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System:
Arcade
Genre:
Shoot 'Em Up
Publisher:
Fabtec
Developer:
TAD Corp
Players:
1-2
Release date/year:
1988
Other systems:
-
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- Cabal
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1988 TAD Corp - Fabtec - Arcade
- Cabal is an interesting game that puts you in control of a one-man army against a seemingly endless wave of enemies. Hiding behind walls, you have to use the control to move from one side of the stage to the next while firing on whatever happens to be coming your way. What this game lacks though is the function of a workable control feature, which makes the game exceptionally difficult to play. If you like mindless action and simply blowing everything way, then you’ll find this game to be something worth playing while browsing the classic arcade game section.
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-The Game Play-
What you have here is something a little different than the normal run and gun action that you might find in Ikari Warriors or Time Soldiers. More to the point, you’re stuck on the bottom of the screen and your ability to fire on enemies is dependant on whether you move out from behind the wall that is hiding you or not. Enemies move from left to right at the middle of the playing field, and you have to come out from behind the wall and blow them away before they have the chance to escape. What hinders this is the fact that the control doesn’t always let you go the way that you want and targeting is hard to deal with.
The enemies and the stages themselves are pretty straightforward, with the enemy count located at the bottom of the screen. For every one enemy that you whack, the bar will change color and you can tell how many enemies you have left depending on how far the bar is filled. Tanks, soldiers and other various attackers will be your targets, and you’ll be able to fire on them with a machine gun, or any weapon you happen to pick up during your quest for blood. Once you’ve defeated enough enemies, you’ll be able to move up along the road to the next area where more difficult enemies await you.
The control that you find here on the other hand is probably the one thing that nails the coffin lid closed. From your hiding spot, you have to move your character out from cover and then use a small targeting reticule to aim at your enemies and fire on them. However, when you’re trying to do this, you also have to dodge incoming bullets, but the control seems to keep you from getting any accurate firing on your enemies! This will become a problem for gamers who are used to having precision control, because this game simply does not have that.
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-The Visuals-
Another one of the biggest disappointments is the fact that the visuals here just aren’t up to par with any of the action adventure games that you might play. The enemies are lacking any sort of detail and seem to be missing key elements like realistic movement. Even your own character is lacking any real detail to him and you may find yourself blinking at the screen because everything just seems to moving very slowly or out of proportion. Explosions and other effects are also kept to a minimum with no shadowing effects or anything else, so be prepared to having little to watch or look at.
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-The Audio-
The audio that you find here is also lacking, considering that there is only one main theme that plays throughout the game. Though it tries to instill the feeling of action in the game, you may find that it is just too subtle and too quiet to really get anywhere in your head. The sound effects also seem to run the same way, with small yells and screams marking your kills and the tinny explosions and gunfire blaring through the speakers. Overall, the audio here is lacking, just as the visuals and the control seem to be!
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-The Verdict-
Cabal is an interesting game based on the view that you have of the playing field. However, there are some severe problems with the way that the game is presented and that the control just seems to be completely off-balance. If you can get past that, then the aspect of using walls for cover is actually an interesting way to play the game, but the novelty of that wears off fairly quick. In the arcade, if you happen to see this game, then it’s worth a look if you want a different way to play an action game, but it isn’t worth more than a quarter or so to play.
5/10
//KasketDarfyre
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