Face-Off (Compute's Gazette)
If you've plaed Air Hockey, you already know how to play "Face-Off'. Based on the ice hockey, Air Hockey pits two players against each other, each trying to shoot a puck into his opponent's goal while defending their own goal. A center line splits, the playfield. Neither player is allowed to cross this line. The object of the game is simple: The first player to score five goals wins.
The article for this game can be found on page 50 of Compute's Gazette Issue 31 (January 1986)
Why TAS This Game?
The continuation of TASing games from my all-time favorite magazine, Compute's Gazette. This makes my 78th TAS from this series.
This game was a big favorite of mine. Playing against the CPU was quite a challenge. This game provided many hours of enjoyment and was a great memory.
Game Difficulty and Ending
This game has two different selections for difficulty:
- Speed selection: This game offers 3 different speed selections. My choice is obvious...I select the fastest of 3.
- Skill: The game offers 9 levels of AI skill to play against. I choose 9, which is a super strong AI algorithm.
The ending is clear, after 9 pucks have been scored...the game is over.
The magazine makes some comments that are not quite accurate. It is misleading when the article states that scoring 5 pucks wins the game. In reality, yes...but you still have to play the game until all 9 pucks have been sunk. For me, the code should have been adjusted to end the game. Another thing that I find funny is that it makes the claim of being near impossible to win on the fastest and hardest skill level. Oh well! TASing, once again, has totally destroyed a game!
Effort In TASing (Not BOTed)
I resisted TASing this game, because I thought that I couldn't beat it on the hardest selections. Well, just recently, I decided to test that theory. After two days (4 to 5 hours totalled), I finally got it.
With all my effort here, I eventually noticed what it took to get an optimized movie. After fully going through this game twice, I finally saw all the details necessary to get this done right. The version you are seeing is my 3rd time all the way through. The last time through, I cut 71 frames over my 2nd effort. While my second attempt cut 324 frames over my first attempt, totaling 395 frames cut from re-working the entire game.
Human Comparison
Couldn't find one. Disappointing...because I really wanted people to see the difference.
DrD2k9: Claiming for judging.
DrD2k9: Pretty easy judgement on this one. I agree with the choice of Maximum Score as a branch. Even with having to (at least) initiate the final 4 rounds, it would likely be faster to finish this game by allowing the CPU to score on 4 of the rounds, which would still qualify for any % as the player would still win 5-4. One curiosity would be determining which of the rounds would be fastest to lose.
Accepting with a goal of Maximum Score
fsvgm777: Processing.