Attention span: 5/10 Gets dull fast (slow in this case).

Controls: 3/10 Poorly configured; not responsive.

Implementation: 7/10 Good 3D+title screen, missing variety.

Overall: 5/10 Slow, repetitive, hard to navigate.

Summary:

Angelo 3D v2.3 is a doom like game for the TI-89. Being written in BASIC, it isn't fast at all, but at least it is playable. There were a few bugs and the readme was unclear in spots. Gameplay is good (if you don't mind the wait), but gets kinda repetitive after awhile. Angelo is an experienced BASIC programmer and originally wrote this program for a Casio. You can archive the program and all the pictures. It takes advantage of many of the TI-89's features like dialog boxes and custom menus; even shows the ammo left in the menu.

Overview:

It's doom-like, so you know the game point is to kill monsters. You have to know that you gain 50 HP (life points) at the end of every world and there are 5 world in the game. More over, the score is calculated with your HP, your rapidity, and the world you defeated. Finally, there are 4 monsters in the game who want to kill you. There are only 5 worlds, but they are difficult (common monsters have more HP then you, even at the beginning) and this game will provide you with many hours of gameplay. There is only one weapon, a laser; you can fire either one or two shots, but there is a max ammo load of 9 shots. There is a map and radar on the left of the screen; which are both very difficult to understand. Maybe you don't move where you are supposed to. I don't know. Also there is your health and floor level (you can go up and down).

Features:

The graphics are commendable. The walls (all flat) are not textured, but this makes the view clear. The monsters have much more detail, especially close up. There are energy sources, which you use to reload your laser and advance levels, that just look like garbled blobs. The intro screen is done in BASIC grayscale, and I can almost tell what it is of; looks really cool, though.

Speed is a problem. Every time you move, the entire screen is redrawn, and this takes about 5 seconds depending on what you're looking at. The game is playable, though, because the levels are not the same size as in doom. Loading takes awhile, besides the initial compile.

You can save your game.

Issues:

This game could use moving enemies, more variety, and a way to see enemies that are more than 2 spaces away. The map needs work so that it is constant (walls shouldn't appear, move, and disappear like they do in this version.) Having more than one weapon would be nice. It is way too hard. The enemies take forever to defeat, and at the same time they are firing at you. Also, there are no Med.-kits or anything. Because the screen loads so slowly there should be an option to move more than one space at a time. There is no point in having radar and a map when they both show basically the same thing.

I think that the best part about Doom-like games is the aiming. There is no aiming in this game. You hit every time. How boring!

Controls:

Well, I do have a problem with the controls. You would think it would be standard Shoot-em-up, but no. Left/Right strafe (sidestep). You need to use 2nd-left/right to turn. With the 5-second delay, they really is no response to report on.

Bugs and Typos: