tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70697182268032774472024-03-20T00:45:38.555-07:00Remember PC DOS gamesPlaying and reviewing old PC games one screenshot at a time.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069718226803277447.post-24442410959673579952018-10-13T11:47:00.000-07:002018-10-21T14:54:30.447-07:00William Shatner's TekWar (1995) (Short entry)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEAYhHER9ckay5hSBDVs1N2zuFALMtdBh_HZ0hNQOAfCtkXprIot6i6TdF4MK1-dEN79WbM2PiT53bZ0Z5VGIqIU67GWz5O4WlRC56mihdlcRJYOcUGb4B9xSmarmv2d1XAtjEbIfHiE4w/s1600/tekwbox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="977" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEAYhHER9ckay5hSBDVs1N2zuFALMtdBh_HZ0hNQOAfCtkXprIot6i6TdF4MK1-dEN79WbM2PiT53bZ0Z5VGIqIU67GWz5O4WlRC56mihdlcRJYOcUGb4B9xSmarmv2d1XAtjEbIfHiE4w/s400/tekwbox.jpg" width="327" /></a></div>
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Date: 1995<br />
Developer: Capstone Software<br />
Publisher: Capstone Software<br />
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System Requirements:<br />
- 486SX<br />
- 8MB RAM<br />
- MSDOS 5.0 or higher<br />
- VGA Compatible video card<br />
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Where to purchase?<br />
- <i>TekWar </i>is not available in digital form anywhere so check Ebay or Amazon for original hard copies.<br />
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<i>TekWar </i>is a FPS game developed and published by Capstone Software in 1995 that is a tie-in to thespian and national treasure William Shatner's TekWar universe. Besides this game, the TekWar universe spans 9 novels, 4 TV movies, a TV series, and a comic book series. Given this extensive background from which to draw lore and the pedigree of William Shatner's genius and Capstone's stellar track record of PC game development in the 1990s, I fully expect this game to be a milestone in PC game history, taking a place alongside other greats like <i>Doom, Civilization, Command and Conquer, </i>and <i>Operation Body Count. </i><br />
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I remember playing the demo of this game off a PC Gamer demo disk when it originally came out in 1995, but other than that I have no experience with the game. I also know nothing about the TekWar universe, so I'll be experiencing the rich and nuanced stories that make up the tapestry of legends that is the TekWar lore for the first time as well. I am excited to get started, so let's fire up <i>William Shatner's TekWar </i>and get going!<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">-Development-</span></u></b><br />
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Despite Capstone being a relatively large developer in the 80s and 90s, there is not a lot of information out there about them and even less about <i>TekWar</i>, but I'll try to cover the basics. Capstone Software was created in 1984 from its parent publishing company IntraCorp. Capstone was primarily known for two things: Licensed games and low-quality FPS games. Some of their licensed games include <i>Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,</i> <i>Waynes World, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Surf Ninjas, </i>and <i>Zorro. </i>I've played <i>Zorro </i>and it was one of the worst video games I have ever experienced. It is essentially a copy of <i>Prince of Persia, </i>but even more frustrating and much less fun.<br />
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Capstone's first FPS games used the <i>Wolfenstein 3D </i>engine licensed from id Software. At the time, id Software was beginning work on <i>Doom </i>so they were motivated to sell the Wolfenstein engine to squeeze as much money out of <i>Wolfenstein 3D </i>as possible before the release of <i>Doom </i>made <i>Wolfenstein 3D </i>out of date. id Software actually reached out to Capstone and offered the use of the Wolfenstein engine for around $50,000 per game, which really doesn't seem like much. Capstone used the engine to create their first two FPS games: <i>Corridor 7 </i>and <i>Operation Body Count. </i>Neither of these games is considered a "classic". While the former is a decent early FPS game, the latter is pure garbage.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX3M-5KcQokk_wPK6af-oDLz8d1mYC13CauWizrO_m6SqImmZ6fvDu8AsOiGgSNcV0SrEZTQJ_49ooDn2Z8aZoPXJlFMVh9hL_WVHSFi6RGFU4vWAq_CyCuqZ-lDthvZ1yaMelNxK5pFb6/s1600/c7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX3M-5KcQokk_wPK6af-oDLz8d1mYC13CauWizrO_m6SqImmZ6fvDu8AsOiGgSNcV0SrEZTQJ_49ooDn2Z8aZoPXJlFMVh9hL_WVHSFi6RGFU4vWAq_CyCuqZ-lDthvZ1yaMelNxK5pFb6/s640/c7.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Corridor 7</i></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6qg1idqCP7iPuLaVhZ4wxsOkafYpbJxeoHCavohliyUtRj_rZCcmTmbDvenmG_D2SWoKJBCgCYrZTmN1TypCihSDcaA5Ppivak0vJ4XwzVnzkmeigdWcF4kbMWHXckq3dz8W8mmG8SQMa/s1600/obc.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6qg1idqCP7iPuLaVhZ4wxsOkafYpbJxeoHCavohliyUtRj_rZCcmTmbDvenmG_D2SWoKJBCgCYrZTmN1TypCihSDcaA5Ppivak0vJ4XwzVnzkmeigdWcF4kbMWHXckq3dz8W8mmG8SQMa/s640/obc.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Operation Body Count</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I am probably being a little unfair towards these early FPS games by Capstone. After <i>Wolfenstein 3D </i>and <i>Doom, </i>the market was flooded with FPS games and many of them were a lot worse than Capstone's offerings. While I maintain that <i>Operation Body Count </i>is quite bad, <i>Corridor 7</i> actually has some interesting ideas and Capstone did some nice things squeezing every bit of functionality out of the Wolfenstein engine.<br />
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By 1994, <i>Doom </i>had been released and the Wolfenstein engine was outdated. It is hard to believe when compared to today's relatively stagnant state of PC technology, but in the 1990s computer technology progressed so fast that one year was all it took to make a game engine become woefully out of date. Seeing the capabilities of <i>Doom, </i>Capstone decided they needed to license a new engine for their next FPS games. Since the Doom engine was either not available or too expensive, they decided to use Ken Silverman's Build Engine, of <i>Duke Nukem 3D </i>fame. To read more about the Build Engine, I covered it in a bit more detail in my playthrough of <i><a href="http://rememberpcdosgames.blogspot.com/2018/01/blood.html">Blood</a>. </i>Two Capstone FPS games, <i>Witchaven </i>and <i>TekWar </i>(both in 1995), were actually the first commercial products released that used the Build Engine and came out a full year before the release of the ground-breaking <i>Duke Nukem 3D. </i><br />
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Switching to the Build Engine gave the Capstone developers a huge new arsenal of tools to create a more interactive, living world. Instead of mindlessly moving through a single story maze shooting anything that gets in the way, <i>TekWar </i>worked to create a more realistic portrayal of a future Los Angeles. Cars and city buses move around the city streets, a commuter train moves from station to station and can be boarded, and civilians and police move about the city minding their own business. The player can holster their gun to move about without drawing attention, but drawing your weapon and firing will cause police officers to attack. Capstone and lead programmers Les Bird and Jeff Shultz really tried to maximize what could be done with the early Build engine to create a realistic city environment. Whether that translated to a good game is debatable...but I'll cover that a bit later.<br />
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William Shatner was very involved in the development of <i>TekWar. </i>He apparently played a bunch of contemporary games like <i>Doom, Myst, Magic Carpet, </i>and...<i>Johnny Mnemonic(?) </i>to prepare for working with the Capstone developers in making <i>TekWar. </i>He and Capstone even had plans to create a sequel, tentatively called <i>TekWar: New York</i>, but Capstone folded before that could come to fruition. In 1996, shortly after the release of <i>Witchaven II, </i>Capstone was struggling financially and was trying to take the company public in an effort to save it. This failed, and their final game, <i>Corridor 8, </i>was cancelled before it was finished and the company dissolved.<br />
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It is a sad ending to a truly strange developer. As I said before, Capstone was known for some really low quality movie/TV licensed games, but they were also known for their eclectic and weird FPS games. In 2006, Les Bird released the source code for <i>TekWar, </i>along with some other Capstone games. The code can be found <a href="http://www.dukertcm.com/knowledge-base/downloads-rtcm/src-tekwar-source/">here</a>. <br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- The Game -</u></span></h2>
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The game installs fine on DOSBox and I'm immediately impressed with the setup program, which includes a menu to change the keyboard bindings! This is amazing to me for a game from 1995. One of the more frustrating aspects of playing old DOS games is the clunky keyboard layouts a lot of older games used and the difficulty in trying to edit them. It is rare to find a FPS game from this time period that had customizable controls, so big kudos for the game for that.<br />
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The game starts with a low res FMV intro that is straight out of the intro to the short-lived TekWar TV show. It just oozes 90s atmosphere, I love it. Here is a short GIF of it, but if you want to you can watch the entire intro on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBNVphweWNg">Youtube.</a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj_qRxVW_pdIO-SQxHDO23QUh0uu4xh5XkjNu9XA8BjH5041sEoiIaHfo5wxvpkrxqo9MIwr_oaIDzT1gq1UPx_i8Q8zM8FYfj47XULan7mpHKJ7iZGneKnNdtHLsSG88dVd4lF9wexhKC/s1600/tekintro.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="636" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj_qRxVW_pdIO-SQxHDO23QUh0uu4xh5XkjNu9XA8BjH5041sEoiIaHfo5wxvpkrxqo9MIwr_oaIDzT1gq1UPx_i8Q8zM8FYfj47XULan7mpHKJ7iZGneKnNdtHLsSG88dVd4lF9wexhKC/s640/tekintro.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
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After this radical intro, I am greeted by my boss, Walter Bascom (played by William Shatner). Bascom gives me a summary of the drug Tek that is making its around the USA. I'm still a little hazy on the details, but Tek seems to be a mind-altering drug that comes in the form of a microchip. There are drug kingpins that are controlling and distributing the drug, and Bascom wants me to take out these kingpins.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIAHRO6-Dmz0b29hr6ONgAxshe343TiB8y25Ai1KdKf1fVR3ceah7458L3yVS2wqfyFL_HiNebI8S2JL_QfiK-JoxmrCuCvVtnn8hAP0HJJEsVLetXm8EvltBD0yCTLCbjI8YvLMwUJjH4/s1600/smackply_007.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIAHRO6-Dmz0b29hr6ONgAxshe343TiB8y25Ai1KdKf1fVR3ceah7458L3yVS2wqfyFL_HiNebI8S2JL_QfiK-JoxmrCuCvVtnn8hAP0HJJEsVLetXm8EvltBD0yCTLCbjI8YvLMwUJjH4/s640/smackply_007.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The future (and less subtle) version of DARE</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The game then switches to yet another intro, this one made up of all early 90s CGI. It seems to show a space station where an android or hibernating person is constructed/woken up, I was a little unclear which.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjovaZ8MkJQ3m5on17tLC48bbsKqNT0aPWoz356HMTp4lXXQTuv3tj4ACnGZJ42XBUOuLtRKvneNIouKUnPUI7jQORDXlIxi7cwPPYnEohR62mg-B0OL1Hbovzk3c2pE97mAVy5sh481Nxp/s1600/smackply_012.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjovaZ8MkJQ3m5on17tLC48bbsKqNT0aPWoz356HMTp4lXXQTuv3tj4ACnGZJ42XBUOuLtRKvneNIouKUnPUI7jQORDXlIxi7cwPPYnEohR62mg-B0OL1Hbovzk3c2pE97mAVy5sh481Nxp/s640/smackply_012.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me?</td></tr>
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The game then presents the first menu in the game, which I guess functions as the main menu. Here I can select which of the drug kingpins I want to go after first. It looks like I can select any of them, so I guess the game is pretty non-linear in that way.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_KWAVJ8tIJOsmVuf9UydFRiXDwevko0N0O-AEvG5PTG4elG7wa5uQE2nSt1yNwLkR4slkuJkgsXbPsmeQSWq9YNsAtotRBvDhpR0njbWVCUt3a3BPM69kv1K8UH7jHh_JhRiybh_-nHki/s1600/tekwar_003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_KWAVJ8tIJOsmVuf9UydFRiXDwevko0N0O-AEvG5PTG4elG7wa5uQE2nSt1yNwLkR4slkuJkgsXbPsmeQSWq9YNsAtotRBvDhpR0njbWVCUt3a3BPM69kv1K8UH7jHh_JhRiybh_-nHki/s640/tekwar_003.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Selecting my first target</td></tr>
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Selecting a target plays another quick FMV of Shatner telling me to get out there and take down my chosen bad guy. Shatner really went all out for this game, I will be seeing a lot of him.<br />
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Now its time to start the game proper! The mission begins at a train station with a moving train and everything.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1xsQ5s95rFeHu0dyciBgJgvhBeSwUNtloM5vkCzAi5E6Fl0f55CNfMCSBbzFNq0v5Zm3bFpbTfww0lqxxopW8Xb6q047kDvJRBtc_CkfUnHWK95fncs-BYrVLHgnCSqjENGpyBCX4rx7y/s1600/tekwar_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1xsQ5s95rFeHu0dyciBgJgvhBeSwUNtloM5vkCzAi5E6Fl0f55CNfMCSBbzFNq0v5Zm3bFpbTfww0lqxxopW8Xb6q047kDvJRBtc_CkfUnHWK95fncs-BYrVLHgnCSqjENGpyBCX4rx7y/s640/tekwar_001.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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The first thing I noticed was my mouse is set to control my forward and backward movement, as well as strafing left and right. I looked through the setup menu and there is no option to disable forward and backward mouse movement. I also edited a few .cfg files to see if there was anything there, but no luck either. It's manageable I guess, but not ideal.<br />
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You can see the guy in the middle of my screenshot is a civilian who is ignoring me and going about his business. I'm going to go check in the bathroom and see what that situation is like:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQIwSaoCxeTu3R4H3UjGzqzh0RhKneLqMHL1RbWqpMS1jqvw0iEfg5J0pdCsgI6934QhBT9N5awoP1QfTfI3uFGSmR4jF4sdUSgEAgjDoAM0hpsWs5hzvsrnOaJGjMCPcS9o4Y40bt5Mah/s1600/tekwar_002.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQIwSaoCxeTu3R4H3UjGzqzh0RhKneLqMHL1RbWqpMS1jqvw0iEfg5J0pdCsgI6934QhBT9N5awoP1QfTfI3uFGSmR4jF4sdUSgEAgjDoAM0hpsWs5hzvsrnOaJGjMCPcS9o4Y40bt5Mah/s640/tekwar_002.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maybe close the door next time buddy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The enemy sprites are digitized actors and they look OK but they are huge. I feel like a kid running around while everyone else is a tall adult. The perspective makes it seem like I only come up to their waists:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpoOOI7pSa0JT_TgWLGgiad-F8TQ3gdD7HO2K39gbE_wlOTU1SaeielxeDcCmPCgfuK69q8BtNBk1krAOhU-tMLz-pONNt1ttK8lI0un3AsSJGGs_1VMKDphrKPwYYU-l8K16zkxYMIZ3e/s1600/tekwar_004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpoOOI7pSa0JT_TgWLGgiad-F8TQ3gdD7HO2K39gbE_wlOTU1SaeielxeDcCmPCgfuK69q8BtNBk1krAOhU-tMLz-pONNt1ttK8lI0un3AsSJGGs_1VMKDphrKPwYYU-l8K16zkxYMIZ3e/s640/tekwar_004.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking up at a cop</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
(Update 10/13/18))<br />
Unfortunately, I began writing this post in March 2018 but a new job and real life got in the way and conspired to take me away from playing <i>TekWar</i>. When I finally came back to this blog and this game, I was unable to figure out the complicated settings and drive mounting I had used to get this game to run. I did not mention this in my introduction, but it was a real hassle to get this game up and running. The game has a lot of integrated FMV sequences that require the CD to mounted as a drive with some config file modifications. Mouse control also required some significant modifications. At some point, I lost my install of the game and was not able to get the reinstall working correctly. So instead of having to start from scratch, I think I'll go ahead and post this entry and move on to another game.<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">- Review - </span></u></b><br />
<b><u><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></u></b>
So what did I think of my brief time with <i>TekWar? </i>While I did not spend enough time with the game to give it a fair judgement, I can safely say that the game is definitely a first person shooter starring William Shatner. Does that sound like enough to entice you into playing? If it is, then maybe give it a shot. Otherwise, don't bother. The game is a hassle to get up and running, the control seems to be poor, and its use of the Build Engine looks to be quite a bit more primitive than other Build Engine games such as <i>Duke Nukem 3D. </i>I did not get to experience much in the way of actual gameplay, so it would be unfair of me to be too harsh on the game though. Perhaps the game really opens up with its open-ended missions? Maybe the weapons turn out to varied and fun to use? For all one knows, the story may be really engaging with compelling villains and a sympathetic main character? At first glance, I was not very impressed with the game, but you should never judge a book by its cover.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha1QS1E57QzEHaNYSVn8cWBq5EvHZbAjAXBCQBRCiUWZprgshZCE_A76soOfzmUCk4oC8SxoxjDZf1O2vCGDcx4sjtIBzKgQnVYWYeR_M5sSWHB1x4DpGL41aX-2yNhxJkkDXz0MMQCfJn/s1600/200px-Star_Trek_The_God_Thing_novel_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="285" data-original-width="200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha1QS1E57QzEHaNYSVn8cWBq5EvHZbAjAXBCQBRCiUWZprgshZCE_A76soOfzmUCk4oC8SxoxjDZf1O2vCGDcx4sjtIBzKgQnVYWYeR_M5sSWHB1x4DpGL41aX-2yNhxJkkDXz0MMQCfJn/s400/200px-Star_Trek_The_God_Thing_novel_cover.jpg" width="280" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Except this book...you should judge it by its cover</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Something the game does do well, intentionally or not, is create a vivid atmosphere of mid-90s pseudo cyberpunk, which Shatner adds to nicely with his overacting and goofy sport coat outfits.<br />
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I think I'll leave it at that. If anyone is reading this and has fond memories of <i>TekWar</i> or feels I was unjustly harsh on the game, let me know in the comments! But for now, I'm not going to recommend this game to anyone. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIWP1YTrtzvxyikIPJe02_QjeIrfyp8Gx3B5RyoO0dH-voZckKPZRgKL_4dsQ75xCHA_G59uaZUEJyYf2JxIg4y3w3v7fgW-Y6EA01cvbHqQQXl04MhptETPYVPCr1EekQqvCP2Bw45eCZ/s1600/tekwar.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="271" data-original-width="1234" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIWP1YTrtzvxyikIPJe02_QjeIrfyp8Gx3B5RyoO0dH-voZckKPZRgKL_4dsQ75xCHA_G59uaZUEJyYf2JxIg4y3w3v7fgW-Y6EA01cvbHqQQXl04MhptETPYVPCr1EekQqvCP2Bw45eCZ/s640/tekwar.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Now that I'm settled into my new job, I am hopefully going to get back into writing full entries again on a quasi-regular basis. I'm not sure what the next game will be, but I'll hopefully have something up in the near future.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069718226803277447.post-65841927909867593272018-03-24T12:21:00.001-07:002018-03-24T12:21:25.246-07:00The Settlers 2 Gold Edition (1996)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcBvCur8wrtpszk2MJtTW6uk6-H2LrKIyIlYRXw1XZ0z6ZQrlNAPs4s109Q07zccON-KQuF6AgNfGw848pg2fmdpBZfQTyPQKHNTnbVh_bm4TLnZaSis2DG3jjnWQnI1khxKEXZAKtio9M/s1600/settlers2box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1026" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcBvCur8wrtpszk2MJtTW6uk6-H2LrKIyIlYRXw1XZ0z6ZQrlNAPs4s109Q07zccON-KQuF6AgNfGw848pg2fmdpBZfQTyPQKHNTnbVh_bm4TLnZaSis2DG3jjnWQnI1khxKEXZAKtio9M/s400/settlers2box.jpg" width="311" /></a></div>
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Date: 1996 (1997 for Gold Edition release)<br />
Developer: Blue Byte Studio<br />
Publisher: Blue Byte Studio<br />
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System Requirements:<br />
- 486DX/2 66 MHz<br />
- 8MB RAM<br />
- 30MB HDD space<br />
- 2X CD-ROM<br />
- SVGA capable video card<br />
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Where to purchase?<br />
- <a href="https://www.gog.com/game/the_settlers_2_gold_edition">GOG.com</a><br />
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The <i>Settlers 2 Gold Edition</i> is a real-time strategy game with elements of city building and management. I've never played any of the <i>Settlers</i> games, but I am a fan of similar modern games such as the <i>Tropico</i> series, the <i>Anno</i> series, and the <i>Sim City</i> games, so this seems like the kind of game I should love. I'm surprised I never got around to playing a <i>Settlers </i>game as the series has been quite popular. The original was released in 1993 and sequels were released fairly regularly, the most recent of which was in 2016 (renamed to a new IP). The original <i>Settlers 2 </i>was released in 1996 and the Gold Edition, released a year later, added a new campaign, over a hundred custom maps, and a bunch of gameplay and graphics improvements. I'll be playing the GOG.com Gold Edition version without any other mods or changes. There was 10th Anniversary edition released in 2006 that is a full 3D remake, so if anyone wants to play an more modern version of the <i>The Settlers 2, </i>that would be the way to go. <br />
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Prior to starting this post, I played through the first mission of the campaign to get a general feel for the game so I wouldn't be a complete mess starting out, but otherwise I have no experience with the game and I'll be going essentially blind. Let's dive in to <i>The Settlers 2 Gold Edition! </i><br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
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<h2>
<u>- Development -</u></h2>
Blue Byte Studio is a developer and publisher that have made some great, and very unique, games. Many of their games have a very "European" feel to them, which makes sense because Blue Byte was formed in 1998 in <span style="font-family: inherit;">M<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14px;">ü</span>lheim</span>, Germany by Thomas Hertzler and Lothar Schmitt. Like many European developers, a lot of their early games were developed for the Amiga system and later ported to MSDOS. Their first big success was the turn-based strategy game <i>Battle Isle </i>in 1991, which spawned sequels all the way up to 2013.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9oFeMOWGbLeb9MI1eEVP_GK2zRMXhEW59v3VriBr21eXNjBBffJrOpJpFO6iEFBZppwXhwN0HmeYLTSZT6dtXTWcAPM6Kwj4HgZLzBTnqNvxoKMEXys_4jWbOGkHO_Eubjrr7PentjCdd/s1600/battleisle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9oFeMOWGbLeb9MI1eEVP_GK2zRMXhEW59v3VriBr21eXNjBBffJrOpJpFO6iEFBZppwXhwN0HmeYLTSZT6dtXTWcAPM6Kwj4HgZLzBTnqNvxoKMEXys_4jWbOGkHO_Eubjrr7PentjCdd/s640/battleisle.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Battle Isle (1991)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>The Settlers </i>was released in 1993 for Amiga and later in 1994 it was ported to MSDOS. In my home country of the USA, it was released by SSI as <i>Serf City: Life is Feudal, </i>which I've never heard of somehow. The original <i>Settlers </i>was designed and programmed primarily by Volker Wertich, who wanted to make a city management game like <i>Populous </i>or <i>SimCity, </i>but with more emphasis on supply and demand and production of goods using natural resources. The game was a massive undertaking for the still relatively small development team at Blue Byte. In particular, the way each individual citizen interacts with the game world and economy required the computer to process a huge amount of data. This kind of economic simulation was a new concept for a computer game and it required 2 years of work for Wertich and his team to finish and release the game.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxsJOMfak_Cm1gQd1s8yk9DpQhQ57nhq9bPJ3mxdUANyli9GKsLMjCW0W-_bhrKZxwVY2Ios0Av7C2vpPpJD5Oe6-9DWAKW6YPkhSRyIsXY6PS135TGbVaeTh0bFD-2ytJurgkN5BXk2pG/s1600/serfcity.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxsJOMfak_Cm1gQd1s8yk9DpQhQ57nhq9bPJ3mxdUANyli9GKsLMjCW0W-_bhrKZxwVY2Ios0Av7C2vpPpJD5Oe6-9DWAKW6YPkhSRyIsXY6PS135TGbVaeTh0bFD-2ytJurgkN5BXk2pG/s640/serfcity.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Settlers/Serf City (1993)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<i>The Settlers/Serf City </i>received great reviews on its release for both Amiga and DOS, but another programmer, Thomas H<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14px;">ä</span>user, had some ideas on how to make it even better. <span style="font-family: inherit;">H<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14px;">ä</span>user</span> worked on the QA team for <i>The Settlers </i>and his list of ideas and improvements lead the Blue Byte management to make him the project lead for <i>The Settlers II. </i>The team was still small, 4 people, and <span style="font-family: inherit;">H<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14px;">ä</span>user </span>did most of the concept work and much of the actual programming. Wertich decided to step back and was not involved with the sequel. In an interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun, <span style="font-family: inherit;">H<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14px;">ä</span>user</span> states that he can't recall the specific improvements he wanted to make to the original game, but there was likely a lot of interface and player feedback issues he wanted to improve upon. In the same interview, he recounts the long working days (20 hour days!) and crazy rush in the last few weeks to get the game ready and out the door. Here is a <a href="https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2007/10/12/making-of-settlers-ii-veni-vidi-vici/">link to the interview.</a><br />
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Much like its predecessor, the second game was a financial and critical success when released in 1996. It received a lot of magazine awards, including PCGamer's Editors Choice Award among others. The success lead to an expansion being released within a year, called the <i>Mission CD</i>, and a Gold Edition being released in 1997. The game is so well regarded still that it received a modern remake by Blue Byte in 2006 titled <i>The Settlers II: 10th Anniversary Edition. </i>Many people consider <i>The Settlers II </i>to be the best version of the series, and the best city management game of all time. Blue Byte went on to use the same formula to create the excellent <i>Anno </i>series of games, which includes one of my favorite games of all time: <i>Anno 1404. </i><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSMORdmLNdCej_brSpfQEO1ce7GEvbuMCoeaJMCMiqQoxVuOptF2mUtArCXgXthd3qt6EO9zbMg-DF60UXF7t3qZCLVNrkQRDP_HAKt68kKGDXxptG9K6tIygUfZEx9Gec4eGry2nWOwzC/s1600/set10th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1280" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSMORdmLNdCej_brSpfQEO1ce7GEvbuMCoeaJMCMiqQoxVuOptF2mUtArCXgXthd3qt6EO9zbMg-DF60UXF7t3qZCLVNrkQRDP_HAKt68kKGDXxptG9K6tIygUfZEx9Gec4eGry2nWOwzC/s640/set10th.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Settlers II: 10th Anniversary Edition</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i><br /></i>
Given the reputation of <i>The Settlers II </i>and the pedigree of the studio that made it, I am looking forward to playing it, so let's get started!<br />
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<h2>
<u>- The Game -</u></h2>
The game installed and starts up with DOSBox without any issues. After the title screen, the intro plays introducing me to the world I'll be playing in. In it, a captain and his crew are sailing a ship across the "Sea of Storms", which right away sets off alarm bells in my head. It would seem prudent to avoid any body of water with the word "Storms" in it. But maybe he didn't have any choice in the matter. I learn that this must be a Roman citizen since he mentions the Caesar Augustus in the monologue, so that puts the time frame around 0 AD. The ship is not that big, it looks like an early Carrack or something similar.<br />
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As the name of this particular sea suggests, a storm soon sweeps over the boat and leaves the crew shipwrecked on an island.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlti8Nv9yeAQXlFbzOSHD6EfIwHi9KH8siOimJT79MGIuJYvktr3o6Gd9vDcX60hyYV36AE_GCTJ4jvXMHib_ltISgnwoydF2ZpiZv-dtW6egU9D_rHvHBw4h0206QIPuGjTjMi5xGC57I/s1600/s2intro.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlti8Nv9yeAQXlFbzOSHD6EfIwHi9KH8siOimJT79MGIuJYvktr3o6Gd9vDcX60hyYV36AE_GCTJ4jvXMHib_ltISgnwoydF2ZpiZv-dtW6egU9D_rHvHBw4h0206QIPuGjTjMi5xGC57I/s640/s2intro.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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As the island seems to be away from any regular trade routes, the captain guesses they are going to be here for a while. Luckily, the island looks lush and bountiful so they had better make the best of it and start rebuilding society. This is a surprisingly upbeat attitude for a recently shipwrecked crew, I like it. Then I am taken back to the main menu:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghagRlFrfrDiEFdV-ud6NqwCT_CCs9FfbPgWczl0zObMTMJLfslTNDNxTavp-1Ieyp8FUDx03fJeC5qLQ4kGObU4puWpXXFgBA0NsdHilVMTNg472d9qOhRIrcZhvj7O2gGVqvec93QLme/s1600/s2_000.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghagRlFrfrDiEFdV-ud6NqwCT_CCs9FfbPgWczl0zObMTMJLfslTNDNxTavp-1Ieyp8FUDx03fJeC5qLQ4kGObU4puWpXXFgBA0NsdHilVMTNg472d9qOhRIrcZhvj7O2gGVqvec93QLme/s640/s2_000.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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The music is a nice MIDI beat that is very reminiscent of DOS games of the era, with a nice imperial/colonial theme to it. I'll be playing the Roman Campaign since that is the more traditional campaign that should ease me into the game and it will continue the story of my poor shipwrecked crew. The Options menu just gives me the choice of resolution, I'll be using the highest resolution which is 1024x768. When I tried the game before, this didn't make the menus too intolerably small. Alright, let's get started on the Roman Campaign.<br />
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The first screen shows a landscape with a headquarters tent in the middle of the screen. Right away, a notification pops up as the "Diary of Octavius", which is my character as the captain of the ship. I won't repeat all of the notifications, but I'll type out this one just to give a feel for the instructions during this early game period:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Fourth Day After Shipwreck.<br />
Yesterday all the survivors met in order to discuss the situation. Because there is no prospect of an early rescue, we decided to settle on this foreign island. The items salvaged from the ship will be a great help to us. The most important thing is to make use of the raw materials on the island in order to establish a settlement. We urgently need accommodation for a woodcutter, carpenter, and stonemason.<br />
Build accommodation for a woodcutter, carpenter, and stonemason.</blockquote>
This is very reminiscent of games like <i>Tropico </i>or <i>Anno 1404, </i>so I like what I see so far since I really like those games.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZOZ8LkJtAx2K7RQKPv52BE3ArjlPvBR9Xve2MUvEfndLrEOvALQfItZRUPPgpKpGfP4rbNg40yg5QBuN7fHCuVemrfNR7am_6WpLyNbMGKly3VPPgcvOaFo5h6s9F-EJzBnWeq27IkASW/s1600/s2_003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZOZ8LkJtAx2K7RQKPv52BE3ArjlPvBR9Xve2MUvEfndLrEOvALQfItZRUPPgpKpGfP4rbNg40yg5QBuN7fHCuVemrfNR7am_6WpLyNbMGKly3VPPgcvOaFo5h6s9F-EJzBnWeq27IkASW/s640/s2_003.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My diary is very detailed</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The gameplay is superficially similar to a lot of city builders/RTS/management games. I have a starting building, and from that I need to branch out and build up a thriving city. In this game, all building must be connected by roads, and different plots of land support different levels of buildings. Pressing SPACEBAR brings up yellow icons representing what can be built where: <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVfN339M9mESB1ngmVBYOgLh0xcjQjsQxrhReL2AzIZRziczj9hB51sRknE8oSiAyQCC55tsR0OVN2ko9Yo4bpLfovyM2yKe3WLQyKaBZ3XlMsWvJe5a7P4e2FZa550Q96axCwJ7NExREn/s1600/s2_004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVfN339M9mESB1ngmVBYOgLh0xcjQjsQxrhReL2AzIZRziczj9hB51sRknE8oSiAyQCC55tsR0OVN2ko9Yo4bpLfovyM2yKe3WLQyKaBZ3XlMsWvJe5a7P4e2FZa550Q96axCwJ7NExREn/s640/s2_004.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Places where I can build on the map</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The yellow flags indicate areas where I cannot build a building, but I can build a road. The flags also represent a critical part of <i>The Settlers II's </i>gameplay: supply chains. This was something I was completely unfamiliar with before starting this game, but I think its a great idea and it seems to work. First, some historical context. During the Roman Republic and Roman Empire, the government set up way stations every 20-30 miles along major roadways. These waystations provided a place where travellers could rest and some even had Inns and food markets. But most critically, they always had a horse farrier and stable to allow approved travellers to change to a fresh horse. This was usually only for use by government agents, mail, and other important individuals, but it allowed for incredibly quick travel across the Empire.<br />
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The flags in <i>The Settlers </i>work the same way. Placing a flag on a road creates a location where a citizen can pass along whatever they are carrying to the next courier, much like a relay race. Citizens station themselves at the appropriate locations. This greatly speeds up the movement of goods along the roadways and is necessary to have a functioning city.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqnh95breDeJscettGPf-9ccwV1Wns-ldg7XydeZ0-GejBCFwY46RFrsfxFRePRYT8QDDTRPTv-UR-zPTLttU8hPO2VT28LgCy79P_GHnxqMpoy9LHim_k-PlFXzf0XagWFZ4NVYSSxi_d/s1600/s2_012.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqnh95breDeJscettGPf-9ccwV1Wns-ldg7XydeZ0-GejBCFwY46RFrsfxFRePRYT8QDDTRPTv-UR-zPTLttU8hPO2VT28LgCy79P_GHnxqMpoy9LHim_k-PlFXzf0XagWFZ4NVYSSxi_d/s640/s2_012.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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In the above screenshot, you can see the blue flags I've placed along my roadways and the settlers stationed between each flag to do their part in the relay of goods. I can't tell if I have a limit on how many settlers I have, but so far it doesn't seem like it. Also notice in the top left corner is an "Observation window", which zooms in a follows a specific settler. Right now it is following a geologist that I called in to survey the area around the northernmost blue flag to try to find iron, coal, gold, or granite deposits for mining. These ores are only found on hill terrain like the area where my geologist is headed.<br />
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My city is surrounded by a border that limits where I can build. I can expand my border by building a barracks, which is what I am doing at the very northernmost tip of my border right now. So far I have built a woodcutter and forester (to replenish my trees) to the left of my central tend, a sawmill to the south of my main tent, and a quarry to the southeast. I love the little animation of my settlers going about their jobs. The woodcutter goes out and chops down trees and hauls the logs back to the road to be transported to my main tent, the stonemason goes and pickaxes at the rocks to mine rock. All supplies go back to my central tent or go a building that requires them. So right now the logs chopped down by my woodcutter are going to the sawmill, and the boards produced by the sawmill are going into storage at my central tent. Good stuff.<br />
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The different building icons represent how large of a building can be built on a specific location. Small buildings can be built on the small house locations, medium buildings on the medium sized icon, and the biggest buildings on large castle-looking icon. Another important thing to point out is that building roads and buildings takes up space from the surrounding building areas. So if I build a road too close to a large building area, that large building area will be reduced to a small building area, or may be eliminated completely. So it takes careful planning to plan out where I want my roads and buildings to go, because I end up sacrificing potential build areas whenever I build a new road or building.<br />
