COMPUTE! ISSUE 124 / DECEMBER 1990 / PAGE 105

GRAVE YARDAGE

Football fans with an appetite for the macabre will love Grave Yardage; those 
more squeamish and discerning will feel less enthusiastic. Like it or not, there 
hasn't been such a wacky idea for a sports simulation since Ninja Golf.

In the Monster Football League, the official ball is a cross between a chicken 
and Cyclops' eye. If it isn't caught on a pass or a kickoff, the ball runs 
around loose for five seconds and can be recovered by either team.

The field, which scrolls horizontally, is 100 yards of grass, weeds, mud, and a 
liberal sprinkling of land mines. Running over a mine, being Aced (beaten 
senseless), or having your quarterback mobbed increases your opponent's score.

Crossing the goal line for a Smashdown earns you 100 points but is less 
profitable than dealing the Ultimate Death Blow by Acing all four adversaries on 
the opposing team. Whether to run for an easy Smash-down or to stay and fight 
should depend on your overall health and need for additional points.

Fortunately, you can replace your four starters as often as necessary with any 
of six remaining teammates. Each player belongs to one often monster classes, 
such as elves, ghouls, or wizards. Each class possesses different levels of 
agility, intelligence, speed, stamina, strength, confidence, and recuperative 
ability. Some squads are evenly balanced; many are not. A few are made up 
entirely of a single species.

The disk contains 11 different teams, ten fields, and five playbooks. Playbooks 
include ten offensive and ten defensive plays from a total of 20 choices each. 
You can use the teams, fields, and playbooks as they are or modify them. The 
results can be saved to disk.

Use the joystick to maneuver a player. Shift control to another team member at 
any time by double-clicking the fire button. Throwing or catching passes and the 
program's simplistic attacking and blocking movements are all accomplished quite 
easily in a similar manner.

Kickoffs and punts are fired from a cannon. There are no extra points, field 
goals, or safeties. Although plays have strange names, Capture Daflag, for 
example, they all appear to be quite conventional.

Other features are available from user-friendly menus. Choose the length of 
quarters, a computer or human opponent, computer or human selection of various 
options, and whether to play or to create a new team, field, or playbook.

You make your play selections between downs, but loading each play takes about 
30 seconds. This adds approximately 20 minutes of waiting time to an 8-minute 
game and nearly two hours to a 40-minute one. Imagine an NFL game taking ten 
hours and you'll have some idea of how long that is.

The program's graphics make only moderate use of the 64's capabilities. The 
fields and moving figures are colorful and individualized, yet they and the text 
especially appear unclear and indistinct.

Sound effects are somewhat disappointing. We do hear the slashing of swords, the 
cannon's roar, and a variety of other bells and whistles. Missing, however, are 
the cheering of the crowd, the grunting of players, and the sound of bodies 
crunching.

The instruction manual is geared toward the MS-DOS version, but an insert lists 
the specifics for the 64. Though not error free, the documentation is concise 
and easy to follow.

The rules of the sport have been so simplified that most strategy-oriented 
football fans will find that the game lacks challenge. Likewise, because the 
hacking and slashing techniques are so basic, Dungeons & Dragons fans may lose 
interest quickly. Those who like their football down and dirty, however, will 
want to bury themselves in Grave Yardage for hours.

LEN POGGIALI


Playability 	* * *
Documentation 	* * * *
Originality 	* * *
Graphics/Sound 	* *

Commodore 64 or 128, joystick$24.95

ACTIVISION
Distributed by Mediagenic
3885 Bohannon Dr.
Menlo Park, CA 94025
(415) 329-0500
