Atomic Bomberman

Introduction:

Atomic Bomberman is a simple PC game developed by Interplay in 1996 that involves using a character (your bomberman) to set up bombs to kill your opponents (other bombermans). You can pitch yourself against the computer or another human 1v1 or play team matchs of up to 5v5. Alternatively, you can do free-for-all for all 10 players. The bombs explode into flames extending only in the X and Y directions, and there are powerups available to upgrade your character and bombs (expect for poison, see below).

Game Play:

Genre: Action

Number of players: One limitation is that while it supports up to 10 players, only a maximun of 3 can be humans, of which 2 share a single keyboard while the third needs a joystick controller. Most unfortunately, joysticks are quite rare and thus the game is usually limited to 2 human players only. Maybe they should support controls for keyboard up to 4 players (yes its a bit crowded but its better than nothing).

Level of difficulty: It is simple to play but not necessarily easy to win (especially against expert players and computers): It is simple to play in the sense that your only keys you need are up-down-left-right (arrow keys), one for placing your bombers and a last one acting as an “action” key (explained below; it is difficult in the sense that if you really want to be an expert, you need to be able to combine different powerups, which might be difficult to control.

Winning: You decide the number of matches a player needs before the players wins the game. E.g. if i select 3 victories, then a player have to win 3 matches (not necessarily consecutive) before he/she/it wins the game. You win a match by blowing up all your opponenets.

Graphics:

Bomberman: Top of the pack for 1996, but not worth mentioning in 2006. At least the bomberman look 3D and the powerup symbols are rather colouful. For your bomberman, ther are 10 different colours for you to choose from (since there are 10 players). Alternatively, in team play, you can change all the colours of your team to either white or red (for easy identification), with the opposing team being the other colour left. This is a very useful feature in trying to differentiate your allies from your enemies especially if you like to play games with many players, e.g., 5v5.

Bombs/ Flames from bombs: They correspond to the colour of your bomberman

Background: The background are not too distracting while looking cool enough to allow you to play long hours without getting bored of it. There are 11 backgrounds to choose from, plus one option which will random choose a background each game (so you dont have to face the smae background again and again). Note that the random map option does not choose from all 11 maps but only from 9 maps. I am not sure whether this is done on purpose or it is a bug.

Version reviewed:1.0

Conclusion:
This simple but challenging game is worth a try, expecially if you are bored from high-tech games and super-realistic graphics of todays games (wonder how this sentence will look 10-20 years down the road….). While playing against the computer may prove to be difficult at first, you would soon get used to th computer’s style of playing and realise that actually, it is not really that hard to beat them if you exploit their weakness. I recommend trying 5v5 (with you being one player and the other 9, computers) to practice any new strategy you have. Playing against humans are much more rewarding and you can look forward to enjoying a whole afternoon playing with your friends bomberman.

About Atomic Bomberman/ References:
htp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_Bomberman
http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/atomic-bomberman

Panasonic Fz20

Official website: http://panasonic.co.jp/pavc/global/lumix/fz20/index.html 

Introduction: The Panasonic Fz20 was released in November 2004, a year and a half ago. At that time, the retail price in Singapore was $1099. But if you go to Sim Lim Square (like me), you can get it for $920 at places like Alan Photos. My friend waited till early next year, and got it at $905 (if I am not wrong).

 This was worth the buy at that time because it was (try saying i in one breath) the highest megapixel 12X zoom camera that has a constant aperture of f2.8 throughout the zoom range with image stabilization of two to three stops that cost less than $1000 (not retail price).

 In fact up to today’s technology(June 2006), after one and a half year, it still remains as the “highest megapixel 12X zoom camera that has a constant aperture of f2.8 throughout the zoom range with image stabilization of two to three stops that cost less than $1000″. No manufacturer has tried to challenge this status since it must be costly to do so. Even Panasonic stopped releasing 12X zoom cameras that have a constant aperture of f2.8. Two of the most possible reasons are 1) too small a profit margin, or the 2) noise issue, because the sensor size was enlarged in the successor of the Fz20, the Fz30, which means that you need a larger, more expensive lens to have constant f2.8 (instead they kept the size and reduced the aperture).

 As its user for 1.5 years or so, I have to say I did not regret my buy.

Image Quality

 In general, I feel that the image quality is excellent and much of it is contributed by the Leica lens. Colors are accurately captured, and are bright and lively. Contrast is fine, though plain shots look even plainer; using a polarizer produces amazing results.

The image is very sharp throughout the zoom range even when the aperture is at wide open. In fact, I shoot 99% of my shots with f2.8! The only time I would change the aperture is when the shutter is so unnecessarily high that I could afford to stop down to f4 or f5.6, to get an even sharper image.