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Whew, OK with all of that out of the way, lets continue on our journey with our settlers.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjMQZomoHJ4miVkIHVsxwMv5KKUjaIJ4ff91jUOqe9072qnzGyklzfhwr0M_utKp3pvLx18Md5qytjiESrqinYmCX2vUwQvORQjtodI7A1abOPOdri04h9JLBBrOIkw4zVrQrlWzh1GWYT/s1600/s2_013.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjMQZomoHJ4miVkIHVsxwMv5KKUjaIJ4ff91jUOqe9072qnzGyklzfhwr0M_utKp3pvLx18Md5qytjiESrqinYmCX2vUwQvORQjtodI7A1abOPOdri04h9JLBBrOIkw4zVrQrlWzh1GWYT/s640/s2_013.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I need to build an iron mine, smelter, and armory next.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Here is the game in action. Here you can see I've completed a barracks and my borders expand as soon as a soldier, who I am following with the Observation window, enters. There's not much action, but it is fun to watch all the little settlers go about their day. Also notice how I can move windows and menus around the screen, that is super convenient. Also nice is the fact that I can hover my mouse over some items and get a description of the item.<br />
<br />
The GIF looks sped up because I deleted every other frame to try to get the size down to a more reasonable size. Since I'm playing the game at 1024x768, the GIFs are quite a bit larger than my previous games, so I'm resizing the window and cutting out every other frame to make them smaller. It went from 40MB to 8MB.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSX8fzn0ibWtoBVDuKfwmef_QOc0M__nYe2W4i9uAh4aWhE8HjNZmtM_IFdZUqypi17NM1y-XIHMXEPkuyfg2xh9R84ySEFgjlFTfeahyphenhyphenvxGh8PqzA82zh12k1Ep_xpVE06jvZ6-3GTEvi/s1600/s2gif1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="548" height="470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSX8fzn0ibWtoBVDuKfwmef_QOc0M__nYe2W4i9uAh4aWhE8HjNZmtM_IFdZUqypi17NM1y-XIHMXEPkuyfg2xh9R84ySEFgjlFTfeahyphenhyphenvxGh8PqzA82zh12k1Ep_xpVE06jvZ6-3GTEvi/s640/s2gif1.gif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Super speed settlers!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My headquarters tent is where I can check on my supplies and settlers. Here is what my supplies look like right now:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4O8JdCohD2csN9k5c5jo87G4SmxqQ0367yNJmPoaz9j143aggu5pw73aEa1oRCk4pwHhOCgY_Bl0UfQfukPLbcYS0U8jRlzz0_jJXuVJsoTVoYs_1TvK1bpUbSos6Fnx6yQhM36k4kLSk/s1600/s2_016.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4O8JdCohD2csN9k5c5jo87G4SmxqQ0367yNJmPoaz9j143aggu5pw73aEa1oRCk4pwHhOCgY_Bl0UfQfukPLbcYS0U8jRlzz0_jJXuVJsoTVoYs_1TvK1bpUbSos6Fnx6yQhM36k4kLSk/s640/s2_016.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My supply situation</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I have 0 logs and boards, so I built another woodcutter. I also have 0 iron ore, but I just finished building an iron mine that you can see right above the supply window. Also notice the mining symbols to the north indicating places where I can build mines.<br />
<br />
There is also a menu with all kinds of different statistics for my settlement. I won't go into all the details, but here is a graph for my current population:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkk-anald-DiW-z3Kwn9iyeRVc3TAcH-ZE6chi3M7IkAJ9t_o0sYPcEMX6Bek-g_0ZXnf83bSe4XztFGZB052oCPssBmgR0Jlh490sixOGVbGopyR_Bn936f0mlcp8NGz-at4CEwMFeFv7/s1600/s2_018.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkk-anald-DiW-z3Kwn9iyeRVc3TAcH-ZE6chi3M7IkAJ9t_o0sYPcEMX6Bek-g_0ZXnf83bSe4XztFGZB052oCPssBmgR0Jlh490sixOGVbGopyR_Bn936f0mlcp8NGz-at4CEwMFeFv7/s640/s2_018.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My country has 489 people</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Sometimes the road building in this game can be really annoying since I can only build roads where there is space for a flag. Look to the left of the statistics screen in the above screenshot. I am currently building a hunter in that plot of land, but the only way to connect it to the rest of my road system was to have that crazy look of a road going all the way out to the beach to the west then back again to connect to a road system way up to the north.<br />
<br />
Also, here is a good example of how a building can take up a lot of potential space for other buildings:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Bmumx6wQMchpk4Tc180hQyvhxLBHLbMEh-IucoUvnBJyVT8re11BL__zoIdLlc6no6cDmE03lwTPpHiBjEppGySlxawu65iqanrXznfxJ7lRR2yEJ-pxvln-gfIueasejuXMUL3HkVF8/s1600/s2_020.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Bmumx6wQMchpk4Tc180hQyvhxLBHLbMEh-IucoUvnBJyVT8re11BL__zoIdLlc6no6cDmE03lwTPpHiBjEppGySlxawu65iqanrXznfxJ7lRR2yEJ-pxvln-gfIueasejuXMUL3HkVF8/s640/s2_020.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I am going to build a large farm where my hand cursor is just to the right of the center of the screen</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4nmRn7O7sry5LKaqNc1ncL9NqqReXLSW2UzIz6YMeZQlHch36AT2ZktTwTkeOjQFJphUd1Mxx7yUsv0PDnugUkcjq_jHOBH623OpyzmQZsI3rSY4tjYdTF7DHtRFddGhmrl403w2iG00E/s1600/s2_021.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4nmRn7O7sry5LKaqNc1ncL9NqqReXLSW2UzIz6YMeZQlHch36AT2ZktTwTkeOjQFJphUd1Mxx7yUsv0PDnugUkcjq_jHOBH623OpyzmQZsI3rSY4tjYdTF7DHtRFddGhmrl403w2iG00E/s640/s2_021.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at all the space it took up!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
That farm took up the space of potentially 8 or 9 other buildings. That shows how I really need to plan ahead so I don't build myself into a corner by using up all my real estate.<br />
<br />
After some more building projects, here is my supply situation:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFJjgTxsbkvW1XNibDapv5hIL9f1InUv1-DbMnbohtgfjTqPNyftkEWsKnbMe_GkpAnycdlO1TyEk5z2exe6E4-4be5YLlTe9lemWAo70C7_aRUUViVpUdZ3ncysfS5yhlPedHCwvPWnSJ/s1600/s2_022.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFJjgTxsbkvW1XNibDapv5hIL9f1InUv1-DbMnbohtgfjTqPNyftkEWsKnbMe_GkpAnycdlO1TyEk5z2exe6E4-4be5YLlTe9lemWAo70C7_aRUUViVpUdZ3ncysfS5yhlPedHCwvPWnSJ/s640/s2_022.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm out of food and still out of wood</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I've run out of food, but I don't know what the significance of that is. It doesn't seem to be affecting my settlers at all, they are still going about their business, so I'm not sure what impact running out of food has on gameplay. I would assume its bad, since most people need food to live. Maybe it decreases production?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpDB9PYJdm5UwwiyWxbumvohDCwuGD3BrscSZXK7xIQyviYX_HV0f-LcOhpWQiVtnfb8bGtF2Nq_NAYbia-1rObjnotLcSzV15V2vdNV1nGVFmXSxmUGC48paiRplgvSMDW5r6LNMYYQJN/s1600/s2_028.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpDB9PYJdm5UwwiyWxbumvohDCwuGD3BrscSZXK7xIQyviYX_HV0f-LcOhpWQiVtnfb8bGtF2Nq_NAYbia-1rObjnotLcSzV15V2vdNV1nGVFmXSxmUGC48paiRplgvSMDW5r6LNMYYQJN/s640/s2_028.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Checking out my gold mine</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I see some greyed out fish, bread, and meat when I look at some buildings, so I think that indicates its requirements to be working at high efficiency. But my gold mine above has none of its requirements, and it is still producing, so I don't know.<br />
<br />
I've expanded off to the west and found a lake and some dinosaur bones. I've built a mill and baker so I can make bread, a pig farm to make pigs, and a mint to create gold coins. So far everything is going smoothly. It's a fun and pretty relaxing game. It sure does go slowly though. If I have more than two constructions projects going on at the same time, it can take a long time to finish a building. There's probably a speed up key but I don't know what it is yet.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp1-RwYpI73cy8Dn8p9zXqY_rCVRAOa9CqaSG21HyoMa0JikG4tHlC3bhKmIrJw3WcNi5XJVJrNqj1tPHU7pZT_uAMd1oXc566zzRlULUNEWDR46kPSdceNUD1jsltcv-sTtGLgt44r5aq/s1600/s2_030.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp1-RwYpI73cy8Dn8p9zXqY_rCVRAOa9CqaSG21HyoMa0JikG4tHlC3bhKmIrJw3WcNi5XJVJrNqj1tPHU7pZT_uAMd1oXc566zzRlULUNEWDR46kPSdceNUD1jsltcv-sTtGLgt44r5aq/s640/s2_030.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Burning down my forester</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I decided to burn down my forester's hut because he was deciding to plant a forest right in some prime real estate where I wanted to build more buildings. I haven't figured out how to remove trees or direct where I want the forester to plant trees, so it seemed like the easiest thing to do was to burn down his home. Poor guy.<br />
<br />
I've found something interesting:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMxEuEEMFKxGPNVzme_Y9WevdtQ_6ON-ZayTJJIbnzUKB12NAQjz-hevv3wfcHQI7NUizfDhSjdVOsrfzgKAEz7zM7fomRbfUfcTdS0XyeGKvWQT7cVnef1PBI7tvYXTMCt7WtKkjqYbui/s1600/s2_031.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMxEuEEMFKxGPNVzme_Y9WevdtQ_6ON-ZayTJJIbnzUKB12NAQjz-hevv3wfcHQI7NUizfDhSjdVOsrfzgKAEz7zM7fomRbfUfcTdS0XyeGKvWQT7cVnef1PBI7tvYXTMCt7WtKkjqYbui/s640/s2_031.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
It looks like a stone arch which, if I remember correctly from my first trial run in the game, is a portal to another island. I'll build a barracks near it so I can get it within my borders:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDzOLZ0tQ3b2POTx59CqNI2lAmmSv0LTttenaTQSwmNj8boNNEw8RcxLkfQe2K8_POkr5ofjuylUwYS9Vd_kOPSEjMi4NjqY2a65wFQ_nvgWmxhSdWF_HpF0SHbD6L0yWrwE3_fKp1xXOz/s1600/s2_032.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDzOLZ0tQ3b2POTx59CqNI2lAmmSv0LTttenaTQSwmNj8boNNEw8RcxLkfQe2K8_POkr5ofjuylUwYS9Vd_kOPSEjMi4NjqY2a65wFQ_nvgWmxhSdWF_HpF0SHbD6L0yWrwE3_fKp1xXOz/s640/s2_032.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
After finishing a barracks to get the gateway in my border, I was prompted with this message:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPtjASKvQGsjdQIN-o1srLe6mto9Gqi8zYLbwSW7BsQmLkD2NL04RXJU7ymCERHteM6C-qOe0F_jAwj96QfqkzrtN5fdLG4mFT8oEvOy16GOinGZB7Hscl91gsFsVQ1vs5AaJT3-PyLwZp/s1600/s2_033.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPtjASKvQGsjdQIN-o1srLe6mto9Gqi8zYLbwSW7BsQmLkD2NL04RXJU7ymCERHteM6C-qOe0F_jAwj96QfqkzrtN5fdLG4mFT8oEvOy16GOinGZB7Hscl91gsFsVQ1vs5AaJT3-PyLwZp/s640/s2_033.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stargate?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When I clicked Enter Gate, my game crashed. But luckily, I can now select the second chapter from the Main Menu, so no progress lost! Let's get going on mission 2!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvXt7O-qxjy1gyQytyrlRGWlYM1UWSgIBm0pSZNzcB-jF6jqxRs5TuXL3CM_O56VcpnSUC0t8zVdaXkd9onmAzKibunuQPuQalrYGYauDGilZwoL4zih2tRqupzDzd8gpBFYYxwVPjxGCg/s1600/s2_034.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvXt7O-qxjy1gyQytyrlRGWlYM1UWSgIBm0pSZNzcB-jF6jqxRs5TuXL3CM_O56VcpnSUC0t8zVdaXkd9onmAzKibunuQPuQalrYGYauDGilZwoL4zih2tRqupzDzd8gpBFYYxwVPjxGCg/s640/s2_034.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
This time I start with a fancy building as my headquarters instead of just a ragged tent. Looks like I need to start by creating a metalworks.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEKxmD9Re4Ats899UC7-Xray7uQp4FhOVC-6LvMmpgtdH48jYEucwwt_xWEHepanA0q9-N8SdukLWecPAhtNIymqDOR5TlRzDRkl4qcVjsxIx1I8mqV4jxOgTjryLa1UKTxH77FqP65bOe/s1600/s2_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEKxmD9Re4Ats899UC7-Xray7uQp4FhOVC-6LvMmpgtdH48jYEucwwt_xWEHepanA0q9-N8SdukLWecPAhtNIymqDOR5TlRzDRkl4qcVjsxIx1I8mqV4jxOgTjryLa1UKTxH77FqP65bOe/s640/s2_001.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My growing city/country</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After a few hours, I've expanded to the north and east. I'm finding the roads to be slightly annoying to lay out, as they tend to eliminate a lot of potential building areas. I guess that is part of the challenge of the game though. Here is an example of how my roads can get pretty convoluted:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxHTbXNXWb5jGdnnUpZ-1X6eC7vdP_2DdKXem0SOb-O4GTmBeynzo4aR8fsePyKRgcXzZqyHZSHeDH1tlxGAwutIHaThXJfOkZOGcLbSbdM7v8CTpfd6gpfW7IsnhBfOVyq9jbvhr8p9-T/s1600/s2_011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxHTbXNXWb5jGdnnUpZ-1X6eC7vdP_2DdKXem0SOb-O4GTmBeynzo4aR8fsePyKRgcXzZqyHZSHeDH1tlxGAwutIHaThXJfOkZOGcLbSbdM7v8CTpfd6gpfW7IsnhBfOVyq9jbvhr8p9-T/s640/s2_011.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at that mess of roads</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Around this point in the game, I came across my first enemy, the Nubians, and received this message:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwnIGOFWtjJBAYqsVV_Wb3z4EJPsbplXXwAFCR1OA6ibT9DHsmI94sKTjbTej3zpLtp9g8tVQHYFgozoKsx0_BtDuMnc8rR_2U-xu_GeWLLoSDXsiAaOC_cn0OAHsfNrFxyHo3JifYIvmw/s1600/s2_012.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwnIGOFWtjJBAYqsVV_Wb3z4EJPsbplXXwAFCR1OA6ibT9DHsmI94sKTjbTej3zpLtp9g8tVQHYFgozoKsx0_BtDuMnc8rR_2U-xu_GeWLLoSDXsiAaOC_cn0OAHsfNrFxyHo3JifYIvmw/s640/s2_012.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Looks like I have to fight my way to their gateway. The only problem is I have no idea how fighting works in this game. I've seen my soldiers march into my barracks, but that's the only fighting unit I've seen. And I don't have direct control over any of my settlers.<br />
<br />
Soon after getting this message, I made the mistake of starting too many construction projects at the same time. I had something like 15 buildings being constructed at once, and my economy slowed to a crawl. I completely ran out of stockpiles of supplies. Instead of cancelling some of the projects, I sat there and let the game run for a few hours until everything got caught up. To make matters worse, I started building a fortress, which is a large building that houses soldiers and expands the borders. Even after most of my buildings have finished, I am still critically low on supplies. I have no wood, lumber, fish, bread, ham, or coal stockpiled. Without the food, I've discovered that my mines don't work very efficiently, and I rely on the mined metals to make iron and weapons. So this could be a problem.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi22k-qLxEQ-fwqKVGBZvkCB7CZn2UNguVsphvU6mrdLi-Hx25iN5bkNSvOEBQHu59VYIy8BQdXVLLz65fHQMWOZTShR9H489-tuASoJ6YT3C4dQsSIzaeJXE4IsJ35bB2xNApanlXt162_/s1600/s2_020.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi22k-qLxEQ-fwqKVGBZvkCB7CZn2UNguVsphvU6mrdLi-Hx25iN5bkNSvOEBQHu59VYIy8BQdXVLLz65fHQMWOZTShR9H489-tuASoJ6YT3C4dQsSIzaeJXE4IsJ35bB2xNApanlXt162_/s640/s2_020.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My border with the Nubians</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>
While I was stuck trying to finish all my support buildings, the Nubians have been busy building guard towers and other offensive looking buildings right on my border. I guess it's time I figure out how to fight these Nubians and find that gateway. I have to say I like some of the Nubian's buildings. One of their buildings is just a giant elephant head.<br />
<br />
While I try to get my economy rolling again, I've decided to try an attack on a Nubian building. I think the way attacking works is that I can only attack enemy military buildings, and only if I have one of my military buildings within a certain distance and my military building has garrisoned troops. Here is my first attack:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyWpgxMalPDIOUyTHyrN2_D1GerYMejqYlqKuW38KaLhSUG6BUvHyMQRVgK3gVtgkQUTPw9AWnLMdqlI6y5q5gHVimsnZqg4k4WEMHtrZy1Ph0eQr6I675HNyVLyjrLW2yKGdlTNVqeIaF/s1600/s2_019.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyWpgxMalPDIOUyTHyrN2_D1GerYMejqYlqKuW38KaLhSUG6BUvHyMQRVgK3gVtgkQUTPw9AWnLMdqlI6y5q5gHVimsnZqg4k4WEMHtrZy1Ph0eQr6I675HNyVLyjrLW2yKGdlTNVqeIaF/s640/s2_019.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My watchtower is fulled garrisoned</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyk7kXSwDkBp_k5WQcI3o4mZ3qcTSywf4kIraVGxdOzUGeTGoPjTlo3JGq9nzu7SygEAocFLIXFOvhD7ll_UaGH4XtaqFzzYiUakGwLW-G9464VR1Y6kuWSq4ew2X6WEEYQt8X6aj5731S/s1600/s2_021.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyk7kXSwDkBp_k5WQcI3o4mZ3qcTSywf4kIraVGxdOzUGeTGoPjTlo3JGq9nzu7SygEAocFLIXFOvhD7ll_UaGH4XtaqFzzYiUakGwLW-G9464VR1Y6kuWSq4ew2X6WEEYQt8X6aj5731S/s640/s2_021.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Attacking the Nubians (look at that elephant head building)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After taking over a Nubian building, I capture it and all Nubian support buildings within the military building's sphere of influence burn down. I think I greatly outclass the Nubians because I completely dominated them in this small attack. Also, notice the different colored swords in my garrison screenshot. Soldiers automatically upgrade if they get gold coins from my mint, and the different colored swords represent different levels of soldier. I've been hoarding gold coins, so many of my soldiers are the highest ranked "general".<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHSf0IutGrJ54Kcy_2JzOfJVZ7n4HhlNpldAr_V6CVkWNLUQaGPG34vaT0fc2YM-QGH3Lx7YiScVKwq2WCc60QVRGswTQaZkpvf1OiphXPZ3WRJW-WmXaBKqUcZfngmzHAb0hyr4GZ_NIe/s1600/s2_022.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHSf0IutGrJ54Kcy_2JzOfJVZ7n4HhlNpldAr_V6CVkWNLUQaGPG34vaT0fc2YM-QGH3Lx7YiScVKwq2WCc60QVRGswTQaZkpvf1OiphXPZ3WRJW-WmXaBKqUcZfngmzHAb0hyr4GZ_NIe/s640/s2_022.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first battle of the Roman/Nubian war</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It was 2 of my generals vs 3 of their tribal-looking warrior. After capturing their watchtower, here is what the map looked like:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPjKPoe9fHVxjlCmP82pjI9kIWX6TZCDehk0kP5p3YUb_Ku6HqcbnhF8mM7cmzBv44QlUFFC90IU-2fEJ59nvyFNrczccqjZW27DBvzkhlY_dwDZfV6-mBmVDUZ5GXNXIlkerMSUf_SAOp/s1600/s2_025.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPjKPoe9fHVxjlCmP82pjI9kIWX6TZCDehk0kP5p3YUb_Ku6HqcbnhF8mM7cmzBv44QlUFFC90IU-2fEJ59nvyFNrczccqjZW27DBvzkhlY_dwDZfV6-mBmVDUZ5GXNXIlkerMSUf_SAOp/s640/s2_025.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All your Nubian buildings are belong to us</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So that went smoothly. After this first battle, I pretty much steamrolled a bunch of Nubian outposts until I had conquered a good 4/5 of the map. Here is another devastating outcome:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja6YSFoyZE843sgxLbAJe-NBTSlBT9xqfgOqNa3qd0z9Rc4Eo5XJwjMklNqGB_7L89TTq-KA81e9Qg0kPrV7w93pVoN-9lS2Pb-NHCzQ-MLPtn9AsPWqt27NLtpdKnhp6xFdR2wP94ugaY/s1600/s2_031.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja6YSFoyZE843sgxLbAJe-NBTSlBT9xqfgOqNa3qd0z9Rc4Eo5XJwjMklNqGB_7L89TTq-KA81e9Qg0kPrV7w93pVoN-9lS2Pb-NHCzQ-MLPtn9AsPWqt27NLtpdKnhp6xFdR2wP94ugaY/s640/s2_031.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I've discovered some important concepts regarding the economy in the game. I built up a bunch of military buildings like watchtowers and guard posts, but I realized I wasn't producing any more soldiers. I read in the manual that new soldiers require weapons and beer, but my brewery wasn't producing any beer. Beer comes from grain and water. I had 2 farms producing a lot of grain and well producing enough water, but I also had some mills and a pig farm that was using my grain. I had to go into a distribution menu and give my breweries priority for the grain, which is a nice feature. After I did this, I started pumping out soldiers at a high level. <br />
<br />
I also discovered that natural resources like mines and fisheries eventually run out of their resource. I realized I wasn't producing enough iron, which requires iron ore and coal, and I discovered a lot of mines had run out of metal to mine. So I had to send out my geologist to look for more good mining spots. The same went for my fisheries. I did find plenty of gold for gold mines, but iron and coal were harder to find.<br />
<br />
I have always seemed to be running out of food and I'm not sure how to remedy that. My pig farm doesn't produce that much ham, nor does my baker seem to produce much bread. Maybe I am supposed to build more bakeries, but I have 2 of them and that, along with the breweries and pig farm, uses up all of my grain. So maybe I just need to ramp of my economic and resource-producing buildings and build more of them. I'm getting by right now, but it just takes a long time to build buildings. <br />
<br />
I created a hodgepodge compilation map of what my city/country looks like after a few hours of play to give a general idea of how I expanded and developed:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_yHlSxZKjadi62hhyphenhyphenwIrJhtrtHtCOycywD76WMRZIpy36GAQNIO-ZK7dW-Nz35Kq_88y44jd2h_31iL6-sNqBPiRUEbBv_3vx2KhOkrsXFtNWYTERNd9JHLO_Mdo5dccHOE3n4f5K4Y8W/s1600/fullcity.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1146" data-original-width="1536" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_yHlSxZKjadi62hhyphenhyphenwIrJhtrtHtCOycywD76WMRZIpy36GAQNIO-ZK7dW-Nz35Kq_88y44jd2h_31iL6-sNqBPiRUEbBv_3vx2KhOkrsXFtNWYTERNd9JHLO_Mdo5dccHOE3n4f5K4Y8W/s640/fullcity.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My full city/country</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Nubians are confined to the upper right corner, I've got them surrounded. I like this big map version. <br />
<br />
I also discovered how to zoom in:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpfWI251vMX1k-Oq_c6PcRnfUyzN7nqT4iKumAkTtl8ZECXK2DBZHSdrqwk1TLey8p9vaKShGcKopL4u_FCO26CAg6ENk1IbrpkbEGcJtRYH-7QYvlR7qCl6STVVIrDDO5ulEMTQQ7vIjF/s1600/s2_052.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpfWI251vMX1k-Oq_c6PcRnfUyzN7nqT4iKumAkTtl8ZECXK2DBZHSdrqwk1TLey8p9vaKShGcKopL4u_FCO26CAg6ENk1IbrpkbEGcJtRYH-7QYvlR7qCl6STVVIrDDO5ulEMTQQ7vIjF/s640/s2_052.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The Nubians are now limited to just a small area around their headquarters, and its time for me to attack. I've built a bunch of military buildings within range of their headquarters, so I can have a whopping 7 soldiers assault their last stronghold at one. It will be a slaughter. Here it is in action, zoomed in:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9z3ai6imhBmRlfCKfS3IW3Sw4sX16NmE4ujaoCP7KEd664oonbZjEQizhxG48UJoVILoQFCQND3LKC1LBhbWsCpmsNac9fG71z1dZPcdi3ibGwnIS4v9cxGnb5ydd2KdPTMk7Li4i4e8J/s1600/s2_054.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9z3ai6imhBmRlfCKfS3IW3Sw4sX16NmE4ujaoCP7KEd664oonbZjEQizhxG48UJoVILoQFCQND3LKC1LBhbWsCpmsNac9fG71z1dZPcdi3ibGwnIS4v9cxGnb5ydd2KdPTMk7Li4i4e8J/s640/s2_054.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My cinematic final battle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There was only one Nubian to eliminate and I was able to take control of and destroy their headquarters. But after I did, something...strange happened:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8sSyid4NGjig4te8XLHJFYmeqJIlLpinNJMW2X53AQ2KQ1y8MZ9r5UjfqcIrZ9_wc0d7MbLjYoVyJhpg9-wO1wyiOJo7wDihMl92vyCRECRwMOTGsKNWJ97kwLytgc0-vOnqNsENvr8KY/s1600/s2_055.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8sSyid4NGjig4te8XLHJFYmeqJIlLpinNJMW2X53AQ2KQ1y8MZ9r5UjfqcIrZ9_wc0d7MbLjYoVyJhpg9-wO1wyiOJo7wDihMl92vyCRECRwMOTGsKNWJ97kwLytgc0-vOnqNsENvr8KY/s640/s2_055.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nubians! Nubians everywhere!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Destroying their headquarters released every single citizen of theirs all at once! All of a sudden there were 100 Nubians walking around the map, it actually slowed my PC down a bit. It also made me laugh out loud because it looked so ridiculous. But I loved it. After this I shows a message indicating I had found the gateway:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQEarj8zYJ1d9cb2oeR84ryoegjDCU_zlzM2NObsTJ8BUCKnlR9E_T2869e4_4aDpqbrjrTo_syga0QG0TzlTC5mjpGSCFMq-UPaOBh5ds-u5FTTjmiCqMIqyg4PsT1u2SeC9S04-ke2Qg/s1600/s2_056.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQEarj8zYJ1d9cb2oeR84ryoegjDCU_zlzM2NObsTJ8BUCKnlR9E_T2869e4_4aDpqbrjrTo_syga0QG0TzlTC5mjpGSCFMq-UPaOBh5ds-u5FTTjmiCqMIqyg4PsT1u2SeC9S04-ke2Qg/s640/s2_056.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ending the mission</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So here's the thing: I'm going to wrap up my playthrough of <i>The Settlers II </i>now that I finished this mission. It's not that I'm not having fun with the game, I think it is great and I'm still enjoying playing it. The problem is that I don't think it's a very interesting game to write about. I've played the game for a few hours now, and not a lot happens to make things interesting to talk about. There are long periods of just building up the economy and expanding the road systems, which doesn't make for very interesting stories. So after finishing the first 2 missions of the campaign and playing the game for around 8 hours, I feel comfortable calling it a day. But damn is the game fun and addicting.<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- Review -</u></span></h2>
</div>
<div>
Even though I quit <i>The Settlers II </i>after only the second mission, I still think the game is great and I may even keep playing it off and on after I moved on to my next game for this website. Much like <i>Ascendancy, </i>it is a game that I tend to think about when going about my day not in front of my computer. I find myself thinking about strategies of expansion and how to improve my economy or what new buildings the next missions might unlock. And to me, that is the hallmark of a great strategy game, a game that gets you thinking about actual "strategy" even when you aren't playing the game. It is an addictive and genuinely fun game to play, even it tends to drag a bit while waiting for the economy to catch up to your expansion. </div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
<i>The Settlers II </i>is a surprisingly modern-feeling game and I can see the impact it had on future city-building games. The interface is pretty intuitive and should be familiar to anyone who has played these kinds of games. I always appreciate when an interface allows the user to hover the mouse over an item to see a description of it. The graphics, while typical for the mid 90s, are colorful and fun and it is easy to see the differences between the different buildings. I also enjoyed little animations of idle settlers. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The interplay between natural resources and production is very reminiscent of the <i>Tropico </i>and <i>Anno </i>games, which makes sense since Blue Byte created the <i>Anno </i>games. It was gratifying for me to set my distribution of grain to favor the breweries and see new soldiers get produced as a result. This gave me a sense of really having good control over the economy, instead of it being some abstract layer that doesn't affect gameplay. And although I was annoyed that my mines and fisheries ran out of resources, I soon realized that this adds a critical sense of urgency and creativity in how I expanded my city. I could not just sit back and turtle away around my resources hoard since they were eventually going to dry up. It forces you to think about how you expand and plan ahead. The same principle applies for the limited space available around each military building that expands the boarders and the space roads and other buildings take up. Expansion is absolutely necessary and turtling is not a viable option for the most part.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Not everything is perfect with the game though. I got pretty bored during the middle part of the levels while I waited for larger buildings to finish. Sometimes I found myself browsing the internet for 10-15 minutes waiting for a farm or bunch of mines to finish construction. It also seems like it was relatively easy to get myself into a hole where I was running out of certain resources and was not able to dig myself back out. I seemed to perpetually low on food and coal, but that could be my poor understanding and planning of the economy when I started the missions. In fact, this is the more likely explanation.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The combat is also kind of obtuse or abstract. It was difficult to know which of my buildings were going to provide soldiers to attach their buildings when i opted to attack. Sometimes it seemed like I had plenty of soldiers in a building within range of their building, yet I could not get any other them to attack. It would have been nice to have a little more feedback regarding combat.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But on the whole the game is really, really fun and I can see why it so well regarded. I wish I would have played this game when I was younger, but at least I can play it now. And I think that's what I'm going to do right now.</div>
<div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhOgCg9NzbUvJiLAa58E1z3ERvyyWSOAXR-4ftPC8kTVk-tNFfkYRXPQMZwge-l1g0AGM7DUGVH7PXYuezU9kRYVaDvxbubaydJlNDjYSxq8p6bRBn3ec2D3DwyX5TYvy25c2KQscJw5R/s1600/DRAHKRIwc2render.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="264" data-original-width="1237" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhOgCg9NzbUvJiLAa58E1z3ERvyyWSOAXR-4ftPC8kTVk-tNFfkYRXPQMZwge-l1g0AGM7DUGVH7PXYuezU9kRYVaDvxbubaydJlNDjYSxq8p6bRBn3ec2D3DwyX5TYvy25c2KQscJw5R/s640/DRAHKRIwc2render.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069718226803277447.post-77663244735789158082018-03-19T16:58:00.002-07:002018-03-19T16:58:50.361-07:00Metaltech: Earthsiege (1994)<div class="separator tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipUGAikU3Bnht9sqmUwG9bw-HSxaNabKE7AgAwwgWJb_uIE_x3t4gnMV-ZnCfksbaPze0Eykh-9fJKWq9ioUP-CM67t6dNhqD6P2vTv0hdQ58ZJ_V1Io3b-ZR5I-Uf_pVQTqQCOhoIdH5I/s1600/esbox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipUGAikU3Bnht9sqmUwG9bw-HSxaNabKE7AgAwwgWJb_uIE_x3t4gnMV-ZnCfksbaPze0Eykh-9fJKWq9ioUP-CM67t6dNhqD6P2vTv0hdQ58ZJ_V1Io3b-ZR5I-Uf_pVQTqQCOhoIdH5I/s400/esbox.jpg" width="312" /></a></div>
<br />
Date: 1994<br />
Developer: Dynamix<br />
Publisher: Sierra On-line<br />
<br />
System Requirements:<br />
- 386DX/33MHz<br />
- 4MB RAM<br />
- 27MB HDD<br />
- MSDOS 5.0<br />
- VGA Capable Video Card<br />
<br />
Where to purchase?<br />
<br />
- It is FREE! Hi-Rez Studios, the owners of the Tribes (and Metaltech) IPs have released all the old games in these series as free downloads.<br />
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- <a href="https://www.tribesuniverse.com/">Download links</a><br />
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For my next game, I'm moving on from the 4X genre but I'm sticking with a scifi themed game. I'm going to be playing <i>Metaltech: Earthsiege </i>by Dynamix, a giant robot mech sim game. I messed around with this game a bit when it originally came out and a friend of mine had a copy, but I never progressed beyond the first or second mission. I remember thinking this game was the best thing I had ever seen when I originally played it as a teenager, so I'm curious to see how it has aged. When compared to the relatively simple games I had been playing at the time such as <i>Wolfenstein 3d, Doom, </i>or <i>Rebel Assault, Earthsiege </i>blew me away with its amazing polygonal graphics, FMV-type characters, sound effects, and complex simulation gameplay. I'll give it an honest try and see how far I can make it before I decide to move on to the next game.<br />
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Lets jump into Sierra's <strike>ripoff</strike> competitor to the Battletech universe!<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- Development -</u></span></h2>
<i><br /></i>
Before I get into the development story of <i>Earthsiege, </i>I should clarify what I mean by a giant robot mech sim. In games like <i>Earthsiege, </i>the player pilots a giant robot (mech) as if it was a tank or any other war machine. For the most part, but not always, these mech games lean more towards a simulation than pure action game. While not nearly as complicated as an average flight simulator, mech games often had controls that were complicated enough to warrant needing a keyboard layout reference document and lengthy manual. In another similarity to flight sims, missions typically involve moving to different waypoints on a large map with wingmen in tow. In many of these games, players needed to manage different subsystems of their mech such as energy, shields, radar, communications, and weapons. On this spectrum of complexity, I would say <i>Earthsiege </i>falls on the more complicated end, but we'll see when I get into actually playing it.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Earthsiege </i>came out in 1994, right at the beginning of a new wave of mech games, the most well known of which has to be <i>Mechwarrior 2 </i>in 1995. It would be impossible to talk about the history of mech games without mentioning the <i>Mechwarrior </i>games and the Battletech Universe from which they come. <i>Mechwarrior 2, </i>by Activision, is part of the Battletech Universe by FASA Corporation, the company that really started bringing mech games to western mainstream gamers. Battletech is actually a board game/war game that was started and developed by FASA Corporation way back in 1984. It has a quite detailed and elaborate universe, much like Warhammer 40K, that has been expanded over the decades through novels, comics, games, and even a TV series. To learn more about the Battletech Universe, check out this <a href="http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Main_Page">link to the wiki</a>. The first big release for PC that allowed gamers to pilot a mech from the first person perspective was <i>Mechwarrior </i>in 1989, actually developed by Dynamix when they still had a publishing agreement with Activision. While not the first computer game released in the Battletech Universe (that would be <i>Battletech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception </i>in 1988<i>), </i>it was the first "mech sim" game that was a precursor to the genre of mech games such as <i>Earthsiege </i>and others that we still see today.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJWu-WRCNxMS3ZiUcFWzDjAn6fTxKdenm3hUUVSIvY-h1gxOczYOopiwp6iUbFdCyE4dauciG1KDDg2yWqt56URNrtToIhE5GFwfZIWD2E6ss-xEok3oHqh4gHS1gu1z9NAPeC_FqXFN_o/s1600/mechw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJWu-WRCNxMS3ZiUcFWzDjAn6fTxKdenm3hUUVSIvY-h1gxOczYOopiwp6iUbFdCyE4dauciG1KDDg2yWqt56URNrtToIhE5GFwfZIWD2E6ss-xEok3oHqh4gHS1gu1z9NAPeC_FqXFN_o/s640/mechw.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Mechwarrior </i>(1989)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Dynamix, the developer behind the original <i>Mechwarrior </i>and <i>Earthsiege</i>, was formed in 1984 by Jeff Tunnell and Damon Slye. While I always associated Dynamix with simulator games, but while researching for this post I discovered they developed games in many other different genres. In the mid 1980s, Dynamix also developed games for the C64, Atari ST, and Amiga in addition to PC DOS. Some of their diverse early games from the 1980s and 1990s include <i>ArcticFox </i>(1986 tank sim), <i>Championship Baseball</i> (1986 sports), <i>Deathtrack</i> (1989 action racing), <i>The Adventures of Willy Beamish </i>(1991 adventure), <i>The Incredible Machine </i>(1992 puzzle), <i>Betrayal at Krondor </i>(1993 RPG), and <i>Alien Legacy </i>(1993 strategy) among many other games. A lot of their games are well regarded and some of them, like <i>Red Baron </i>(1990 flight sim) and <i>The Incredible Machine</i> are considered classics. Before this, I didn't know Dynamix has such a diverse development background.<br />
<br />
A lot of their games did lean towards the sim genre, with many tank simulators and flight sims in their development history. I assume their good record of developing sim games is part of the reason why Activision came to them to develop <i>Mechwarrior. </i>I could not find any information on why Dynamix switched from Activision to Sierra On-Line, except a note on Wikipedia stating they did self-publish their games for a short period in between working for the two big publishers. Unfortunately I also could not find any details about the decision to begin working on a direct competitor to the Battletech games. If I were to guess, I would assume Activision still held the rights to Battletech, and Dynamix/Sierra On-Line saw that new computer technology and the current gaming market was perfect for developing a mech sim. Their history developing <i>Mechwarrior </i>gave them more experience in this than any other developer in the field at the time, but without the Battletech license, they had to create a new IP. So instead of creating a "one and done" game, they created the Metaltech Universe which gave them the opportunity to have a similar universe to Battletech that they could develop over the course of multiple games.<br />
<br />
Metaltech was not nearly as successful as Battletech, but it did last for quite a while and eventually became known as the Tribes Universe, named after the successful <i>Tribes </i>series of games. Multiple games were developed using the Metaltech Universe, although a lot of them barely have anything to do with the original universe as developed for <i>Earthsiege. </i>Games such as the side-scroller <i>Hunter Hunted </i>(1996) and the <i>Tribes </i>series of games are technically in the same universe as <i>Earthsiege </i>but there isn't a lot to indicate this. Still, Metaltech has been around for a long time. The last game released that is technically part of this license was <i>Tribes: Ascend </i>in 2012.<br />
