High Score Challenge - S20 - R03 - Shark

[KarateEd]

Stardot high score challenge
Season Twenty: Round 03
Shark chosen by Klintworth

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RULES
Round Two starts at 9pm on Monday the 3rd of April and ends at 9pm on Monday the 17th of April
The aim is to score as many points as possible
Post scores and screenshots/photographs in this thread
The rules are here
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DISK IMAGE
http://www.bbcmicro.co.uk/game.php?id=680
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INSTRUCTIONS

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SCORING
Points will be awarded using the following formula.
points = (YS / BS * 50) + ((NOP - YP + 1) * (50 / NOP))
YS = Your Score
BS = Best Score
NOP = Number of Players
YP = Your Position
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HIGH SCORE TABLE

table.png (10.76 KiB) Viewed 1900 times

Link to Overall High Score Table...http://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=26514

Thanks to Galax for the Mode 7 fonts.

How would you like a deep dive into espionage?......Ed ...........
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[Cybershark]

Yay! Great, very playable game. Put a lot of time into it, back in the day
However, I don't consider it an ideal candidate here, as the gameplay is too random - the enemies and bonuses generated can mean you cruise through a level on invulnerability (while racking up those extra lives), or it can mean you get slammed by truck after truck before you can even scroll the screen.

Anyways, here's a starter from me - 112300 - got about 5/6ths of the way through the 3rd stage there.

[Venger]

Yay! Great, very playable game. Put a lot of time into it, back in the day
However, I don't consider it an ideal candidate here, as the gameplay is too random - the enemies and bonuses generated can mean you cruise through a level on invulnerability (while racking up those extra lives), or it can mean you get slammed by truck after truck before you can even scroll the screen.

Anyways, here's a starter from me - 112300 - got about 5/6ths of the way through the 3rd stage there.


shark.jpg

That's one hell of a score. I had about 10 goes or so but only just made it past the 1st level.

[klintworth]

Not got too far yet!!

[KarateEd]

Well, did better so far than I thought I would......

[Rod C]

Well, did better so far than I thought I would......

Me too, but not that good... yet!

[FourthStone]

Starter score: 6550

[KarateEd]

Got further into the 2nd level......

[Venger]

I swear that 2 of you are playing a different game to us . I'm roughly half-way through the 2nd level and can only get into the 30K's. Am I missing something? You're massively vulnerable whilst jumping (it reminds me a bit of Nutcraka in that sense) and you have to jump to be able to avoid enemy bullets. I don't get it

[KarateEd]

I swear that 2 of you are playing a different game to us . I'm roughly half-way through the 2nd level and can only get into the 30K's. Am I missing something? You're massively vulnerable whilst jumping (it reminds me a bit of Nutcraka in that sense) and you have to jump to be able to avoid enemy bullets. I don't get it

Yes, I'm wondering if there is a bug in the game as I've gone down to zero several times and it's given me 9 more lives a few times. That's how the score seems to escalate. I've had no real trouble avoiding most of the baddies coming at me and when I kill them they give me those key looking things and sometimes I get a lot of those so maybe it's not a bug, maybe it is just what it is, luck of the draw. Maybe some of them allow sets of lives. I don't know but it would be helpful if the screen showed what you were picking up and the affect it had for you in the game. There are different beeps and boops when you pick things up but you have no idea when the attribute of said item is played nor what the attribute actually is.

[MatthewThompson]

My best score so far, managed to reach the early stages of level 2.

Pretty decent game - a few flaws but well worth a play.

[MatthewThompson]

New high score, got to near the end of level 2 this time.

[paulb]

I swear that 2 of you are playing a different game to us . I'm roughly half-way through the 2nd level and can only get into the 30K's. Am I missing something? You're massively vulnerable whilst jumping (it reminds me a bit of Nutcraka in that sense) and you have to jump to be able to avoid enemy bullets. I don't get it

You can duck under enemy bullets, too. Obviously, ducking won't help you avoid grenades and the enemies themselves. For fun, I tried the game online and found it pretty hard. Back in the day, I played the Electron version and felt that the flick-screen progression made it easier, although the enemies don't exactly flood into the scene on the Beeb version, at least in the browser-based emulator.

[MatthewThompson]

Made it onto Level 3 ,nice little game reminds a bit of a cross between Strykers Run and Green Beret.

[maniacminer]

Fun game, yup reminds me of Stryker's Run too - I got tired of the music pretty fast I played for a couple of hours and my score gradually crept up. Taking the enemy backpacks is definitely worthwhile, extra lives, invincibility and best of all, mega jump I was too tired to keep playing, I got around halfway through Level 3. My score thus far, 110300 - it feels like the Korean War - the PVA just chucking resources in hard and fast

[KarateEd]

So, after playing a few times I think the game is really, really random and it would be too much to assume that there is a great way to play it. I'm not using almost any real strategy and the score will go up depending on how many and what the packs are usually for. It would be really helpful if this game actually told you what the packs were when you collected them at least or maybe had a way to let you know what you had collected. Then perhaps a strategy could develop.

Again, I got 1/2 way through level 2 with a score of over 80k.....