White balance is very accurate, failing only in extreme conditions. In such cases, using the manual white balance would solve the problem easily. Manual white balance is so accurate, that I seldom use the presets, with the exception of the flash preset. Note of caution, I find the flash preset to be very warm, wonder if it is just my taste.

Noise is an issue for the Fz20 and it does give a lot of noise compared to other cameras. I always use ISO80 90% of the time as I rarely shoot in the dark. In ill-lit conditions, I prefer to use a manual flash, which forces me to use ISO100. Only in extremely dark places where flash cannot be used will I use ISO200 or ISO400. Noise here becomes too obvious to be left unnoticed, though noise removal tools like Neat Image would remove the noise easily.

Speed

 Focusing is fast for such a class of cameras, though not fast enough to shoot birds or any fast moving objects. At the telephoto end, focus might be slightly slower, though fast enough for most usage. In dark places, there might be some focus hunt, though it is still acceptable given the price of the Fz20.

There is minimum shutter lag as long as you half-press the shutter before shooting. Failure to do so might result in some focus hunting or a blur shot.

Continuous shot is at around 3fps, though I always feel a noticeable lag before a burst shot. There is a infinite continuous shooting mode which shoots are around 2fps, and is limited by either the memory card size or the battery life.

 Viewing of image after shot is fast, with a tolerable lag of perhaps half a second. Since the playback is accessible via the mode dial, it would take time for your finger to push the dial. This means that some buffering time would never be noticed by the user, making the camera seem very responsive. 

Build and Handling

 The Fz20 is similar to its predecessor, the Fz10, and even the Fz2 and Fz1. Other cameras like the Fz3, Fz4, Fz5 and Fz7 is similarly shaped. Though it is replaced by the Fz30, which is in turn replaced by the Fz50, these 2 replacements bare less resemble to it.

 The position of the viewfinder is at the extreme left. This is not common and only certain 4/3 models have it. One advantage is that you can use your right eye to look into the viewfinder to see what the camera is going to take while using your left eye to look at the environment. This might not seem useful if you are shooting wide, but certainly helpful if you zoom all the way in, and lost sight of your subject in your camera; instead of needing to move your head away, you simply need to concentrate on what your left eye is seeing. The viewfinder is small, somewhat uncomfortable, gives poor colours and not that bright. Nevertheless, it is quite useful in extremely bright locations, or when you want to stop people from prying into what you are taking.

 Buttons are well placed, and I wish to specially mention the 4-way controller. Unlike other cameras including the replacements of Fz20, the buttons are not separate, but are “joined” together. This makes it look like a giant button, but you do not press the centre to activate it, but press up-down-left-right to make it function as a 4-way controller. I find it very comfortable, and somewhat enjoyable, to slide my thumb from one button to another. This is especially useful for the deleting pictures. When you delete pictures, you have to: 1) press the delete button, 2) press down in the 4-way controller to select “yes” 3) press right in the 4-way controller to confirm. Steps 2 and 3 are very easily done by simply sliding your finger across the 4-way controller instead of having to lift your finger up or having your finger bump into other buttons.

 The shutter rest in the middle of the zoom rocker, beside the mode dial. The shutter is fine, though more friction would make shooting easier. The zoom rocker is smooth and travels from the wide end to the telephoto end very smoothly and steps are as good as undetectable. The mode dial is not very tight, though there should be no problems using it most of the time; a small complain I have is that the mode dial might sometimes be stuck in the middle of 2 nodes. The continuous shot button is near the dial and it is somewhat useful, though I must admit that I rarely change from 3fps.

 There is a manual focus-by-wire ring which is rarely useful considering the accuracy of the auto focus. It is handy when the auto focus is wrong (almost never) and I have used it a few times only. The switch to indicate the mode of focus is on the left of the lens barrel (in shooting position). The 1 shot auto focus function, which allows you to auto focus once when you are in the manual mode, is practically worthless.

 The hand grip is quite uncommon to other manufacturers, but it is easy to get use to. In fact, I got so comfortable with it that I am feeling weird when handling other cameras like those from Canon. It requires you to twist your finger with your index finger around 90 degrees from your thumb. This is in a very tight position and you might feel tired after long use.

Conclusion

 The Fz20 was (and still is) a great camera. The suburb lens it has combined with the excellent image stabilization makes it a real good tool for making photos. Its drawbacks are few with its noise issue being the most significant. On the whole, I enjoy using it a lot, and never really regretted my buy. Check out other Panasonic models if you are interested, not forgetting that Canon and Sony has also a decent lineup of new super zooms. In conclusion, the Fz20 is the best camera of its time, with good image quality (except for noise), excellent lens and a good image stabilization system.

Professional reviews and my references:

dpreview: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz20/

dcresource: http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/panasonic/dmc_fz20-review/index.shtml

imaging resource: http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/FZ20/FZ20A.HTM