<br />
<i>Earthsiege </i>released in 1994 with an expansion pack and speech pack released in 1995. From what I recall, the game received relatively good reviews at the time. The polygonal, texture mapped graphics were pretty revolutionary for the time and, combined with the fantastic sound and animation, made the whole presentation impressive. It sold well enough to warrant 2 sequels (<i>Earthsiege 2 </i>in 1995 and <i>Starsiege </i>in 1998), but unfortunately it was overshadowed by the release of the fantastic <i>Mechwarrior 2 </i>by Activision in 1995.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijqm5buzIi9rIDimPn63lCpmr4mDA4ZKflUSPNyZYzAgEb6a7eKQYAzRn_MvMswM1xC1yJv4Vsx2so3eA6IN7dyQtu64HUmXlwj2eKgZ7JCxkmfFfYH4tXCwTpLUVaaDez67KNA_38rbQR/s1600/esa.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijqm5buzIi9rIDimPn63lCpmr4mDA4ZKflUSPNyZYzAgEb6a7eKQYAzRn_MvMswM1xC1yJv4Vsx2so3eA6IN7dyQtu64HUmXlwj2eKgZ7JCxkmfFfYH4tXCwTpLUVaaDez67KNA_38rbQR/s640/esa.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Earthsiege (1994)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBDM-9lWP8qRYEeLi5tTsyUkYPMAxfmzW-PzZRNJEp4DfE1EDuCScnuUjfLkknjsUBC_JHjN_b0IJww1FTYyYwIWl-7TRzDbjFaJq9wHfpliGYIt8KnJ9gRuJaq4goIZLT_rdc3b7nw875/s1600/es2a.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBDM-9lWP8qRYEeLi5tTsyUkYPMAxfmzW-PzZRNJEp4DfE1EDuCScnuUjfLkknjsUBC_JHjN_b0IJww1FTYyYwIWl-7TRzDbjFaJq9wHfpliGYIt8KnJ9gRuJaq4goIZLT_rdc3b7nw875/s640/es2a.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Earthsiege 2 (1995)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieu_jvtOnFrIGVZEZrBNCncf1hIouQUMo3GNzeyS1zcftNw4Vbdk6YvDh7dcLU2C5nbhn8IfCW_TXb8eSX6hvHDgNuV2GUWhlvRcs4e_AlwVM0sVfrlcekYT3CLEv7cqyExWPLbaTyncOB/s1600/ss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieu_jvtOnFrIGVZEZrBNCncf1hIouQUMo3GNzeyS1zcftNw4Vbdk6YvDh7dcLU2C5nbhn8IfCW_TXb8eSX6hvHDgNuV2GUWhlvRcs4e_AlwVM0sVfrlcekYT3CLEv7cqyExWPLbaTyncOB/s640/ss.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starsiege (1998)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZNLNQ80Iieqe32XOWBVt6VOald-95SFfE_bNuvfQJO52T7afANcWEZ-jQFAD5iSZaANUztYxprmWZbNklQnzEfXV4-AvkQiKZzTsO6vviKh7o1T0MiAIKtum3xh2qeZ17PvFUwjvQU501/s1600/mo2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZNLNQ80Iieqe32XOWBVt6VOald-95SFfE_bNuvfQJO52T7afANcWEZ-jQFAD5iSZaANUztYxprmWZbNklQnzEfXV4-AvkQiKZzTsO6vviKh7o1T0MiAIKtum3xh2qeZ17PvFUwjvQU501/s640/mo2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just for fun - Mechwarrior Online (2013)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h2>
<u>- The Game - </u></h2>
The game installed and runs fine for me in DOSBox without any extra tweaking using the link from Hi-Rez, which is nice. Upon starting it up I'm greeted with a summary of the current situation:<br />
<blockquote>
<br />
Five hundred years in the future, mankind is fighting a desperate battle for survival. Sentient cybrid war machines have rebelled against their human masters and crushed the great military powers of the world. Using stolen Cybrid technology, bands of guerrilla fighters have survived the prolonged assaults and are now beginning to carry the fight to the machines. The next few months will tell whether man or machine inherits the earth...<br />
After twenty years of constant warfare, mankind has driven the Cybrid killing machines from his homeworld. For a short ime, earth reveled in her freedom and began the long task of rebuilding her cities. But the sweet taste of victory proved all too fleeting. Before anyone could have possibly imagined, mankind faced a new and graver Cybrid threat.<br />
From captured human outposts and colonies across the solar system, Cybrid ships of war have begun to blast off for Earth. Estimates placed the arrival of the first Cybrind scout ships at only ninety days.<br />
That was nearly three months ago...</blockquote>
After the background text, I'm dumped into the main menu, which looks like this:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioKssz8toXWdACrwl-mSihiaImefoAjcYkV8qXC8LaOun8DCuWIPJmBb8kbpPr2z8X4fMKuFCBrSB_Ulbt2_D87r3QRL11komtRSMRB3AKiduLOu6yy64WDKavnLSi4-s3kWOXzmm96kiy/s1600/go_003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioKssz8toXWdACrwl-mSihiaImefoAjcYkV8qXC8LaOun8DCuWIPJmBb8kbpPr2z8X4fMKuFCBrSB_Ulbt2_D87r3QRL11komtRSMRB3AKiduLOu6yy64WDKavnLSi4-s3kWOXzmm96kiy/s640/go_003.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Main Menu</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I started a new career (name: RPDG Eggtown), and an animation plays that I think shows a Cybrid scout ship landing on the moon and disgorging a Cybrid HERC. HERCs are the mechs that both the humans and Cybrids control. It stands for Humaniform-Emulation Roboticized Combat Unit with Leg-Articulated Navigation, or HERCULAN, shortened to HERC.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8e5A4RY0egJ0nd5_UmMlmtv3N3edHu1qmILObjoTJ-h_7mjLrkUZrfyut8gTyPPzvMmmZjAv6q9TkOXQbykPQhQokhfL9fYenFp-gxpGWdnaPpd4g27J-Xj_wA34QKp6ALQ48XD0kLB47/s1600/go_011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8e5A4RY0egJ0nd5_UmMlmtv3N3edHu1qmILObjoTJ-h_7mjLrkUZrfyut8gTyPPzvMmmZjAv6q9TkOXQbykPQhQokhfL9fYenFp-gxpGWdnaPpd4g27J-Xj_wA34QKp6ALQ48XD0kLB47/s640/go_011.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cybrind emerging from its ship</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I am then greeted by what I assume is my commander. He uses the same kind of FMV animation as the LucasArts game <i>Rebel Assault. </i>His body is a static image taken from film and only his face moves with speech. I think this was pretty common in the early FMV-era of games. He tells me that Cybrids have taken over all the human colonies and outposts, but had beat them on Earth. But now Cybrid ships seem to be making their way to Earth to attack our home planet.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZGdcDFdFFyKUmQ6lzd3n2I2D_hPndaiJZ2ljkjE9Z5rtqgnlTvuAj4Vewvuygt3FQGaKPSuQSHZI7rgR4SwWJ7QEp5Uwj-N28byqpeUQhmYTr9RVJ7aW3BVVrIwrPTp27D2M5LurNPR8P/s1600/go_014.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZGdcDFdFFyKUmQ6lzd3n2I2D_hPndaiJZ2ljkjE9Z5rtqgnlTvuAj4Vewvuygt3FQGaKPSuQSHZI7rgR4SwWJ7QEp5Uwj-N28byqpeUQhmYTr9RVJ7aW3BVVrIwrPTp27D2M5LurNPR8P/s640/go_014.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My commander</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After this briefing, I am taken to the "Service Bay" where I can outfit my HERC, change my crew of wingmen and their HERCs, or go the mission briefing.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVqOY0R-8hJLyo3POSHtJIOPbTAfwkkXPpLzmz49CxLPLRX6QXAx_zPQuXOncyxRZhUwWvy2VDHpvlZBm66j99AF6eNpFqkAYq6ELHuBEf4B6WlDx_Rd1_66K_b9V4iux94ZORD5IWX1xJ/s1600/go_019.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVqOY0R-8hJLyo3POSHtJIOPbTAfwkkXPpLzmz49CxLPLRX6QXAx_zPQuXOncyxRZhUwWvy2VDHpvlZBm66j99AF6eNpFqkAYq6ELHuBEf4B6WlDx_Rd1_66K_b9V4iux94ZORD5IWX1xJ/s640/go_019.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Service Bay with "Gut" the mechanic/engineer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And here is what it looks like to outfit my HERC with different weapons.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU0MqOHUVFTQfZjdnaHhLR-OBECZh8eJBLZXFphrFgc7WFVc_nTZByKN42ylIScTmF98Ami4ty_9Ful12Px_6UERVFLiAdtLKkmKtaeBHJn02wzjmKR_LiXWk4UzPHvctFdVxKDydN3zvp/s1600/go_021.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU0MqOHUVFTQfZjdnaHhLR-OBECZh8eJBLZXFphrFgc7WFVc_nTZByKN42ylIScTmF98Ami4ty_9Ful12Px_6UERVFLiAdtLKkmKtaeBHJn02wzjmKR_LiXWk4UzPHvctFdVxKDydN3zvp/s640/go_021.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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This is actually pretty cool. You can see each hardpoint on the HERC and the weapons switch out in realtime as I scroll through the different options on the right, so I can get a quick look at what my HERC will look at with my current loadout.<br />
<br />
There are limited HERCs and limited weapons to distribute to myself and my team at the beginning of the game. A big part of the game is collecting salvage after a mission to build new HERCs, repair HERCs, and equip new weapons. Collecting salvage is done by destroying enemy HERCs without destroying their weapons or preserving as much of the wreckage of the HERC as possible. So destroying a HERCs leg and causing it to fall to the ground is preferable to destroying its central chest area and causing the whole vehicle to blow up.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguH-H37bBJf5-bo6UZ7U6lTypKX2Nv3ahoOKAebftDXX3I2fvlViFJ5yKUkAkQiun7RvqqBzXJnO9f0TQagWiaP7uNMct73JmmvGzqmx-JXfcP526L5elmsOcOafXpoSYMLwB0AMNOHQQv/s1600/go_020.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguH-H37bBJf5-bo6UZ7U6lTypKX2Nv3ahoOKAebftDXX3I2fvlViFJ5yKUkAkQiun7RvqqBzXJnO9f0TQagWiaP7uNMct73JmmvGzqmx-JXfcP526L5elmsOcOafXpoSYMLwB0AMNOHQQv/s640/go_020.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crew </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The crew screen lets me chose which crew members and take and which HERC they will using. This is where I can also switch out my HERC. I've decided to switch from the smaller Tomahawk to the larger Patriot for this first mission. Here is what my Patriot looks like with the default loadout:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiISW60aBrK_6Do6M013n3ws6mvFj-U2qDUylSqHxzIElh1AALgZO9IRYhN3skNcorTFm6GdLPZSTtozJXrVAjWUldqbQZI7g3Qrym0oE415TQW__H5BQpiHSgCJPOviBe96rpkK62kcJUA/s1600/go_022.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiISW60aBrK_6Do6M013n3ws6mvFj-U2qDUylSqHxzIElh1AALgZO9IRYhN3skNcorTFm6GdLPZSTtozJXrVAjWUldqbQZI7g3Qrym0oE415TQW__H5BQpiHSgCJPOviBe96rpkK62kcJUA/s640/go_022.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Clicking on the "Briefing" button brings me to another animation of my commander explaining the mission and then there is a nice animation of a map of the mission area:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW6IkgDXsU0ZS2GFTgKdfdEIQOu1nrAwXtACYxuvd6GU-k7yGmo-465mKdE0EwEiA6DrpmMo-e7HFnXSQ48lPkSP-dM1Zb1dGWl08nfNGgRUbRg50D_8qHGyg5F4iOnREz0lFNXN-BJdn2/s1600/go_024.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW6IkgDXsU0ZS2GFTgKdfdEIQOu1nrAwXtACYxuvd6GU-k7yGmo-465mKdE0EwEiA6DrpmMo-e7HFnXSQ48lPkSP-dM1Zb1dGWl08nfNGgRUbRg50D_8qHGyg5F4iOnREz0lFNXN-BJdn2/s640/go_024.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Briefing map</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div>
This mission will have me doing a standard patrol by going to a series of waypoints and destorying any HERCs I encounter. This is a pretty standard mission in not only mech games, but flight sims and tanks sims as well. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcuKfRwBkgg-91ml0RmRHWoYmQCBC3bwLy7XoGY778goOY9LxhQocp0B52Ty11cl4U2yB6bxbIluPwafDTGzAZrfjyShSWPsIYnYSVG2nmT7390N5_mmJ2ZbDVvo1TaGAhF_aFgDfaBJgd/s1600/dbsim_000.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcuKfRwBkgg-91ml0RmRHWoYmQCBC3bwLy7XoGY778goOY9LxhQocp0B52Ty11cl4U2yB6bxbIluPwafDTGzAZrfjyShSWPsIYnYSVG2nmT7390N5_mmJ2ZbDVvo1TaGAhF_aFgDfaBJgd/s640/dbsim_000.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mission loading screen</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
After a brief loading screen that looks awesome, the game begins with me in the cockpit of my HERC.</div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbNbZ4PZgrL0lfgIvzJ-K67swHh-uhZTggHXQp7sxrrnuYYQ7BmYhrIG8R7Ht6DCHsiyQ2BkS4UhWGkeVOqERnlCXccfIfjaC-ElXG-D29SfRJn5HD4_qYwNSOuUoknZ2clQ_28cxOKGPN/s1600/dbsim_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbNbZ4PZgrL0lfgIvzJ-K67swHh-uhZTggHXQp7sxrrnuYYQ7BmYhrIG8R7Ht6DCHsiyQ2BkS4UhWGkeVOqERnlCXccfIfjaC-ElXG-D29SfRJn5HD4_qYwNSOuUoknZ2clQ_28cxOKGPN/s640/dbsim_001.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My first view of gameplay</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>
But before I do anything, the game controls are complicated enough that I need to spend some time reading the manual. Unfortunately the game doesn't come with any kind of tutorial. The manual is a whopping 80 pages long, which I love. I miss old manuals like that.<br />
<br />
So...the controls are...terrible. TERRIBLE. And they seem to be not reconfigurable. This is going to be a problem. The game is built to be used with a joystick, but despite this, and even though the game is over 20 years old, I can't understand how these controls made sense at the time. Here are the movement/turret controls:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Throttle Up/Reverse = Up/Down arrows<br />
Steer entire mech (not just turret) = L/R arrows<br />
Turret Up = I<br />
Turret Down = M<br />
Turret Left = J<br />
Turret Right = K<br />
Pan View Left = F9<br />
Pan View Right = F10<br />
Fire = Space</blockquote>
I can right click and hold to move the turret around in real time, but I can't control my throttle and hit the SPACEBAR key at the same time to fire while also using the mouse. I think I'm going to have to just put both hands on the keyboard and ignore the mouse. This is not optimal.<br />
<br />
On the plus side, the cockpit is very interactive. I can click on a whole slew of different buttons and switches, and I can even move the mouse to the bottom of the screen and click to look down onto a map screen that has a bunch of other options. So I'm digging all the interactivity.<br />
<br />
OK, enough about me complaining about the controls, lets get started with my patrol mission! Here is my HERC from the outside:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_qJEroXZCZZorIyC1ohR9ar3xUNXk3gtPG38hVKaXybrxkegi2q1TD2r-AsIx31YNjp_Ug-6YxG_FTZwx5DbGS1UKOQQB0u6MHKPI9kBJhnaAHpTLuVigzKS_SHAfgSxccrTgM25IPxU/s1600/dbsim_002.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_qJEroXZCZZorIyC1ohR9ar3xUNXk3gtPG38hVKaXybrxkegi2q1TD2r-AsIx31YNjp_Ug-6YxG_FTZwx5DbGS1UKOQQB0u6MHKPI9kBJhnaAHpTLuVigzKS_SHAfgSxccrTgM25IPxU/s640/dbsim_002.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I like my huge EMP gun on my head. Its my hat of electromagnetic death</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It doesn't take long before I come across my first enemies near the first waypoint. They are enemy HERCs or a similar build to me. My wingman is good about automatically attacking, but I do have the option of opening communication channels and telling them things like hold back, attack my target, or return to base.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZqcMXRqzubowOgr9Voa828va5n73THU7nWZEfXyp8fMlPBpMaUcIQOt_P7fTB2Rp85y9fXtWaTbangZg8sI8Y7717DMMuZTuzAx6jaIQETZy4umhmkmsfR9oNB2KNX4q-fFCX3eyD25F0/s1600/dbsim_007.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZqcMXRqzubowOgr9Voa828va5n73THU7nWZEfXyp8fMlPBpMaUcIQOt_P7fTB2Rp85y9fXtWaTbangZg8sI8Y7717DMMuZTuzAx6jaIQETZy4umhmkmsfR9oNB2KNX4q-fFCX3eyD25F0/s640/dbsim_007.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I have my lasers and EMP linked to shoot together. The orange streak is one of my lasers and the big ball is my EMP. I'm going OK just attacking the enemies without target their specific systems, but I want to try blowing up just their legs so I can get more salvage. But with the awful controls, I can't easily tilt my turret up and down. So I find myself just setting my turret in a looking down position, the maneuvering my HERC to good positions where my turret is looking at the enemy's legs. It is pretty damn awkward. Here is a GIF of me finally getting the leg of an enemy:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuqJ2gO0vDE5i8BfJirtxBk-gggMQZK7tqvAoGu7qPPOff5FvgagRGaPwsMe5_xEPrUiTSTLbWzF-frTm98H8CwPcvlXkGVqCiIvy95QGKiurGF7T9YRarTGP6-1QKGAyt2BDR_6h2xZpz/s1600/esgif1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="630" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuqJ2gO0vDE5i8BfJirtxBk-gggMQZK7tqvAoGu7qPPOff5FvgagRGaPwsMe5_xEPrUiTSTLbWzF-frTm98H8CwPcvlXkGVqCiIvy95QGKiurGF7T9YRarTGP6-1QKGAyt2BDR_6h2xZpz/s640/esgif1.gif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gotcha! (finally)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'm also liking the simple lighting effect of the explosion in this nighttime environment. There wasn't much to the rest of the mission. I went from waypoint to waypoint killing enemy HERCs while trying not to shoot my wingman. I found my HERC's movement to be kind of slow so I might switch out to a faster scout class HERC for my next mission. I also didn't like the EMP that much because it was such a slow firing weapon. I also accidentally fired off a lot of my missiles before I had encountered my first enemy. I'll need to work on learning to use missiles better.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvdbstHezqTdPTEj6q_YmiFrB8Vu8VgsiaaFZFS01ldZwZTiMDXRnIOjxhI6o2Nqtn2DbT0IDLNMgpCelpdjoy9O7cfconCzjN8nJRTh-gOMUnEP3edjhWen-fkhyCBjscDRwT8VlFqdKF/s1600/dbsim_010.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvdbstHezqTdPTEj6q_YmiFrB8Vu8VgsiaaFZFS01ldZwZTiMDXRnIOjxhI6o2Nqtn2DbT0IDLNMgpCelpdjoy9O7cfconCzjN8nJRTh-gOMUnEP3edjhWen-fkhyCBjscDRwT8VlFqdKF/s640/dbsim_010.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A common sight, my wingman getting in the way during a fight</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYjDWGfotIuRCHTzdvVLDuehr3bGuCKiaCZ9PffHXsRTncfWHejOb8TS6Um5BND0re_2xZdimd7bpTgrqWIjrnXPyPl6c60-7V6_Nnr2kdkycwqXuqwp0dpoG7KNaNc1rXC0tUIB4NwzQ3/s1600/dbsim_024.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYjDWGfotIuRCHTzdvVLDuehr3bGuCKiaCZ9PffHXsRTncfWHejOb8TS6Um5BND0re_2xZdimd7bpTgrqWIjrnXPyPl6c60-7V6_Nnr2kdkycwqXuqwp0dpoG7KNaNc1rXC0tUIB4NwzQ3/s640/dbsim_024.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Returning to base at the final waypoint</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd8iH2ce-SIv_fWo5jPYtJbbUzyAhotfCaih-12uKrYLmjWQ17aEoedzSo3C14uMTmnFsPYRVD79rEgh-o80mp_k_sfQyavKSNo6GyUQtQEgKnDaPEUIh_M56gg_oN2BKN-ft86wke35F6/s1600/dbsim_025.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd8iH2ce-SIv_fWo5jPYtJbbUzyAhotfCaih-12uKrYLmjWQ17aEoedzSo3C14uMTmnFsPYRVD79rEgh-o80mp_k_sfQyavKSNo6GyUQtQEgKnDaPEUIh_M56gg_oN2BKN-ft86wke35F6/s640/dbsim_025.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Success!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After finishing the mission, I'm given a mission debriefing by my commander where I can also look at the salvage I collected:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieFNmMlrDfCDfCsBdX9rPlvDVy5zSx_bggnlUXp9JMg9hTYdbgY47BfS-4rEGcdBojpPrJTCoKc4M-s8x6ErmAElflqTf_UKbXDtsJ41VM0irUs7qdePjxNyJ0b-auBv8qLVeojzz-Cpxn/s1600/go_025.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieFNmMlrDfCDfCsBdX9rPlvDVy5zSx_bggnlUXp9JMg9hTYdbgY47BfS-4rEGcdBojpPrJTCoKc4M-s8x6ErmAElflqTf_UKbXDtsJ41VM0irUs7qdePjxNyJ0b-auBv8qLVeojzz-Cpxn/s640/go_025.png" width="640" /></a></div>
</div>
<div>
At the Service Bay, I manually repaired each part that was damaged. I should now be ready for the next mission. It looks like it is going to be another standard patrol mission. This time I am switching to a Tomahawk scout HERC and I'm equipping it with 4 lasers and a particle beam on its head. Here is my new machine of Cybrid death:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggBsOe_VyQP0kfZZ6cvvgQfZlx_9oNq5NSHE2x9ha5NPSfoo9PK32dtyJQRpvPQV6UwnZeaDIM-pz2Tn5vCy5pomUu6NS1OE7sp4tYnZ915gJKHK8gYTa07mHcfmYaPtdlZksXSTIfW2Bj/s1600/go_026.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggBsOe_VyQP0kfZZ6cvvgQfZlx_9oNq5NSHE2x9ha5NPSfoo9PK32dtyJQRpvPQV6UwnZeaDIM-pz2Tn5vCy5pomUu6NS1OE7sp4tYnZ915gJKHK8gYTa07mHcfmYaPtdlZksXSTIfW2Bj/s640/go_026.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My particle beam hat</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It looks like its another night time mission. Here's my sweet new scout HERC in action:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRMchyaOfIlnYkDb5k9MtLVi2xglpk7Rffu8xgQdEU9ek3dkzrS_SxIHqjsa9u5O1wFeTMMQnkM0QKhMKgtHexfLnm28130Hqmy81uIOqdL2UPHjtKKbvCrg_BSBnjCxiHQXS6qFXq5It6/s1600/dbsim_026.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRMchyaOfIlnYkDb5k9MtLVi2xglpk7Rffu8xgQdEU9ek3dkzrS_SxIHqjsa9u5O1wFeTMMQnkM0QKhMKgtHexfLnm28130Hqmy81uIOqdL2UPHjtKKbvCrg_BSBnjCxiHQXS6qFXq5It6/s640/dbsim_026.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tomahawk</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And here is the map/damage/communication interface I can access by clicking at the bottom of my cockpit:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhclYi7DPYKL9gpbd99Kw73NDNWNn-kKTtG5xBLbUw1wYcempe_InekEZFeuNrEcMascvGMgtby4mECv23CYe9P6Z-EIvKXP7fDKBLv03glXnH4JJyn4KlR-IvovrR2yZiQYadKcg2-sqCR/s1600/dbsim_027.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhclYi7DPYKL9gpbd99Kw73NDNWNn-kKTtG5xBLbUw1wYcempe_InekEZFeuNrEcMascvGMgtby4mECv23CYe9P6Z-EIvKXP7fDKBLv03glXnH4JJyn4KlR-IvovrR2yZiQYadKcg2-sqCR/s640/dbsim_027.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbsY1dl7B8DsqUi6RFAW3w-HUbTlp7j_924ndfY5iw_A2C8FFKS9V56zCLQT28BJDMq1ldpZUSKpKc0Lo3P4iVW_u59-ZE-_0sgcpfgmxUezBCzXCTftoqniGeZsORlziWPUHGfd21lPPk/s1600/dbsim_028.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbsY1dl7B8DsqUi6RFAW3w-HUbTlp7j_924ndfY5iw_A2C8FFKS9V56zCLQT28BJDMq1ldpZUSKpKc0Lo3P4iVW_u59-ZE-_0sgcpfgmxUezBCzXCTftoqniGeZsORlziWPUHGfd21lPPk/s640/dbsim_028.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I'm encountering enemies right away and they are really doing some damage to my HERC. Here I cam taking one out, but you can also see my wingman calling for help.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRZVxSug7tpBt5HquC_GIzMUnBpp5KTH2u1oE2XvSHHCDX9ZBvPpIafWaDfeWxLhULGnhbiDII7EWhmTVwYEbqOrlseF05qsvhauwajCSEGSmFRpmSoslT54ncBZ1POQD5dsKcFRCJktZy/s1600/dbsim_029.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRZVxSug7tpBt5HquC_GIzMUnBpp5KTH2u1oE2XvSHHCDX9ZBvPpIafWaDfeWxLhULGnhbiDII7EWhmTVwYEbqOrlseF05qsvhauwajCSEGSmFRpmSoslT54ncBZ1POQD5dsKcFRCJktZy/s640/dbsim_029.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirPpWXKYF4tI02wfzQPboDyvdcfdCxeEtcjSzmddmzJL__M-MvsYkD97peTi5JPlTBLp07nifbMMfAgULWjzf-73RebYiT_MW7mjpC_1IYogXZSZCrWEAitLHHe8lbJbyMPLbuuLum4YFz/s1600/dbsim_030.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirPpWXKYF4tI02wfzQPboDyvdcfdCxeEtcjSzmddmzJL__M-MvsYkD97peTi5JPlTBLp07nifbMMfAgULWjzf-73RebYiT_MW7mjpC_1IYogXZSZCrWEAitLHHe8lbJbyMPLbuuLum4YFz/s640/dbsim_030.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sorry Glenn, I've got my own problems right now.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
Ouch. After the first 2 fights, I've got some serious damage to my cockpit area.</div>
<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0hJS__Q6Ldn6_WBdmZPX7tJmqCOFJIOdPjBxr4PDutYfeCmQ5cH-zoSe_gWD_k9EB5Y7YFldobd7VZYkqPXSsQTiXjc24JXDCTXfKs4lxw4KQ4jwxscsNDwPC8xR7C_nLOjOjQMS1UAsM/s1600/dbsim_033.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0hJS__Q6Ldn6_WBdmZPX7tJmqCOFJIOdPjBxr4PDutYfeCmQ5cH-zoSe_gWD_k9EB5Y7YFldobd7VZYkqPXSsQTiXjc24JXDCTXfKs4lxw4KQ4jwxscsNDwPC8xR7C_nLOjOjQMS1UAsM/s640/dbsim_033.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div>
My next fight did not go so well...</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhnHk8hOLMr47audkd_owMkbnZoh_MGB2B2drJQwS5xm2Yi0iFDe7hubp0xHO_sbqnQSC6MCz1rTOQS5vWWx9OmutmmxkFIMgXZRL4RlrnkypyDnc6whyphenhyphenyBx50sAkwbLs8AC51mnjxBt-U/s1600/dbsim_034.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhnHk8hOLMr47audkd_owMkbnZoh_MGB2B2drJQwS5xm2Yi0iFDe7hubp0xHO_sbqnQSC6MCz1rTOQS5vWWx9OmutmmxkFIMgXZRL4RlrnkypyDnc6whyphenhyphenyBx50sAkwbLs8AC51mnjxBt-U/s640/dbsim_034.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Well...shit</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Cool, there is a short cutscene that plays when I die. The Cybrids are doing something with my brain.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYuNVzqUw9dTzOs30MqCabYWD_CE14vO_Z6Hk1sCFhD4O5sI4AqmeJXoZN1pgo9oewnywrtba9b1e6WIixk7GlwxxITN672z8h0wQ9lse6sL9YHpOG4RIxtiDilGjLRl0D8CnQM-vhM5Sv/s1600/go_029.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYuNVzqUw9dTzOs30MqCabYWD_CE14vO_Z6Hk1sCFhD4O5sI4AqmeJXoZN1pgo9oewnywrtba9b1e6WIixk7GlwxxITN672z8h0wQ9lse6sL9YHpOG4RIxtiDilGjLRl0D8CnQM-vhM5Sv/s640/go_029.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div>
I think they are making me into a Cybrid. It would be fun if I could then continue the campaign, but as a Cybrid fighting the humans. Too bad there wasn't a big mod seen back in 1994, that could have been a fun mod. Oh well, time to load my game.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7M37BuTXD4K9wNVCvdED1vKbTWfycwMoeZwc13EcQQydMAf2YULHicswFUQ1kWMnTIDsSmSJ_GJj4D4LQuTvAfODBjwdZtjrAv1FuM1kMd1RK3FaSyvA5182lb4HPwyQi2W9OTD8rIlvZ/s1600/go_030.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7M37BuTXD4K9wNVCvdED1vKbTWfycwMoeZwc13EcQQydMAf2YULHicswFUQ1kWMnTIDsSmSJ_GJj4D4LQuTvAfODBjwdZtjrAv1FuM1kMd1RK3FaSyvA5182lb4HPwyQi2W9OTD8rIlvZ/s640/go_030.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I...what?</td></tr>
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<div>
I never saved my game apparently. I thought it automatically saved after each mission since there wasn't an obvious SAVE/LOAD option at the main menu. Crap. Well time to create a new player and start over. At least it was only 1 mission in. Let's try this again. This time I'm going try the Samson, which the manual says is the second heaviest HERC and specializes in search and destroy.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2OAdA1ascnuMt5wxPfSaqhQJSucsN9RDhEMbzqoj37k8WDDMNX4FLfXe19bWJ7ahgprqHqvOtzw7zDomXBeL_R-TI3UtixjMUu4Jc-m3eeG_kBffMZC8yeNWqlzGRBfJpjVhMldvuCUe0/s1600/go_000.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2OAdA1ascnuMt5wxPfSaqhQJSucsN9RDhEMbzqoj37k8WDDMNX4FLfXe19bWJ7ahgprqHqvOtzw7zDomXBeL_R-TI3UtixjMUu4Jc-m3eeG_kBffMZC8yeNWqlzGRBfJpjVhMldvuCUe0/s640/go_000.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Samson</td></tr>
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<div>
As an interesting historical aside, Samson was a Hebrew biblical leader who did some pretty awesome feats of badass. Per Wikipedia:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The biblical account states that Samson was a </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazirite" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Nazirite">Nazirite</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">, and that he was given immense strength to aid him against his enemies and allow him to perform </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superhuman" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Superhuman">superhuman</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> feats,</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson#cite_note-3" style="background: none; color: #0b0080; text-decoration-line: none;">[2]</a></sup><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> including slaying a lion with his bare hands and massacring an entire army of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philistines" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Philistines">Philistines</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> using only the jawbone of an </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Donkey">ass</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">. However, if Samson's </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_hair#In_Jewish_and_Christian_scriptures" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Long hair">long hair</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> was cut, then his Nazirite vow would be violated, and he would lose his strength.</span></blockquote>
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So I should make sure to protect my massic ELF weapon on my head and I should be fine. This Samson HERC is armed to the teeth. I'm going into this mission with 4 autocannons, 2 lasers, a particle beam weapon, and an electron flux weapon (ELF) that shoots a constant stream of electricity at close range. </div>
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Now my first mission is in the daytime, so the weather must be somewhat random, that's a nice bonus. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPsX00kTDZtvHqULkdw1HTSWrjMSNRYTGEDIIcSMAA9vKhQOhCKGshsX5bERUkDq2h-SHEQpKGeeZIOsvACmmALVy9v4WxLp9D4XG0tAGzaa8-5szgY_RMmOiwhAZyR92UzlokRft80DDj/s1600/dbsim_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPsX00kTDZtvHqULkdw1HTSWrjMSNRYTGEDIIcSMAA9vKhQOhCKGshsX5bERUkDq2h-SHEQpKGeeZIOsvACmmALVy9v4WxLp9D4XG0tAGzaa8-5szgY_RMmOiwhAZyR92UzlokRft80DDj/s640/dbsim_001.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Samson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Man this thing is a lot slower than the Tomahawk from my previous try, but assume it is going to make up for it in weaponry and armor. </div>
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And holy crap does it ever. I am blasting through these enemies now way easier than with my previous HERCs. I have all my weapons linked together so they fire at the same time, and it only takes a couple shots to destroy an enemy now. Also, the autocannons have longer range than the lasers so I can start shooting while the enemies are still a long ways out. Here is me taking out two enemies like it is nothing:</div>
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The only downside is the Samson really is slow so its taking me a lot longer to finish the missions. </div>
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After finishing this mission, I checked out the Build menu where I can build new HERCs:</div>
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I'll try misison 2 then see about building a new HERC. </div>
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Mission 2 goes well for me. I like blasting the tops off enemy HERCS and then watching them run around like a chicken with its head cut off:</div>
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The Cybrids also started sending these spider mines after me:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spider mine</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
They didn't do that much damage to me, but they were annoying and too much work to kill. After finishing mission 2, I started building a Rhino HERC that is a step below the Samson I believe. I started construction on it but it will take a few missions to complete.</div>
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Mission 3 looks like I'm getting away from the standard patrol mission. It is a special assignment where I need to deliver some research materials to a lab and then protect the lab if it comes under attack. I really don't like escort missions in these kinds of games, but I'll reserve judgement until I've tried it out first.<br />
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Mission 3 started out well enough. I don't have any wingmen, but I blew up some enemy Cybrids and was making my way towards the lab when I was jumped by 4 enemies at the same time. And they looked like big HERCs too.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcxcNv5Is1uPyclv0zOY99aaBqNP09xm5JpZpQqo4i8sobcyNg7jK5FsTl0J-CAOLzkR8mRlPY0hL5blTwaAYYlIin_dfjujqJk8yv5hyphenhyphendUziP0drLjFmPd9gf_asXSixC-2VpQfaZuNx5/s1600/dbsim_010.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcxcNv5Is1uPyclv0zOY99aaBqNP09xm5JpZpQqo4i8sobcyNg7jK5FsTl0J-CAOLzkR8mRlPY0hL5blTwaAYYlIin_dfjujqJk8yv5hyphenhyphendUziP0drLjFmPd9gf_asXSixC-2VpQfaZuNx5/s640/dbsim_010.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh no, not looking good! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo1PoAGpC7aqo8W1JCr5e7s3uYq1Q-jnzSXxU71IeyghzTLwokhDrFXSYdMztnc-EGYdk2pidvV_9rKEejrEcAbs-iqiu5fHmE8Z96rz61RS4MLT3WpeMrff-E0guL7SSG0j4jMb0_296R/s640/dbsim_011.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Really not looking good!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo1PoAGpC7aqo8W1JCr5e7s3uYq1Q-jnzSXxU71IeyghzTLwokhDrFXSYdMztnc-EGYdk2pidvV_9rKEejrEcAbs-iqiu5fHmE8Z96rz61RS4MLT3WpeMrff-E0guL7SSG0j4jMb0_296R/s1600/dbsim_011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br /></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo1PoAGpC7aqo8W1JCr5e7s3uYq1Q-jnzSXxU71IeyghzTLwokhDrFXSYdMztnc-EGYdk2pidvV_9rKEejrEcAbs-iqiu5fHmE8Z96rz61RS4MLT3WpeMrff-E0guL7SSG0j4jMb0_296R/s1600/dbsim_011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWLGbR793vo9co1gqy2A0ZG3IBeiZY9W3luReO7SBrpb4L6dQsAgTclSSXOutKOPIl4JCdckr5PnXGFz38tllnCHwrKpsSZ9rkPU88AqX_HQ2UMrzJkXOqA757Uo_JWK5hvaChSjPDi1dN/s1600/dbsim_012.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWLGbR793vo9co1gqy2A0ZG3IBeiZY9W3luReO7SBrpb4L6dQsAgTclSSXOutKOPIl4JCdckr5PnXGFz38tllnCHwrKpsSZ9rkPU88AqX_HQ2UMrzJkXOqA757Uo_JWK5hvaChSjPDi1dN/s640/dbsim_012.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was not good</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
To add insult to injury, my computer crashed when I clicked Continue above. The Cybrids really did get to me. I had to close out everything in Task Manager. So lets try this again.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjegr5jqL0pQD6jS4Tfful4x_slOUgfCpNXWEQXdqp8doP44fIvE4ShD-ipBQwcIVRU5due-GMjDWcohhV7x98rieE38Jpmgt0CDiUByXbP68IUr2XNacu0XoSgvFM6dTmVCRRojIGQ8mNE/s1600/dbsim_014.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjegr5jqL0pQD6jS4Tfful4x_slOUgfCpNXWEQXdqp8doP44fIvE4ShD-ipBQwcIVRU5due-GMjDWcohhV7x98rieE38Jpmgt0CDiUByXbP68IUr2XNacu0XoSgvFM6dTmVCRRojIGQ8mNE/s640/dbsim_014.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I died again</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I feel like I'm doing something wrong here. I'll try the biggest HERC I have, the Colossus. Here she is in action:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi58NIyshqIKWfo6Igom43QlUWoqMgVaJq3Sbf9LGeYMp0ocwcbrfBoE2aXneBPcujLRnmSrVSA5DgHy3cqIMgVZVsu_VIqud6_B4KKzrjsYS6aD_7FKPq5jvVSe0rfccASVQbPVsgmnIxC/s1600/dbsim_016.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi58NIyshqIKWfo6Igom43QlUWoqMgVaJq3Sbf9LGeYMp0ocwcbrfBoE2aXneBPcujLRnmSrVSA5DgHy3cqIMgVZVsu_VIqud6_B4KKzrjsYS6aD_7FKPq5jvVSe0rfccASVQbPVsgmnIxC/s640/dbsim_016.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
And this is the result:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg7gzkqFQ4w6bIu6UhNbbgilsvS1De-ueu3wB-dzvx9ur1ELcP5p5RIEjg2Zoo0MsJNDX9t5xz12mRtKsMp4-pe5ux4XoyuaVSSsjTsOCNLUCX5_XpAs76grJ8jVdCW0Y8NKyOs2OmUBz6/s1600/dbsim_018.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg7gzkqFQ4w6bIu6UhNbbgilsvS1De-ueu3wB-dzvx9ur1ELcP5p5RIEjg2Zoo0MsJNDX9t5xz12mRtKsMp4-pe5ux4XoyuaVSSsjTsOCNLUCX5_XpAs76grJ8jVdCW0Y8NKyOs2OmUBz6/s640/dbsim_018.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I died 4 or 5 more times before I was randomly told that my HERC was disabled and instead of dying, friendly forces rescued me and I was given the option to continue on with the next mission.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc7Lfir3Boofr5ZB-2PPRTw5rqG4xr6o4cFrOWUJyRKyjKcxJYKA8stocc3R0A7lUlXGyqBz_vZO_qk8do4mkkUsoN6hjR2MVjXKXwYLW6bMA3_dTGVjDyj39nhOtVGHUhfHdkUcCKSOiY/s1600/dbsim_021.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc7Lfir3Boofr5ZB-2PPRTw5rqG4xr6o4cFrOWUJyRKyjKcxJYKA8stocc3R0A7lUlXGyqBz_vZO_qk8do4mkkUsoN6hjR2MVjXKXwYLW6bMA3_dTGVjDyj39nhOtVGHUhfHdkUcCKSOiY/s640/dbsim_021.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn4dgJnp_dYVnsyxHmN_RlmEMQqoS8_xn0Px-bHdlVcDuMZ2TMkAA1_0-W6aRANcac11NlYxJBY1JCFP4B0CpjQdmbyjIAxVVDzuXGJUmLlfLGE4oHJ-9TXiWJ6Hw35qNrP8pn9vOVXyu4/s1600/go_008.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn4dgJnp_dYVnsyxHmN_RlmEMQqoS8_xn0Px-bHdlVcDuMZ2TMkAA1_0-W6aRANcac11NlYxJBY1JCFP4B0CpjQdmbyjIAxVVDzuXGJUmLlfLGE4oHJ-9TXiWJ6Hw35qNrP8pn9vOVXyu4/s640/go_008.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boss isn't happy about my failure</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The next mission is a base attack, our base is under attack! I'll give it a shot, but I still feel like something isn't right here since I'm dying so quickly.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjykMAU_Iuasw3HuD5nvCIHFDBdu5imf21kZH88u-YSsKiBXsEcih0UO9N9_rcxlq-NF_SG1OPHqb1AWmxc0QMnAJTaTd1ne1k2OxkgiE_nRBcgTlEvxi6-hW1EpoqCM8XuCBzGXrVd4e1x/s1600/dbsim_020.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjykMAU_Iuasw3HuD5nvCIHFDBdu5imf21kZH88u-YSsKiBXsEcih0UO9N9_rcxlq-NF_SG1OPHqb1AWmxc0QMnAJTaTd1ne1k2OxkgiE_nRBcgTlEvxi6-hW1EpoqCM8XuCBzGXrVd4e1x/s640/dbsim_020.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That went how I expected</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Alright, I died so I'm going back to the laboratory escort mission. I'm going to figure this out. It looks like I haven't been taking wingmen, so that could have something to do with it. I need to take wingmen to soak up some of that incoming missile and laser fire.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7LjheI-Z-NLi2EDGGKYigrukpP6ZWv57tI7fW4qSuSeiZ2v7141A7knFNjfG4id1JO57DtlNqLhHDgKU8gmYEp_fnCsnVHm5dHRcSlvVN4LCvaCjiwVJkIFmGufpFQsUlmR1YW8ikLK1j/s1600/go_010.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7LjheI-Z-NLi2EDGGKYigrukpP6ZWv57tI7fW4qSuSeiZ2v7141A7knFNjfG4id1JO57DtlNqLhHDgKU8gmYEp_fnCsnVHm5dHRcSlvVN4LCvaCjiwVJkIFmGufpFQsUlmR1YW8ikLK1j/s640/go_010.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sacrifices...er...wingmen</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I've also been driving straight on into the oncoming HERCs and relying on my shields and armor to soak up damage. I'm going to try driving around the enemies and playing more of a hit-and-run strategy. Let's give it a shot.<br />