[Cybershark]

I swear that 2 of you are playing a different game to us . I'm roughly half-way through the 2nd level and can only get into the 30K's. Am I missing something? You're massively vulnerable whilst jumping (it reminds me a bit of Nutcraka in that sense) and you have to jump to be able to avoid enemy bullets. I don't get it

As paulb said, ducking is the way to go. In fact, you only need to jump to navigate a couple of bits of the landscape. You're right though - it does leave you very vulnerable. I played a round yesterday where I got wiped out early on the first level because enemies ran onscreen while I was in mid air, and I was powerless to then avoid them. In that respect the first level is actually the hardest

As far as score goes, the game effectively forces the player to "farm" points, as it becomes impossible to move forward in the levels due to the increasing numbers of enemy combatants presented.

I don't know but it would be helpful if the screen showed what you were picking up and the affect it had for you in the game. There are different beeps and boops when you pick things up but you have no idea when the attribute of said item is played nor what the attribute actually is.

It would be helpful. It also proves quite detrimental when you jump without realising you've picked up the mega-jump bonus, and you land at completely the wrong place/time. Contrary to what Maniacminer says, that one is absolutely worthless.

The one real disappointment with this game is the end-of-level alien ships, which present no challenge whatsoever - not on levels 1 and 2, at least. Will let everyone know about level 3's when I'm finally able to finally reach it

[Venger]

As far as score goes, the game effectively forces the player to "farm" points, as it becomes impossible to move forward in the levels due to the increasing numbers of enemy combatants presented.

It must be that I'm racing too quickly through the level then, compared to others. I do tend to be a bit gung ho when playing games, so maybe I need to slow down. This is where the line's a bit blurry with regards to points farming though

[Rod C]

I've been pressing forward as fast as possible without trying to shoot everything as long as I get past them. In this game I got a good distance into level 2 which was pretty busy with lots of bonus packs, although they were often impossible to reach because of oncoming helicopters and trucks.

In an earlier game I had a heap of lives but didn't really know what was going on. I think there must be a rare bonus that awards a large number of extra lives. Haven't seen it since.

[KarateEd]

Well, level 3 now.... seems a bit of a beast but beat my best score. Yes, I agree with Rod about one of those 'packs' must be multiple live packs. Also, in this game it is virtually impossible to avoid point farming. You die often and that means going over old ground with new enemies.

So, in this game of course in the spirit of the game you try to move forward but sometimes it's not always possible so we have to assume all are doing this, some more aggressively (Venger) than others. Ducking is definitely the way to go.

As far as the end dude, I have trouble with the level one guy but level 2 was pretty easy for me.

[Venger]

Well, level 3 now.... seems a bit of a beast but beat my best score. Yes, I agree with Rod about one of those 'packs' must be multiple live packs. Also, in this game it is virtually impossible to avoid point farming. You die often and that means going over old ground with new enemies.

So, in this game of course in the spirit of the game you try to move forward but sometimes it's not always possible so we have to assume all are doing this, some more aggressively (Venger) than others. Ducking is definitely the way to go.

As far as the end dude, I have trouble with the level one guy but level 2 was pretty easy for me.

Shark-3.png

I'll try a little bit more of a cautious approach then. I've got a couple of hours free tonight, so I'll probably have a go or two later.

[Venger]

Okay, I get where you're all coming from now. I had one go and got to the end of level 2 with just over 80K. Thanks guys.

[KarateEd]

Okay, I get where you're all coming from now. I had one go and got to the end of level 2 with just over 80K. Thanks guys.

Yes, it seems to be arbitrary as to when you will have a high score or a low score when getting to that point. I've had that similar score at the end of level 2 and I've had 33k at the end of level 2 a couple of times now. Seems like a game of chance more than skill although some skill is required but it has a big dose of luck involved.

[Venger]

Now this is a bit more like it. I got probably half way through level 3 or so. I was pinned down by heavy enemy fire for quite a while though as they're pretty relentless at that point

[KarateEd]

I got probably half way through level 3 or so. I was pinned down by heavy enemy fire for quite a while though as they're pretty relentless at that point.

Yes, that's where I got my 116k score as well. So now you see that 'harvesting' is virtually impossible to avoid, especially if you get to level 3. They come hard and fast and are really tough to avoid killing because if you don't kill them, they kill you.

[MatthewThompson]

Further improvement, got about half way through level 3 - but the game didn't want to give out many power ups.

[MatthewThompson]

Even better score, but got nowhere really on Level 3 .

[Cybershark]

Guess everyone now sees what I was saying about this one being a bit random with the scoring. I kept getting to my previous furthest point with scores that were nowhere near matching.

Two further observations:
You can view your score and number of lives at any point by pausing the game.
I really feel that those parachutes don't offer enough of a reward to bother going for later on.

Anyways, I hit level 4 and beat my previous score. And yes, the level 3 boss was another pushover.
Score: 141850

[Rod C]

Made some progress and also support the comments about the scoring system being pretty confusing.

[maniacminer]

Almost got to the end of level 3, but the PVA-esque throw-everything-including-the-kitchen-sink meant I got bogged down A slight improvement in score, the only tactic I have found is to rush in like Chuck Norris when getting the invulnerability power-up... 154,400