ATARI
GAMES and RECREATIONS
by
H. Kohl, T. Khan et al.
Published
by Reston Publishing Co.
Price
£12.50
Basically, this book is a revamped version of the 'Atari Basic Manual'
but presented in a simplified form with cartoons and footnotes. It is
aimed at the absolute beginner who may be bored by examples in 'Atari
Basic' and who wants to put some concepts to use in games.
The
idea is a good one in that a concept, for example random numbers, is
introduced and a program built up from two or three lines into a
full-blown program. In Chapter 2, PLOT and DRAWTO are used with loops
and RND numbers to produce a bogglingly boring program in which one half
of the screen is filled methodically with squares while the other half
PLOTs and DRAWTOs at random. The idea is to guess which screen will fill
first. Not particularly impressive!
In the same way, graphics, strings, sound and colour are dealt with. A
few subroutines are given on timing and score-keeping together with some
sound routines for rocket lift-off, explosions, sirens etc.
This is a fair book for youngsters starting out because a program; of
sorts, can be entered and run quite quickly but whilst being a fair
attempt to introduce the basics in a palatable way, I feel that it does
not give enough value for its price.
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