<br />
After a few more deaths, I've defeated the first big group of enemy HERCs that were killing me! My strategies with my new wingmen worked! Also, what the hell is this thing:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3z8GiCMYYw8gadWFy7CprrYix7t_XTjKyXPAKO6FfGpnsKSvEiK-YiSI-rzRCAgZgYrQThFMyF3dCqHjwmJHnu7Lt5ZfKGE4mPwsh58ZBfyydiOcw9JMM-uuWVcotk_WTCx4eAluQ5EjL/s1600/dbsim_024.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3z8GiCMYYw8gadWFy7CprrYix7t_XTjKyXPAKO6FfGpnsKSvEiK-YiSI-rzRCAgZgYrQThFMyF3dCqHjwmJHnu7Lt5ZfKGE4mPwsh58ZBfyydiOcw9JMM-uuWVcotk_WTCx4eAluQ5EjL/s640/dbsim_024.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That seems unfair, I don't any quadraped HERCs</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This is a giant, 4-legged HERC that has 4 huge EMP guns on its back. This is probably what was killing me so many times before. It is a beast and took quite a bit to take down. Oh well, I've done it so moving on to the laboratory...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn-MgFzjKp_bp5eY49pcFGshTpnp_JsGntz4MASHAiaMWWwkxRcxgjdWX45xNVF58fOufaBOGTh-uLsVfVbHeIGpc1RCu_b4LpUqrL_0_K2IGoa6Kbk4Dik4O8mEYfm_acD8GoD0xfim3u/s1600/dbsim_026.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn-MgFzjKp_bp5eY49pcFGshTpnp_JsGntz4MASHAiaMWWwkxRcxgjdWX45xNVF58fOufaBOGTh-uLsVfVbHeIGpc1RCu_b4LpUqrL_0_K2IGoa6Kbk4Dik4O8mEYfm_acD8GoD0xfim3u/s640/dbsim_026.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What?? Why?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
...And then this pops up. I've failed my mission. I don't know why, but I assume the laboratory got destroyed while I was fighting these other HERCs. Oh gee I'm sorry, did I not save your life fast enough because I was too busy fighting a giant robot tiger with 4 huge energy cannons on its back!? Screw it, I'm not redoing this mission. I'm moving on to the next one. The next mission, just like earlier, is a base defense mission. Our base is under attack! This time I was able to beat this mission in one try with only one wingman. I was rewarded with a nice "attaboy" by my boss:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTM1O0hquPHW2nUQl8pcR1hpJYlGUmHWnonL9CqSBkYthX3pyiocX0twRd9Gnz38xAj8ZwvBoeM5TsRS_l5FD8CjHTkjkO5fy3xrDSvQzCcniDQDdlUcj5YsBvMPkEnXZDAxk_RnchwXYG/s1600/go_011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTM1O0hquPHW2nUQl8pcR1hpJYlGUmHWnonL9CqSBkYthX3pyiocX0twRd9Gnz38xAj8ZwvBoeM5TsRS_l5FD8CjHTkjkO5fy3xrDSvQzCcniDQDdlUcj5YsBvMPkEnXZDAxk_RnchwXYG/s640/go_011.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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And I also received the message that our researchers have developed a new HERC: The Apocalypse! That sounds powerful. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyErLDGsXCOO9lLjDGbk8YcQwIsFnY1ogidLE-6GEVAEIVOzsGgFCSXXEyrQMdh8E8H4LDwEjW6qYSIm1VBTcCRDeLDAVc4LfU6FZ_PrbTxN20t9EA-nxc-e9i7uW9SX0Gakoe359Yu2be/s1600/go_012.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyErLDGsXCOO9lLjDGbk8YcQwIsFnY1ogidLE-6GEVAEIVOzsGgFCSXXEyrQMdh8E8H4LDwEjW6qYSIm1VBTcCRDeLDAVc4LfU6FZ_PrbTxN20t9EA-nxc-e9i7uW9SX0Gakoe359Yu2be/s640/go_012.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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I can't use the new HERC until I've built it, but I am still building the Rhino I started back in Mission 2 and it won't be done for one more mission. I am also out of wingmen. Their pictures are greyed out, which I think means they are injured and can't partake in missions right now, so it looks like I'm on my own. The next mission is a recon mission. I'll give it a shot.<br />
<br />
I tried the recon mission and I stomped around from waypoint to waypoint getting harassed by a flying unit. You can kind of see it in the screenshot below:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjChxICY0wYHhhBBtoXD_6wvLmbBJ-BUNuW3poCO62WRVwK7lWKexko0ocH9t0fqelvVdfUYaWlYtmGzllcQhF1rAoOUXVrWK1BUGx6sMItEGi4kDqVPotYf4ffRgf6NStMkCwISHLCbavY/s1600/dbsim_036.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjChxICY0wYHhhBBtoXD_6wvLmbBJ-BUNuW3poCO62WRVwK7lWKexko0ocH9t0fqelvVdfUYaWlYtmGzllcQhF1rAoOUXVrWK1BUGx6sMItEGi4kDqVPotYf4ffRgf6NStMkCwISHLCbavY/s640/dbsim_036.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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It didn't do much damage, but after I destroyed one another would take its place. It was kind of cool to see my base's defense turrets shooting at the little guy too. Despite going to each waypoint, I did not encounter any other enemies but I wasn't able to end the mission. I was never prompted with a mission complete message, and pressing Q to quit warned me that my mission was incomplete. So I don't know what was going on with that. When I did opt to quit the mission, the game crashed again and I had to force close from the task manager.<br />
<br />
I'm going to end my playthrough of <i>Earthsiege </i>now. I'm disappointed in myself for not wanting to stick it out longer, and I'm disappointed in the game for not making me want to stick it out longer. Read my review below to see my full thoughts.<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- Review -</u></span></h2>
</div>
<div>
<i>Earthsiege </i>was a disappointment for me, there is no reason to beat around the bush. Which really bums me out because I had/have really strong nostalgia feelings for this game. Some of my best gaming memories are my friend and I hunched over his CRT monitor taking turns playing missions on his copy of <i>Earthsiege. </i>I was blown away by its graphics and gameplay at the time, so I was excited and hopeful when I decided to replay the game for my website. But it just did not live up to those memories. </div>
<div>
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<div>
First, the positive aspects of the game. It was ground breaking and very advanced for when it came out. It was the first big mech game, besides <i>Mechwarrior, </i>to have a major release and it was the first in a series of Metaltech games. It's graphics were state of the art, featuring texture mapped ground and HERCs, instead of the flat gouraud shading found in other contemporary 3D polygonal games. The cockpits are excellent with all their detail and interactivity. It really does a nice job of making me feel like I am in a 100 ton war machine stomping off to war. It is slow and pondering, as a huge mech should be. I also liked the diversity in weapons. Not only does it have many different classes of weapons, but many of the weapons also can be replaced by upgraded versions as the campaign progresses. So an EMP can become an EMP2, provided you have found one on a Cybrid and were able to salvage it. Speaking of the salvage, that is also a great addition to the game and reinforces that the humans are the true underdogs in this war against machines. It does not come across as an afterthought and it is an integral part of the campaign. </div>
<div>
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Wow...after listing all those things I now feel like I'm being unfair to <i>Earthsiege </i>by not liking it. But the problem is that the game just wasn't any fun to play. I've covered the controls earlier in my playthrough, but I'll just reiterate that it really is a problem. I don't blame this necessarily on the developers since this game was breaking new ground and they were having to create this control scheme from scratch without other precedents to rely on, but it is a huge liability for the game. This came out before WASD control, so using the arrow keys made sense at the time, but I don't know why they couldn't have made the left mouse button shoot and allow for easier turret control. As it is now, I just played the game as if my turret could not move side to side, and I did not use the up and down tilt very often. I played it more as if it were a tank simulator. Maybe it would have been more fun with a joystick, but I don't have one right now. </div>
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I also found the difficulty to be super uneven. Some missions (like the laboratory escort mission) seemed damn near impossible, while other missions I was able to breeze through. It is definitely a tough game. I might be being a little unfair here because I think games like this just were more difficult than modern games. Without the internet and mods and DLC, developers had to make their game last a long time and an easy way of doing this was to make them quite difficult. This is a generalization, but I feel like simulation games like this from the 1990s were more difficult than their distant relatives of today. A game like <i>Mechwarrior 4 </i>has a lot more action, is faster paced, and easier than <i>Earthsiege. </i>I've always considered myself a purist when it comes to PC gaming and I often find myself complaining about the "dumbing down" of modern games. But here is a case where I just could not get into the slower and more difficult gameplay of an older DOS game, and that is sad for me. Maybe <i>Earthsiege </i>isn't a bad game, but is a hard game to get into now in 2018.</div>
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In the end, would I recommend the game to someone who has never played it before? Nope. I don't think a modern gamer is going to like this game. But would I recommend it to someone who played it in the 90s and wants to go back and check it out again? You bet. Its free and I think it is worth the download just to remind yourself how games used to be back then. And who knows, maybe you'll get more engrossed in the game than I and have a great time.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069718226803277447.post-6834646445613008582018-03-12T16:42:00.002-07:002018-03-12T16:42:28.908-07:00Ascendancy - Part 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisGHsyqmkH2oGTZsbRLBeCrJoxPZm2nFvFLBKit1FXbn3THyfUlzC5MGTxBTeHm0Pwy-69MkvZ9mdivTZh5VjGkSND0OfcSYw61IP-VjLGP1GVfgjyDluue9If1tnVTmLHQpa9a0pkT6zn/s1600/ascendcv.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="335" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisGHsyqmkH2oGTZsbRLBeCrJoxPZm2nFvFLBKit1FXbn3THyfUlzC5MGTxBTeHm0Pwy-69MkvZ9mdivTZh5VjGkSND0OfcSYw61IP-VjLGP1GVfgjyDluue9If1tnVTmLHQpa9a0pkT6zn/s320/ascendcv.jpg" width="268" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://rememberpcdosgames.blogspot.com/2018/02/ascendancy-1995.html"><i>Ascendancy - </i>Part 1</a><br />
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<a href="http://rememberpcdosgames.blogspot.com/2018/03/ascendancy-part-2.html"><i>Ascendancy </i>- Part 2</a><br />
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Today I am continuing my playthrough of the fantastic 4X game <i>Ascendancy. </i>My Nimbuloid empire continues to exist while struggling against the tyrannical Fludentri, conniving Chamachies, and war mongering Marmosians. My goal for this post is to eliminate at least one of these opposing species so I can get to a good stopping point to wrap up my coverage of <i>Ascendancy. </i>The game is great fun and I'm enjoying my time playing it, but this is the third post covering the game so I think it is time to finish it and move on to the next game. If I can't get to total galactic domination, at least I should be able to wipe a few of these other species.<br />
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Click below to continue to follow the rise of the Nimbuloid empire.<br />
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Let's take a look at the galactic map to get a recap of what the situation is:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhWJlIMFy1X5_P-68u6HkAGPgm7-D7K4ZF9zFWLIbh7LyjH2gMzjCY1bCzci58ROj6oWhZeEjJlW-jM3VfsyJcdHyHiJLUsY2qjzBhIA45CrshbNZD817XxKbQcslBzsH0O_4hqxVIlP2N/s1600/antag_022.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhWJlIMFy1X5_P-68u6HkAGPgm7-D7K4ZF9zFWLIbh7LyjH2gMzjCY1bCzci58ROj6oWhZeEjJlW-jM3VfsyJcdHyHiJLUsY2qjzBhIA45CrshbNZD817XxKbQcslBzsH0O_4hqxVIlP2N/s640/antag_022.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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I need to defend myself in two main systems: the Aquila system (current selected) and the Brilliance system. The Aquila system has 2 unmapped star lanes from which Fludentri ships keep appearing. So the Fludentri have some colonies somewhere out there through those star lanes. The Brilliance system is the system in the middle of the screenshot above at the end of a red star lane. This is the direction Chamachie and Marmosian ships keep coming from. I can see at least one from each species in the star lane right now. The green triangles indicate that I have ships in each of those systems right now, so I am building up a defensive fleet. I am also starting to build more invasion ships.<br />
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I've finally researched "Large" ship hulls (it goes up to one size higher than Large) so I can afford to put both weapons AND invasion modules on the same ship:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5veHONJrsIEjCoCQk2_XG6tTaDn1ZzJ95ATyTwLecKehq3T51rt3W2FTwZ6rw-IwHigcbKtjDo_vtirZAUoheLBcqb0nXGwkD-ra2vgdEYQsMQB-z0zZ25AdRzFDZOYpoaPQWkxGNZtUx/s1600/antag_024.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5veHONJrsIEjCoCQk2_XG6tTaDn1ZzJ95ATyTwLecKehq3T51rt3W2FTwZ6rw-IwHigcbKtjDo_vtirZAUoheLBcqb0nXGwkD-ra2vgdEYQsMQB-z0zZ25AdRzFDZOYpoaPQWkxGNZtUx/s640/antag_024.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Notice some of the new, weird stuff I can now put in my ship, like Plasma Coupler or Mass Condenser</td></tr>
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The downside to making a bigger ship like this is it will take 81 days to make, which is a lot of turns. You can see I am using a lot of the "Plasmatron" weapon, which is the silver gun with the red barrel. This weapon is very weak but it has a really long range. So I can stay out of range of planets and other ships and blast them while they use all their turns trying to get close to me to get in range of their better but shorter range weapons.<br />
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Here is a shot of my Plasmatron hitting an enemy Fludentri planet, a Marmosian ship, and the Marmosian ship blowing up:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVupf582V_UCGxJZFS5IqG3UNsKAe2wuTRx1ASGcYdXjPjDlxL-4bk8_AJaOjwrOYhd_oNA-dOhuVbzREOHcGhu5vIKhVE0aM7Ht2Z28kyFIsgHoCMdUBaJg9QBBCVhdZ15njIC3NK30bf/s1600/antag_028.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVupf582V_UCGxJZFS5IqG3UNsKAe2wuTRx1ASGcYdXjPjDlxL-4bk8_AJaOjwrOYhd_oNA-dOhuVbzREOHcGhu5vIKhVE0aM7Ht2Z28kyFIsgHoCMdUBaJg9QBBCVhdZ15njIC3NK30bf/s640/antag_028.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9KuNf-9zKjSrNHHVa9d_jwqd-7p2tBlB23H46LzBbkIc_eOuGfbhfB7Q8nKxWe5Q-mulCiPq6yrMu8vXrnMrMKvfrtpexpUzJaZ-cA5QNzLV8ClngTb09zJwNWxPBV2COwU_6_TXRXeXw/s1600/antag_032.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9KuNf-9zKjSrNHHVa9d_jwqd-7p2tBlB23H46LzBbkIc_eOuGfbhfB7Q8nKxWe5Q-mulCiPq6yrMu8vXrnMrMKvfrtpexpUzJaZ-cA5QNzLV8ClngTb09zJwNWxPBV2COwU_6_TXRXeXw/s640/antag_032.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Explosion from destroyed ships are white</td></tr>
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I think I'm going to conclude this playthrough of <i>Ascendancy. </i>It is a fantastic game but I'm ready to move on to something new. Here is a look at the galaxy as I am leaving it:<br />
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And I finally ran into the final other species:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKXzd897nSHNUlQ7HDKzxPmAvWBcbzUw-e1vTzPkkBao-Jkb1BdoPvM4lRMGYBHFN7UzeQS4MkpH5fH6T7ZFU8gzNOXg43cDjqrZFR0zJSDu0ige4rl6nu_pcMwQv-aIOEIWA_Q_ygXZ0a/s1600/antag_034.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKXzd897nSHNUlQ7HDKzxPmAvWBcbzUw-e1vTzPkkBao-Jkb1BdoPvM4lRMGYBHFN7UzeQS4MkpH5fH6T7ZFU8gzNOXg43cDjqrZFR0zJSDu0ige4rl6nu_pcMwQv-aIOEIWA_Q_ygXZ0a/s640/antag_034.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Their name sounds like a coffee drink</td></tr>
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I did a good job of building up my empire and clearing out other species from within my borders. I did a little bit of expansion but not much. I'm stopping now because they battles can drag a bit at this point in the game as it can take upwards of 10 shots to destroy an enemy ship, and the whole time that enemy is moving to get out of range of my shots. So it ends being a lot of chasing, cat/mouse type thing that can take a long time when there are 2 or 3 ships to chase down and destroy. <br />
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I tried the game without the Antagonizer patch, and the AI is pretty crappy without it. It would make the game go a lot faster though.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- Review -</u></span></h2>
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To be completely honest, I found <i>Ascendancy </i>to be really really fun. It is one of those games where I found myself thinking about it when I wasn't playing. It would be turning over strategies in my head and thinking about which systems to attack and which to defend. It reminded me a lot of a much more simple <i>Civilization </i>in that I was always thinking about the larger big picture strategy and it gave that recognizable feeling of "one more turn". </div>
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When compared to other 4X games like <i>Master of Orion 2 </i>or <i>Imperium Galactica </i>or the more recent <i>Stellaris, Ascendancy </i>is much shallower in depth. There is no economics, happiness, or much in the way of diplomacy. I completely ignored planetary development and allowed the AI to handle it with no drawbacks that I could discern. As I mentioned before, there is also a complete lack of any numbers or stats. Determining whether a weapon or engine or device is appropriate to use takes trial and error, the manual, and intuition based on its name and how far it is along the tech tree. </div>
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It sounds like everything I listed above is a negative, but this is actually not the case. <i>Ascendancy </i>is a clever game on a number of levels. At the most basic level, the names of all the technologies are interesting and very memorable. At a higher level, the game frees you from having to worry about things like economics or happiness and so lets you focus more on grand strategy, more so that most 4X games. So while it is a more simple game than some others, it has a great focus on macro strategies, almost like a game of Risk. </div>
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I also really enjoyed the music and artwork. The alien designs are all appropriately alien and the music, both at the menu and in game, is great. The interface is also fairly impressive for an old DOS game. Right click centers on units, ESC backs out to maps, and there are no nest menus. Its amazing to me that a 4X game can get by without having nested menus.</div>
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Like a lot of 4X games, this game tended to drag once I got to the middle game. I did not get to the late game so I can't comment on that, but once my opponents got "Large" ships and better engines it made combat pretty tedious. It was the same thing over and over: Enemy takes 1 or 2 shots at me then runs away and I am forced to chase them for a few turns until I finally whittle down their health and destroy them. I know later on the game there are weapons that are much stronger and so make combat go faster, but I wasn't willing to continue to playing right now to get that far. </div>
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This is an easy game for me to recommend. If only they could have produced a sequel.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069718226803277447.post-34078492453724658732018-03-10T12:09:00.001-08:002018-03-12T15:16:03.691-07:00Ascendancy - Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdyuYHHTV1o2-rDCOMc2eWMJl1ywem634ij1jMiWOV62IdHW_VDMTAKD63tMcgdXjEvcJttWSsIl7J5RGYgnLTgqINAsVoeMKBjPfDdRgu0n6K7TX3_ix9p8r0rCZyetIKPZn-sS2Z5JVZ/s1600/ascendcv.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="335" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdyuYHHTV1o2-rDCOMc2eWMJl1ywem634ij1jMiWOV62IdHW_VDMTAKD63tMcgdXjEvcJttWSsIl7J5RGYgnLTgqINAsVoeMKBjPfDdRgu0n6K7TX3_ix9p8r0rCZyetIKPZn-sS2Z5JVZ/s320/ascendcv.jpg" width="268" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://rememberpcdosgames.blogspot.com/2018/02/ascendancy-1995.html#more">Ascendancy - Part 1</a><br />
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The Great Nimbuloid-Fludentri War continues in Part 2 of my <i>Ascendancy</i> playthough. "Great" may be too strong of a word since nothing has happened yet, but I can tell those shifty Fludentri are going to be a tough opponent. They look like toothpaste.<br />
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In this post, I hope to capture the essence of war in <i>Ascendancy </i>with ship-ship and ship-planet battles along with planetary invasion. I should see some of this pretty soon since it did not take long for the Fludentri to declare war on me after we made first contact. I can also start to show some of the weird tech tree gizmos that the game encourages me to place in my ships. I will try to provide occasional overviews of the galaxy map to allow readers to follow along and understand how my Nimbuloid empire is progressing as well. Hopefully we can conquer the other galactic denizens and spread our strange, gaseous cloud people to the farthest reaches of the galaxy! To continue reading about <i>Ascendancy, </i>click below!<br />
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Here is the state of the galaxy when I last left off:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5A_ukw8FArQlVjk9PzWrEKYdenQBso28KwAgpmrWPowSvOsVwkvpGpIuuwa4K4LO_gFGYmbxXLTacG_SO4yiREbXyCImkGv4JplFBso5EGetmB47RYgAkJuUY6XuHpTqHqhpGDIjv3buT/s1600/antag_003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5A_ukw8FArQlVjk9PzWrEKYdenQBso28KwAgpmrWPowSvOsVwkvpGpIuuwa4K4LO_gFGYmbxXLTacG_SO4yiREbXyCImkGv4JplFBso5EGetmB47RYgAkJuUY6XuHpTqHqhpGDIjv3buT/s640/antag_003.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nimbuloid empire is green</td></tr>
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The green circles are solar systems I have colonized planets in, an orange circle means the hated Fludentri have a planet in that system, and a dot without a circle around it means no one has colonized any planets in that system. Looking at the map above, the Fludentri have colonized a planet right in the middle of my empire in a system called the Lanesend system. I have it selected in the screenshot above. Let's take a look at it and see what kind of planet it is:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiflXRLEe68cZ73hAiFNsLBj_dtvU3hEHF3OvTiPrfla_wKRj_lMh_BqUKhhrlVlifItgKhzofIymp6c_d0z8BRMvdeoyU2bB_LS1KTP6cr_d-768KrzHnlESyJ0KtCPA2Hnpsr6-HH6NCl/s1600/antag_002.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiflXRLEe68cZ73hAiFNsLBj_dtvU3hEHF3OvTiPrfla_wKRj_lMh_BqUKhhrlVlifItgKhzofIymp6c_d0z8BRMvdeoyU2bB_LS1KTP6cr_d-768KrzHnlESyJ0KtCPA2Hnpsr6-HH6NCl/s640/antag_002.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a weak colony</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
They chose...poorly. In their defense there wasn't any good planets to colonize in that system, but still. So they have this tiny planet colonized in the middle of my empire, I should be able to handle this. I don't know what the rest of THEIR empire looks like, but I should be able to deal with this.<br />
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The first thing I need to do is build some warships and invasion ships. Unfortunately, it's early in the game and everyone is low on the technology tree so the weapons I put in my ships are going to be fairly shitty. But so will everyone else's.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGXePw6cxVB9R1GeMt0_yWArIAn7MLo9NackiPLbUafR5yN8t0_EhEus7LTI47Yy5IBeZRp3QXpPskuG7Yq_xRHwr0uYtg75hHtuwYnZ017RLv7vs8qhpPC27e-9aSO-YLuaUROtC0n64K/s1600/antag_004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGXePw6cxVB9R1GeMt0_yWArIAn7MLo9NackiPLbUafR5yN8t0_EhEus7LTI47Yy5IBeZRp3QXpPskuG7Yq_xRHwr0uYtg75hHtuwYnZ017RLv7vs8qhpPC27e-9aSO-YLuaUROtC0n64K/s640/antag_004.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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For this first warship, I have 2 engines, 3 powerplants, 1 starlane drive, and 4 Uberlasers. The Uberlasers are not very "Uber", but they are the best I have right now. Since there are no stats in the game, I know they are better because they are further down the tech tree. Also, the relative strength of items seems to be listed from top (worst) to bottom (best). On the right of the above screenshot, the Proton Shaver powerplant is worse than the Subatomic Scoop.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEdqvbq_IO6gIi0qphFPWrIy-bKZ9TM57UOpos5BS4DCaoaOtPCswAi09BVs_Pwhyphenhyphen_Z9LdzRovQ60iogEDv0FJ_OJNZBWA1Q3B8-vWsSWjh5VW3wzjL2rub78BSc-DS3mKXiQlCcFlorBp/s1600/antag_005.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEdqvbq_IO6gIi0qphFPWrIy-bKZ9TM57UOpos5BS4DCaoaOtPCswAi09BVs_Pwhyphenhyphen_Z9LdzRovQ60iogEDv0FJ_OJNZBWA1Q3B8-vWsSWjh5VW3wzjL2rub78BSc-DS3mKXiQlCcFlorBp/s640/antag_005.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The name inspires confidence</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Right now the Fludentri only have 1 system, Lanesend, in the middle of my empire. But they aren't staying put, it looks like they are on the move:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh307vhZ2aaNBU10CEdgb-knqKpXBWj2aapAlf_J0-4YwTdhkEwn798ouU2R3bhkBZHlBQKaVKBDsgfIipibmVTNUJq0YVhxqlM5GHz8QoiI2mVxdetqfdG6qlsnSOY3hxQ8IZm3rss60Dz/s1600/antag_011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh307vhZ2aaNBU10CEdgb-knqKpXBWj2aapAlf_J0-4YwTdhkEwn798ouU2R3bhkBZHlBQKaVKBDsgfIipibmVTNUJq0YVhxqlM5GHz8QoiI2mVxdetqfdG6qlsnSOY3hxQ8IZm3rss60Dz/s1600/antag_011.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fludentri leaving Synthos</td></tr>
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The little orange triangles in the middle of the screenshot above indicate Fludentri ships moving along a star lane towards a neighboring system (Synthos), which just happens to be a system where I have colonized planets. None of my planets in the Synthos system have orbital defenses or much in the way of planetary defenses. Speaking of defenses, I should probably mention how attacking a planet works. In a planet's orbit, you can build a certain number of structures. One of the structures you can build is Orbital Shields. These create a...shield....around the planet that must be destroyed before a ship can move into orbit and launch an invasion. The strength of the shield depends on how many orbital shields you have built in orbit. The more shields you build, the better protected your planet will be but the less space you'll have for orbital weapons, shipyards, etc. Once a ship has destroyed the orbital shields, it can enter orbit to launch an invasion.<br />
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Whether the invasion is successful or not depends on if/how many surface defense batteries you have. A ship uses an "Invasion Module" to invade a planet. It takes 1 invasion module to successfully invade a planet, but surface defense batteries can destroy 1 invasion module. So if a ship has 2 invasion modules and it tries to invade a planet with 2 surface defense battery, the invasion will fail because all the invasion modules were destroyed. If the ship has 4 invasion modules, the invasion will be successful and the ship will still have 2 invasion modules left over. However, each surface battery is destroyed when used to destroy invasion modules and needs to be rebuilt. Later in the game, ships can also use bombs to bombard the surface before launching the invasion. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOQt9V1Ry0l0ouG6n0MwMi1agZG4bT1kByHniS-D5TPM5cHgUBRcImca1pQG3wzlFsbK-vAwVWJE8ZUfubvIj8vLsR4kzt_KjjCyYwukiCnXN8Y7GuaSUdTIkkhVJy7VC0jvouKMp9iZ3/s1600/antag_012.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOQt9V1Ry0l0ouG6n0MwMi1agZG4bT1kByHniS-D5TPM5cHgUBRcImca1pQG3wzlFsbK-vAwVWJE8ZUfubvIj8vLsR4kzt_KjjCyYwukiCnXN8Y7GuaSUdTIkkhVJy7VC0jvouKMp9iZ3/s640/antag_012.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEircrzqI7QMsOjKUK2QOSET9yGOPN8Q5hQeKkZguqV1WqU9bL-Y8RuT_Z5Fr01iMsNRaXobZeh9GgkupumdYJe62R5LWRgP8UTT7SMUMGxAs_0ijBxMEfr-JUoLtKKFoAnnOdyjsytdcNo2/s1600/antag_013.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEircrzqI7QMsOjKUK2QOSET9yGOPN8Q5hQeKkZguqV1WqU9bL-Y8RuT_Z5Fr01iMsNRaXobZeh9GgkupumdYJe62R5LWRgP8UTT7SMUMGxAs_0ijBxMEfr-JUoLtKKFoAnnOdyjsytdcNo2/s640/antag_013.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crap! That's a good system with good planets</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Well crap, it turns out Synthos is a good system. I've colonized 3 relatively good planets here, but I have not had time to build any defensive structures. The Fludentri ships have free reign to invade them and there's nothing I can do about it.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXaFNAOuk0rlbpdv5vWB1jKRB_JQe34X83twSwXc7rj04a6BBxu7cZqs47N4O5bB8ux8WB6zZV6Mf_LVfopzILVArdRntAv0Y3A29o_nIyeoWw1Ufi7_E9MbzVQ99tI6orNjP7OvsnX72C/s1600/antag_014.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXaFNAOuk0rlbpdv5vWB1jKRB_JQe34X83twSwXc7rj04a6BBxu7cZqs47N4O5bB8ux8WB6zZV6Mf_LVfopzILVArdRntAv0Y3A29o_nIyeoWw1Ufi7_E9MbzVQ99tI6orNjP7OvsnX72C/s640/antag_014.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Fludentri ships move in for the kill</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Looks like they are going for the biggest planet first...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCdaVixbqMGUgwWQJq7lD_VrWTypAAzXqV7-2D7avCSwlVAeeMxFFQde7mWeNGMqYAhoYnwUxcQgrCtVhyphenhyphenlWwqhjOdkRcOzeCXTLy7brClGBT4xF-ZHZAZu6wVzHuJrW3vaCGRLDAkCefr/s1600/antag_017.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCdaVixbqMGUgwWQJq7lD_VrWTypAAzXqV7-2D7avCSwlVAeeMxFFQde7mWeNGMqYAhoYnwUxcQgrCtVhyphenhyphenlWwqhjOdkRcOzeCXTLy7brClGBT4xF-ZHZAZu6wVzHuJrW3vaCGRLDAkCefr/s640/antag_017.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bummer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It turns out my AI had actually built some surface defense batteries, so the invasion of Synthos II used up all of the Fludentri's invasion modules, so I only lost 1 planet! Not bad! I'm going to focus on retaking the Synthos system for the Nimbuloids and then moving on to eradicating the Fludentri gelatinous fiends.<br />
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Here is a map of the galaxy again with Synthos now having an orange AND green ring around it indicating there are now Fludentri colonies in the system. Also, notice the new yellow triangles moving along the red star lane to the left of the screen and the new yellow circled system at the end of that star lane. It looks like I have a new species to contend with.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgni-QZ8fNWgvLu0K6nMywF6ornJkTJ-jEH5hgdhr2QXQNslDzPX80Glt2ESg7OiJFKmvvlSYkWXsPY83Rm10ffAAJ9gsnO-68VWGpJD7dImLgdgNR_YrvXt8ffgWXbl5aKiJNjONhPz-6R/s1600/antag_021.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgni-QZ8fNWgvLu0K6nMywF6ornJkTJ-jEH5hgdhr2QXQNslDzPX80Glt2ESg7OiJFKmvvlSYkWXsPY83Rm10ffAAJ9gsnO-68VWGpJD7dImLgdgNR_YrvXt8ffgWXbl5aKiJNjONhPz-6R/s640/antag_021.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmap95VqooXzy4V6ejgJYayD8Dqhb4oKXaTrJqYO-tkNZHQH80CnZrR5roDsy8DKV9bp3wjcuhvgT1kB7W1tDfJ7ashOlKsU1NYMmaoxT3BsRxh4fxjaQ42_VGUPvg6FgtvGsraTOT7Q0k/s1600/antag_022.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmap95VqooXzy4V6ejgJYayD8Dqhb4oKXaTrJqYO-tkNZHQH80CnZrR5roDsy8DKV9bp3wjcuhvgT1kB7W1tDfJ7ashOlKsU1NYMmaoxT3BsRxh4fxjaQ42_VGUPvg6FgtvGsraTOT7Q0k/s640/antag_022.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAMrYsk3CFaW0esBTEaLvd0KBkFQOYd5TmHZzbj2SQOPpI-I8C9lELEDJRZjooHKhbjE69j2wvQF6UIW6yPzJbRk7MNoliprgWMRtIv4aeZkGId7O-BNsTAo_FJUuf99pyuVxxDKs4gTy8/s1600/antag_023.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAMrYsk3CFaW0esBTEaLvd0KBkFQOYd5TmHZzbj2SQOPpI-I8C9lELEDJRZjooHKhbjE69j2wvQF6UIW6yPzJbRk7MNoliprgWMRtIv4aeZkGId7O-BNsTAo_FJUuf99pyuVxxDKs4gTy8/s640/antag_023.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Please don't declare war on me right away</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I've completed my new invasion ship so it's time to retake Lanesend and Synthos:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkoQ2oVd5WuajU6uxjg71yAUA7fTEO5jfwdu7vs9hB8LWO5oxYg3Rf1AFfEt6pwuk892GJu4f9nmKW1byu6s1PJCl7dz1W0-cwW0acG_tSLOX9vJoJGUDvgHtaAIQxPsZQAVmUtLhcucV3/s1600/antag_024.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkoQ2oVd5WuajU6uxjg71yAUA7fTEO5jfwdu7vs9hB8LWO5oxYg3Rf1AFfEt6pwuk892GJu4f9nmKW1byu6s1PJCl7dz1W0-cwW0acG_tSLOX9vJoJGUDvgHtaAIQxPsZQAVmUtLhcucV3/s640/antag_024.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZsvI71MYAvb_l3eJlhlPf1HHTGyHOwLHN2UvH7UvYntdnWXAfebh5sPzB159aypQwgJyF_hGjYA8LCcsS6DTYkBPdlQSUrbemMFW6XzDPD7vLuTIeDD591OK-kTsNQGeQVXq9TXyY0fyA/s1600/antag_026.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZsvI71MYAvb_l3eJlhlPf1HHTGyHOwLHN2UvH7UvYntdnWXAfebh5sPzB159aypQwgJyF_hGjYA8LCcsS6DTYkBPdlQSUrbemMFW6XzDPD7vLuTIeDD591OK-kTsNQGeQVXq9TXyY0fyA/s640/antag_026.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZeecA-c8za68oM5so5LUytH4Nmzr4JW5sFKelxds67PBifeKl7dSXMVYkDahOIkowJgHOueimEfwpWJ5Iz33q1kANNM5utPwereoHLUVhoS4g_AajvAcjRbpVnIBQGTgEicnbstCEJwHr/s1600/antag_027.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZeecA-c8za68oM5so5LUytH4Nmzr4JW5sFKelxds67PBifeKl7dSXMVYkDahOIkowJgHOueimEfwpWJ5Iz33q1kANNM5utPwereoHLUVhoS4g_AajvAcjRbpVnIBQGTgEicnbstCEJwHr/s640/antag_027.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlmTLj1grnqZ1AAh4UCPkYHV-q7e-Gsj8f85Pow5f5hzRX61XXJakgWlx2zUPsDui00fJMx_MXokjYmh84-mt9zD1rityEnjuTw7gDt-GXpW7la8lxkJ5RwMG1lTCvH4_uSvFqbHgC5YOQ/s1600/antag_028.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlmTLj1grnqZ1AAh4UCPkYHV-q7e-Gsj8f85Pow5f5hzRX61XXJakgWlx2zUPsDui00fJMx_MXokjYmh84-mt9zD1rityEnjuTw7gDt-GXpW7la8lxkJ5RwMG1lTCvH4_uSvFqbHgC5YOQ/s640/antag_028.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Alright, now I'm in pretty good shape. I've taken care of the interlopers so I can now focus on fortifying my border systems, researching better technology, and sending out invasion ships to expand my empire by force. Like a true superpower, the peace-loving Nimbuloids are spreading our cloudy, gaseous form of democracy through strength and violence. My next target is the system of Aquila, at the end of the red star lane seen in the shot above. There is a series of 3 systems that have Fludentri colonies that I want to invade, starting with Aquila. While I do have colonies in those systems as well, none of the planets have enough industry to build a ship in a reasonable amount of time, even with my species' special ability of speeding up building projects. So my first step will be to amass a small armada in the Algarond system, at the other end of the red star lane (you can see a green triangle in the system in the shot above, indicating I already have at least one ship there).<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVJQYAMgMBidxi3DbfqCiLPaXH_a6_aHyh5_XH17nru5OYnPm4_5V0JmZzE1JdwxfukynKp12374slwe8ECdIEANcRRiftb4t6UMHnduQmHU1Kv-YOu7OKwwrF1X0CytrEy5gCgJEMCHE5/s1600/antag_000.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVJQYAMgMBidxi3DbfqCiLPaXH_a6_aHyh5_XH17nru5OYnPm4_5V0JmZzE1JdwxfukynKp12374slwe8ECdIEANcRRiftb4t6UMHnduQmHU1Kv-YOu7OKwwrF1X0CytrEy5gCgJEMCHE5/s640/antag_000.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My armada of the "Crappy" line of ships grows</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Nothing strikes fear into an enemy like an armada of "Crappy" ships! Here is a look at the Algarond system with my armada:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmQYS4H-8IFoaTQlr58dApBxV6AvyekZRkjrXKz1uObkkFXzy4NNYqMnMGV-XBrFq9ppOlzgYXEGm48iXuN5Ek9M9FubJl0DwueINWtLmRD24ZeIFSLH8Nb-9fXJO2IKxcjtZZbIsIAYSt/s1600/antag_002.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmQYS4H-8IFoaTQlr58dApBxV6AvyekZRkjrXKz1uObkkFXzy4NNYqMnMGV-XBrFq9ppOlzgYXEGm48iXuN5Ek9M9FubJl0DwueINWtLmRD24ZeIFSLH8Nb-9fXJO2IKxcjtZZbIsIAYSt/s640/antag_002.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Let's take a look at the Aquila system I am going to invade:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWYniR8tIHm3pg294kgnLjH0ZWybAPxuc8ZOnAPj2Nn3TZ7XG7y57rW717swmXceRO10mSUdrfGxONE06xZbteMkVKdehB1B2CIcsqummRnoCFRx7tseZhEYZxYn9vUurO-a9X1Phh-eah/s1600/antag_004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWYniR8tIHm3pg294kgnLjH0ZWybAPxuc8ZOnAPj2Nn3TZ7XG7y57rW717swmXceRO10mSUdrfGxONE06xZbteMkVKdehB1B2CIcsqummRnoCFRx7tseZhEYZxYn9vUurO-a9X1Phh-eah/s640/antag_004.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Orange ringed planet is the Fludentri</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It looks like the Fludentri have one colony there and it is protected by at least one orbital shield. We can get a closer look by selecting the planet. As long as they haven't build an orbital shield or a surface shield, I will be able to see what they've built on the surface and in orbit.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWGq_AI53nTx_-uulOkLrqJijXbJNrg5DqF0SIXcB_j_9wZAzc6YtOrIECcMZHOEYSUH7MHtvc77ol8NGCl7Ez9yPm7tAcGwTSSG0dMZ7SLHIQMgtbQAcH9vmkXBqAFpkCUIryASvSrRrg/s1600/antag_005.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWGq_AI53nTx_-uulOkLrqJijXbJNrg5DqF0SIXcB_j_9wZAzc6YtOrIECcMZHOEYSUH7MHtvc77ol8NGCl7Ez9yPm7tAcGwTSSG0dMZ7SLHIQMgtbQAcH9vmkXBqAFpkCUIryASvSrRrg/s640/antag_005.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
