newcoleco plays 2010: The Graphic Action Game

A game based on...something based off 2001: A Space Odyssey? I'm surprised nobody else has made a game based off of it since.

2010: The Graphic Action Game is based loosely off of the late Arthur C. Clarke's 2010: Odyssey Two, which is in turn loosely based off of the movie and book versions of 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's a direct sequel, but only to Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation and not Clarke's original novel, strangely. It's basically an indirect sequel and is a variant on the series' timeline. The game is based off the 1984 movie 2010: The Year We Make Contact, which is based off 2010: Odyssey Two which is based loosely off...you know what? Forget it. Everything I mentioned before mentioning the 2010 movie was confusing enough.

Anyway, you're powering up circuits in order to power up HAL 9000 as well as the various features of the Discovery. You have to power up all of the chips in the circuit without looping around and without the electric charge being directly hit by the magnetic flux fields that are interfering with the ship's functions (which are shown as flashing circles than bounce around the screen) while either going down the path or while still inside a part. If a part is damaged, the ship will replace it, but you lose a little bit of time as a result.

Sometimes, you'll be in a maze full of what look like pinball bumpers. These are the circuits for HAL 9000, and you'll need to get through these in order to power HAL up. Unlike the regular repair screens, these require logic as well as speed in order to win. The upside-down flipped L takes your charge into another direction, the upside down U pushes your charge back in the opposite direction, and the square just lets your charge run straight through. You can change the function of the next bumper that the charge will touch, so you can get to the end. Hitting the chips will cause them to burn out, so you have to avoid hitting them here. Other than that, these screens are easy when you know what to do, especially when you power up Life Support and get rid of the magnetic flux fields in the HAL circuit screens.

The circuit boards are randomly set-up, if you couldn't tell by some circuit boards loading up faster than others. This makes charging up all the circuits more of a logical game rather than a memory game. Also, while you're playing the game, the altitude of the ship gradually gets lower, and if you don't fix the ship in time, the ship will fall into Io, Jupiter's volcanic moon which basically acts like a sun.

As you power up certain parts of the spaceship, you'll get some more leeway in beating the game. Powering up life-support keeps the HAL circuits from burning out, and gets rid of the magnetic flux fields on the HAL circuits. Powering the Engine and Reactor can give you a partial boost, which can give you more time and bring the Discovery to escape velocity. If you leave the engines running too long, some circuits can be burnt out and you'll have to repair them again.

Even when you're done with all the circuits, you'll still have to go around the ship and find some broken circuits. In the first and easiest skill level, HAL fixes some of them when you power him up, but he's slower than you and he can't replace burnt-out parts. He also can't repair his own circuits, either.

Once you've got everything repaired, you can lift Discovery back into the air and away from Io. You'll get your final score of the game and play again if you want.

The game's pretty challenging. You have only a set amount of time to power up the whole ship, take care of all the broken circuits that have been burnt out somehow, and get Discovery away from Io. There are four skill levels, and the higher your skill level, the closer to Io Discovery is and the harder the game becomes.

The repair screens are simple. However, there is a time limit involved and you'll also have to know how to get the ship running without making escape harder, as you also have to get the ship away from Io before you can get the spaceship repaired and escape. It takes some practice to get certain things in the game down, but once you're able to pull it off, the game becomes easier. All in all, this is another challenging game that's worth a shot.