Mortal Pongbat 1.4.1
by David Hirschfield, $20 shareware fee
email: cddch@paleo.giss.nasa.gov
Adam: Pong. The oldest video game in existence has taken a turn for the better- with Mortal Pongbat that is!!! Mortal Pongbat is yet another variation of the classic pong game, but it is totally spiced up! With tons of cool features, Mortal Pongbat always keeps you sitting on the edge of your seat.
Mike: The premise of Pongbat is the same as Pong has always been — get the ball past your opponent’s paddle to score a point. However, this game is full of bells and whistles that make it much more interesting, and thus more enjoyable.
Adam: To play Mortal Pongbat, you can either select to have keys move your paddle, or you can select the mouse. You can also select if you want to fire the laser with a key or with the mouse button.
Mike: Your paddle (and your opponent’s paddle, for that matter) has the ability to fire a laser beam, destroying pieces of the opposing paddle when it hits. Being hit four or five times by a laser can make the game very challenging — ever try to play ping-pong with a toothpick-thin paddle?
Adam: Personally, I like the mouse configuration the best. You can either play against the computer, or against another person, using either the keys or the mouse- whichever one you’re not using. Watch out when you are playing the computer though! I have played him over 20 times, and only won once!!! (No, I don’t suck, the computer is just too good)
Mike: There are also various blocks on the playing field which act as power-ups when hit. They can restore your paddle to full size, grant you invincibility for a period of time, speed up or slow down the ball, or turn the ball into a bomb!
Adam: When the game starts, the first thing you always do is fire the laser, which can really tear you up if you aren’t careful. Then, you have to make sure that you return the last ball active in the arena. But sometimes, you are trying to line your laser up, bombs are going off like crazy, there are 10 balls active, and well, you get the idea.
If you do let a bomb by you, it will blow up, and if you are anywhere near it, it will take half of you, or even worse, take you out totally, causing “Pongality” Then, you have to wait for your opponent to score.
Mike: The graphics for the game are well done. They don’t need to be complicated; after all, the game is only a ball and a couple of rectangles. Yet they have a refined, somewhat three-dimensional look to them and are vibrant in their color schemes.
Adam: The sound effects are awesome, and the game really wouldn’t be the same without them. There are sound effects for everything. When bombs blow up, when the laser is fired, when you score, and even a guy laughing when the dreaded “Pongality” happens.
Mike: Mortal Pongbat will play on nearly any reasonably modern system (more or less any Mac made in the last four or five years). It requires a 68020 processor or better, System 7.1 or better, 256 colors, and 700K to one megabyte of free RAM. There are both 680×0 or PowerPC flavors of the game available. However, note that there are two DIFFERENT versions — Pongbat is NOT a fat binary — so be sure to download the right one for your particular system. The 68K version is about 750 K decompressed.
Adam: As Mike said, Mortal Pongbat comes in two different versions, a 68k and a PPC version, which is great for Power Mac owners like myself. The Power Mac version is about 820k decompressed.
The Summary
Mike: David Hirschfield has created a cool game with a lot of neat features. There are enough customizable options (such as user-definable keyboard controls) to keep me more than happy, and the game can be played by one or two players. (If you’re playing solo, watch out, because the computer’s artificial intelligence is pretty good!) Personally, I’m keeping the game on a Zip disk I reserve for programs such as this — quality shareware programs that I’m a little hesitant to pay for. The only thing holding me back is the twenty dollar fee — and that’s no fault of Mr. Hirschfield’s; I’m just cheap by nature. 🙂
Adam: Mortal Pongbat contains all the characteristics of a great shareware game- great sound effects, action, and of course, a great concept. The only thing that I would like more out of this game is for it to be 3-D, and maybe be playable over an AppleTalk network. But these are just minor improvements, improvements that really aren’t necessary, they would just make Mortal Pongbat a little bit better.
Mike: My advice to you, though, is to definitely give Mortal Pongbat a try. If you’re looking for something a little inventive, a little traditional, and fun to play, you won’t be disappointed.
Adam: All I can say is to go download it! You definitely won’t regret it!
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