They've got 1 orbital shield, 1 orbital missile battery, and 2 surface batteries. I need to destroy the orbital shield battery then move into orbit and invade, but I need to make sure I have at least 3 invasion modules because the surface missiles will destroy 2 of them. Let's see how it goes:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimwKqfuto_uhk0w4rfZ45V9XHrPGy0IoML6Kf0UahRONAanOt9eXo6WCExne-bHqCPtYBx2v2haezwpqkuddToYhWOjO3GQXvli_MZVOHyS7GOJf8Cg4m3nT-AoMviLPuRgiacllmSBhcK/s1600/antag_006.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimwKqfuto_uhk0w4rfZ45V9XHrPGy0IoML6Kf0UahRONAanOt9eXo6WCExne-bHqCPtYBx2v2haezwpqkuddToYhWOjO3GQXvli_MZVOHyS7GOJf8Cg4m3nT-AoMviLPuRgiacllmSBhcK/s640/antag_006.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lining up for battle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKOAxUc8d11bYrnxwOpwb2PS-ogDG0YDKAYqjm3QK0LF6ET0f-x2LUwD2s9H120mo1tnuGBQya3aLhoNmEjhr1kYJkThVPw1VskqiF8sBe2DHGB6PxHPlelgJ5ZIVr2tf3u0kBEO8JPXP-/s1600/invgif.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="473" data-original-width="635" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKOAxUc8d11bYrnxwOpwb2PS-ogDG0YDKAYqjm3QK0LF6ET0f-x2LUwD2s9H120mo1tnuGBQya3aLhoNmEjhr1kYJkThVPw1VskqiF8sBe2DHGB6PxHPlelgJ5ZIVr2tf3u0kBEO8JPXP-/s640/invgif.gif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The battle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I took 1 shot from the missile battery, but they aren't that powerful so I wasn't too worried. My invasion ship doesn't have any weapons because I needed the room for invasion modules, so I moved in my Crappy Fighters first to destroy the orbital shields, then I moved in my invader ship. It was successful, so I now own Aquila II, and the Nebuloid empire continues its expansion.<br />
<br />
I moved north with my invasion ship and one of my Crappy Fighters, but left the other Crappy Fighter in Aquila because I have not explored two of the Star Lanes leading out of the Aquila system and I'm guessing the Fludentri have more colonies from those directions. Not long after, a Fludentri warship arrived and I had a quick fight against it. Luckily my Crappy Fighters have long range, but relatively weak, weapons that allowed me to destroy the warship before it got in range.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisi5-Dt-W1KVc6hHK3eHDUd9QAN8vrmxSNVVy3n1ce8NXXqMnsaJZZYItnOTsZPxLCRhbt7esg_LSRPGOKs3RatA3upjsY2_3c0r1YmW6L6TnD_gN0s-HHNteJJd4RXEIrzOMicZJlwm48/s1600/shipgif.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="473" data-original-width="632" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisi5-Dt-W1KVc6hHK3eHDUd9QAN8vrmxSNVVy3n1ce8NXXqMnsaJZZYItnOTsZPxLCRhbt7esg_LSRPGOKs3RatA3upjsY2_3c0r1YmW6L6TnD_gN0s-HHNteJJd4RXEIrzOMicZJlwm48/s640/shipgif.gif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Destroyed like I destroy jello at Thanksgiving</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Unfortunately, before I could finish clearing out the Fludentri from the other 2 systems to the north of Aquila, I ran out of invasion modules because the had built a significant number of surface missile batteries. Instead of building all new invasion ships, I just finished researching Orbital Docks so I can refit my ships.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwuaj3klEnvpaD0GtjpiaHLxKEQIlKbdyDg4HEptncvZJ1Cw13vBxxHdv8AtuqZMSjPmblvX67R-LAWiJwQItg3qoTTWrT04IqKY8c-8vdLI02isK7vThVLIcMwPBovswu7m9BMzWsJH0V/s1600/antag_013.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwuaj3klEnvpaD0GtjpiaHLxKEQIlKbdyDg4HEptncvZJ1Cw13vBxxHdv8AtuqZMSjPmblvX67R-LAWiJwQItg3qoTTWrT04IqKY8c-8vdLI02isK7vThVLIcMwPBovswu7m9BMzWsJH0V/s640/antag_013.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Now my goals is to refit my ships with new invasion modules and then finish clearing out the last Fludentri colony in my empire before moving on to exploring further to the south of my empire and finding more Fludentri to fight. I'm also hoping the Chamachies don't declare war on me.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw6J1kZ6b-GMhQH8KDMLy8Fet4EbCj2YXQ0VeYNH6muozKyDeHjEJpzrPSwLS6hTFM5u_gprqL3WetIHOQH7bo9-mzuslmrGr0B7czGyMoZOIqN16XosqyPlpigQMLqKZkW26e3WebhRKF/s1600/antag_014.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw6J1kZ6b-GMhQH8KDMLy8Fet4EbCj2YXQ0VeYNH6muozKyDeHjEJpzrPSwLS6hTFM5u_gprqL3WetIHOQH7bo9-mzuslmrGr0B7czGyMoZOIqN16XosqyPlpigQMLqKZkW26e3WebhRKF/s640/antag_014.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I still have 2 species left to encounter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And just after I took this screenshot, a new ship entered one of my systems:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_syhSYDfgv0kDtQPqxivB5juWDFoVYsOLVD9hb1r8gVdzJWgna9PFZhIxaEwrW01jhfS2bNDXzj9i6jkPh59Tg1XL9V0VGwaoQklv_SJckEh60yjsKAZXIicjNcQh-Yb4H5_cr7-bD8ut/s1600/antag_015.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_syhSYDfgv0kDtQPqxivB5juWDFoVYsOLVD9hb1r8gVdzJWgna9PFZhIxaEwrW01jhfS2bNDXzj9i6jkPh59Tg1XL9V0VGwaoQklv_SJckEh60yjsKAZXIicjNcQh-Yb4H5_cr7-bD8ut/s640/antag_015.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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I forgot to mention that each species has their own brief theme music that plays whenever I interact with them through diplomacy. Most tracks are pretty good and give a good impression of what kind of species you are dealing with.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrQ8sh70Du_BxvraBwd2YFehoe1vfwfjhYmwHQEvb6LxbNd7RDj-efUukwStSa3CY5vSdgFqNFq5DXUkrR1vJHZrdXrfrtD5k2BxdyKNKKpdHujyd1jGdUt2et74PRqiIHKrlzWHCIuNR1/s1600/antag_016.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrQ8sh70Du_BxvraBwd2YFehoe1vfwfjhYmwHQEvb6LxbNd7RDj-efUukwStSa3CY5vSdgFqNFq5DXUkrR1vJHZrdXrfrtD5k2BxdyKNKKpdHujyd1jGdUt2et74PRqiIHKrlzWHCIuNR1/s640/antag_016.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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The theme music for these new Marmosians sounds like battle drums, so I am not hopeful about my future relations with them. You can see in the above screenshot their ship represented by the brown triangle in my system at the end of the long red star lane. They came from that red star lane, as did the Chamachies. So it makes the most sense for me to keep fighting the Fludentri while also making sure I fortify the hell out of that system at the end of that red star lane that have Marmosians and Chamachies at the other end. The system in question is called the Brilliance system and there are 2 planets, only one of which is worth anything. My AI has done a good job of fortifying the planet so far:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyQpSD1LAMWcLjzgp1_CbawJWp3njed5gm6jzNWid6-kv7eSMtW3WMNJM041JPnDVGfwy6f3VRyPUR8TGtHJn5lUXsmTTCY8Dtz8NuO5I0cjsJjIptfUPjlMaFsQ7nYcInVSJ1nKUWn4FV/s1600/antag_018.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyQpSD1LAMWcLjzgp1_CbawJWp3njed5gm6jzNWid6-kv7eSMtW3WMNJM041JPnDVGfwy6f3VRyPUR8TGtHJn5lUXsmTTCY8Dtz8NuO5I0cjsJjIptfUPjlMaFsQ7nYcInVSJ1nKUWn4FV/s640/antag_018.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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I will probably build an orbital docks and I may go ahead and colonize the other tiny garbage planet in the system just so now one else can.<br />
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I let one turn pass and then this happened:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzEwiK-gEWhVAeKyz_gtgohSELsyWtUf6uhAOsgShom4rcuzNn0_0TnVNI38Uj7fj835icnL1AFwpq9tOdp9qvo5QDwtZaQsMO7SwwqNSv0yl7GLALxbJrji-26TDFLSNT9sX_0eYU3ru5/s1600/antag_020.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzEwiK-gEWhVAeKyz_gtgohSELsyWtUf6uhAOsgShom4rcuzNn0_0TnVNI38Uj7fj835icnL1AFwpq9tOdp9qvo5QDwtZaQsMO7SwwqNSv0yl7GLALxbJrji-26TDFLSNT9sX_0eYU3ru5/s640/antag_020.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Damn.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I did nothing to them! I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the giant, metallic centipede monsters declared war on me, but still. I am a species of floating cumulus clouds, how am I offensive to anyone. Time to start building more warships and invasion ships like crazy.<br />
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And I guess I shouldn't be surprised by this:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhntrwtQyweLrwn0MRnwEDFTKf_ji3R6q7VmdGMWNTTYPn61vThKG8k7YGNG5_8vyItJ4wRt3Bt5rXuHHRKEhZ8kcQaubzOrOhKeRaxL2MxOCDRlNL3DwbrXzmQVm5bzxekZZ5_7Nl1R6HG/s1600/antag_021.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhntrwtQyweLrwn0MRnwEDFTKf_ji3R6q7VmdGMWNTTYPn61vThKG8k7YGNG5_8vyItJ4wRt3Bt5rXuHHRKEhZ8kcQaubzOrOhKeRaxL2MxOCDRlNL3DwbrXzmQVm5bzxekZZ5_7Nl1R6HG/s640/antag_021.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Things might be getting a little interesting now. The only silver lining I can see to all this is that my empire is relatively free of internal enemy systems, so I should be able to just fortify my border systems and focus my inner systems on industry and producing war ships. Things could get interest though because I am getting farther along in the tech tree and there are some weird technologies in the mid and later game. There are techs that let you warp around a system map, enlarge a star to increase its gravity and drag ships into it, slingshot ships way out into the outer system, paralyze an enemy ship, canabalize an enemy to increase your own health, and more weird stuff. Techs like those can really shift the balance of a battle so I'll have to stay on my toes.<br />
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I'll wrap up this post for now. Next time I'll continue the Nebuloids war against everyone and hopefully finish up my look at <i>Ascendancy. </i>To be honest, I am loving this game so far and that is why my posts have had so much detail and why I keep playing the game instead of moving on to the next one. The game is FUN.<br />
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Go back to <a href="http://rememberpcdosgames.blogspot.com/2018/02/ascendancy-1995.html"><i>Ascendancy </i>- Part 1</a> to see the start of my playthrough.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069718226803277447.post-13561300088911157782018-02-13T15:49:00.002-08:002018-02-23T21:16:56.317-08:00Ascendancy (1995)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4HWuV8zDvK83N82nQVzI1h-AUUVpUJe7nxOWlUqsyqW5SWyVpFMTLp32dUA8L49hQ8qobGT4l9TZw5xWsqZdidQyXis7rTJmE_dsiMxBbqy9pwZ5OQW4acwd351DkELL7BCAph7oCjyu3/s1600/ascendcv.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="955" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4HWuV8zDvK83N82nQVzI1h-AUUVpUJe7nxOWlUqsyqW5SWyVpFMTLp32dUA8L49hQ8qobGT4l9TZw5xWsqZdidQyXis7rTJmE_dsiMxBbqy9pwZ5OQW4acwd351DkELL7BCAph7oCjyu3/s400/ascendcv.jpg" width="335" /></a></div>
<br />
Date: 1995<br />
Developer: Logic Factory<br />
Publisher: Logic Factory<br />
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System Requirements:<br />
- 486DX/33MHz<br />
- MSDOS 5.0<br />
- 2x CDROM<br />
- VESA compatible SVGA<br />
- 8MB RAM<br />
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Where to purchase?<br />
<br />
- Unfortunately Ascendancy is not sold anywhere digitally, so your best bet is Amazon or Ebay looking for use copies. There used to be an iOS version, but this was taken down a few years ago.<br />
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Today's game is a change of pace from my previous outings of the past few weeks. After playing mostly action games for my initial posts on RPDG, I'm going to slow down and play through <i>Ascendancy</i>, a 4X space strategy game. Before starting, let's get some acronyms out of the way first: 4X stands for eXpand, eXterminate, eXplore, and eXploit, these being the primary driving motivations behind the gameplay in these kinds of games. Like many of these kinds of games, <i>Ascendancy</i> is a turn-based strategy game (TBS), in comparison to something like <i>Command and Conquer, </i>which is a real-time strategy game (RTS). Sometimes I find ATBA (Acronyms To Be Annoying), but in this case it is helpful to know this stuff ahead of time.<br />
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I have limited experience with <i>Ascendancy </i>from playing the demo way back in the 90s, so I'm going in to this game fairly blind. But I do enjoy these kinds of galactic conquest games, so I'm looking forward to it. Let's fire it up!<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- Development -</u></span></h2>
<div>
The story of <i>Ascendancy </i>is also the story of The Logic Factory, the development and publishing company that developed the game. While The Logic Factory had lofty goals of developing further games beyond <i>Ascendancy, </i>their fate is inexorably linked to their first, and best, game. To begin, The Logic Factory was founded around 1993 by two brothers: Todd and Jason Templeman. The two brothers were soon joined by Thomas Blom, and these 3 formed the nucleus of what would become The Logic Factory (from I could find). </div>
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Their first game sounds like it was always going to be a scifi, space strategy game. In an interview in 2012, Todd Templeman eloquently describes his fascination with spaces and the infinite possibilities of life. He describes being a huge fan of Carl Sagan's <i>Cosmos</i> and wanting to convey that feeling of discovery and wonder into a computer game. I liked this quote by him:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , "lucida grande" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.5px;">If you asked us what we could possibly hope the ideal customer reaction to our game would be, it would be that it was primarily fun, but also somehow a real game design that offered a glimpse into that desire we all have somewhere inside of us … a chance to truly explore and discover the universe, and all the impossible variety it likely holds.</span></blockquote>
- Todd Templeman <a href="https://www.spacesector.com/blog/2012/04/interview-with-logic-factory-on-ascendancy-and-beyond/">link</a><br />
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Other influences he mentions in that interview are the novel <i>Ender's Game </i>and <i>Sid Meier's Civilization, </i>another 4X TBS grand strategy game from Microprose released in 1991. Mr. Templeman also describes how creating a 4X game allowed the designers to create a framework from which the gamer could then weave their own narrative without the typical constraints of storytelling found in adventure games or RPGs. This open style gameplay is a hallmark of 4X games, and it was around the time of <i>Ascendancy's</i> development that 4X games were really starting to come into their own and developers were branching out to try new things in the genre. To understand <i>Ascendancy, </i>we should go back and look at the beginning of the 4X genre to see where it was at the time of the game's release.<br />
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The first major retail 4X game I could find was <i>Reach for the Stars </i>by SSG, released in 1983 for Commodore 64 originally, then MSDOS sometime after 1985. There were of course games before this that took place in space or involved strategy or involved economics, but <i>Reach for the Stars </i>is the first game that modern gamers might recognize as a 4X game.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrDn1k49c7hjEpoktJ1V_itUxadZfhClK5FNEUVu55D7zfKXSan5Sf6hN-0kuTzT5SW8LyEu39Vidj35VgX3uUhTKcayYsq8fpwsoMdRUGFKBAAex94ZrHzx8K3ENmRiAFvdTPxQtiooDY/s1600/rfts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrDn1k49c7hjEpoktJ1V_itUxadZfhClK5FNEUVu55D7zfKXSan5Sf6hN-0kuTzT5SW8LyEu39Vidj35VgX3uUhTKcayYsq8fpwsoMdRUGFKBAAex94ZrHzx8K3ENmRiAFvdTPxQtiooDY/s640/rfts.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reach for the Stars</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After RFTS, the next big space game was <i>Spaceward Ho!, </i>released for MSDOS in 1990 by Delta Tao Software.<i> </i>I mention this game mostly because it was commercially and critically successful and so really kept the momentum of 4X games going.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjahqnP-hiuCMCM9-NNDCGRiaRO-9eogMPs34MaFS6TG1TCL7eyCU0INeClZuqsDLcv80fUvwo4ofPR9HQ-gt60u9dUGB83LkdJYdLCba7wALyj5Z09jj6KEYjSZzaIvztue9wy_MEG0Lcu/s1600/swh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjahqnP-hiuCMCM9-NNDCGRiaRO-9eogMPs34MaFS6TG1TCL7eyCU0INeClZuqsDLcv80fUvwo4ofPR9HQ-gt60u9dUGB83LkdJYdLCba7wALyj5Z09jj6KEYjSZzaIvztue9wy_MEG0Lcu/s640/swh.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spaceward Ho!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
1991 saw the release of <i>Sid Meier's Civilization, </i>the game that served as an inspiration for <i>Ascendancy</i> and other strategy games for decades to come. Civ is and was a juggernaut, ushering in many "Civ-clones" and bringing 4X strategy games to the mainstream. Civ introduced people to the "one more turn" syndrome, where players wanted to keep playing just one more turn, until they realized it was quarter to three AM in the morning. In 1993, developer Simtex took the formula from Civ and roughly applied to space in the revolutionary game <i>Master of Orion. Master of Orion </i>became a big deal of a game in its own right and spawned its own clones, something which you could consider <i>Ascendancy </i>to be. After <i>Master of Orion and Civ, </i>the flood gates opened and the 90s saw many 4X games released, some good and some bad. The list is long, but some notable examples are <i>Space Empires, Master of Magic, Stars!, Emperor of the Fading Suns, Imperium Galactica, Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain (</i>actually a sequel to a MAC game released prior to <i>Master of Orion),</i> and the list goes on. Some of these games are classics and some, like the remake of <i>Reach for the Stars </i>in 2004, are the opposite of classics.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHysDxOtH-pRQ7580H8mXEnaE3W5LKkJw09EBNc0MNAtNonRqLL3LG0G7KrB9Ju7LwMtMHiIdVGGrc_IfRn90C2rpT3dniwWYz6ExohG2uT2eI5z9R8wvUExxXlmBySN2FJETa0hiNoSTD/s1600/moa.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHysDxOtH-pRQ7580H8mXEnaE3W5LKkJw09EBNc0MNAtNonRqLL3LG0G7KrB9Ju7LwMtMHiIdVGGrc_IfRn90C2rpT3dniwWYz6ExohG2uT2eI5z9R8wvUExxXlmBySN2FJETa0hiNoSTD/s640/moa.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Master of Orion</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>Ascendancy </i>was released in 1995, right in the middle of this 4X game explosion. It received positive reviews from what I remember, PC Gamer gave the game an Editor's Choice. One major complaint was the AI, which was found to be just...stupid and wimpy and not a challenge. To remedy this, Logic Factory quickly released a patch, titled "Antagonizer", that replaces the executable of the game and greatly improves the AI. I will be using this patch to the play the game.<br />
<br />
After the release of <i>Ascendancy, </i>Logic Factory had high hopes for its next game, a sequel to <i>Ascendancy, </i>and an RPG titled <i>Seeker. </i>Their next game was a bizarre strategy game called <i>The Tone Rebellion, </i>released in 1997.<i> </i>This game was just...bizarre. You control armies of floating jellyfish to conquer other tribes of jellyfish while also fighting off alien enemies called Leviathans. I don't believe the game sold well,and it would be the final game developed and released by The Logic Factory.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqyp0PL4v5umo05S2QR44fObkTCejqYIy3zVzzmn_mQdJdGKkfMl6o7h5sSwY4TZuzllJjn_7A_AWKqdJ1_n2k4R5FN5pYBS3lgQSCMPZ6KQEO5lg0oeZyHI02HgEfcKb0oynpulk-wSRJ/s1600/tr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqyp0PL4v5umo05S2QR44fObkTCejqYIy3zVzzmn_mQdJdGKkfMl6o7h5sSwY4TZuzllJjn_7A_AWKqdJ1_n2k4R5FN5pYBS3lgQSCMPZ6KQEO5lg0oeZyHI02HgEfcKb0oynpulk-wSRJ/s640/tr.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Tone Rebellion (otherwise known as The wat Rebellion)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Around the time of the release of <i>The Tone Rebellion, </i>The Logic Factory began developing a new 3D engine called the "Hydra Engine" that was to power their next game, <i>Seeker, </i>and also <i>Ascendancy II. </i>Neither of these games ever came to fruition. The Logic Factory seemed to flounder in and out of existence for the next 15 years, occasionally hinting at upcoming games but never releasing any concrete evidence. There were briefly calls for play testers for <i>Seeker </i>in the mid 2000s, and <i>Ascendancy </i>was released for iOS on 2011, but pulled in 2012. It was in 2012 that Todd Templeman gave his interview that I took the quotes from above, and in that interview he hints heavily that <i>Ascendancy II </i>is in the works. But after 2012, <i>Ascendancy </i>was pulled from the iOS App Store and The Logic Factory's website has since gone offline.<br />
<i><br /></i>
This is a sad end to what was apparently a very creative development house. Their two games they did release were innovative and at least <i>Ascendancy </i>is still well regarded today. I would have really liked to see <i>Ascendancy II </i>based on what they did with their first two games. But although we will never get the sequel I want, I can still go back and play and enjoy their first game! Which is what I intend to do now...<br />
<i><br /></i>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>- The Game - </u></b></span><br />
<i><br /></i>
As I mentioned above, I'll be using the Antagonizer patch that improves the AI in the game dramatically, but I am otherwise not using any mods or other addons. Starting up the game in DOSBox brings me right away to the main menu.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil1F8PYTXGKvuOApHzPVGi6dgx1Dvnk35varjpHz_rueSstyZ3bz1iUV_iwEHnTePfqXWEe-6hj0ow_eFXey_ygcCNkU42Szxi3Pboga0G-wHySagHqvReyeJ3OzNH4brgxkvqoyMLIKmo/s1600/antag_000.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil1F8PYTXGKvuOApHzPVGi6dgx1Dvnk35varjpHz_rueSstyZ3bz1iUV_iwEHnTePfqXWEe-6hj0ow_eFXey_ygcCNkU42Szxi3Pboga0G-wHySagHqvReyeJ3OzNH4brgxkvqoyMLIKmo/s640/antag_000.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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There isn't much to it, I'm surprised there are no options anywhere, I guess all that is taken care of in the installation? I skimmed the manual so I am going to skip the tutorial and jump right into the game. But first, let's watch the Introduction:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgETChv036JgK-F9IbsjLZ8n0RZh-6ELqYwbGnnisfeQhpAVpNjNTV8sHxBRM_2_eywwvybjy30wSJbX-qlX56PrwW7oZspdK-mXAjJslARHNIAwcXMXragXZ-1PcQEs2hXndDISqMGMieb/s1600/antag_004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgETChv036JgK-F9IbsjLZ8n0RZh-6ELqYwbGnnisfeQhpAVpNjNTV8sHxBRM_2_eywwvybjy30wSJbX-qlX56PrwW7oZspdK-mXAjJslARHNIAwcXMXragXZ-1PcQEs2hXndDISqMGMieb/s320/antag_004.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7BxJRK-4bRSYuXU7Eg84uTNA29n99qUEIf7_SSJV97aV60Dgufct-HRLtj3FhK7UV2FMF-ZOeEfEkjtVIVEfFjJgTIjPxDJ4AQ1rwF2zBln32qN7nN2OVj1zdgpfM2WzkYTVgEm7-_C5F/s1600/antag_009.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7BxJRK-4bRSYuXU7Eg84uTNA29n99qUEIf7_SSJV97aV60Dgufct-HRLtj3FhK7UV2FMF-ZOeEfEkjtVIVEfFjJgTIjPxDJ4AQ1rwF2zBln32qN7nN2OVj1zdgpfM2WzkYTVgEm7-_C5F/s320/antag_009.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Not bad...The music is really, really good. I recommend checking it out on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-11W4NP1hM">youtube</a> to get a feel for the atmosphere of the game. It really sets a great mood of exploration and the great unknown. The animation is fine for its era and it introduces one of the species in the game. So its an OK introduction, made better by its fantastic music. I couldn't find who did the music, but they deserve kudos.<br />
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Clicking "New Game" brings me to a screen where I can choose my species and set up the galaxy I'll be playing in. I can set the size of the galaxy (by increasing the density of stars), choose the number of species, set the overall hostility level, and choose my color. Scrolling through the species, I am given a brief paragraph description of each but not any kind of definitive indication of differences or benefits of choosing one species over another. For example, here is the description for the Minions:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Minions are a mysterious group of robot creatures controlled by an unknown extra-galactic super force. They are hideously strong and quick.</blockquote>
I assume if I choose them, I will have fast ships? I do like the names though. Some examples are Snovendomas, Dubtaks, Oculons, and Nimbuloids to name a few. Speaking of Nimbuloids, I've decided to go with them as my species. I am playing on a Dense galaxy (one step below the max - Very Dense), 5 species, and neutral hostility. My color is green.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGumIAuUzeYYpmNh3c3X3A73qKHIZnhMdnNHBF7uo1Y90nv3jPOmWDpwASsNN6NakmbFXJ2OqDsRsdTWvsGiU0Y7Aef9cs3GGZa5StjLj1Nc3tnwUxunuhqv_IhzwUFdQFeTHY6tNICUi9/s1600/antag_016.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGumIAuUzeYYpmNh3c3X3A73qKHIZnhMdnNHBF7uo1Y90nv3jPOmWDpwASsNN6NakmbFXJ2OqDsRsdTWvsGiU0Y7Aef9cs3GGZa5StjLj1Nc3tnwUxunuhqv_IhzwUFdQFeTHY6tNICUi9/s640/antag_016.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My species - the Nimbuloids</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTnDrIEGULQXqgyzlWvMcOiQs0pH4KPscNiWM1QSnf_pDeszZ6-paOnXVS3jJifCL9BIRLbJJcA3ARGxozoeRn-X7zey9QffNqgHFq6wvK7MJFCCB_Mv1xWRqtYLdJFeClj4ftEjYNlFb4/s1600/antag_017.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTnDrIEGULQXqgyzlWvMcOiQs0pH4KPscNiWM1QSnf_pDeszZ6-paOnXVS3jJifCL9BIRLbJJcA3ARGxozoeRn-X7zey9QffNqgHFq6wvK7MJFCCB_Mv1xWRqtYLdJFeClj4ftEjYNlFb4/s640/antag_017.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I am Expert Builders</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Ah, after I selected my species and pressed "Begin New Game", it brought me to a further description of the species and now I am presented with their species special ability: Expert Builders. Hopefully that means I can build structures and ships faster, which should be helpful, especially in the early stages.<br />
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I am playing as a gaseous species and my vision allows me to see karma(!). They would do great on Earth at posting on Reddit.<br />
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And here is the first gameplay screen I see:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAg0A0XmhFJ2_1jh-NFC7nyxNkYY_QTnKEAG5i17RnQcYNr9aUV6q0DSKhkZA7wj6c_n4xUpMDLyah65kc3dqcWLfAae9beoalpInr2Ts98cJuq-vcLI5XYMrXjeDu-Pxlb1U6wDuFpUVF/s1600/antag_018.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAg0A0XmhFJ2_1jh-NFC7nyxNkYY_QTnKEAG5i17RnQcYNr9aUV6q0DSKhkZA7wj6c_n4xUpMDLyah65kc3dqcWLfAae9beoalpInr2Ts98cJuq-vcLI5XYMrXjeDu-Pxlb1U6wDuFpUVF/s640/antag_018.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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It's fairly self-explanatory, but for clarity sake I'll run down what some of the buttons do. The top right arrows advance either one turn (one day) or advance turns continuously until a notification stops time or I hit ESC or another button. Below the turn arrows are buttons to bring up lists of planets, ships, the research screen, my special ability screen where I can opt to use my special ability, and the diplomacy species screen. Below all the labeled buttons are the red/orange map movement buttons that allow me to turn and scroll and zoom in the galaxy screen. Below those are color coding buttons.<br />
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The way the game works is pretty simple as well from I can tell. Each dot on the galaxy screen represents a solar system. Solar systems are connected by Star Lanes, which are the lines extending out from the dots. This is the only way ships can travel between solar systems, the Star Lanes act like roads between cities. So let's click on my home solar system and get a look at it:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9TlyhH6r9qY7H3u1zRYPMv6qUBZ1W4qIz2Oc41UXzG_QVxh75nYtGKduPUjzFp_YZKjNe972NWjRS0I0DhyphenhyphenBPoYEuRMd3CT3o_iGwThCuDkozh2h-ni33Rwv5kGXnea0hwQarWdaj-SS6/s1600/antag_019.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9TlyhH6r9qY7H3u1zRYPMv6qUBZ1W4qIz2Oc41UXzG_QVxh75nYtGKduPUjzFp_YZKjNe972NWjRS0I0DhyphenhyphenBPoYEuRMd3CT3o_iGwThCuDkozh2h-ni33Rwv5kGXnea0hwQarWdaj-SS6/s640/antag_019.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My home system, the..."Chippendale" system...huh</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoINttcDNH6Imbak1u50IJCN3t9a9X0kR3x8x7hOUi2fbeZTpXCgjM-xcgzP_0ko61qLOhEltYl9zvYpGnUUOtKuYGuZpHPKDX5DBCoQ0eFgu2GrXtbXLgSPEuj7qQslwfqJdTxVtdZ6xC/s1600/antag_020.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoINttcDNH6Imbak1u50IJCN3t9a9X0kR3x8x7hOUi2fbeZTpXCgjM-xcgzP_0ko61qLOhEltYl9zvYpGnUUOtKuYGuZpHPKDX5DBCoQ0eFgu2GrXtbXLgSPEuj7qQslwfqJdTxVtdZ6xC/s640/antag_020.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here is my home system, the Chippendale system. I didn't choose that name, it was randomly already named that. There are 2 planets and 3 star lanes. Chippendale II is my home planet, the other planet, Chippendale I, is uninhabited. I think one of my first priorities will be to colonize Chippendale I. This screen is also pretty straight forward. I can advance turns from here with the buttons on the upper right, get lists of ships, and move the map around. Similar to the main galaxy screen.<br />
Double clicking on my planet brings me to the planet screen:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaQD8cyWzy0Q3AvZ5gCtIsfkfHrdJRYpWeIMP4Uad7thNEe4oNbQ2J1mNqkUGTwAzEMW_FdmqT_0EAOKOTaWph0ENfRsqhJQhOBGBMVzECyBE9vXSLzu2FkIdqRi74FqaXbNlr0LcWIAqa/s1600/antag_021.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaQD8cyWzy0Q3AvZ5gCtIsfkfHrdJRYpWeIMP4Uad7thNEe4oNbQ2J1mNqkUGTwAzEMW_FdmqT_0EAOKOTaWph0ENfRsqhJQhOBGBMVzECyBE9vXSLzu2FkIdqRi74FqaXbNlr0LcWIAqa/s640/antag_021.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Alright, here is my home planet. For some reason that is unexplained, my home planet only has a single colonizer building and no other evidence of civilization. What have I been doing for the past million years while I was evolving into a space faring race!? Anyway, on this screen at the top are squares representing, from left to right, the planet's research ability, industrial ability, population producing ability, population, and current building project. Below those squares is the planet. Each square represents a building location. The color represents which building would work best there. Green means population producing buildings would be best, red is industrial, blue is research.<br />
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You'll notice there are no numbers. This is absolutely KEY to <i>Ascendancy. </i>There are apparently NO numbers anywhere. Everything is represented by changing pictures and...intuition. So as my industrial output on this planet grows, the building in the industrial square at the top of this screen will be to grow into a complicated factory, which represents how the industrial output of the planet is growing. Similarly, as the research ability of the planet grows, you'll see a research picture in the research square get more and more complex. Same with the population "plant" in the population square. The total population square, with all the green circles, is a little more complicated and kind of involves numbers. The total number of green circles is the total potential population. The total orange little guys represents how much population I have right now available to be working on something. The little red guys represent population that is already occupied working on something. So right now at the beginning, I have 2 total population, only 1 of which is already occupied working. So I have 1 available population to start a project. So let's start a project.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioIZfxl0IXEJi-K_YdaYkXq2gKd8xTp7e3WOmJqYjVDyVRN27EtCojeuQiw0TIqesYNr6GoMxHHTHrpY1qKOZVsueyCcFKgd8iNAzu5sVpXk9WucLMkK_tDt358XnEM4xsVRsLuq9G1Vyp/s1600/antag_022.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioIZfxl0IXEJi-K_YdaYkXq2gKd8xTp7e3WOmJqYjVDyVRN27EtCojeuQiw0TIqesYNr6GoMxHHTHrpY1qKOZVsueyCcFKgd8iNAzu5sVpXk9WucLMkK_tDt358XnEM4xsVRsLuq9G1Vyp/s640/antag_022.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY7MYmnzOOdGoLbA9wQfXQZbOsNmQAm0FIQGDSpyy6B33-lNg1wsUiUK-NLXVNiPH_fK6FdJEKySE_C2nQ7AntUuSTWxBaQGFzcAlwXWZrCsWm6m1RKOT7C77J13NXBg2wFZ1_tt2pw0Gq/s1600/antag_023.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY7MYmnzOOdGoLbA9wQfXQZbOsNmQAm0FIQGDSpyy6B33-lNg1wsUiUK-NLXVNiPH_fK6FdJEKySE_C2nQ7AntUuSTWxBaQGFzcAlwXWZrCsWm6m1RKOT7C77J13NXBg2wFZ1_tt2pw0Gq/s640/antag_023.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm going to build a factory</td></tr>
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<div>
The game recommends I build a factory on the red square, so that's what I'm going to do. After starting my factory, I press ESC to get back to the main screen and then go to my Research screen.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoMuoUOyy1HoQHK25FqzcoxnEgWhHBvSnAMFFWzFT-6HW4tlS4CGL_GOHdtrNQ9bMwtYTafw0Z88AIpVFVYqgcuBc7ycihC7cxDf73DoiN7Qk41byIDGsJQGx-rQUBJXDEteHuPaXYf8rR/s1600/antag_024.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoMuoUOyy1HoQHK25FqzcoxnEgWhHBvSnAMFFWzFT-6HW4tlS4CGL_GOHdtrNQ9bMwtYTafw0Z88AIpVFVYqgcuBc7ycihC7cxDf73DoiN7Qk41byIDGsJQGx-rQUBJXDEteHuPaXYf8rR/s640/antag_024.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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The research is laid out in a branching tree and all species share the same tech tree. I have three starting options right now, and I am going to go with the Orbital Structures research so I can get going on building a colony ship. That is always important in these kinds of games.<br />
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After selecting my research, I decide to check out my special ability, which it turns out is not quite ready to be used yet.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnjllNoyQOwHWt8rZOCBiotmkCkDdiT93BNf1wpel7TRxbkm-3u2BJXbEr7Zlfzq_woXDHZ7OPUPx8PUIM9exB3Q0NK8JIIBhrbxCNz6XGCVRTnYJCEx6U8izPbt3OTAZLduQXvcitbPjc/s1600/antag_025.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnjllNoyQOwHWt8rZOCBiotmkCkDdiT93BNf1wpel7TRxbkm-3u2BJXbEr7Zlfzq_woXDHZ7OPUPx8PUIM9exB3Q0NK8JIIBhrbxCNz6XGCVRTnYJCEx6U8izPbt3OTAZLduQXvcitbPjc/s640/antag_025.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Now I am ready to end my turn and go to the next day. Except I have 30 days until my factory is done on Chippendale II, so instead of clicking Next Day 30 times, I just hit the advance turns button and let it fly through the 30 days until I am automatically notified that my factory is done:</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuNggZ5XG-nSXFZsxnF-2eAK9NX6Llt1R3VKhznYO4TWzz2wzZZTsjG4HZ0gcdRjTP4Buyh0FYMahRwzJQu2vBAM_FzVQeOdNnxhqLf_wrAZVvuZvr8I9DOYhRv82nZYJNbvUsCWQxHswM/s1600/antag_026.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuNggZ5XG-nSXFZsxnF-2eAK9NX6Llt1R3VKhznYO4TWzz2wzZZTsjG4HZ0gcdRjTP4Buyh0FYMahRwzJQu2vBAM_FzVQeOdNnxhqLf_wrAZVvuZvr8I9DOYhRv82nZYJNbvUsCWQxHswM/s640/antag_026.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYBWmd6-4yooXskMhTTKMbdc4JsQSx3DdOQ-Sbbzvcq-vJsVfwqODnlqcuGCn_Qd_k4KpCAU8v8hdLfW0tW7vTJSNa_Wmg15xIdQl14RFni1soN7B02UDMXGFPVGVHehU_FQv_myHqf93j/s1600/antag_027.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYBWmd6-4yooXskMhTTKMbdc4JsQSx3DdOQ-Sbbzvcq-vJsVfwqODnlqcuGCn_Qd_k4KpCAU8v8hdLfW0tW7vTJSNa_Wmg15xIdQl14RFni1soN7B02UDMXGFPVGVHehU_FQv_myHqf93j/s640/antag_027.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Next up is a laboratory</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJDYxHvnxD0eW6RNLy8F861-uDyhlgdo17tjMYxp4NPBlSMQv7Q-BYzsb_xIOwJ68aawTdJctYoWhBB9PlS7-1fjtE13DyQDLFmJdskXIGxSQL-m-qg1e5lWVlnPa_A_BVS0y92RSa_BRd/s1600/antag_028.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJDYxHvnxD0eW6RNLy8F861-uDyhlgdo17tjMYxp4NPBlSMQv7Q-BYzsb_xIOwJ68aawTdJctYoWhBB9PlS7-1fjtE13DyQDLFmJdskXIGxSQL-m-qg1e5lWVlnPa_A_BVS0y92RSa_BRd/s640/antag_028.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div>
My laboratory only takes 17 days to complete, so already my factory is improving my build times I think. After the laboratory, I built an Agriplot to increase population, but then I temporarily ran out of free population. So I will have to wait for a few days until I have free population to begin a new build project. In the meantime, I finished by research and I can choose something else.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRHR23aH9TkvQ6nL7An2SNKRSw3RFBQYg5-qM0Y3ZSu0DH-7iC7i5izmIu0XC5IvUBkjp0zr_owHtFHGGwNpmSPM-a-PYoyjX01oIwacEUa8LXs9ZGi2rod1vRETb-Tn5maNd9chR0q3-K/s1600/antag_032.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRHR23aH9TkvQ6nL7An2SNKRSw3RFBQYg5-qM0Y3ZSu0DH-7iC7i5izmIu0XC5IvUBkjp0zr_owHtFHGGwNpmSPM-a-PYoyjX01oIwacEUa8LXs9ZGi2rod1vRETb-Tn5maNd9chR0q3-K/s640/antag_032.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A motor seems important to have</td></tr>
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<div>
