level 3
00:13:00 Level 4
00:16:37 Level 5
00:20:39 Level 6
00:24:23 Level 7
00:29:15 Level 8
00:33:55 Level 9
00:39:16 Level 10
00:46:48 Level 11
00:53:30 Level 12
00:59:30 Level 13
01:08:00 Level 14
01:17:18 Level 15
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01:21:00 Hidden Demo
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