RENEGADE

 RENEGADE is a street-level martial-arts game from Taito Corporation. A port of
the arcade and Nintendo hit, RENEGADE offers good graphics, decent gameplay,
joystick control, and copy protection. The Atari ST version is the basis of this
review; Commodore 64/128 and IBM-PC version notes follow.

 RENEGADE has the misfortune of being a clone of one of the dumbest (and surely
one of the most imitated) games in arcade history, DOUBLE DRAGON -- a
mysteriously popular non-epic that consists mostly of running around and jumping
up and down like an idiot. In RENEGADE, you can move but you can't run; except
for two leaping kicks, you can't jump, either. Regardless of these shortcomings,
you'll still have to engage in brawls with punks in the subway, the Angels of
Death biker gang on the pier, Big Bertha's marauding street bimbos, and a pack
of skinheads led by the gun-toting Mr. Big. Should you get past the game's five
levels, you'll meet Lucy for a quick love encounter before starting over.

 The ST screen display consists of the particular city area (subway, pier,
streets, warehouse hideout). It scrolls left and right as you move, but only so
far, and the current gang of onscreen thugs has to be dispatched before going to
the next level. You must lambast all assailants with punches and kicks. Knock
them down and they'll disappear; two knockdowns usually does the job, although
Big Bertha's babes need extra motivation, no doubt due to their daytime aerobics
classes. The gang leaders can take more punches than a speed bag, and won't
enter the fray until you've destroyed all but two or three of their
henchpersons.

 You start with three lives and eight energy blocks. Each time you're decked, a
block of energy vanishes; when all the blocks are gone, so is a life. The gang
leaders also have eight energy blocks, which means they must be knocked down
eight times. Killing all assailants, or just the leader, sends you to the next
level.

 RENEGADE is controlled with the joystick. The stick alone allows movement in
eight directions; with the button pressed, the stick invokes three kicks and six
punches, four of which ("crouch and punch") are used to finish off a fallen
assailant. "F1" toggles the music; "F2" pauses. The RENEGADE package comes with
two copy-protected disks and an instruction manual.

 RENEGADE does deliver some arcade action, although it's difficult to imagine
anyone over the age of 12 being really interested. The graphics are okay but
unspectacular. Basically pointless, RENEGADE suffers from a marked lack of
fighting maneuvers. Even the ludicrous DOUBLE DRAGON had greater variety; the
moves were useless (what with all the running and jumping), but at least they
were available. RENEGADE's strategy -- if strategy is the right word -- is
simple. Since there isn't much to playing RENEGADE, buying it cannot be
considered a sane consumer activity. And besides, GAUNTLET II is the Arcade Game
of the Century.

 COMMODORE 64/128 VERSION NOTES

 I know it seems impossible, but the Commodore 64 version of Taito's RENEGADE is
even more bogus than the ST version. The graphics are only fair, even by
Commodore standards, though they aren't that much worse than those of the ST.
The strategy, such as it is, is the same; the joystick works the same; my
opinion is the same: Buy a different game.

 IBM-PC VERSION NOTES

 The IBM version of RENEGADE runs on any IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, Compaq, Tandy
1000, or 100% compatible computer. Taito supplies the game in both formats: Two
5-1/4" and one 3-1/2" diskettes are included. The program supports CGA, TGA,
EGA, VGA, and Hercules 720x350 monochrome graphics modes; unfortunately, it only
displays in one resolution (320x200). The AdLib sound board and Tandy 3 Voice
Sound are also supported. RENEGADE requires 512K of RAM and DOS 2.1 or higher.
It uses a key-disk protection system.

 Two eight-page manuals are included in the game package. The first describes
how to load the game, set video and sound drivers, install the game on your hard
drive, and run the game from each device. (To install RENEGADE on your hard
drive, Taito supplies an Install utility.) The second manual describes
operational details. When beginning the game, you're presented with a series of
menus regarding graphics mode and sound devices. However, there are command-line
parameters that allow you to bypass these menus, if you wish. Also before
gameplay, you can calibrate your joystick, run a demo, read the instructions on
how to play the game, exit to DOS, or redefine the keyboard.

 I played RENEGADE in CGA, EGA, and VGA modes. CGA display is, of course,
limited to four colors at a time; everything looks bland. EGA and VGA modes
appear identical to each other. The graphics are okay, and more colorful in the
higher resolution. The sound, on the other hand, is terrible on a standard IBM
speaker.

 Despite the choppy graphics, RENEGADE can be fun to play, but it's a bit slow
at 12 MHz.

 RENEGADE is published and distributed by Taito Corporation.

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