I also was notified I am ready to use my special ability, but because I don't have any free population to start a new build project, I have no building projects to use my special ability on.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfI-lVICHM1GOxv3PXnFQs6Q58PayoZ1W2tIfyBJNY-pyLoaWVm3JT5-ADlsiF42M-z2eUrQxAFrV8OgsyJTYoWWw5t3FF7HyLEOrN5iUSnibIU1dcjhGaI3CkfhvPo9bqLIiieCsCBc_D/s1600/antag_031.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfI-lVICHM1GOxv3PXnFQs6Q58PayoZ1W2tIfyBJNY-pyLoaWVm3JT5-ADlsiF42M-z2eUrQxAFrV8OgsyJTYoWWw5t3FF7HyLEOrN5iUSnibIU1dcjhGaI3CkfhvPo9bqLIiieCsCBc_D/s640/antag_031.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwLEoexM3dsdjYoH5okT1kT8LXP37hOEllrgoddiZhLctnYa-pZ1WDl0-G0UzS134g1Gj_lmpKgTrrpc4HKWo9bd43rbUGD6lMTclYcVuIqUBl711XBdUtCXG5b1EMIc12TwH6b5yWBM8d/s1600/antag_033.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwLEoexM3dsdjYoH5okT1kT8LXP37hOEllrgoddiZhLctnYa-pZ1WDl0-G0UzS134g1Gj_lmpKgTrrpc4HKWo9bd43rbUGD6lMTclYcVuIqUBl711XBdUtCXG5b1EMIc12TwH6b5yWBM8d/s640/antag_033.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Advancing the game a few more days opens up a free population spot, so I opt to build an Outpost, which increases my population growth rate I think.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirCdgV0Q0UIA9A7HEOH_LK0J6ajtQ4MljPgec3h9mBkiZY-PsQyJmN8hx3IU6grOA3cqW0G7VVGLxj-sl8r1kNLswrvIrgOAzpt0KomKFcjJobu94Ei5fNLUtVRSawgeqzHfearaaxEmz3/s1600/antag_034.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirCdgV0Q0UIA9A7HEOH_LK0J6ajtQ4MljPgec3h9mBkiZY-PsQyJmN8hx3IU6grOA3cqW0G7VVGLxj-sl8r1kNLswrvIrgOAzpt0KomKFcjJobu94Ei5fNLUtVRSawgeqzHfearaaxEmz3/s640/antag_034.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Notice it says it will take 40 days to build. That's a long time! BUT I have my special ability to use. After using my special ability, let's see how long it will take now:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjti5DZFUCOxuEzg786uVFYmLEN9h1Up0v90Xj2ka4TANRXA90iB3oLWYkiSstTe4EON7caO7fvilaTiz0xKoHbpMaVImoFfhBYUE34KjuREjXyepFjGWuL7A9J-cbIOXDBY-cdNlDC9cDN/s1600/antag_035.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjti5DZFUCOxuEzg786uVFYmLEN9h1Up0v90Xj2ka4TANRXA90iB3oLWYkiSstTe4EON7caO7fvilaTiz0xKoHbpMaVImoFfhBYUE34KjuREjXyepFjGWuL7A9J-cbIOXDBY-cdNlDC9cDN/s640/antag_035.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nice...7 days</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
That's a pretty handy ability to have I would say. It brought my build time from 40 days to 7. After a few more turns, I've researched Orbital Shipyards, so after my Outpost is done I am going to build a shipyard so I can get going on building my first colony ships.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiVXROKmRTrgugs5Jhk9eS34GxMiwSjfyOzpr3o9kF-0WrPbrLu7vJFyd0kR-h6qhO1EZNtJgjTgg4Qw3VDLqp_aQ89u9O3230Avag3p8v5jpZeTvw7cn8vzORUvLUoArTBdHFFzEq7Gop/s1600/antag_038.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiVXROKmRTrgugs5Jhk9eS34GxMiwSjfyOzpr3o9kF-0WrPbrLu7vJFyd0kR-h6qhO1EZNtJgjTgg4Qw3VDLqp_aQ89u9O3230Avag3p8v5jpZeTvw7cn8vzORUvLUoArTBdHFFzEq7Gop/s640/antag_038.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
A few more levels of research after a bunch more turns brings up this notification:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_KlV_HS_0eMVhGyze2zZ-5y8ONFUogpulTPxElp3FHS_DtOqUJyRo25rr6aqn1vxLuDUvn906JNZucjXwemV7pn1KedqQDWUCIFV7lAa6KxYhq4cW10dzXiMQVimpFU_FsJuO8ArrLdMM/s1600/antag_042.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_KlV_HS_0eMVhGyze2zZ-5y8ONFUogpulTPxElp3FHS_DtOqUJyRo25rr6aqn1vxLuDUvn906JNZucjXwemV7pn1KedqQDWUCIFV7lAa6KxYhq4cW10dzXiMQVimpFU_FsJuO8ArrLdMM/s640/antag_042.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjXDpSdzpTusDPvFwgvZ13pJXNJXAe9X9yXpSijyYuajmG2AbcRj1dRM23AzktsPR5vdd_o_N4yqO1lV4aLT6bsVo-8mZ7FYQ2GRfMmSb3Hb8MtYyt5mQmi4DuzGrDA1Km3LDD_E2Fyqnn/s1600/antag_043.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjXDpSdzpTusDPvFwgvZ13pJXNJXAe9X9yXpSijyYuajmG2AbcRj1dRM23AzktsPR5vdd_o_N4yqO1lV4aLT6bsVo-8mZ7FYQ2GRfMmSb3Hb8MtYyt5mQmi4DuzGrDA1Km3LDD_E2Fyqnn/s640/antag_043.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Time to get going building a ship!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtYsCL2a_iT-1EO_cf9gVD-Dp4Hf78nKvmfz5dCmXFZF9m4-kTJiQrIiKooA6jeLQ7guy9UC7jNg2RFOp_Gyma9vtzIQz3eJeWASk86KjL-uJgUcHQM3g99h_hA7ukVTbMOaSxXLbEJp6z/s1600/antag_046.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtYsCL2a_iT-1EO_cf9gVD-Dp4Hf78nKvmfz5dCmXFZF9m4-kTJiQrIiKooA6jeLQ7guy9UC7jNg2RFOp_Gyma9vtzIQz3eJeWASk86KjL-uJgUcHQM3g99h_hA7ukVTbMOaSxXLbEJp6z/s640/antag_046.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shipbuilding interface</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Just like the rest of the game, the shipbuilding interface has no numbers to tell me what systems are better than others. Instead, I rely on the fact that certain technologies are only available after more research. So the farther you get down the research tree, the better the technology is.<br />
<br />
The interface has a bunch of squares, each of which can hold a ship component. Each ship needs at least one engine, one powerplant, and one Star Lane drive to move between solar systems. The rest of the squares I am going to fit out with colonizer modules so I can colonize a bunch of planets. The more engines I put in a ship, the farther it will go per turn. The more powerplants I put in, the more times I can fire a weapon. Speaking of weapons, I haven't researched any yet so I am not going to put any in my ship yet.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZSXITp2UR1xJeFd87PLjscNB3zB3gyHi4vbtuh6l2g6Vjy0uMWITqL8IlypD5wCy8PWRnR3ryDkqO61xyWAyKIUvwvwIcGzlgfs80k_7Etb10nXOw3ePa9OrEYLokNPsNgzIuN9fN6FgP/s1600/antag_047.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZSXITp2UR1xJeFd87PLjscNB3zB3gyHi4vbtuh6l2g6Vjy0uMWITqL8IlypD5wCy8PWRnR3ryDkqO61xyWAyKIUvwvwIcGzlgfs80k_7Etb10nXOw3ePa9OrEYLokNPsNgzIuN9fN6FgP/s640/antag_047.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ship fitted out</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaYMwPAiueJ9YcBiDFh8hXfEscNuj-Jw0Owyp_l3N7-AyH2S0yjA5cY1608A5doo9EF62WzXj_lGZPXsz0zHnRPpUHZm3fOBGrLqRcYVS713DGYagMpmtB00MCCguDb0zhIKgzFHbtbRV-/s1600/antag_048.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaYMwPAiueJ9YcBiDFh8hXfEscNuj-Jw0Owyp_l3N7-AyH2S0yjA5cY1608A5doo9EF62WzXj_lGZPXsz0zHnRPpUHZm3fOBGrLqRcYVS713DGYagMpmtB00MCCguDb0zhIKgzFHbtbRV-/s640/antag_048.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
After 89 days, I am greeted with this message. My first ship! Let's take it out for a test spin:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5DU7B1equMVoe9bdBoWVsr7KaDyEl85My3iJy0xJc4TyFxAJYycHe0oDgdrxHh23LIqyZGYLWhlzGBc5IJ4F58RMdQw8-YbuMXXohDRHrf9JWiZJga2pKS8XdHegkMO1gqohYvdfusv5b/s1600/ascendgif.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="638" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5DU7B1equMVoe9bdBoWVsr7KaDyEl85My3iJy0xJc4TyFxAJYycHe0oDgdrxHh23LIqyZGYLWhlzGBc5IJ4F58RMdQw8-YbuMXXohDRHrf9JWiZJga2pKS8XdHegkMO1gqohYvdfusv5b/s640/ascendgif.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Huh...that didn't move very far. That's OK though, I am using the most basic engines afterall. My first order of business is to take a star lane and investigate the nearest solar systems. I also immediately started another ship to take off exploring in the other direction.<br />
<br />
After a few more turns/days, I arrived in the nearby Bindacia system:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6WGya1e52NIBZbKtw7t3YYBxJls_7PAA-zM8U90GSNKogt6SxelE7KpAqsiHDYhdFRCk50B-bdUp3oYY35ZJcQL5zCe03UPXASLAZgYZCDcogSxPNZDmg_i5BukHFzcoYpeZJEE829ROz/s1600/antag_050.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6WGya1e52NIBZbKtw7t3YYBxJls_7PAA-zM8U90GSNKogt6SxelE7KpAqsiHDYhdFRCk50B-bdUp3oYY35ZJcQL5zCe03UPXASLAZgYZCDcogSxPNZDmg_i5BukHFzcoYpeZJEE829ROz/s640/antag_050.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
5 planets is pretty damn good, lets take a look and see what kind of planets there are.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV6m3Wftc87JjMXgQv9ZXhrwRWGE5C8bN1fXpUVGWV9JWNW32MwX9HVbcGWOc2FQT2gDLECz33YY8gs2pYgUoxQGoYid2bDdweFBLBbGexGA6VpcfTvfzd_C1r7zZi0zO99VU6Jwjl3zXS/s1600/antag_051.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV6m3Wftc87JjMXgQv9ZXhrwRWGE5C8bN1fXpUVGWV9JWNW32MwX9HVbcGWOc2FQT2gDLECz33YY8gs2pYgUoxQGoYid2bDdweFBLBbGexGA6VpcfTvfzd_C1r7zZi0zO99VU6Jwjl3zXS/s640/antag_051.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
That is looking really good. The red and green planet is a cornucopia planet that is the best kind for colonizing. The giant brown/grey/green planet is also a good planet. As an extra bonus, the cornucopia planet has xeno ruins on it:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtkN70sOejQQItAQqPvyFq2W_nYzO_DwVQb_7Yqc-IhCdpQ7Xk0n8bnJl-bECy7OHGNkMiUkRYUH_DxbH6O-J4TYp6N2kecO57hg2fbAJkyGHL16vD_zPwJElCTybqgvxCRlUkI21FtTBY/s1600/antag_052.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtkN70sOejQQItAQqPvyFq2W_nYzO_DwVQb_7Yqc-IhCdpQ7Xk0n8bnJl-bECy7OHGNkMiUkRYUH_DxbH6O-J4TYp6N2kecO57hg2fbAJkyGHL16vD_zPwJElCTybqgvxCRlUkI21FtTBY/s640/antag_052.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ruins</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I can build research on these ruins to open up advanced technology that is further down my tech tree. I'm going to immediately move my Colonizer 1 ship in orbit around this planet to colonize it. Because I have such a crappy engine, it takes almost a whole week just to move into orbit, but I finally make it.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgootoTBiPkqF1_lFAo_45Mum_zHhqHDz5TxFXihZiRN5ESYc-Od9Mrq0yxBiHS4lpXUhmp8qcgMCGHyQChaETaz5gbrBRQj3VQqmTIb4-KYJdyWyS2PMOnJ8KNVcokY8mBxMlzM9vW2Ghe/s1600/antag_056.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgootoTBiPkqF1_lFAo_45Mum_zHhqHDz5TxFXihZiRN5ESYc-Od9Mrq0yxBiHS4lpXUhmp8qcgMCGHyQChaETaz5gbrBRQj3VQqmTIb4-KYJdyWyS2PMOnJ8KNVcokY8mBxMlzM9vW2Ghe/s640/antag_056.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My first colony!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
I then move to the bigger planet and create a colony there:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVmvYv_fnTNBPcHj92kZuol-mwBvwed2vwyXPCP5ajHPYw8AsRgMcLGVUtTa3yGRZFmmkS9fXVL8Ec3ls2e4eJ7qOLH-M83oe4wRGGD6gAhnkmrYCN4ur_9LesKB5kKIEKU3bC6943HDEN/s1600/antag_059.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVmvYv_fnTNBPcHj92kZuol-mwBvwed2vwyXPCP5ajHPYw8AsRgMcLGVUtTa3yGRZFmmkS9fXVL8Ec3ls2e4eJ7qOLH-M83oe4wRGGD6gAhnkmrYCN4ur_9LesKB5kKIEKU3bC6943HDEN/s640/antag_059.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I am all powerful</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
I am going to do something now that some people consider heresy but I consider necessary. I am going to turn on an "auto-manage" AI function that allows me to let the AI manage building structures on the planet. This will free me up to focus on building ships, building planetary orbital defenses, and colonization and war. In comparison to other 4X games, <i>Ascendancy </i>does not have population morale or other factors that can play a large role in the planetary side of the game. As such, which structures you build on the planets does not play a very large role in the game so I can content to let the computer handle that. So from now on, I'll be laying down a colony on a planet and then letting the AI take over. The only areas of planets I will be dealing with will be ship building and orbital defenses, which are quite important later on in the game. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
AND....I quit the game and forgot to save. Dumb Dan! Super. Well...I'm not redoing all this. So I am going to start a new game with the Nimbuloids. My home system will have a different name, but otherwise things should progress about the same. I'll just ahead to where I was about in my previous game. Now my new home system is the Amoroso system:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1B29aoHrZmDuTW_jEDAZ-4EeDGS7h9MD2saBiW164_i2ZHzz5pHPs9NvhNH-GwgrYk_IkFkQp8sPVkaBpUmG-npa9fahkS20-8cfuSBmgCOvjhzEfPNuCVxQEhYMC3bcTAaJwUFkVCtPf/s1600/antag_000.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1B29aoHrZmDuTW_jEDAZ-4EeDGS7h9MD2saBiW164_i2ZHzz5pHPs9NvhNH-GwgrYk_IkFkQp8sPVkaBpUmG-npa9fahkS20-8cfuSBmgCOvjhzEfPNuCVxQEhYMC3bcTAaJwUFkVCtPf/s640/antag_000.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back to square one!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My new home system only has 1 star lane, which is nice because it makes it easy to defend. On the other hand, the system on the other side of that star lane has 5 planets but they are all garbage:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPicDzBO4emnd4AZ5Kjk0cW8cdrlxteaVOUNQujXPgc1ZvxRnu7SdTB3sz7hgAnPsY6zPP7EIKL_pwPsqHAJb2XlG2UtqfuHFrQLsvga8XN1C3eqX89UdWZ1G4RukNl_wYvFIPjDoZFwfR/s1600/antag_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPicDzBO4emnd4AZ5Kjk0cW8cdrlxteaVOUNQujXPgc1ZvxRnu7SdTB3sz7hgAnPsY6zPP7EIKL_pwPsqHAJb2XlG2UtqfuHFrQLsvga8XN1C3eqX89UdWZ1G4RukNl_wYvFIPjDoZFwfR/s640/antag_001.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNObzpBj2v_MgX0SrOVAewHMS_SpkXGget_xpn-7QMAJKn1es0e1DdkniS59vc32k3GJnOMuwRRCbTtWq4fIzh8uU8Ba0u0b4DxkUy7fOsHReGEOFGysgEWBP0gCOsc_WagowphgrPE-p9/s1600/antag_002.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNObzpBj2v_MgX0SrOVAewHMS_SpkXGget_xpn-7QMAJKn1es0e1DdkniS59vc32k3GJnOMuwRRCbTtWq4fIzh8uU8Ba0u0b4DxkUy7fOsHReGEOFGysgEWBP0gCOsc_WagowphgrPE-p9/s640/antag_002.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What am I supposed to do with this little rock?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Even though these are terrible planets to colonize, I need to have some kind of presence in this system since it is right next door to my home system, so I'm going to go ahead and colonize one of these planets in the Wattsenfax system.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrXEz5jsfTkBWNA-KKU8662H7OBBtotF1oSYk6Vd6nuaGUS0XxTb8xJgNWjU1OvUukdJzWRwfTYLsi5NWgnxuBo8SHRhYqXGDtquTeJgdgEIhObpZEimqyqYjN_qq_zq9xzVvK9Bm5ue2m/s1600/antag_003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrXEz5jsfTkBWNA-KKU8662H7OBBtotF1oSYk6Vd6nuaGUS0XxTb8xJgNWjU1OvUukdJzWRwfTYLsi5NWgnxuBo8SHRhYqXGDtquTeJgdgEIhObpZEimqyqYjN_qq_zq9xzVvK9Bm5ue2m/s640/antag_003.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not an ideal second colony</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Next to the Wattsenfax system, I've discovered the Algorond system which not only has a nice large cornucopia planet, but also a red star lane. These are star lanes that take over twice as long for a ship to traverse, so systems at the end of these kinds of lanes can make a nice defensive system since it can take longer for enemies to send ships to attack the system. I'm going to set up a colony here.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3MX4EGiN7Zjy2O4nnetlWxhSuh4tmC0fOjQ1mG7qzKyl3M9ak3vpmmwk39G1Kf6NK4jBa9pwyYpaE_e-HWhbWbt3yjog1diMv9nJ7W105LCg7K-OGUlyCm0sZlAW4FTs2zFncF226ZPoy/s1600/antag_004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3MX4EGiN7Zjy2O4nnetlWxhSuh4tmC0fOjQ1mG7qzKyl3M9ak3vpmmwk39G1Kf6NK4jBa9pwyYpaE_e-HWhbWbt3yjog1diMv9nJ7W105LCg7K-OGUlyCm0sZlAW4FTs2zFncF226ZPoy/s640/antag_004.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Notice the red star lane and nice planet right above the sun</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
After more exploring, I discovered a large system that has a bunch of the worst planets. These kinds of planets are basically just large moons, all of their squares are black which indicates nothing can be built on them until much later in the game when you get terraforming technology. For now, I am bypassing these planets completely.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLzRs2a3Xdq9Ta05go22tAjgQvryAGbWmL-hxAs4fhNLfbC34ErU6jsRs6p1t_VfGB1csBlPpb1DkjT0jfmtkFu7LZT2Sanp0U7c8G2Chm9U5-pjYW88nfSCs04FfFZJX0nKQ9P4BUk-mp/s1600/antag_005.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLzRs2a3Xdq9Ta05go22tAjgQvryAGbWmL-hxAs4fhNLfbC34ErU6jsRs6p1t_VfGB1csBlPpb1DkjT0jfmtkFu7LZT2Sanp0U7c8G2Chm9U5-pjYW88nfSCs04FfFZJX0nKQ9P4BUk-mp/s640/antag_005.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm not ready to build on the moon yet</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
By now I have built my second colonizer ship and I am working my way through the research tree and exploring the nearby systems and planting colonies on every viable planet I find, and even on some less than viable planets. Here is a new colony of mine on a planet in the Discord system:</div>
<div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz797s8naFFlUgsRFNmRQ4DsvyBz2dLhDvhaaKpUfYYNL-cidkfxPOTKfh_KHZPDeyYDl9qaiTm9FjoNhaCZDNMrScrR8ad_MX-chZUJkHja1jpioTX6IqeKhbx7NGax-AoeUoMxvZnegW/s1600/antag_006.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz797s8naFFlUgsRFNmRQ4DsvyBz2dLhDvhaaKpUfYYNL-cidkfxPOTKfh_KHZPDeyYDl9qaiTm9FjoNhaCZDNMrScrR8ad_MX-chZUJkHja1jpioTX6IqeKhbx7NGax-AoeUoMxvZnegW/s640/antag_006.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
It's not great but it is in a strategic system at the intersection of a lot of star lanes, so I need a presence there. The early game is what I love about these kinds of games. Creating colony ships and sending them out to explore nearby systems and hope the Gods of random numbers bless me with good planets nearby is really fun. I like the randomness that adds a level of unknown exploration to each game. You never know if the next system over might have a huge cornucopia planet or possibly the home planet of a hostile alien race. The sense of exploration is a large part of what makes these kinds of games fun. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Ascendancy </i>seems to be a game that really focuses on the big picture strategy instead of planetary micromanagement. I can see myself ending up with an empire that contains dozens of solar systems, and wars with enemies will come down to who controls key systems. It should be fun. But before I get ahead of myself, I am enjoying exploring and snatching up planets. My early goal right now is to find one or two systems at the very edge of my empire that have large, lush planets that I can use to establish an industrial powerhouse base far from my home planet. I should be able to then use those new industrial bases to build new ships and expand even further outward. </div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3yr__M6EQn6xDd5RQxuhKSQQEp3rYzeXFZBtbPEbDXFuqQpVwrDf8QuiQLvBOuG_DzlrfzEDVxGJkOt000iH8slCS62diVbjErJ4xitTBXgDg8Ba7Dy_G6IzPiOjmyuACfl91RIjiPcyN/s1600/antag_007.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3yr__M6EQn6xDd5RQxuhKSQQEp3rYzeXFZBtbPEbDXFuqQpVwrDf8QuiQLvBOuG_DzlrfzEDVxGJkOt000iH8slCS62diVbjErJ4xitTBXgDg8Ba7Dy_G6IzPiOjmyuACfl91RIjiPcyN/s640/antag_007.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alright, investing in education pays off!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ-pzhBbOxxYglhYegGz1DEEwngtMkde0O04LAo88Vv8E0FRnivDJ7IPSgyAdzN6r6yN1rAdB8o4HBd0zriltwpudzy9ucAN-OXtStEFTAsqy3A6312S3Oh7YjzN9nUvDmNr-T7mVu_c8C/s1600/antag_008.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ-pzhBbOxxYglhYegGz1DEEwngtMkde0O04LAo88Vv8E0FRnivDJ7IPSgyAdzN6r6yN1rAdB8o4HBd0zriltwpudzy9ucAN-OXtStEFTAsqy3A6312S3Oh7YjzN9nUvDmNr-T7mVu_c8C/s640/antag_008.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A friend?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
I've made contact with my first alien species, let's see what they have to say:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwvnpnGEqgcV1M8nfGBhY51RsHc5-vPMetrw0MIEdVn8iSN3tJzOoB-oQIhjsXDXPWjU4bOROJm7fcDAw7wLViikYuD67F5jFbvWkaLNqwFVNBMIOkKyaQz6QjoKauUH-07-9rN5esLOQE/s1600/antag_009.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwvnpnGEqgcV1M8nfGBhY51RsHc5-vPMetrw0MIEdVn8iSN3tJzOoB-oQIhjsXDXPWjU4bOROJm7fcDAw7wLViikYuD67F5jFbvWkaLNqwFVNBMIOkKyaQz6QjoKauUH-07-9rN5esLOQE/s640/antag_009.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Fludentri</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It looks like I have met the Fludentri, a gelatinous appearing species. Interesting. I wonder if they would be interested in an alliance?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBybygqKfXt85BrvGwLvFodI58XxkK__429u6X_sbd2o1fjVEiPdYku_ekENxZ9WJtViwAdQrgoPqp-K8kLBO3X3bFhPnpX765tdJLlkEKhFFPX5p3-Opq9Sq99Zui81XTCDSSaC-_8J3I/s1600/antag_010.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBybygqKfXt85BrvGwLvFodI58XxkK__429u6X_sbd2o1fjVEiPdYku_ekENxZ9WJtViwAdQrgoPqp-K8kLBO3X3bFhPnpX765tdJLlkEKhFFPX5p3-Opq9Sq99Zui81XTCDSSaC-_8J3I/s640/antag_010.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHItcT9qHGoeAER3lcgXzlUuUOgiY20dBHLA-RAAidH2qIRsD8Etv6BdHHyPZtLVnPYhZQWA3u5OiLs2KgDwPa9ThTL_AeXAPDEZYSrYU2SoyqMjd__fw7SvnuK8kTYm1rRbYKcEbPaKNf/s1600/antag_011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHItcT9qHGoeAER3lcgXzlUuUOgiY20dBHLA-RAAidH2qIRsD8Etv6BdHHyPZtLVnPYhZQWA3u5OiLs2KgDwPa9ThTL_AeXAPDEZYSrYU2SoyqMjd__fw7SvnuK8kTYm1rRbYKcEbPaKNf/s640/antag_011.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Whelp, I guess not. They sure do have humility though. Come on Fludentri, have some confidence. You are bright enough to have become a space faring species. I have confidence in you and I'm sure we'll be good friends as we explore the galaxy together.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-vWAp3MD1p0pfseGpir_V7D_9hQGpCzF5LPpE52FCCbKAwsciAczSIjS-qqDGATWqPbO4V7AGV70NU5T8tcWQ1OdFL3xAdsbB6fp0AOnUXUTOcVSpf4QLzY6USgm6ASEkq7MyrCdGo4cd/s1600/antag_012.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-vWAp3MD1p0pfseGpir_V7D_9hQGpCzF5LPpE52FCCbKAwsciAczSIjS-qqDGATWqPbO4V7AGV70NU5T8tcWQ1OdFL3xAdsbB6fp0AOnUXUTOcVSpf4QLzY6USgm6ASEkq7MyrCdGo4cd/s640/antag_012.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uh...uh oh</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A few turns later and the Fludentri contacted me...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhriLdlxnTvAV4DA8VePxeNl_UUTJ6Te66PZzMpBg1xYa1ApPNpGIwGmqW-_-DFHcoT9D_qLlQ6gNyQj2dtFkWWOAYDVOWFaVnFziLvJmCOeLkuCI6m3vM2Zz8Crl7L0yuhTRUYjpJ0CD3r/s1600/antag_013.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhriLdlxnTvAV4DA8VePxeNl_UUTJ6Te66PZzMpBg1xYa1ApPNpGIwGmqW-_-DFHcoT9D_qLlQ6gNyQj2dtFkWWOAYDVOWFaVnFziLvJmCOeLkuCI6m3vM2Zz8Crl7L0yuhTRUYjpJ0CD3r/s640/antag_013.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What??</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We just met and they are declaring war on me! Come on! Dammit, this could be bad. I have not built any warships and only a few of my planets have planetary and orbital defenses. Stupid jello looking backstabbers.<br />
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Here is a look at my empire as it stands at the start of the great Nimbuloid-Fludentri war:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHVv4Z9rcq_R8xFukxIg9rqM7aJmzs7bE07Pf2NNrlPwbd-yqsWXXdDCA-L-Befv67KEsw0Qk8T4av0gvjbeqsExyE6r51azzeu-DEoouiW6Ph09kyfdWBKb6zzCp-dpqcO5h2xum1Hj1q/s1600/antag_014.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHVv4Z9rcq_R8xFukxIg9rqM7aJmzs7bE07Pf2NNrlPwbd-yqsWXXdDCA-L-Befv67KEsw0Qk8T4av0gvjbeqsExyE6r51azzeu-DEoouiW6Ph09kyfdWBKb6zzCp-dpqcO5h2xum1Hj1q/s640/antag_014.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
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<div>
My systems are green, Fludentri systems are orange. The little triangles represent ships. So right now the Fludentri have one system right in the middle of my empire and 2 groups of ships gathering in that system. So a good ideal for me to do would be to fortify the surrounding systems and begin making ships with weapons and to find where the Fludentri came from and fortify the systems along that route. </div>
<div>
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<div>
I think I'll call it a day for now and conclude this Part 1 of <i>Ascendancy. </i>I'll continue my war with the Fludentri later on in Part 2, so stay tuned!</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069718226803277447.post-48778116723562350802018-02-03T16:41:00.000-08:002018-02-03T16:41:34.727-08:00Dark Forces - Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4czYa-X8oKnFuV99AKd3TI7gMt3hpXPKm-S8FmcHty04g545j5Pc8A60YmOEtQgJyaT8RTIJS4xyG-bZoQWQeuNOtzb8I4kx02kpSAPOiaETFUyQjG3H0MG1Io5wRT8-LwcUgW18ZvEx-/s1600/dfcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1011" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4czYa-X8oKnFuV99AKd3TI7gMt3hpXPKm-S8FmcHty04g545j5Pc8A60YmOEtQgJyaT8RTIJS4xyG-bZoQWQeuNOtzb8I4kx02kpSAPOiaETFUyQjG3H0MG1Io5wRT8-LwcUgW18ZvEx-/s320/dfcover.jpg" width="253" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://rememberpcdosgames.blogspot.com/2018/01/star-wars-dark-forces-1995.html">Dark Forces - Part 1</a><br />
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I'm continuing my playthrough of the FPS game <i>Dark Forces, </i>and so far I am enjoying the game. It has enough in common with modern FPS games to limit the frustration over its dated engine and gamplay, while also maintaining that 90s era nostalgic charm. I'm about 1/3 of the way through the game, and I aim to finish it in this post or the next one. So lets continue on with mission 5, I look forward to blasting more stormtroopers!<br />
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<a name='more'></a> <br />
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Mission 5 - Gromas Mines<br />
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Previously on RPDG.com, I left off just beginning the mission to Gromas Mines. My goal is to place a detonator charge somewhere deep in the mines to blow them up and prevent the Empire from mining the metals necessary for the Dark Trooper project. The first thing I notice about this mission is it is very red, I think they were going for a Mars look:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglH9I1xQFgA7SMg8EgvQ-SWpmQE5i-6HqYP_w-vYp-RLvrkKskpjFd434S2Gmi18qAFtmrLtPMySEebxVWVdGJQLXFljuBtP-reg_9wbUVTnjPdLaaB78s9CB6EbcZmw9psdbPSKCm24Jg/s1600/dark_047.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglH9I1xQFgA7SMg8EgvQ-SWpmQE5i-6HqYP_w-vYp-RLvrkKskpjFd434S2Gmi18qAFtmrLtPMySEebxVWVdGJQLXFljuBtP-reg_9wbUVTnjPdLaaB78s9CB6EbcZmw9psdbPSKCm24Jg/s640/dark_047.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting area</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This mission starts on the surface but soon moves underground into the mining complex proper. I need to watch out because those damn turrets make another appearance in this mission as well. After entering the underground complex, I picked up another weapon - the Jeron Fusion Cutter. I think it's supposed to be an industrial tool that doubles as a weapon when put into the hands of Kyle Katarn - mercenary and welder extraordinaire!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5vndNaNlUsf_MbP7aT6ntBriakie6bw6UhCaX4v_WL7wp9ICrmrC_FJG-9VqPw1ERGz3kWtZm-ed18jjaqYfjRyrEkBhZMcbpYO_7bxFGyfH1UYYw_D2W0no_CMWnqAM7JFDAUiiUUiNy/s1600/dark_052.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5vndNaNlUsf_MbP7aT6ntBriakie6bw6UhCaX4v_WL7wp9ICrmrC_FJG-9VqPw1ERGz3kWtZm-ed18jjaqYfjRyrEkBhZMcbpYO_7bxFGyfH1UYYw_D2W0no_CMWnqAM7JFDAUiiUUiNy/s640/dark_052.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fusion cutter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Like some other weapons in the game, the cutter has two fire modes. The primary fire mode shoots green balls out of the 4 barrels one at a time while the secondary fire mode shoots from all 4 barrels at once, doing more damage. It's not a terribly useful weapon since it shoots slower than the blaster and repeater rifles and only does a bit more damage, but I find myself using it when an enemy needs a bit more damage done to it, like with turrets. Plus I do like the look of it firing from the barrels one at a time.<br />
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Speaking of turrets, I finally got a good screenshot of me destroying one:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0jmxmIqMWDou4mUFUoske2Re73GpDXuLBP9moPfYXdM1TIoL0QONNWVgLoLSomOIygQ1Zdt3xixJtn4RCLWYnLHf9oEntDgHbgQBNjA5bQX5zl53PFgXTslpxt5gfuy9401eCh4Y_-edL/s1600/dark_061.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0jmxmIqMWDou4mUFUoske2Re73GpDXuLBP9moPfYXdM1TIoL0QONNWVgLoLSomOIygQ1Zdt3xixJtn4RCLWYnLHf9oEntDgHbgQBNjA5bQX5zl53PFgXTslpxt5gfuy9401eCh4Y_-edL/s640/dark_061.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Die turret!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This level is built around deep pits, crushers moving up and down, and needing to perform careful platforming jumps. I've established already on this site that I'm not a fan of platforming in FPS games, and this game is no exception. Even though I really like this game, I really dislike the jumping in this level. Here is the first deep pit I come across:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKmdfAVEOQSA-VnVrFLYIFATJSuXhgkUv7W9RUqKZhBsZJC-TCE828IYBc8K9GxJYMeA1iiOFLY-iqFZTct_hd5dXZgAnwJCCQRaiHnTWl1gUZIBSgi4eXwSYwazIQnJ5ThUpYzR2Oc386/s1600/dark_070.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKmdfAVEOQSA-VnVrFLYIFATJSuXhgkUv7W9RUqKZhBsZJC-TCE828IYBc8K9GxJYMeA1iiOFLY-iqFZTct_hd5dXZgAnwJCCQRaiHnTWl1gUZIBSgi4eXwSYwazIQnJ5ThUpYzR2Oc386/s640/dark_070.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Luckily all I have to do is grab that blue key and make my way down some corridors and through some of the crushers I mentioned before.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9oketbn26bElcoQDrp_KB_h9cc70iCgYhLMMZwfOfl0YjYPCr6_HxhiL3PVoTdD6ZIzPZgNv7aRDz7WcXZiSRy9ETk-a_bvEzIZX3oEm4gQ2k3mvtWvgjTa3bTImE9ApXZeCA008rO5OL/s1600/dark_069.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9oketbn26bElcoQDrp_KB_h9cc70iCgYhLMMZwfOfl0YjYPCr6_HxhiL3PVoTdD6ZIzPZgNv7aRDz7WcXZiSRy9ETk-a_bvEzIZX3oEm4gQ2k3mvtWvgjTa3bTImE9ApXZeCA008rO5OL/s640/dark_069.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crusher</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
These things go up and down, and its simple to jump through them without getting smushed. So those don't really bother me.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3iCdIbnOjRiS5-EyEFNQoeB9iTimrpg1IhrU8enBoUkBc0XGgYPoa-8ZyLXA-mYmX0ui5K5He9k9R1i48wtea8cmGfahyphenhyphenLxvb9Jh4QE5UGTNORIgDX8wcY3ACbhmpzfdPLbXL1rVlQcTo/s1600/dark_078.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3iCdIbnOjRiS5-EyEFNQoeB9iTimrpg1IhrU8enBoUkBc0XGgYPoa-8ZyLXA-mYmX0ui5K5He9k9R1i48wtea8cmGfahyphenhyphenLxvb9Jh4QE5UGTNORIgDX8wcY3ACbhmpzfdPLbXL1rVlQcTo/s640/dark_078.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This part bothers me</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I soon come to this pit you see above. The first order of business is to shoot all of the stormtroopers located in those doorways across the way. After doing that, I jump down to small ledge sticking out beneath the cliff in front of me. After landing on that ledge, I need to jump across another chasm into a doorway. Sounds easy enough? It would be, except there is a crusher going up and down blocking my jump across the chasm. See below:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtstVSwwI-7is3reFX2WsNomdcJP29b9lqkqsktQs2ERKKFFKWhXoeeqe21lNb6xWz02yeLMsGPlTGkYRXqAVm8_V0_VcJQlU3zZQRVuwObS9DvnZGZVEnrXH9G5JqVepyin-d6sM0YRyG/s1600/dark_080.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtstVSwwI-7is3reFX2WsNomdcJP29b9lqkqsktQs2ERKKFFKWhXoeeqe21lNb6xWz02yeLMsGPlTGkYRXqAVm8_V0_VcJQlU3zZQRVuwObS9DvnZGZVEnrXH9G5JqVepyin-d6sM0YRyG/s640/dark_080.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Here is the result of me trying that jump the first time:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5WWW6zCH1GuF_vk5RQNWlVqxYwhmzP080RquoPhW0rQ67WsH7EEDpLRW_tSDU4BMYZp8zuypHatUKJf-TXxY9nIbDOg0zWh3GIVZby9ik9x25trYGgLVgnXGglvIHa3_0NHrWK6eeVuIt/s1600/dark_077.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5WWW6zCH1GuF_vk5RQNWlVqxYwhmzP080RquoPhW0rQ67WsH7EEDpLRW_tSDU4BMYZp8zuypHatUKJf-TXxY9nIbDOg0zWh3GIVZby9ik9x25trYGgLVgnXGglvIHa3_0NHrWK6eeVuIt/s640/dark_077.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Note: 000 health</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The jumping in this game is actually pretty responsive so it could be a lot worse and I only have myself to blame for messing it up. After clearing that jump and making my way down some elevators and shooting my way through mobs of imperial scum, I came to the objective where I need to plant the explosive:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB2JhzsTaSkMwd72AQ2qmnayrmb30L97eMrrRWwEDhO_4DM4JaF9rwzFNuTggzs9AxgdlL8n7daoIgZy4aA3zlm-ClIsxQEzJcReKJAcGQbUBPGNWmBlOpcrX6QVw8kpYkRWSp9kUHMgh_/s1600/dark_082.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB2JhzsTaSkMwd72AQ2qmnayrmb30L97eMrrRWwEDhO_4DM4JaF9rwzFNuTggzs9AxgdlL8n7daoIgZy4aA3zlm-ClIsxQEzJcReKJAcGQbUBPGNWmBlOpcrX6QVw8kpYkRWSp9kUHMgh_/s640/dark_082.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Explosive planted!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvv5XFp3i-wLtBIAeMiKbk5xmKdAfaX7wBcCRu1Gqpo9ogqkqEOQusfrJt0cAju2wGZXW9eFNMGPK_r05fE99CMMFfH9A8xoqdx0gai-ucT1zjtd9XTG6PmnwOVwF3aoUqQ06LAxT12Soy/s1600/dark_083.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvv5XFp3i-wLtBIAeMiKbk5xmKdAfaX7wBcCRu1Gqpo9ogqkqEOQusfrJt0cAju2wGZXW9eFNMGPK_r05fE99CMMFfH9A8xoqdx0gai-ucT1zjtd9XTG6PmnwOVwF3aoUqQ06LAxT12Soy/s640/dark_083.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's a terminator!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Crap! After planting the explosive, a central pillar rises and reveals a metallic monster with blades for arms! This guy is actually an unfinished Dark Trooper. I don't know why it is down here by itself and not on an assembly line with the other ones, maybe it is a prototype or something. Whatever the reason, it's bad for Kyle because it does some serious damage. It's blade arms do straight melee damage and so bypasses shields. And notice my health level of 30. Not good. I decide my best option is to repeatedly run away, turn, and lob thermal detonators at it, then turn and repeat. Still, it takes a lot of detonators to kill.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiehk3E-XwCuwkrFM1YudTmJLORtfNBMFcnbudDH5ZS4XkRujY3hVfExa60A0FxAdCQ_QBCIFamThfSUTA17XB_3PpLZWxvx4rfpHsK2H0NCXV-I57FNLAEKIEiyjDLwHj7BdLrWQTY6yU1/s1600/dark_091.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiehk3E-XwCuwkrFM1YudTmJLORtfNBMFcnbudDH5ZS4XkRujY3hVfExa60A0FxAdCQ_QBCIFamThfSUTA17XB_3PpLZWxvx4rfpHsK2H0NCXV-I57FNLAEKIEiyjDLwHj7BdLrWQTY6yU1/s1600/dark_091.png" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqDgxqGc2XRoKgiFndiRVnsWGeh0RVlyupmLzML2h-UgLSt_MyQ3xFuVqzH0Mb4qxQrFvzshNjhyphenhyphen7fFHKzLRJNvZmPVnJ_8x3ZkB_X9kOlq8pLCTifRNCtocUVfbDF8OA-PIO0Zb5Q6FyF/s1600/dark_090.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqDgxqGc2XRoKgiFndiRVnsWGeh0RVlyupmLzML2h-UgLSt_MyQ3xFuVqzH0Mb4qxQrFvzshNjhyphenhyphen7fFHKzLRJNvZmPVnJ_8x3ZkB_X9kOlq8pLCTifRNCtocUVfbDF8OA-PIO0Zb5Q6FyF/s1600/dark_090.png" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUt-u-AWCJSQqysgXBok09chWXmQxgMEjRKKFJsU3t5OYyqiveM2kn3uZ312z93tQ_14pj-NtDj6f6nvKfMyqR6ar0zI_-eHNhKD7CYgGN5iG2SnIznY2iYyvOZm22xeIQKZcLCEY6Zb5n/s1600/dark_093.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUt-u-AWCJSQqysgXBok09chWXmQxgMEjRKKFJsU3t5OYyqiveM2kn3uZ312z93tQ_14pj-NtDj6f6nvKfMyqR6ar0zI_-eHNhKD7CYgGN5iG2SnIznY2iYyvOZm22xeIQKZcLCEY6Zb5n/s1600/dark_093.png" /></a></div>
<br />
I killed the Dark Trooper and made my way back to the landing area and completed the mission and was treated to a cutscene of the mine blowing up:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4hSUsSrWRmICkVJaMy_oURf-Xeox-QSlt33SPjVwQBKKDBc0nZHjyqQrLaEV-FQX9F0BLkJNFKEnAhyzmFuUMl2c1qIBwe5plFWqxaf8wF9D25LfC-cHeJiV3oqA7ixdVYFeyPnrl9Uk3/s1600/dark_099.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4hSUsSrWRmICkVJaMy_oURf-Xeox-QSlt33SPjVwQBKKDBc0nZHjyqQrLaEV-FQX9F0BLkJNFKEnAhyzmFuUMl2c1qIBwe5plFWqxaf8wF9D25LfC-cHeJiV3oqA7ixdVYFeyPnrl9Uk3/s640/dark_099.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thats...a big explosion</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Jeez, I hope no one else lived on that planet. The explosion ends up taking out an entire hemisphere.<br />
The scene then cuts to the Arc Hammer and I see Mohc and Vader discussing a recently captured Rebel spy: Crix Madine.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_HfUu9MdfcXgL2nRUm6fLmhCfubp-AOLxxpD5_zsM_H4p2OsdJhbgS5xARj9Kb_Ta4gxLVo5E9djDnsLZAko-6_g6-9gBHwLOCIDbWElL41agVNBNMVIZsLHfChy8x_Qpq929XpCkPskP/s1600/dark_101.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_HfUu9MdfcXgL2nRUm6fLmhCfubp-AOLxxpD5_zsM_H4p2OsdJhbgS5xARj9Kb_Ta4gxLVo5E9djDnsLZAko-6_g6-9gBHwLOCIDbWElL41agVNBNMVIZsLHfChy8x_Qpq929XpCkPskP/s640/dark_101.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGuF6RsycE-nLynKBTQU3p17-5oBJinXueRZasO-pnlZcB0plOJ4Bh10ybLwKFhbpiP21O_6B0FOW7TkAcEGjxdz1PaSZ17FlpG11oU2kTBoJwP08EfiOocNPr-YoEUixFQIeEbhpUGz_k/s1600/dark_103.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGuF6RsycE-nLynKBTQU3p17-5oBJinXueRZasO-pnlZcB0plOJ4Bh10ybLwKFhbpiP21O_6B0FOW7TkAcEGjxdz1PaSZ17FlpG11oU2kTBoJwP08EfiOocNPr-YoEUixFQIeEbhpUGz_k/s640/dark_103.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
