Read Online Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet by Matthew Kadish - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Matthew Kadish
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and playing this game. He
had perfected the art of flying the Nova Commander Starfighter better
than anyone he knew, getting as far as the 18 th level before
succumbing to the hordes of enemy starships. It was rumored that some guy out
in Cincinnati was actually able to get to level 19, but as far as Jack knew, it
was largely believed to be impossible to get much further.
So the fact that he was able to accomplish a score that
maybe one other person in the entire world could beat gave him a certain sense
of pride – and he wasn’t willing to give that up just yet, especially not on a
day like today.
“Gimme a quarter,” he said to Chunk, holding out his hand.
“Aw, c’mon Jack,” whined Chunk. “Play some other time. I
don’t feel like hanging around Big Jim’s all day while you try and recapture
your glory.”
Jack shifted his outstretched palm to Matt.
“I’m with Chunk, bro,” said Matt. “There’s way cooler stuff
we could be doing than playing a game that pre-dates Pong.”
“I am not leaving until one of you gives me a quarter,” said
Jack sternly.
Matt and Chunk exchanged a look that acknowledged their
friend’s stubbornness. Chunk sighed and dug a quarter out of his pocket,
slapping in into Jack’s hand.
“That’s all I got,” said Chunk.
“It’s all I’ll need,” said Jack confidently, as he sidled up
to the game and popped in the quarter.
Nova Commander IV was a relatively simple game. At
its core, it was all about flying a starship through enemy territory and facing
more and more difficult encounters with enemy spaceships. While its
predecessors had a top down view of a tiny triangle that was the spaceship as
wave after wave of other geometrically shaped objects fell at it from the top
of the screen, Nova Commander IV took the giant leap forward in
technology by putting the player in the cockpit of the ship and letting him fly
through a 3-D wireframe universe that actually did a passable job of simulating
real spaceflight.
Each stage of the game required the player to reach a “warp
hole” which allowed him to travel further and further into enemy territory,
until eventually reaching the mothership of the enemy fleet, which he would
then have to destroy to advance to the next level.
When it came to actually playing the game though, only two
skills were required – being able to manage the energy needs of the ship
between the lasers and its shields, and being fast enough to take on multiple
opponents without getting blown up. If the game were just about one or the
other, it would have been much simpler to beat. But in Jack’s opinion, the
careful balance between controlling his ship and fighting multiple enemies is
what elevated the game into an art form.
“Listen, dude,” said Matt as Jack started playing. “If
you’re gonna be a while, I’m gonna run down to the Circle-Mart and get a hot
dog or something. I don’t think I could survive another slice of Fred’s pizza.”
“True that,” said Chunk. “I’ll come with. You want
anything, Jack?”
“Just the two of you to be ready to kiss my butt after I
prove to the world how awesome I am,” he responded.
“Yeah, ‘cause that’s the first thing everyone associates
with being good at prehistoric video games,” quipped Matt.
“Your jealousy warms my cold, black soul,” intoned Jack.
After his friends departed, Jack breezed through the first
couple of levels of the game. The world around him seemed to disappear, and he
might as well have been in the actual cockpit of a starfighter as he took on
wave after wave of increasingly difficult foes. As so often happens when Jack
played video games, time seemed to fly by, and before he knew it, he was back
to the dreaded level 18.
Things were not looking good. His ship was damaged, his
shields were weakening, and the enemy mothership had dispatched yet another
wing of deadly starfighters. Jack made a run for a far off power-up
had perfected the art of flying the Nova Commander Starfighter better
than anyone he knew, getting as far as the 18 th level before
succumbing to the hordes of enemy starships. It was rumored that some guy out
in Cincinnati was actually able to get to level 19, but as far as Jack knew, it
was largely believed to be impossible to get much further.
So the fact that he was able to accomplish a score that
maybe one other person in the entire world could beat gave him a certain sense
of pride – and he wasn’t willing to give that up just yet, especially not on a
day like today.
“Gimme a quarter,” he said to Chunk, holding out his hand.
“Aw, c’mon Jack,” whined Chunk. “Play some other time. I
don’t feel like hanging around Big Jim’s all day while you try and recapture
your glory.”
Jack shifted his outstretched palm to Matt.
“I’m with Chunk, bro,” said Matt. “There’s way cooler stuff
we could be doing than playing a game that pre-dates Pong.”
“I am not leaving until one of you gives me a quarter,” said
Jack sternly.
Matt and Chunk exchanged a look that acknowledged their
friend’s stubbornness. Chunk sighed and dug a quarter out of his pocket,
slapping in into Jack’s hand.
“That’s all I got,” said Chunk.
“It’s all I’ll need,” said Jack confidently, as he sidled up
to the game and popped in the quarter.
Nova Commander IV was a relatively simple game. At
its core, it was all about flying a starship through enemy territory and facing
more and more difficult encounters with enemy spaceships. While its
predecessors had a top down view of a tiny triangle that was the spaceship as
wave after wave of other geometrically shaped objects fell at it from the top
of the screen, Nova Commander IV took the giant leap forward in
technology by putting the player in the cockpit of the ship and letting him fly
through a 3-D wireframe universe that actually did a passable job of simulating
real spaceflight.
Each stage of the game required the player to reach a “warp
hole” which allowed him to travel further and further into enemy territory,
until eventually reaching the mothership of the enemy fleet, which he would
then have to destroy to advance to the next level.
When it came to actually playing the game though, only two
skills were required – being able to manage the energy needs of the ship
between the lasers and its shields, and being fast enough to take on multiple
opponents without getting blown up. If the game were just about one or the
other, it would have been much simpler to beat. But in Jack’s opinion, the
careful balance between controlling his ship and fighting multiple enemies is
what elevated the game into an art form.
“Listen, dude,” said Matt as Jack started playing. “If
you’re gonna be a while, I’m gonna run down to the Circle-Mart and get a hot
dog or something. I don’t think I could survive another slice of Fred’s pizza.”
“True that,” said Chunk. “I’ll come with. You want
anything, Jack?”
“Just the two of you to be ready to kiss my butt after I
prove to the world how awesome I am,” he responded.
“Yeah, ‘cause that’s the first thing everyone associates
with being good at prehistoric video games,” quipped Matt.
“Your jealousy warms my cold, black soul,” intoned Jack.
After his friends departed, Jack breezed through the first
couple of levels of the game. The world around him seemed to disappear, and he
might as well have been in the actual cockpit of a starfighter as he took on
wave after wave of increasingly difficult foes. As so often happens when Jack
played video games, time seemed to fly by, and before he knew it, he was back
to the dreaded level 18.
Things were not looking good. His ship was damaged, his
shields were weakening, and the enemy mothership had dispatched yet another
wing of deadly starfighters. Jack made a run for a far off power-up
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