Non Human

gain its reputation for programming problems.

Story

The player controls a strange, nameless character through a bizarre level with unorthodox enemies. The story, as taken from the game manual, is as follows: "They're not human. They have a mind of their own. They are hungry and theywant you as their next meal. Get them before they get you. [http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/odd/scans/action52.lst] "

Gameplay

Controls

The main character's movements left and right are controlled by the player via the NES controller's directional pad. Pressing the B button will make the player's character jump and pressing the A button will shoot a single small white projectile from the main character's arm horizontally across the screen. Pressing "start" will pause the game and holding "start" and "select" will return the player to the game's main menu, from which the player can return to the Action 52 game select screen.

Environment

Due to a major programming glitch, Non Human has only one playable level. This level is predominantly green and purple with yellow blocks and the bottom portion of the screen contains a repeating image of a bald green man with purple sunglasses and a gaping mouth. The game's level scrolls from left to right and does not contain the ability to reverse course since the level will not scroll back once the player advances. The game contains several different enemies, including a floating pair of lips and teeth, a slug that shoots from its tail, and a one-eyed floating creature. All of the enemies can be defeated by one hit from the main character's projectile. The player must be careful, though, since any contact with an enemy or an enemy's projectile leads to the game ending and a life being used. Also, the player must avoid falling down a chasm or falling from a height three block high or higher, or else the game will end and the player will lose a life. The player is given three lives.

These three lives turn out to be useless, however, due to the game's major glitch. Upon advancing a signifcant distance into the first level the player will encounter a glitch that sends the player back to the beginning of the first level. The player may then choose to procede forward yet again, but ultimately whenever the glitch point is reached in the middle of the first level the player will always be sent back to the beginning of the first level, thus making advance past the glitch impossible without a method of cheating, like a game genie.

Green Heads

The bald green head with sunglasses that repeats and lines the bottom portion of the first stage has often been likened by players to singer and song artist Elton John. These "Elton John" heads seem to only serve a "decorative" purpose and cannot be reached by the player since if the main character falls into a chasm, he disintegrates before ever reaching the heads. These heads line the entire bottom of what can be explored of the first level.

Glitches

Some of the games glitches are listed below:

-As mentioned above, the game has a major glitch in the first level. Once the player progresses sufficiently far in the first level, the game will automatically start stop the game and start the player back at the beginning of the first level, causing a loop and making it impossible to progress past the first level without some cheating device.

-In addition to this, the fact the main character will "die" when falling from only a height of three blocks is thought of as another possible glitch, though this could have also been incorporated simply to make the game more difficult.

-Also, like most Action 52 games, the game suffers from the inability to display multiple sprites, especially when lined up horizonatally. When multiple sprites are displayed some of the sprites will flash between a state of being visible and invisible, making gameplay more awkward and difficult.

References