You may remember Madine from his brief scene in <i>Return of the Jedi </i>where he takes part in the briefing prior to the Battle of Endor. In addition to this scene, he actually had another scene that was cut. According to Wookepedia, he was a leader of convert operations for the Empire until he defected. For the Rebels, he helped devise the attack on the shield generator on Endor that was undertaken by Han Solo, Leia, Chewbacca, and company. So he is presumably a very important person for the Rebel Alliance, and we need to get him back.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhurMrBmEZrmOPn-B8IPRrR60Bt9MD1E53aSsE5Y9NwN8saDYhoHMHqwhJllZdbvjiJLwIPR6JObMp7qSxpnGc0zeUa7IuIsgC7CMZsSCEAyED_UHiE23hgBkhm2Q-N0tfseO-te7aArxxL/s1600/MadineHS-ROTJ.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhurMrBmEZrmOPn-B8IPRrR60Bt9MD1E53aSsE5Y9NwN8saDYhoHMHqwhJllZdbvjiJLwIPR6JObMp7qSxpnGc0zeUa7IuIsgC7CMZsSCEAyED_UHiE23hgBkhm2Q-N0tfseO-te7aArxxL/s640/MadineHS-ROTJ.png" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Madine in <i>Return of the Jedi</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Vader is starting to get worried about the damage Kyle is doing to their plans, but Mohc has a plan up his sleeve. He has hired a certain well known bounty hunter to take care of Katarn once and for all.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijPaoFmG0LzLIZMjDkY1blemyN8Jjz4_6IwvI6YM99BeG-RCDFYacchqsZ4ohiR3sg53oI6Ug1KgIdclMRAVEsyOkbQBrekO4tMASb7Y1js_t2dbWL2Vu7Up9Folbv500dTk-2GbMje1hL/s1600/dark_104.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijPaoFmG0LzLIZMjDkY1blemyN8Jjz4_6IwvI6YM99BeG-RCDFYacchqsZ4ohiR3sg53oI6Ug1KgIdclMRAVEsyOkbQBrekO4tMASb7Y1js_t2dbWL2Vu7Up9Folbv500dTk-2GbMje1hL/s640/dark_104.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crap, its Bobba Fett!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidN9caDckNmauF1rMVFp1PWuagl1QCrkczT1wvY6OcDYo2yVeJlnZMZdTYRlF-CDLNAzubvTlLn1UtPlrIS-cvqA7a6heqkOPoLVRhbn8JoLClKWx_ndzo7Cq4No3X6milnjM2sB7wxF79/s1600/dark_105.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidN9caDckNmauF1rMVFp1PWuagl1QCrkczT1wvY6OcDYo2yVeJlnZMZdTYRlF-CDLNAzubvTlLn1UtPlrIS-cvqA7a6heqkOPoLVRhbn8JoLClKWx_ndzo7Cq4No3X6milnjM2sB7wxF79/s640/dark_105.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My mission is pretty straightforward - Find Madine</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So my mission is to find Crix Madine and rescue him. Let's do it.<br />
<br />
Mission 6 - Detention Center<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKajJ3UXJrTNtJRAi8SLqrdiqrDqcNWPM-CA9lDN6ad1IQixr3DjeMIp26NfeRa-IR_JDEmMGZW28xvvB6zzKYgTN2ZRu5EBMMH_IeMdfYWi8gHTKDe1DPfqJp0KRdsT_mIvTFjvINyaEv/s1600/dark_106.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKajJ3UXJrTNtJRAi8SLqrdiqrDqcNWPM-CA9lDN6ad1IQixr3DjeMIp26NfeRa-IR_JDEmMGZW28xvvB6zzKYgTN2ZRu5EBMMH_IeMdfYWi8gHTKDe1DPfqJp0KRdsT_mIvTFjvINyaEv/s640/dark_106.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting area</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The detention center starts off with some good vertical level design by having big open cliff spaces and valleys. It is high enough that if I fall off it is instant death. While these big vistas make for some great levels, it stretches the imagination to think this is how the Empire would design one of their facilities. For example, the entrance I am taking into the detention facility involves riding a small hover platform with no railings across a huge chasm that is sure death if I fall. To nail home the point that yes, this is how the Empire designed it, this hovering platform has an imperial commando riding across on it! I think this is hilarious, good job LucasArts. Here I am sniping the poor SOB with my pistol and he crosses the canyon:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSrTDfkZubzgEVTxUoMx3Z3gYJt0SPlPox9iM-HredqBUKPSinV23XTyUfeU2lqKIu0Gc5miR9LS2qRh3I6sn9Yc6BIeW3CIKa7QCc19BIS8YPuN9fmrlKsxFdoT5UJC_1VUjKoj1II5Ee/s1600/dfgif3.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="637" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSrTDfkZubzgEVTxUoMx3Z3gYJt0SPlPox9iM-HredqBUKPSinV23XTyUfeU2lqKIu0Gc5miR9LS2qRh3I6sn9Yc6BIeW3CIKa7QCc19BIS8YPuN9fmrlKsxFdoT5UJC_1VUjKoj1II5Ee/s640/dfgif3.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I rode the platform into the facility and I now notice some walls have very obvious cracks. These are secret rooms that can be blown open with explosives. Here is an example:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH7qBRR6HYhg04foxyva47VPXS08oMVtB9bL7wuVCxLABHqm_hsPIag6L-gytVuwOrUc20aL9yjQAmZ14rIBIbKwHMDfYFAzbPG59A49LHVl2eixUktP9Ft6Fwpda8k4Dw6T_TEvPolx6O/s1600/dark_006.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH7qBRR6HYhg04foxyva47VPXS08oMVtB9bL7wuVCxLABHqm_hsPIag6L-gytVuwOrUc20aL9yjQAmZ14rIBIbKwHMDfYFAzbPG59A49LHVl2eixUktP9Ft6Fwpda8k4Dw6T_TEvPolx6O/s640/dark_006.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Secret room</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I found one secret room that had two stormtroopers inside. What were they doing in there? The Empire built the room and then sealed these poor guys in? How long have they been in there? Again, I'm not sure how good of a gig it is working for the Empire.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj64XD-KcGw0Et4ro4BX4c6JIR5JaovPkcYE-bpBPL7XVr8SFfJW0dwZUroEFWU9U6PAtQiGMWPUWUhyphenhyphenp428gYEmr4d5U4dGJ56oH_qyrdT7Mx3gsWDZd-xD4ifYHTxGHnJ3gSvUnCAdeAx/s1600/dark_008.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj64XD-KcGw0Et4ro4BX4c6JIR5JaovPkcYE-bpBPL7XVr8SFfJW0dwZUroEFWU9U6PAtQiGMWPUWUhyphenhyphenp428gYEmr4d5U4dGJ56oH_qyrdT7Mx3gsWDZd-xD4ifYHTxGHnJ3gSvUnCAdeAx/s640/dark_008.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who knows how long they had been in here...I did them a favor</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'm just going to say ahead of time that this level is really really confusing and difficult to describe. It is based around two elevators, each of which has 3 or 4 floors. The level involves going to each floor from each elevator and getting a series of keycards and opening a series of doors in order. After getting all the necessary keycards, I need to move the elevators into a specific position by setting them at specific floors, then I need to jump down into the elevator shafts and traverse the top of the elevator cars.<br />
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVZIg6UX2FxB2-40Wcm_CFo2ieCsxujZsiwEQMh7USUORmdqaAzyGK36kZ9wPSwLuAvs1uZ4eoJ7zU8aIfPOVqH04mxd_vPM6U7xYJaE9yvQJZVdOWjMnClSkyE3uqWSKbHhcre9tX3V5u/s1600/dark_019.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVZIg6UX2FxB2-40Wcm_CFo2ieCsxujZsiwEQMh7USUORmdqaAzyGK36kZ9wPSwLuAvs1uZ4eoJ7zU8aIfPOVqH04mxd_vPM6U7xYJaE9yvQJZVdOWjMnClSkyE3uqWSKbHhcre9tX3V5u/s640/dark_019.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Diagram of the elevators...I'm not entirely sure what it's displaying</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
To make matters even more difficult, this level introduces the land mine. These are proximity mines that gives a little chirp 1 second before they blow up and do a ton of damage. They are also many times conveniently hidden in among shield pickups or other items to disguise them. On the plus side, I also get landmines as my own weapon as well:</div>
<div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh98yOpvYoi8jPgPV_Zq9GbOWgK9g-fqoW621FdxrvWzA7C49LQJQSuOdoabj60I9rwYgf8CHzWE2eMD_vwXRLwZ-m6aXXM8Mx2BDUPwyrPHp1TTMxI7vswhu4T8O_0rsDs7VaN2Vcio1Aw/s1600/dark_025.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh98yOpvYoi8jPgPV_Zq9GbOWgK9g-fqoW621FdxrvWzA7C49LQJQSuOdoabj60I9rwYgf8CHzWE2eMD_vwXRLwZ-m6aXXM8Mx2BDUPwyrPHp1TTMxI7vswhu4T8O_0rsDs7VaN2Vcio1Aw/s640/dark_025.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
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<div>
Another first is this level has ricocheting walls. What this means is on some of the walls, my shots will ricochet around at angles a few times before disintegrating, if they haven't hit an enemy or me. In narrow corridors, this makes it pretty easy for me to shoot myself. </div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoF6RTARp87PrWQWpJEZGtt516ShFt-xy31M8LoJvyPaWPuotNR66TC6-vePFymsAU6MHM-YwHvQ7u5svwgqYyb55GZngtPbaL_5PiuPFJA9WaB8UhRDJ48eJ9LDHctHYWCGu6a81xwpvk/s1600/dark_016.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoF6RTARp87PrWQWpJEZGtt516ShFt-xy31M8LoJvyPaWPuotNR66TC6-vePFymsAU6MHM-YwHvQ7u5svwgqYyb55GZngtPbaL_5PiuPFJA9WaB8UhRDJ48eJ9LDHctHYWCGu6a81xwpvk/s640/dark_016.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ricochet example</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
On the plus side, I did find an extra life on this level, which I ended up needing since I died after being blown up by a mine right after finding it:</div>
<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFgDwDRQ2bJb17Q6mRhYqY76W_3TrpBAQSOIcZaiJJXQGezIgTjOyP0hCMbgZqRTJbeIVJmn0Gb3VRa3dkYJOFQ9F72DEckzSEG_Hf6uiGxyR9WBBN7wq2WmxrOCu_2xrCwNLdGYAsqTi0/s1600/dark_027.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFgDwDRQ2bJb17Q6mRhYqY76W_3TrpBAQSOIcZaiJJXQGezIgTjOyP0hCMbgZqRTJbeIVJmn0Gb3VRa3dkYJOFQ9F72DEckzSEG_Hf6uiGxyR9WBBN7wq2WmxrOCu_2xrCwNLdGYAsqTi0/s640/dark_027.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Extra life</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The detention center has a few forcefields that turn on and off that I have to time just right to run through. Sometimes there will be imperials on the other side of the forcefield and when they shoot at me their shots will bounce back and hit them. At times I was able to sit back and let them just kill themselves with their own ricochets.<br />
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKnCXOS2enaUngknqiZ7xuhhyDnl0_R2BIQFblkMZ4zvrVJB5WExeNuSHmqvHxtIrPFMPfBTE4rhCOTt9exXz0L3L9oEGKftt7NfiSS_6Wy9hrZhJ9UmIaN0BwREgGWUsKLcZYIcqm7chS/s1600/dark_041.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKnCXOS2enaUngknqiZ7xuhhyDnl0_R2BIQFblkMZ4zvrVJB5WExeNuSHmqvHxtIrPFMPfBTE4rhCOTt9exXz0L3L9oEGKftt7NfiSS_6Wy9hrZhJ9UmIaN0BwREgGWUsKLcZYIcqm7chS/s640/dark_041.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Imperial officer shooting himself</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
I have to admit, that was pretty funny. The prison cell area is an obvious callback to <i>A New Hope </i>when Luke rescues Leia, they definitely nailed the look correctly.</div>
<div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg30gP0J1JuGxM4pvHvIZPBiciqnAm8ymOi3RCiXtLEpX8lMwtbRkhU_bHKOT8zWx29cll3zUZV6-04XWL3Yz7XnZV_ty7ezOHC3JPNkQulAhMIpwzuF5T8cUNDQU0fLk94x1Puep11Qy2x/s1600/dark_042.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg30gP0J1JuGxM4pvHvIZPBiciqnAm8ymOi3RCiXtLEpX8lMwtbRkhU_bHKOT8zWx29cll3zUZV6-04XWL3Yz7XnZV_ty7ezOHC3JPNkQulAhMIpwzuF5T8cUNDQU0fLk94x1Puep11Qy2x/s640/dark_042.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
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<div>
There's not much else to this mission. There's a section where I had to jump around on trash compactors in a trash disposal pit which again was another nice nod to <i>A New Hope, </i>but otherwise the bulk of the mission is taken up with figuring out the elevator situation. </div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF_EvT8NTTT4eoCL7S9uJ9h-Tn0ByvO20mHAEi_JwDSW-S9bQysKbe42_QbcyQPK4Mit1bZKx06Z6QuTNClAUSr3C7raVg7vfviguZ2zn6P3B84R36XqxhxzSXkMlzs6owf1BDd2PT_smS/s1600/dark_055.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF_EvT8NTTT4eoCL7S9uJ9h-Tn0ByvO20mHAEi_JwDSW-S9bQysKbe42_QbcyQPK4Mit1bZKx06Z6QuTNClAUSr3C7raVg7vfviguZ2zn6P3B84R36XqxhxzSXkMlzs6owf1BDd2PT_smS/s640/dark_055.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I found Crix Madine</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I feel like they could have done a better job with the sprite for Crix Madine, after all he is a main character in Star Wars canon and we know what he looks like from the movies. He looks really generic in this. After rescuing Madine and exiting the mission, the game jumps right to the briefing for the next mission. Mission 7 involves going to a port called Ramsees Hed and placing a tracking device on a smuggler's ship so we can track it to a robotics facility where parts of the Dark Troopers are being assembled. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL2WM1fAQPVym8LinL6ztOcx34TsUkpT66x0SWqUpMaVBa_P-Z8ZOrFjaopElTYS9v5aiR3QBZJMdAIhBOecJiKG5bNZIvM6mmwoShf-NK6Plig4DEF1kLvs70_d1dC_aB6KZjFFKnUAO4/s1600/dark_056.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL2WM1fAQPVym8LinL6ztOcx34TsUkpT66x0SWqUpMaVBa_P-Z8ZOrFjaopElTYS9v5aiR3QBZJMdAIhBOecJiKG5bNZIvM6mmwoShf-NK6Plig4DEF1kLvs70_d1dC_aB6KZjFFKnUAO4/s640/dark_056.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mission 7 briefing</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Mission 7 - Deadly Cargo<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDVmZWHg1_kx0-9RKuOPUMrupyfbQ5cNV9LAA1C99BtDdi0gAX_YS4-D8B87FT1iyqrtmyQRSrNIi5C_jW1_rHOSjSsNWMolx-S9k4abGnqtvhWwzZCIZbbYVxNDsp4IcSK2Jrp9H4X7ji/s1600/dark_057.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDVmZWHg1_kx0-9RKuOPUMrupyfbQ5cNV9LAA1C99BtDdi0gAX_YS4-D8B87FT1iyqrtmyQRSrNIi5C_jW1_rHOSjSsNWMolx-S9k4abGnqtvhWwzZCIZbbYVxNDsp4IcSK2Jrp9H4X7ji/s640/dark_057.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br />
I don't remember anything about this mission off the top of my head, so I'm going in pretty blind. I'm all stocked up on weapons and ammo and I'm at full health, so I'm ready to ruin some imperials' days.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDR-CFtb2OBIlbR9CI-c_nBvXFoWFg1IP4fxoWFUrwWGMYcQMAZtRUg6GsuR9uqP2pf2vtqhr-HFRpdyJD8A5SNFU0jhWday7w_q5MxAAgrDUX4xQr-r61XuCzeXqu9wcVjdz5B4vOaxey/s1600/dark_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDR-CFtb2OBIlbR9CI-c_nBvXFoWFg1IP4fxoWFUrwWGMYcQMAZtRUg6GsuR9uqP2pf2vtqhr-HFRpdyJD8A5SNFU0jhWday7w_q5MxAAgrDUX4xQr-r61XuCzeXqu9wcVjdz5B4vOaxey/s640/dark_001.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gamorrean</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Uh oh! I've run into Gamorreans pretty early on in the level so that doesn't bode well for later on. These guys don't have any ranged weapon, but their melee ax does A LOT of damage and it bypasses shields. By a lot, I mean that it can kill me 2-3 hits if I'm at full health. They are obviously also really tough so take quite a few shots to take down. On the plus side, they make a funny pig squealing sound when hit. I'm not sure if the sound was taken straight from the Star Wars movies or from a standard pig sound library, but it's effective.<br />
<br />
I'm also noticing that the game is sending a lot more mercenary and bounty hunter type enemies at me instead of imperial soldiers in this level, which makes sense this mission is supposed to take place at a seedy port where the ship is docked. The theme also seems to be that bounty hunters like Garmorreans are a "higher tier" enemy that stormtroopers, officers, and even commandos. I say higher tier mostly just because they occur later in the game and tend to be more dangerous.<br />
<br />
This is somewhat reversed for the sequel <i>Jedi Knight </i>in which the game starts off with Kyle fighting bounty hunters like Gamorreans and the three-eyed guys (I just looked them up - they are called Gran). Only after the first 3 or 4 missions does <i>Jedi Knight </i>begin throwing imperial stormtroopers, officers, and commandos at the player. I kind of liked this because it made the imperials a little more intimidating since its implied they are a more dangerous enemy than the early bounty hunter enemies. Which they should be since they are supposed to be the elite soldiers of the Empire. But whatever, that's neither here nor there.<br />
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To better deal with these bounty hunters, I've picked up the Packered Mortar Gun:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL-OFC3a-McXa0P9o6hnR-Y3ivUvG9A9NT-WtsbzwsBNGGZd3w81TUj52-svy29La5GyzY7dvHXM7HQuvroJ-bK3WpbXYdQS85GxfKWlOiOZQS2ataebA1prvLHFzeJ_ufbqAQGc-hSllJ/s1600/dark_008.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL-OFC3a-McXa0P9o6hnR-Y3ivUvG9A9NT-WtsbzwsBNGGZd3w81TUj52-svy29La5GyzY7dvHXM7HQuvroJ-bK3WpbXYdQS85GxfKWlOiOZQS2ataebA1prvLHFzeJ_ufbqAQGc-hSllJ/s640/dark_008.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mortar Gun</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The mortar gun does just what the name implies, it is a hand-held mortar gun. Which is an awesome alternative to the usual grenade launcher you find in FPS games. This guy does lots of damage but has relatively scarce ammunition. It makes some nice explosions too.<br />
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Much of this level is taking place in cargo bays packed with stacked crates or in narrow hallways. A common scene is me taking a thermal detonator to the face from a Gran.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSzqE3sqigCuFq4DeiPjuFR5xl4hCFqssKyQLuydpqNqhEEfwZDCka5EmDFgRRxycy3twRNui8rfZ6QfpGzzGtCktQFkJ0LdmyrBNgh8huRlTNPMgDC3CNlHATGZHNC-_-1Pc3jqxjzmvU/s1600/dark_013.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSzqE3sqigCuFq4DeiPjuFR5xl4hCFqssKyQLuydpqNqhEEfwZDCka5EmDFgRRxycy3twRNui8rfZ6QfpGzzGtCktQFkJ0LdmyrBNgh8huRlTNPMgDC3CNlHATGZHNC-_-1Pc3jqxjzmvU/s640/dark_013.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Face, meet thermal detonator. Thermal detonator, meet face</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As payback, I've found some Gran who seem to be too preoccupied to notice the explosions coming from the next room over and I've caught them unawares.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhpoca_J-QVVN_y1ahEYHwzvvIc98IpHfPe8ekS4pEOiLXqbiyCUWNsSxz5k8QQta7kHTUbgW314B3e6B721kfMwFAbAGKUFJN4vKtQooPqb9EGMYCnXAIEDNXb6lPJ9zMvPfJkc41ZKK4/s1600/dark_021.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhpoca_J-QVVN_y1ahEYHwzvvIc98IpHfPe8ekS4pEOiLXqbiyCUWNsSxz5k8QQta7kHTUbgW314B3e6B721kfMwFAbAGKUFJN4vKtQooPqb9EGMYCnXAIEDNXb6lPJ9zMvPfJkc41ZKK4/s640/dark_021.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't mind me...just taking my grenade out for a walk...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8URijMWh9OKrMB8T07k2ksv-8lQo7iVA5R2vaNVrj9brzvvdjm84QyClsWwBJr-9a_lH_Z4fRn0ZoSXQGwIIZcVP69Rc9-YTq1P-0YZLKxr-HATHL8IjVMXpm8gKHwGGZXQJs6RNUzHOX/s1600/dark_022.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8URijMWh9OKrMB8T07k2ksv-8lQo7iVA5R2vaNVrj9brzvvdjm84QyClsWwBJr-9a_lH_Z4fRn0ZoSXQGwIIZcVP69Rc9-YTq1P-0YZLKxr-HATHL8IjVMXpm8gKHwGGZXQJs6RNUzHOX/s640/dark_022.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Surprise!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The level has some great transitions from cargo bays to what I assume is the imperial ship. I always though <i>Dark Forces </i>did a good job of mixing multiple environments in the same level and making a good juxtaposition between them. In this level, I started in a drab cargo area made up of typical browns and grays and featureless hallways. I'm now entering the imperial ship and it definitely looks imperial:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBO_ez09K-_C19aLWIJWBr_-qsYiO-dHP6GNQPHzWndLUMRPI4L145v6vdZD0KiF6DaP4AFfGjyZje_t_yciPMlgSSR9_hX9OETYfPuUbMCmVqF1nFoSjkGMrV1qrC3ZHtAC6CTFmNDxQN/s1600/dark_028.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBO_ez09K-_C19aLWIJWBr_-qsYiO-dHP6GNQPHzWndLUMRPI4L145v6vdZD0KiF6DaP4AFfGjyZje_t_yciPMlgSSR9_hX9OETYfPuUbMCmVqF1nFoSjkGMrV1qrC3ZHtAC6CTFmNDxQN/s640/dark_028.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Entering the ship</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOoopgcxB8v9_bA5Uazc0g_6uHgEq7gwEQc-NzCbqdRN00kgYtPaoJRUO2mBTSIPmj6O7x16ygHxtbqvyX5BGCnWhp4koKbiPFBAldIszkXIio7ACHpW0hVUImuLmtFuyObuUpURRZ4ESW/s1600/dark_029.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOoopgcxB8v9_bA5Uazc0g_6uHgEq7gwEQc-NzCbqdRN00kgYtPaoJRUO2mBTSIPmj6O7x16ygHxtbqvyX5BGCnWhp4koKbiPFBAldIszkXIio7ACHpW0hVUImuLmtFuyObuUpURRZ4ESW/s640/dark_029.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Complete with a commando</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I have all that backwards. I think I am planting the tracking device on a smuggling ship so it is the ship that is drab and grungy and the ship is docked at a nice imperial docking port. So all of the bounty hunters are on their ship, and most of the imperials are in the dock. Oh well, it doesn't matter.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPflwYmzgDRe5N4Ltw6Wca0iFHT-Og8IVLIoJGfw6nxjxvW4FS6AoVhD-Yuya2q2k1x0sDmA3XdPrKXT6_hpNARltBRKzAm48Tdmw3vH8dIHg93A7KvFNYjLvXkKQf9u6_XEdFXdzJ4b9f/s1600/dark_032.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPflwYmzgDRe5N4Ltw6Wca0iFHT-Og8IVLIoJGfw6nxjxvW4FS6AoVhD-Yuya2q2k1x0sDmA3XdPrKXT6_hpNARltBRKzAm48Tdmw3vH8dIHg93A7KvFNYjLvXkKQf9u6_XEdFXdzJ4b9f/s640/dark_032.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Great, only 1 urinal open and its between everyone</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Haha, that's a nice piece of level design. One bounty hunter and two stormtroopers just using the bathroom. Even in the future, people and aliens will still need to use the bathroom (except in Star Trek). It must be an absolute nightmare for the stormtroopers to pee with their stormtrooper outfit on though. I saved them all the trouble and blasted them.<br />
<br />
Here is me clumsily clearing at a room of imperials to find the blue key:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDpQGDQNhB8WHfdVB9gUhojEhWy1n_7fHgQg7C3jjdguc-HWLJpqjJIuhGmanZqQh2-EyB3mT6w058QZ9kS-eo7eoD-LtNmyRzQQ9rzlt3JTpgxdTwBrIs8B4Pm_0wNV2To-Fr6MAlruJp/s1600/gifyel.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="638" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDpQGDQNhB8WHfdVB9gUhojEhWy1n_7fHgQg7C3jjdguc-HWLJpqjJIuhGmanZqQh2-EyB3mT6w058QZ9kS-eo7eoD-LtNmyRzQQ9rzlt3JTpgxdTwBrIs8B4Pm_0wNV2To-Fr6MAlruJp/s640/gifyel.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit1tqNqvzFD3Lg3qoE7fW2RjIFEiTVA3r4ZUjRDP26nP6ERNW_Q-kCqkFfN2cHahitCLmcgv4zt0JomxUuRL2fkEb6M4ON-d-K6WNHY_WrY7O2Rl858aQI_93XDRBcDXxMdGaVMwWIg0GH/s1600/dark_034.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit1tqNqvzFD3Lg3qoE7fW2RjIFEiTVA3r4ZUjRDP26nP6ERNW_Q-kCqkFfN2cHahitCLmcgv4zt0JomxUuRL2fkEb6M4ON-d-K6WNHY_WrY7O2Rl858aQI_93XDRBcDXxMdGaVMwWIg0GH/s640/dark_034.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Setting the charge</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAiqpi88cku4MQ8EQi1p_mbGZN9KOM_H_f-xZIIbzk7xe-yWO3sdhgSiJ-HPE0PR5Nf0rss_c8Pb345U3XouaMPbTbFsiR8PTkzZPLM2vKvT9CeIC0nRLyj6vBNwYIw1iQDLjB5DoFprRE/s1600/dark_035.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAiqpi88cku4MQ8EQi1p_mbGZN9KOM_H_f-xZIIbzk7xe-yWO3sdhgSiJ-HPE0PR5Nf0rss_c8Pb345U3XouaMPbTbFsiR8PTkzZPLM2vKvT9CeIC0nRLyj6vBNwYIw1iQDLjB5DoFprRE/s640/dark_035.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ending cutscene</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After setting the charge, I was able to simply press ESC to end the mission. I was then treated to a brief cutscene that is unrelated to anything, it just shows the Moldy Crow approaching the planet where my next mission is to occur.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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But I don't think there will be a next mission for me right now, I'm going to wrap up this playthrough of <i>Dark Forces </i>and move on to the next game. This is not a knock against <i>Dark Forces </i>and I am still enjoying my time with it; I am simply ready and anxious to move on to my next game and try one out that I haven't played before. I'm still trying to decide if I should be spending more time with each game and playing them to completion of if I will continue to only play them for a few hours before moving on. Like I said in an earlier post, I think I'll keep doing what I have been doing with these first few posts on the site, but as I develop a wider library, I may start spending more time with each game. We'll see. But regardless of all that, I still like this game.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- Review -</u></span></h2>
</div>
<div>
The LucasArts of today (or as it was a few years ago, they don't exist anymore) is/was a different company than the LucasArts of the 80s and 90s DOS era. In modern times, LucasArts primarily acted as a publisher to outside development studios that had purchased the Star Wars license from them. Because of this, we've seen a lot more Star Wars games than we used to, but the quality of the games varied widely.</div>
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20-30 years ago (*groan*....obligatory "I can't believe how old I am getting"), LucasArts acted as the developer and publisher for most of their games. They created some of the best adventure games of all time (<i>Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max Hit the Road, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Grim Fandango</i>) and they also created some of the classic Star Wars games like <i>X-Wing(1993) </i>and <i>Tie Fighter(1994). </i>It wasn't until the late 90s, as the adventure genre began to fade away, that LucasArts started becoming primarily a publisher and seller of the Star Wars license instead of a games developer. </div>
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I mention all of this background because <i>Dark Forces </i>was released during what I would call LucasArts' "Golden Years". In 1995, LucasArts was arguably king of the adventure genre and king of the space sim genre, and for a brief perion, <i>Dark Forces </i>made them one of the kings of the FPS genre. This kingship did not last long with games like <i>Duke Nukem 3D and Quake </i>just around the corner, but <i>Dark Forces </i>was briefly the FPS game to beat and added another notch of a great game to LucasArts' belt. A big reason why <i>Dark Forces </i>did not develop the huge following of some of the other FPS games I mentioned is because it doesn't have multiplayer. This was as big a deal when the game released as it would be today. There were even rumors that there was a secret cheat code that would activate a hidden multiplayer component. This lack of multiplayer meant the game had much shorter staying power than other contemporary FPS games. </div>
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Much of <i>Dark Forces </i>was revolutionary at the time, but does that matter when playing today? Is the game playable for the modern FPS gamer without needing to resort to mods? My answer is: YES. The game is still playable and enjoyable, even for a modern gamer who has never played an old DOS FPS game. The horizontal mouse-look worked fine for me, I did not even have to reverse the axis. I was annoyed initially with the lack of vertical mouse-look, but I quickly forgot about this because the game does not ask the player to look up or down very often. When there are enemies above or below you, the auto-targeting usually is able to hit them. </div>
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<div>
The controls are smooth and responsive as well. I dislike almost all platforming in FPS games because in most cases the controls are not good enough to be able to manage the subtle movements required. These problems are minimized in this game by having relatively few jumping puzzles and by having large target platforms to land on and jump from. I still didn't like these sequences, but I didn't hate them like I do in some other games. </div>
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The sounds are fine but the music is great. It may sound strange that I am recommending MIDI renditions of John William's Star Wars scores, but the music producer for the game did a great job at the conversion and it works well. The graphics are...not good, but that is what I would expect from a 2D FPS game from 1995 that runs at 320x240 resolution. I will say that is is particularly bad on a 1920x1200 resolution monitor, but it is still manageable. Just look for floating, moving blobs and pixels in the distance and assume that they are enemies and you should be fine. <br />
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The graphics are the main reason why I can recommend the DarkXL engine linked to on my first post for the game. It adjusts the graphics to correctly handle widescreen resolutions and utilizes full mouse-look. </div>
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<div>
I honestly don't have a lot of bad things to say about this game. It's great fun and I recommend it. I'm trying out a new rating system today. Instead of scoring games from 1 to 5, I'm going to try doing a "Recommend" or "Do not recommend" for new players and nostalgia players. The only caveat I would add to my scores of "Recommend" is new players may want to use the DarkXL engine to make the graphics and movement a little more palatable.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqfxOfjt_w6qoMx8keFZ-tVWDccubp8OoXeYeJJWDkdUftJrFMWJF2DJRh7NJb7libLEfVG548QA4I9WeiueszLMRnsWffzYq2DUQP7umA7upulmwvrvN3RnnxtY5qYwDMIRYyJt08KZRb/s1600/DRAHKRIwc2render.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="264" data-original-width="1237" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqfxOfjt_w6qoMx8keFZ-tVWDccubp8OoXeYeJJWDkdUftJrFMWJF2DJRh7NJb7libLEfVG548QA4I9WeiueszLMRnsWffzYq2DUQP7umA7upulmwvrvN3RnnxtY5qYwDMIRYyJt08KZRb/s640/DRAHKRIwc2render.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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So that's it for <i>Dark Forces</i>! I liked playing it and I hope you liked reading about me playing it. Maybe I'll got back and finish it one day. But for now I'm going to move on to the next game for this site.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069718226803277447.post-88005619586093016402018-01-29T21:22:00.001-08:002018-02-03T16:42:14.783-08:00Star Wars: Dark Forces (1995)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaRftjbKT3D-vYvoZv05wsyced9kU8ZweCx7gxJqn9ryitVC8LcuHFD30xwm1BP7alCwLYWlxHFAuPzsJJKLa-sqHdiNrVGFkFHmhz5FNR-P96i2WrvLpBpFawQNEAOJg_lJekVsDN-kPl/s1600/dfcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1011" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaRftjbKT3D-vYvoZv05wsyced9kU8ZweCx7gxJqn9ryitVC8LcuHFD30xwm1BP7alCwLYWlxHFAuPzsJJKLa-sqHdiNrVGFkFHmhz5FNR-P96i2WrvLpBpFawQNEAOJg_lJekVsDN-kPl/s400/dfcover.jpg" width="316" /></a></div>
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Date: 1995<br />
Developer: LucasArts<br />
Publisher: LucasArts<br />
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System Requirements:<br />
- 386/DX-33MHz<br />
- 8MB RAM<br />
- 3.5MB HDD space<br />
- MS DOS 5.0<br />
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Where to purchase?<br />
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<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.gog.com/game/star_wars_dark_forces">GOG.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/32400/STAR_WARS__Dark_Forces/">Steam</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
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<div>
Last week I played a game that was completely new to me (<i>Alien Odyssey</i>), so this week I am playing <i>Dark Forces</i>, a game which I know very well. I purchased Dark Forces new when it was originally released and played it through to completion. Since that time, I have played a number of custom levels, the sequel <i>Jedi Knight, </i>and <i>Jedi Knight's </i>sequels <i>Jedi Outcast </i>and <i>Jedi Academy. </i>So it is accurate to say I am familiar with this game and I am also a fan. I'm really looking forward to going back and playing it again for RPDG.com. For this playthrough, I'll be playing the Steam version, which means I'll be playing the original vanilla version through DOSBox. I won't be using any modern updates or mods, of which there are many. If you are interested, the most popular update for <i>Dark Forces </i>is the DarkXL engine, which can be found at its's website: <a href="http://xlengine.com/">XLengine.com</a>. </div>
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<i>Dark Forces </i>is an FPS (first person shooter) set in the Star Wars universe just prior to the events of <i>Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope</i>. To read about its development, my impressions on a playthrough, and my thoughts in a review at the end, read on!</div>
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<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- Development -</u></span></h2>
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<i>Dark Forces </i>was released in 1995 into a market that was overflowing with new FPS games. To read a quick synopsis of FPS game history, check out my post on <i><a href="http://rememberpcdosgames.blogspot.com/2018/01/blood.html#more">Blood</a>. </i>Basically, in the early 90s, everyone was wanting to get in on the FPS craze that was started by <i>Doom </i>in 1993. It seemed that high on many people's list of desired FPS games was one set in the Star Wars universe. It did not take long after <i>Doom's </i>release that fans began to release custom <i>Doom </i>levels, or WADS, that were Star Wars themed. LucasArts took a look at the popularity of FPS games, the number of fan Star Wars WADS, and the new possibilities CD-ROMs offered and decided to jump into the market with their own FPS game.<br />
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Instead of using an existing game engine like the Doom Engine (Id tech 1) or the Build Engine, LucasArts decided to create their own engine. The result was the Jedi Engine, created by Ray Gresko. While similar to other contemporary game engines of the time, the Jedi Engine had a number of new and impressive features. Arguably the most important feature was the ability for level designers to now build rooms vertically on top of one another. Previous game engines were limited to levels being laid out in a single plane. The ceiling heights could be altered and different geometries could be added inside rooms, but separate rooms could not be built vertically. The Jedi Engine allowed this verticality and so opened the possibility for vertigo-inducing level geometry, something Dark Forces became well known for.<br />
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The Jedi Engine also allowed for running, jumping, crouching, and looking up and down; features that were all relatively untried in contemporary FPS games. This, combined with the aforementioned vertical level building, resulted in much more complicated levels than had previously been seen. The Jedi Engine also allowed a limited kind of scripting for in-game events and animations. This allowed the designers to include environmental features like running water, moving bridges, and complicated elevator systems in the missions. Additionally, it allowed for atmospheric effects like fog and also the inclusion of 3D models (although all enemy and items in the game are 2d sprites).<br />
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Speaking of missions, Dark Forces revolutionized FPS action gaming by having a focused story told through cutscenes between missions instead of just having the player jump from the end of one level to the beginning of the next. These cutscenes featured pretty great 3D rendered space sequences with a little bit less impressive 2D animated character sequences, all of which were fully voice acted.<br />
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The protagonist of the game, Kyle Katarn, is a mercenary that eventually became canon in the old Star Wars Universe (before Disney bought the Star Wars franchise). While there was a mention of a group called the "Katarn Commandos" in the Timothy Zahn book <i>Heir to the Empire, </i>Kyle Katarn has no relation to them. He is, in fact, named after the Katarn, a predator on the Wookie homeworld of Kashyyyk.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqCAED_jrbIaCUq8VCBuHP7vGn_UzP7b0YWl4mp37SLLIutNcZyzs2Z5vI_4faVHhQRakkjhPRjaBXYb_w_ArHouD78EG5t-DmuzbM0w0V89XPUABMmWlDVvCoYqYLhVVsJQF4p4ccOCHq/s1600/Katarn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqCAED_jrbIaCUq8VCBuHP7vGn_UzP7b0YWl4mp37SLLIutNcZyzs2Z5vI_4faVHhQRakkjhPRjaBXYb_w_ArHouD78EG5t-DmuzbM0w0V89XPUABMmWlDVvCoYqYLhVVsJQF4p4ccOCHq/s640/Katarn.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our dashing hero...the Katarn</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So with all that said about how great the Jedi Engine was, did LucasArts make a great game out of their engine and did the game review and sell well? I think they made a great game, you can read more about my plathrough below. The game received great reviews I think, I can't find or recall any scores specifically. And the game sold well enough to warrant a sequel that is itself fantastic. The Jedi Engine went on to be used in another LucasArts FPS game called <i>Outlaws, </i>but after that it was replaced by more modern and 3D-focused engines.<br />
<br />
So that's a quick summary of the development, let's fire up the game and try it out!<br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- The Game - </u></span></h2>
</div>
<div>
