Both programmers have clearly put hours and hours of work into their entries. However, I'm pretty certain even more time went into Air Attack than on Four in a Row. Thank you both for sharing these fantastic games with us. I tried both of the QBASIC originals (the original air attack needed some changes) and I can say I wouldn't waste my time playing either of them. Your enhanced versions, on the other hand, are great fun! 
Air Attack:
+3D effects
+Great title screen effect
+Original game concept built upon in a variety of ways
+Highly customizable with level/ship editors
-Static horizontal horizon takes away the feeling of flying an aircraft
-Poor user-interface
-Typewriter effect is painfully slow
-Graphics still look quite dated (_MAPTRIANGLE would really have helped here)
Four in a Row:
+AI
+Polished sound and graphics give great atmosphere
-AI isn't as smart as it should (according to the MinMax AI principle) be
-Limited replay value due to lack of game-style options
-Intro sequence should be skippable
Both games have been enhanced in very different ways so comparisons aren't very useful. I really want to vote for Air Attack but there are just too many major things which need to be addressed, I keep finding myself wanting to 'fix the code' to turn this into the great game it is so close to being.
My vote goes towards Four in a Row
Thanks for the notes on the game.
I know critique is important, so I appreciate it.
I mentioned it in the other thread, but holding down any key speeds up the text, or pressing ESC makes it all display at once. I should have mentioned it, but figured that was kinda "standard" with printing out text. Either way... that's how you speed it up.
As for the graphics, 8 different views takes a lot of time to draw by hand with numerous different ships so I couldn't put a lot of time into detail when I had so much code to write as well. The original game used only a vertical and horizontal line for the enemies, so I certainly hope it was noticeable how much of an improvement the sprites were over those.
What were you thinking _MAPTRIANGLE would do differently out of curiosity? I used it for a few other things, but not for the ships.
I had plans to have the horizon tilt and rotate with the jet, but along with a slew of other ideas, it was just something I didn't get to.
Personally, I thought the interface worked well. It took a little getting used to, but once done, it was effective. But, to each their own I suppose.
Probably another thing I should have explained more:
The center reticule is where your ship is pointed and where your special weapons will fire. I added it after some time when I realized I didn't always know directly where my jet was pointed. The targeting reticule that locks onto ships is where your base laser will fire. And the mouse pointer is which direction your ship will go. It isn't an INSTANT move, since I didn't think it was realistic that the jet would immediately point where your mouse is pointing (say, like where a player is pointing in an FPS), since a jet has to bank and turn.
The speed of the jet, however, I agree could definitely use some work. I wanted to put in joystick support but...alas, another one of those things I just ran out of time for.
Thanks again for the critique. Feel free to let me know what you'd do. I'd like to properly polish the game.