The game starts up just fine under the DOSBox config that comes pre-configured with the Steam version, so that is a relief. It opens with the standard LucasArts logo that we haven't seen a long time, unfortunately.</div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9HfLaPozSbTZIdIx99cGogVhNh_N7zRz3YAL4khIUUqrya08uX7Xb5BqBzoWuuweEze_YWyY5EsScWEGkUztL0KD21m5j6gguXJpH-w3Al2SJyZoPIgZfpTu0a2hBm7jWNODJPsLCRt0E/s1600/dark_000.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9HfLaPozSbTZIdIx99cGogVhNh_N7zRz3YAL4khIUUqrya08uX7Xb5BqBzoWuuweEze_YWyY5EsScWEGkUztL0KD21m5j6gguXJpH-w3Al2SJyZoPIgZfpTu0a2hBm7jWNODJPsLCRt0E/s640/dark_000.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This used to be a sure sign of a quality game</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Then there is the eponymous Star Wars opening and backstory crawl that sets the upcoming story:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu5Jfvuyvbov7aaV6OJr6Sni0iwkXeJFPuaJDQgosUhGzoQZY_11y4kGm5hsoSs4-bWs-7P21Z9dtOfvXtj_zAH4MzVA3i3cJzhvMcGgBs-qjTeMQtX3vL0e42k-SZzPoLsaMOFeHUpCVq/s1600/dark_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu5Jfvuyvbov7aaV6OJr6Sni0iwkXeJFPuaJDQgosUhGzoQZY_11y4kGm5hsoSs4-bWs-7P21Z9dtOfvXtj_zAH4MzVA3i3cJzhvMcGgBs-qjTeMQtX3vL0e42k-SZzPoLsaMOFeHUpCVq/s640/dark_001.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihkfbEmuZ-7bnn_JBvCBIv6ZkTkso2zcAixVmV0iYand6cxrLCq7bGLR_0IxoellJyxGh3gEQoTfxSGICepLqQ8kqRd7o4y0zeCWO2gehH6S_lysOKluvt9-uQ2J73mMU_xLZgwMmCWr0a/s1600/dark_002.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihkfbEmuZ-7bnn_JBvCBIv6ZkTkso2zcAixVmV0iYand6cxrLCq7bGLR_0IxoellJyxGh3gEQoTfxSGICepLqQ8kqRd7o4y0zeCWO2gehH6S_lysOKluvt9-uQ2J73mMU_xLZgwMmCWr0a/s640/dark_002.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitQd2AkulawGKoz0WGQOKUY1BrkwI8YEw0WNjaFeNBkSkgCydSIJ8nhUG52kchj_Ir25Ds-BRg-5lPs77DpBG-zyVdwYR1FcS_V3jH4Yc7JNyK3_5ospLnWr8JQE5gaR_f8dC9KK2g9C1_/s1600/dark_003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitQd2AkulawGKoz0WGQOKUY1BrkwI8YEw0WNjaFeNBkSkgCydSIJ8nhUG52kchj_Ir25Ds-BRg-5lPs77DpBG-zyVdwYR1FcS_V3jH4Yc7JNyK3_5ospLnWr8JQE5gaR_f8dC9KK2g9C1_/s640/dark_003.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS3xX5EQZNVTagfKp3B4q6-vsUWf9M7AZGvWYwHIvXSkt1a4oQq6en9esZwlXMZowWL0he7gE_6kK1qaRfmnE-nMpTO1Q3KaMaKvz18yHacS-sP1FnbpBBZNMX_yOJkHuQJFTDeKKzXgf0/s1600/dark_004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS3xX5EQZNVTagfKp3B4q6-vsUWf9M7AZGvWYwHIvXSkt1a4oQq6en9esZwlXMZowWL0he7gE_6kK1qaRfmnE-nMpTO1Q3KaMaKvz18yHacS-sP1FnbpBBZNMX_yOJkHuQJFTDeKKzXgf0/s640/dark_004.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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The music in this game is fantastic. According the manual, the music and orchestration is by Clint Bajakian, and he NAILED it. It is MIDI representations of various Star Wars themes with his own small flourishes, and it really sets a great Star Wars mood. It is also great MIDI music if you ever want to get into the mood of 90s gaming.<br />
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Instead of describing the story, I'll just post a copy of the backstory crawl here:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The New Order of the Empire stretches its evil clutches across the galaxy, consuming planets with devastating results. Through many struggles, the Rebel Alliance has learned of a new Imperial battle station, the Death Star, with enough power to destroy an entire planet.<br />
Unable to acquire the plans to the deadly space station, the Rebels have employed the skills of Kyle Katarn. Known to most as a mercenary for hire, Katarn is a rogue figure who has a partial alliance with the Rebels.<br />
Armed only with a blaster pistol and an intimate knowledge of Imperial methods, Kyle prepares to infiltrate the Imperial base where the plans are kept...</blockquote>
After the title screen above, I am dumped to the main menu, which doesn't have a lot of options. We can create a new player, delete a player, exit to DOS, or begin mission.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHT01HRLa2M1KipvWwUI9sjX-SSSp3gfPDyqIKl7o76486WmmD6ygfiY0vs0miULaMhaaZd7o1DPjf5ias8wg1wirZDq9FHNJwWxxlxaSoA6ZZDcayQzICAfrN-WNKAglTnHI_rffYw0p/s1600/dark_005.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHT01HRLa2M1KipvWwUI9sjX-SSSp3gfPDyqIKl7o76486WmmD6ygfiY0vs0miULaMhaaZd7o1DPjf5ias8wg1wirZDq9FHNJwWxxlxaSoA6ZZDcayQzICAfrN-WNKAglTnHI_rffYw0p/s640/dark_005.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Selecting Begin Mission brings me to the mission briefing by Rebel Alliance leader Mon Mothma herself. I think the Alliance is maybe putting too much trust in a mercenary. Don't they have anyone of their own that can do these kinds of things? I understand that Kyle brings inside knowledge of Imperial methods, but it still seems risky to put such a critical mission in the hands of a mercenary. Also, why the hell did they give me nothing but a blaster? Sending me in unprepared is an understatement. I'm assaulting a pan-galactic empire's highly defended base with a pistol as my only weapon. Thanks for the faith you place in me, Mon Mothma. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2JvtGRIjytkV7GP7Eo_4xtIy6vQa4knFmA_aYpM2f13-61kVzYl1vOXXbHMi3qn_mvGfcWH4XJ6i1jg-kFZrx5jTFaH1-_YrMLwUFr2jM3TCOuXUp4dVL02mSbVorqdcLGx18AxhczygU/s1600/dark_007.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2JvtGRIjytkV7GP7Eo_4xtIy6vQa4knFmA_aYpM2f13-61kVzYl1vOXXbHMi3qn_mvGfcWH4XJ6i1jg-kFZrx5jTFaH1-_YrMLwUFr2jM3TCOuXUp4dVL02mSbVorqdcLGx18AxhczygU/s640/dark_007.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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I'm going to play on Medium difficulty. I need to get the Death Star plans and return to my ship, the <i>Moldy Crow. </i>Let's start the mission!<br />
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Mission 1 - Secret Base<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE_KDGJOGnjh1yU4VTjy6x0CUhE32MEmq9V5lCivz9ZxifLAq_nRISn3qjzE2m2AUSTHpMm58R_xfz3tVszRFafpdLu_0xHbKvtoWdNL2M2xNvJkX9aZl125jdJZ2cqOWRYkbe7r57TuuM/s1600/dark_008.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE_KDGJOGnjh1yU4VTjy6x0CUhE32MEmq9V5lCivz9ZxifLAq_nRISn3qjzE2m2AUSTHpMm58R_xfz3tVszRFafpdLu_0xHbKvtoWdNL2M2xNvJkX9aZl125jdJZ2cqOWRYkbe7r57TuuM/s640/dark_008.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Opening location</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The mission opens with me taking an elevator down to this corridor.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpu1D4DoqN2DTuM-L4JmKT4PWx4-1mef8T4MgdmH8vTPyHvRxq5ztbHgsAKL3z9P9-AFMFaNpFEPtRzQUMJ17BDO6WPRz62e86B_rFR-KU098ot_HV-3tIxHEZEqumowaUWMBu-coprcZp/s1600/dark_010.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpu1D4DoqN2DTuM-L4JmKT4PWx4-1mef8T4MgdmH8vTPyHvRxq5ztbHgsAKL3z9P9-AFMFaNpFEPtRzQUMJ17BDO6WPRz62e86B_rFR-KU098ot_HV-3tIxHEZEqumowaUWMBu-coprcZp/s640/dark_010.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First enemy - an Imperial Officer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My first enemy is an imperial officer, the guys dressed in brown in the movies. These guys actually are weaker than regular storm troopers and can be taken down with a single direct hit from my pistol. Around the corner from this guy are some storm troopers and Imperial Commandos, which also gives me the Imperial Blaster rifle. The rifle is more powerful and shoots faster than the pistol, but it has worse accuracy.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjej7g0ddl5buovI7WR1C14dHSezWuB_IbIJBTKIvQHdICNa2DTQN6kByVIF23NGdfzVDSV0_rSX3p2B-tRgQyGUgiGZsKfdfonNEjiP_45lZyMF5Q9s_iGC_T2WtvBDN5-H9jwWzlr8ULu/s1600/dark_011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjej7g0ddl5buovI7WR1C14dHSezWuB_IbIJBTKIvQHdICNa2DTQN6kByVIF23NGdfzVDSV0_rSX3p2B-tRgQyGUgiGZsKfdfonNEjiP_45lZyMF5Q9s_iGC_T2WtvBDN5-H9jwWzlr8ULu/s640/dark_011.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I always liked this rotating Death Star model</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I make my way through the base pretty quickly since its the first level and not very long. After grabbing the Death Star plans and making my way to the roof, I'm giving the message to end the mission:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYbp3QCDt8k03BSFjXSJX1bgvCQUeu40fFaPBFTpU6iJIzSsV_cXiedWFScYF-QA194BDCi-xpjApSD0qBdCQn06xssYpiMluuqjTo2CpozsTAp45E5MSEJwVqqsIit0d95-ytbr1ttjL5/s1600/dark_014.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYbp3QCDt8k03BSFjXSJX1bgvCQUeu40fFaPBFTpU6iJIzSsV_cXiedWFScYF-QA194BDCi-xpjApSD0qBdCQn06xssYpiMluuqjTo2CpozsTAp45E5MSEJwVqqsIit0d95-ytbr1ttjL5/s640/dark_014.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifKvNJpDk7KgbHpeRBkYpUTiv0jRAclf_K8W7c_oVGF35OcThks8_Ns9Z3J332T-gnafz6Yl9IfGaux5_1vdyFdY5YfPE4_hisDD_PN0F7to-yxENHqiNieXwKlE8ItZQKj8OQ_NiBF5jQ/s1600/dark_015.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifKvNJpDk7KgbHpeRBkYpUTiv0jRAclf_K8W7c_oVGF35OcThks8_Ns9Z3J332T-gnafz6Yl9IfGaux5_1vdyFdY5YfPE4_hisDD_PN0F7to-yxENHqiNieXwKlE8ItZQKj8OQ_NiBF5jQ/s640/dark_015.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Escaping in the Moldy Crow</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After ending the mission, a cutscene starts with the <i>Moldy Crow </i>flying off after a mission well done. The cutscene then cues up ominous empire music and shows some nasty looking Star Destroyers, including the <i>Executor, </i>Darth Vader's Super Star Destroy flagship, and the <i>Arc Hammer, </i>a factory ship used to produce a new Imperial super weapon: the Dark Troopers!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihW5HUE60ZS0xUHUM24eOx7LSupH4NXUqf6O1F6klboNsJXS5XHibg0Va7d0VWc2c_7pDY40k55Ek_TOEtuJExkpHGCEX7QMrefUYAIoa_dDi0ZbIe2qxaeTb5j7s01tbqr6uXiLcRVSWa/s1600/dark_016.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihW5HUE60ZS0xUHUM24eOx7LSupH4NXUqf6O1F6klboNsJXS5XHibg0Va7d0VWc2c_7pDY40k55Ek_TOEtuJExkpHGCEX7QMrefUYAIoa_dDi0ZbIe2qxaeTb5j7s01tbqr6uXiLcRVSWa/s640/dark_016.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Executor and Arc Hammer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The scene then cuts to Darth Vader addressing a General Rom Mohc, and telling him the Emperor is expecting results from the latest test of Mohc's pet project: the Dark Trooper project. Mohc assures Vader that everything will go as planned (that's what evil bad guys always say).<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLDLRRIRDS8C2iMrV5Cy1fJBuimu1AAazDASULjwbTDqLOd_j1iZWu9i21LFSEyWKrF6-kl9aOf1dIpR_un4UWhNotoAgtvHcgIl5xThTvvCt1dVq8cvLps2a1oZU7JSmc3KXxkj9vPyEY/s1600/dark_018.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLDLRRIRDS8C2iMrV5Cy1fJBuimu1AAazDASULjwbTDqLOd_j1iZWu9i21LFSEyWKrF6-kl9aOf1dIpR_un4UWhNotoAgtvHcgIl5xThTvvCt1dVq8cvLps2a1oZU7JSmc3KXxkj9vPyEY/s640/dark_018.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mohc and Vader</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Dark Troopers are then loaded into drop pods and launched into a planet below:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsu5jBg9U5pB9K2MejLN6ZyCsgsvPs-iLL9-PmhwgmG5qoCJsspqC68Y4QcZJGtIFMD6uhcKp1Pc2yZrOQ23RvHm8RIJ8BAZj1cl5karr9tU_AMMi3n3AqqRMDfSHI9wopjAv8v7Kv-TaJ/s1600/dark_020.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsu5jBg9U5pB9K2MejLN6ZyCsgsvPs-iLL9-PmhwgmG5qoCJsspqC68Y4QcZJGtIFMD6uhcKp1Pc2yZrOQ23RvHm8RIJ8BAZj1cl5karr9tU_AMMi3n3AqqRMDfSHI9wopjAv8v7Kv-TaJ/s640/dark_020.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dark troopers being loaded into drop pods</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I always though the animation of the Dark Troopers was super impressive for its time. CGI was relatively new in computer games, and to see something that could rival movies was pretty impressive.<br />
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The music then turns upbeat and we are given in impressive scene of a Rebel Alliance flotilla passing by. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_WUbQH5hmCAhkl-SUeLHvEYFdTF8R72P6pYxXfTjo4Vpmg6d_Q611pyxZrQJBoUQUSXzadPKPoJ5XaOFEnzphcZ35umo1aKvCTfnxxwlckSMX7k0hcnvcRJk5JaHKvyIkYy8GJ3z8-SKa/s1600/dark_021.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_WUbQH5hmCAhkl-SUeLHvEYFdTF8R72P6pYxXfTjo4Vpmg6d_Q611pyxZrQJBoUQUSXzadPKPoJ5XaOFEnzphcZ35umo1aKvCTfnxxwlckSMX7k0hcnvcRJk5JaHKvyIkYy8GJ3z8-SKa/s640/dark_021.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rebel Alliance fleet</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I looked up the ship types out of curiosity, and the lead ship we are shown here is a Nebulon-B frigate, originally manufactured for the Imperial Navy but then captured (I assume) and used by the Rebel Alliance. Next to the Nebulor-B frigate, there is a CR90 corvette like the one used by Leia in <i>A New Hope</i> and what looks like some blockade runners from <i>Empire Strikes Back. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
We then get a scene of Mon Mothma telling Kyle the Empire attacked the Rebel Tak Base with a new super weapon (Dark Troopers), and she wants Kyle to go investigate these new weapons and destroy them. Jeez, that's a tall order. Don't worry, the Rebellion will equip me with all of the most advanced weaponry, a few regiments of elite Rebel soldiers, and task force fleet under my command. Just kidding! It will be me and my pistol and that rifle I picked up in the previous mission.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBoSsT2sbytTg7-jHBYlCqINH9D4TMbCuRoX6ZvWI-h5oRxXTNC6Ex9qbGALdTIpzTPJ6ZMh5AthRrcdJ9pQ5tvLL9Id7qQ-ADFgNfS044_GOxAeMnPsuL2q9duSaOp40Kcmi_S5aAMKKo/s1600/dark_023.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBoSsT2sbytTg7-jHBYlCqINH9D4TMbCuRoX6ZvWI-h5oRxXTNC6Ex9qbGALdTIpzTPJ6ZMh5AthRrcdJ9pQ5tvLL9Id7qQ-ADFgNfS044_GOxAeMnPsuL2q9duSaOp40Kcmi_S5aAMKKo/s640/dark_023.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My mission briefing from Mon Mothma</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyNZ0aMiZyfPTKg8PofgCC203opSH6AQsvUJ5uI2LzXZ022JFou_C2p2hAoE7fDg8iPaty2Nfkn2SvTJ-EIuv2yoJcokAGll74uHg0rRc762kMFsdZtINBUoOtHfgtg3h_t-U0XhCucRPv/s640/dark_024.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The hero - Kyle Katarn (not to be confused with the quadriped jungle predator of the same name)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyNZ0aMiZyfPTKg8PofgCC203opSH6AQsvUJ5uI2LzXZ022JFou_C2p2hAoE7fDg8iPaty2Nfkn2SvTJ-EIuv2yoJcokAGll74uHg0rRc762kMFsdZtINBUoOtHfgtg3h_t-U0XhCucRPv/s1600/dark_024.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br /></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyNZ0aMiZyfPTKg8PofgCC203opSH6AQsvUJ5uI2LzXZ022JFou_C2p2hAoE7fDg8iPaty2Nfkn2SvTJ-EIuv2yoJcokAGll74uHg0rRc762kMFsdZtINBUoOtHfgtg3h_t-U0XhCucRPv/s1600/dark_024.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
Mission 2 - Tak Base<br />
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Here's my first look at Jan Ors:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdm3EMPWajdby3-BbEL18kUFhUD4SPP8etNIJg3Ts70vk_7tWRqGoJ9xwZ8MceG_GkRco8to21zUkHFcK8IOIFhgI7GZyaf2oqzPjywUJRAc9Uqz4zmfYtB2u1cg-0tZc9cF2-d877Suo7/s1600/dark_000.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdm3EMPWajdby3-BbEL18kUFhUD4SPP8etNIJg3Ts70vk_7tWRqGoJ9xwZ8MceG_GkRco8to21zUkHFcK8IOIFhgI7GZyaf2oqzPjywUJRAc9Uqz4zmfYtB2u1cg-0tZc9cF2-d877Suo7/s640/dark_000.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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She looks different than in Jedi Knight and its sequels. Kyle also goes through quite a change to his final form in <i>Jedi Outcast (2002). </i><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3CSCv-hQvbjLcoslQJ2tgIuQOrFDWH_2qKmyliYxe8ObSX1qswX1Dpfd24x4Tzxhe-oaKwpu-S4cGqIk8XY5stoDIP1nFpVZOP40pDI85kLB6w-mxjm5DwiPCZziUMCOmGlpNWUxnsjq0/s1600/Kylejan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3CSCv-hQvbjLcoslQJ2tgIuQOrFDWH_2qKmyliYxe8ObSX1qswX1Dpfd24x4Tzxhe-oaKwpu-S4cGqIk8XY5stoDIP1nFpVZOP40pDI85kLB6w-mxjm5DwiPCZziUMCOmGlpNWUxnsjq0/s640/Kylejan.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jan and Kyle in <i>Jedi Knight (1997)</i></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPH_VqFLcadDXcBGG-93E62VAOH_YD0leHSEcEfRbLjTzCb8dkxB7BqcRPdkGELPDnEjNIHPiDXUpny6qwXHAdM50IbW4lCTS-SNIBKJUr3IeLR7tiuQYvHyIduEbsF4uEWX9Lv2ia4KFh/s1600/Jan-Ors-700x382.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="382" data-original-width="700" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPH_VqFLcadDXcBGG-93E62VAOH_YD0leHSEcEfRbLjTzCb8dkxB7BqcRPdkGELPDnEjNIHPiDXUpny6qwXHAdM50IbW4lCTS-SNIBKJUr3IeLR7tiuQYvHyIduEbsF4uEWX9Lv2ia4KFh/s640/Jan-Ors-700x382.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jan and Kyle in <i>Jedi Outcast (2002)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
My mission is restart a hydro electric generator and find a clue about the Dark Troopers. I will be entering a base that has already been destroyed, so this level should showcase the difference in textures LucasArts was able to use for all their different levels.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwMVTXavQCFmzU2kRIFoDby6DG6uL0DmywtoFBWa-RAv5T34VwD-TUmR0moqRacZUwXaoFzlTRsNj7cZN7lJSfHLsunwXdkL8NBNrsGNHhSJPhSRfvv6YhFOf431p4hnDp3ZGo_fGF5JqI/s1600/dark_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwMVTXavQCFmzU2kRIFoDby6DG6uL0DmywtoFBWa-RAv5T34VwD-TUmR0moqRacZUwXaoFzlTRsNj7cZN7lJSfHLsunwXdkL8NBNrsGNHhSJPhSRfvv6YhFOf431p4hnDp3ZGo_fGF5JqI/s640/dark_001.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting area</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Immediately I notice this is a dark level since it is night time and there is no power at the base (remember, I need to restart the generator). I forgot the mention the HUD, so I'll do that here. On the left hand side are three numbers. The green number is my shields, the red number is my health, and the "3" number is my lives remaining. Yep, Dark Forces has lives AND no in-mission saving or checkpoints. This was a mistake by LucasArts that I'll talk about later I'm sure. On the right side is my ammo count, represented by the number (281), and my battery level, represented by the 5 green lights in an arc. Battery is used for the headlamp.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDr7l5Il596zcRd8CWZcZJk0NB4CtCkeHjFBrq9XO29rOk4lxIQH-C1O6yllO9P4EsQVA6X1B1OPJl4oLDnvcZ2xlK5VSKzLuMXY5aikt4U_sOc3ZL7_zNGFwKdvHi9BxCslNfaVAEZl1o/s1600/dark_004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDr7l5Il596zcRd8CWZcZJk0NB4CtCkeHjFBrq9XO29rOk4lxIQH-C1O6yllO9P4EsQVA6X1B1OPJl4oLDnvcZ2xlK5VSKzLuMXY5aikt4U_sOc3ZL7_zNGFwKdvHi9BxCslNfaVAEZl1o/s640/dark_004.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bridge to the base</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
My health and shields were depleted in the above screenshot because I was trying to get some good screenshots while also being shot at. Or I'm just terrible at old FPS games. This is the entrance to the base, it was guarded by a bunch of storm troopers, imperial commandos, and imperial officers, who I dispatched with my pistol and rifle. </div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifnoi6j9h8Upw42CxMd7buBWpDLW7y1p-GM6DmGkh08nSrWLdfc5J0d5DOSScR-1JUJfV1wofemrzPeyiytM5zsk1eQG6KnA3mgj28oOKu0lxHjGOwsbrmJVTRe0CKTGRzt0rco9Xs0rni/s1600/dark_009.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifnoi6j9h8Upw42CxMd7buBWpDLW7y1p-GM6DmGkh08nSrWLdfc5J0d5DOSScR-1JUJfV1wofemrzPeyiytM5zsk1eQG6KnA3mgj28oOKu0lxHjGOwsbrmJVTRe0CKTGRzt0rco9Xs0rni/s640/dark_009.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The generator</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
I've activated the generator, and this provides a good example of the moving, 3D geometry made possible by the Jedi Engine. I should have taken a GIF of this scene, but in the screenshot you can kind of make out the blades of the turbine extending out from the white building in front of me. Those blades are going around in circles to create power. Kind of neat, now the level is lit up properly so I can go take a look at the all the darkened areas I passed on my way here.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwpLfOwb82NR4-ki5Cjs-kvkocDhKffSwiem3aCkcKKq2-r5Y0J-lzEtoocTte3fk4a-svfzzd2eZMmxgje_OyY8BPasqTBmsO_rzTmgm2GBcWuQB2iqBYObpyYz5CGLItrd6yOk4JgGxF/s1600/dark_010.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwpLfOwb82NR4-ki5Cjs-kvkocDhKffSwiem3aCkcKKq2-r5Y0J-lzEtoocTte3fk4a-svfzzd2eZMmxgje_OyY8BPasqTBmsO_rzTmgm2GBcWuQB2iqBYObpyYz5CGLItrd6yOk4JgGxF/s640/dark_010.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dear God!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Corpses! Now that the lights are on I can see too much! Turn them off again! This is morbid but its nothing worse than we've already seen in <i>Doom</i> or many other FPS games that had already come out by this time. These are supposed to be the former residents of the base that were killed by the Dark Trooper attack. Poor people obviously didn't stand a chance. Luckily I've got my pistol and rifle to take on the pan-galactic empire and its legions of super soldiers!</div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe2w62yG-JrVvb4ndzDNEgiM3KGBXcNiLEvrrLJ_oAYrrnc08cYeS5B8zymHJO3YSFq_bRAdOkGLqR7voU7tax_2C3TgzemH6Hu1vs-C3wFLM8gs3yPUXxrqpEmE1ZaP9_j31nfR62nVLu/s1600/dark_011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe2w62yG-JrVvb4ndzDNEgiM3KGBXcNiLEvrrLJ_oAYrrnc08cYeS5B8zymHJO3YSFq_bRAdOkGLqR7voU7tax_2C3TgzemH6Hu1vs-C3wFLM8gs3yPUXxrqpEmE1ZaP9_j31nfR62nVLu/s640/dark_011.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just a nice shot of an imperial commando</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Something that I think <i>Dark Forces </i>does really well is juxtapose different environments on eachother in the same level. For example, in this level I go from the grimy, destroyed base exterior to the interior which looks suitably Star Wars-y and futuristic and clean:</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Y0MmdBHPQ4lWAc5klf4w6SCv0_SRsfqye2GkeHvvdIwE4iwJ0AU4EcsecZKifYvt4RdHkWEaqOA_v6Wp-LOyUNniivBLVZs4gc56WKY3RFhiiu2qsmtsI7GXnnrwFcjXYq6S830nYkvW/s1600/dark_012.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Y0MmdBHPQ4lWAc5klf4w6SCv0_SRsfqye2GkeHvvdIwE4iwJ0AU4EcsecZKifYvt4RdHkWEaqOA_v6Wp-LOyUNniivBLVZs4gc56WKY3RFhiiu2qsmtsI7GXnnrwFcjXYq6S830nYkvW/s640/dark_012.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div>
The game does this a few times, particularly when entering into Imperial buildings or bases. </div>
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<div>
I had a nice video of me clearing out the room above, but the resulting GIF was filled with green color noise that made it look terrible. So instead, in your head try to imagine me doing it. Sorry.</div>
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<div>
I found a weapon in one of these rooms and made it back to the landing pad from the start of the mission and got the end mission message. Mission successful. After pressing "ESC", the game jumps right into the next mission briefing without any cutscene. </div>
<div>
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<div>
Mission 3 - Anoat City<br />
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My goal is to find and capture a technician who supposedly worked on the Dark Trooper project. He apparently lives in the sewers on this planet...</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7a6FAo8rKECKhM1h5LhvQP2lwlPD1in_LYD80c9y4xLrPR9aRXdwGIszCi5SZBlJNLq0kEK737TnbNFDUuT7EECispOaZBx6CGTFWi0bC-HUMzD6Pc_mxIGHnV1znlC_w2srrNVYGKjga/s1600/dark_016.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7a6FAo8rKECKhM1h5LhvQP2lwlPD1in_LYD80c9y4xLrPR9aRXdwGIszCi5SZBlJNLq0kEK737TnbNFDUuT7EECispOaZBx6CGTFWi0bC-HUMzD6Pc_mxIGHnV1znlC_w2srrNVYGKjga/s640/dark_016.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mission 3 starting area</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Ugh...I'm not looking forward to this mission. The only thing I remember about this mission is that it involves a puzzle of raising and lowering sewage water levels and redirecting the sewage or something along those lines. I just remember it being confusing. </div>
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<div>
I've run into my first new enemy - the imperial probe droid. These guys can be nasty in that they do a fair bit of damage, take 3 or 4 shots to kill, and they explode after falling to the earth. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVJsJMrsrWVvaH8Sa4pMjZAZn3hZTR6aqvrt8ASh78NfZDb9zWv2j0stEzyrzmYTZKHihTj2G6PYnKLZvIwo9Lr4V1DxgBm_TO4cj0IEMn3-ztUy2hMWjLmbcbUlkQgEUw_Pm72r_1URf6/s1600/dfgif2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="635" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVJsJMrsrWVvaH8Sa4pMjZAZn3hZTR6aqvrt8ASh78NfZDb9zWv2j0stEzyrzmYTZKHihTj2G6PYnKLZvIwo9Lr4V1DxgBm_TO4cj0IEMn3-ztUy2hMWjLmbcbUlkQgEUw_Pm72r_1URf6/s640/dfgif2.gif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Destroying an imperial probe droid</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
The mission is set up like wheel with a central hub that has a spokes going out from it, except the spokes all lead back to the hub. The hub has a switch that lets me open only one spoke at a time, so I need to go down each spoke one a a time. The goal is raise the sewage level in a room in the 2nd spoke to a point where I can get through a door is up by the ceiling. The only way to raise that sewage level is by hitting switches in all the other spokes? Make sense? Not really, but that's Star Wars for you.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTuVNqAwvSc-q35U09Sle3VW9PYDOLySVfvGB0p-T4VNqVvO4HM_jYbyHTEDu7a191BLM1M8Zf9iaBuBW57zNKsfGkn7zWIVu3XqxEPMwBddXEJpxx-XD2B3Rs8i0kx2jIANzJdkKMlSCx/s1600/dark_002.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTuVNqAwvSc-q35U09Sle3VW9PYDOLySVfvGB0p-T4VNqVvO4HM_jYbyHTEDu7a191BLM1M8Zf9iaBuBW57zNKsfGkn7zWIVu3XqxEPMwBddXEJpxx-XD2B3Rs8i0kx2jIANzJdkKMlSCx/s640/dark_002.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Switch that opens up the spokes, right now the 2nd spoke is open</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Each spoke is a passageway filled with flowing sewage and some adjacent connecting rooms. I have to go down all of them, so I might as well get going down the first spoke.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBcOe0oWRN7e9gDtXtJighoZUIU1udey40uzADxiCm8Jbf89IviXeki4ysUyYH_b1pKwtkf3WZmMrk2foSKRlA1Zj0Y0kfy7WRBdYu-iwk9wCft-YlE4HJY2psdqRA79rtR3fGwyg8WjwG/s1600/dark_004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBcOe0oWRN7e9gDtXtJighoZUIU1udey40uzADxiCm8Jbf89IviXeki4ysUyYH_b1pKwtkf3WZmMrk2foSKRlA1Zj0Y0kfy7WRBdYu-iwk9wCft-YlE4HJY2psdqRA79rtR3fGwyg8WjwG/s640/dark_004.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nice! Thermal detonators</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the first spoke I pick up thermal detonators, so that is a nice bonus. Although they don't do as much damage as I would expect, given the fear everyone has at Jabba's palace in <i>Return of the Jedi </i>when Leia pulls one out, but they do a good enough job. After running through this spoke, it dumps me back out at the beginning.<br />
<br />
Next up is the second spoke, this is the one that has my final goal.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiimLTPo8yr3X7gPv_WY_vsfVg0aidJw05aEkGhyphenhyphenMcXa3oEEckxejuLXMejIfJX5sr6e8C-Ov3j2YWxu7X2K-fztOMXQs_EYAH6nEfZa3Hv4Cz0uT9WMFzTrwqcamrYtEgXxTdpSZ7mslw5/s1600/dark_011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiimLTPo8yr3X7gPv_WY_vsfVg0aidJw05aEkGhyphenhyphenMcXa3oEEckxejuLXMejIfJX5sr6e8C-Ov3j2YWxu7X2K-fztOMXQs_EYAH6nEfZa3Hv4Cz0uT9WMFzTrwqcamrYtEgXxTdpSZ7mslw5/s640/dark_011.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I need to get up into that doorway in the upper left</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After making my way through this spoke, I end up in a faster flowing sewage pipe that loops around to dump me out back at the hub room. This is a good time to show the automap, which is actually pretty nice. It's a standard map like most other games, it does the job. I can keep the map open as I play, so that is handy.</div>
<div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ1oyqi5KzuNGQR2rGYn3dzSZaJquE64xvEmQkI_Lww0aHXBxJmFKPam3sJ2a5GqPJEcXP1SGvKxR0EmNnnDeTznWYi6ypd1HJMpSzMbu5jvQYFXC7Ub63DdlPKCWRnYDv36SL5mCIgCDI/s1600/dark_014.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ1oyqi5KzuNGQR2rGYn3dzSZaJquE64xvEmQkI_Lww0aHXBxJmFKPam3sJ2a5GqPJEcXP1SGvKxR0EmNnnDeTznWYi6ypd1HJMpSzMbu5jvQYFXC7Ub63DdlPKCWRnYDv36SL5mCIgCDI/s640/dark_014.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhybUGS0ouhIa3ykK8Z6GUnloKnvtAmG-RM1flTHqmsymco4xnCbdmwTmOn7k-1u4xUHwgBwv_qR8ahqU1An5MB7ClQ-CbODLklja5ZoF76gbBYFm7MaNpGFlaOgFftIud5VVsEPvzNqeg0/s1600/dark_015.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhybUGS0ouhIa3ykK8Z6GUnloKnvtAmG-RM1flTHqmsymco4xnCbdmwTmOn7k-1u4xUHwgBwv_qR8ahqU1An5MB7ClQ-CbODLklja5ZoF76gbBYFm7MaNpGFlaOgFftIud5VVsEPvzNqeg0/s640/dark_015.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back at the hub</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'm going to head into the next spoke and try to get through this section ASAP since there is a certain enemy in this level that can do some significant damage. Melee damage in this game bypasses shields and so directly takes away health, and health pickups are much more rare than shield pickups. The melee enemies I'm taking out on this level are the "swamp monsters". They creep around in the sewage and pop up to attack.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOTaQI62iRlk2zBE0BaWYOLP5B5dws2SbM-oRU-zowMg1EgYJ6mLNLxjv3VGlyp2HXeS6c_VyFKOEkaYIovxo3gIsY0uYzU95bT0uQSmVpdnH33rx9DBQAZaj7VnKuiVXdQki8Kg9nYD6I/s1600/dark_026.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOTaQI62iRlk2zBE0BaWYOLP5B5dws2SbM-oRU-zowMg1EgYJ6mLNLxjv3VGlyp2HXeS6c_VyFKOEkaYIovxo3gIsY0uYzU95bT0uQSmVpdnH33rx9DBQAZaj7VnKuiVXdQki8Kg9nYD6I/s640/dark_026.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swamp monster</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
While trying to get a nice shot of these guys, I let one get too close and this happened:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjANgwiqTYlkEnP6HNAPQsAWsvSu_JtniVWcv8EWRQVi1AkPDNmDxZsrrvcLchY7hLzDzhCARDGR1p_vnfeLQjmHTxuKQWC5wnLqmSHa5DoqhWhDhMN9O_QTzExRRjX7CjONaHwXBttiLCJ/s1600/dark_022.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjANgwiqTYlkEnP6HNAPQsAWsvSu_JtniVWcv8EWRQVi1AkPDNmDxZsrrvcLchY7hLzDzhCARDGR1p_vnfeLQjmHTxuKQWC5wnLqmSHa5DoqhWhDhMN9O_QTzExRRjX7CjONaHwXBttiLCJ/s640/dark_022.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-g8EBwbTMtrbY-Lotzxosg7mHBReyamgdC8-rUwlJzFObkaGbKHV4rqFJFZ7ldYFurXowiWf-RRudHbdewpytZ3Ck8lMXwrQyZ-0wmpJCzi7MU1qnqrpWCTMwBU_KnFHbjvvSnLpcSWha/s1600/dark_023.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-g8EBwbTMtrbY-Lotzxosg7mHBReyamgdC8-rUwlJzFObkaGbKHV4rqFJFZ7ldYFurXowiWf-RRudHbdewpytZ3Ck8lMXwrQyZ-0wmpJCzi7MU1qnqrpWCTMwBU_KnFHbjvvSnLpcSWha/s640/dark_023.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Notice my health</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
So that is one life down and 2 to go. After more switch hitting and sewage raising, I'm able to access that doorway and move into the next part of the level. Here I run into another new enemy - the three eyed things again from Jabba's palace. These guys mostly either throw thermal detonators or punch.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoqr-636pHaby6C0KkW-tyxhhJKuoMT2qQr-xTX8dWw1CsOkgeQ3Cua2vSH54KH7la8Rhh6Coi_oLUV8D1nTvmWiF38tmbeLSpGcLiWL2-el5C8LXLW3Bx5lRTpkvdkcvPTdy1gMmmtLbR/s1600/dark_031.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoqr-636pHaby6C0KkW-tyxhhJKuoMT2qQr-xTX8dWw1CsOkgeQ3Cua2vSH54KH7la8Rhh6Coi_oLUV8D1nTvmWiF38tmbeLSpGcLiWL2-el5C8LXLW3Bx5lRTpkvdkcvPTdy1gMmmtLbR/s640/dark_031.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div>
He is kind of tough to see in the screenshot above. There is also a thermal detonator flying towards me in this shot as well. Moving on I run into a few more of these guys and I'm starting to run low on ammo for my pistol and rifle. I had to resort to using thermal detonators to kill the last few droids and enemies before getting to my target.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgafnj4x0dfUfwpCXrNjzEshkvWMVOtllUokEfZAkv7hSl1cYiVy4Am2vXQoHp1wvxAaRPb-Uz-BxGS39ODA7QsMX4qs-VN0Um9-K-w6kGoPYGqS8GhxgsumFFPbhAbWqTPu-0sgr9SBdyr/s1600/dark_036.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgafnj4x0dfUfwpCXrNjzEshkvWMVOtllUokEfZAkv7hSl1cYiVy4Am2vXQoHp1wvxAaRPb-Uz-BxGS39ODA7QsMX4qs-VN0Um9-K-w6kGoPYGqS8GhxgsumFFPbhAbWqTPu-0sgr9SBdyr/s640/dark_036.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why do you live in the sewer sir?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Simply walking up to this guy ends the mission, I don't need to run back to my landing area or anything, which I am thankful for. I'm a little worried about my ammo situation, note the "000" on my ammunition counter. All I have are 24 thermal detonators and my fists. I won't complain about the Rebel Alliance not giving me proper support again, but if they send me to the next mission without ANY ammo, I will be a little irritated.<br />
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Pressing ESC cuts right to the next mission briefing with Jan, so no cutscene.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUPwEtuOxtCk34JZdO05UCD8Os57NNTZ33gtEuQC5AM-IjQIc3EM82jx21Ep5MOIPN1F-UjOLGTPqBeZ-HM7596t5DOE9B2sao_S_iRAyGQtHJg2CBq7WSJabn76cK0ltp2Oedc7KxJd-B/s1600/dark_037.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUPwEtuOxtCk34JZdO05UCD8Os57NNTZ33gtEuQC5AM-IjQIc3EM82jx21Ep5MOIPN1F-UjOLGTPqBeZ-HM7596t5DOE9B2sao_S_iRAyGQtHJg2CBq7WSJabn76cK0ltp2Oedc7KxJd-B/s640/dark_037.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div>
Mission 4 - Research facility<br />
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I need to infiltrate an imperial base, find some metal samples, and return to the landing area. Let's see about my ammo situation.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZUrZEWrxuLKDrDsWjqlateTKn3M1Vz_pUIPC-bVoYHyY9K6n_ZSLqCFLoN0fnGM9DuWFUd7Duh5IoqaoYQNP8r9KJ2ATg4N1V6yd7FRZPmx5VLeXBA9pmLYm6xEPZ-ZnVw0b4_QtEjdus/s1600/dark_038.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZUrZEWrxuLKDrDsWjqlateTKn3M1Vz_pUIPC-bVoYHyY9K6n_ZSLqCFLoN0fnGM9DuWFUd7Duh5IoqaoYQNP8r9KJ2ATg4N1V6yd7FRZPmx5VLeXBA9pmLYm6xEPZ-ZnVw0b4_QtEjdus/s640/dark_038.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh come on!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Looks like its just me, my fists, and some thermal detonators to take on this imperial base! I'm starting in a canyon area and there is a nice sound effect of blowing wind to make me feel like I'm high up on a mountain. I like it. This also gives a good demonstration of the Jedi Engines good use of cliffs and high up level geometry.<br />
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OK, so most pressing concern right now is to find some ammunition. Looks like I'm going to have to use my fists for a few enemies until I can get some ammo. If I recall, this mission is all imperial troops so at least I know what to expect.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOpLhyo_3g22GpOD0-VJRWHZJnAmSyuwPcYW0RG8lxGtH-s2U-lMd_m5MGU4jiLDT7ipjNkZ9FLtTH_NvnFO4-ySYosxQ5gXmyjvigaIZHh4vM7nmY7XjD3Y1QKpAIBOUyGCZRwK7xruYd/s1600/dark_005.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOpLhyo_3g22GpOD0-VJRWHZJnAmSyuwPcYW0RG8lxGtH-s2U-lMd_m5MGU4jiLDT7ipjNkZ9FLtTH_NvnFO4-ySYosxQ5gXmyjvigaIZHh4vM7nmY7XjD3Y1QKpAIBOUyGCZRwK7xruYd/s640/dark_005.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kyle's a lefty</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I punched out a few officers and stormtroopers and took their ammunition, so now I'm back in the game.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjioD4IQVaTy8KiolhkNKomdhYlBCQ_VU67dA1Na2u7IPRdB2mOaCEvKzbtB4MNzGYTsyGl7vHJw0V971z0QpK1LLMrt2JGBGj2NVGPLXuZRRokrRCtlnrDptlRMZ5oTxQGiMySDOilqdRY/s1600/dark_009.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjioD4IQVaTy8KiolhkNKomdhYlBCQ_VU67dA1Na2u7IPRdB2mOaCEvKzbtB4MNzGYTsyGl7vHJw0V971z0QpK1LLMrt2JGBGj2NVGPLXuZRRokrRCtlnrDptlRMZ5oTxQGiMySDOilqdRY/s640/dark_009.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The aftermath of my punching </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I am making my way through this level very carefully because it is easy to fall off these edges and instantly die. <i>Dark Forces </i>does not have mouse free-look, so that makes things more difficult. I'm using the PAGEUP and PAGEDOWN buttons to look up and down, which is not convenient at all. But as long as I make jumps across chasms carefully, I seem to be doing OK. I haven't fallen and died yet.<br />
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I keep running into training droids, like the one Luke duels in <i>A New Hope. </i>They don't do a lot of damage but they are really difficult to hit and they tend to wear down my shields.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVpdVbZ947H9ETUwAmyBAJl6uyEYDqM2Tli9VWhnZNOTSWuozOO6yZDkTYlg3IZzBiRsEnhgcV0x5DC13IzFswx72NQe22yofiSxXg4gEawVyKuJSwo1MD-o2uwEs8gRuoaV-X33Jd48nL/s1600/dark_013.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVpdVbZ947H9ETUwAmyBAJl6uyEYDqM2Tli9VWhnZNOTSWuozOO6yZDkTYlg3IZzBiRsEnhgcV0x5DC13IzFswx72NQe22yofiSxXg4gEawVyKuJSwo1MD-o2uwEs8gRuoaV-X33Jd48nL/s640/dark_013.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They are like flies </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div>
They really did a nice job of making you feel like you are traversing high up canyons and ledges. I know it doesn't look like much today, but back in 1995 this was vertigo inducing. This level also gave me a nice opportunity to show the nice use of elevation and some thermal detonator action:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1cXFitlInpa3SnUpsoZKHDFmEZ8kBEy9dnsEckcWbpTMBGLAf6O-FrjFIvW8quJfyq6jMDHNvERjla_3teM_1qgLo2VtSV-2ZtoxM_2EGjDsZoYk-9DosxX89ONwM35QfVH9Yn5Nff9Yv/s1600/dfgif.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="635" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1cXFitlInpa3SnUpsoZKHDFmEZ8kBEy9dnsEckcWbpTMBGLAf6O-FrjFIvW8quJfyq6jMDHNvERjla_3teM_1qgLo2VtSV-2ZtoxM_2EGjDsZoYk-9DosxX89ONwM35QfVH9Yn5Nff9Yv/s640/dfgif.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
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I like how there is an imperial officer at the head of a group of stormtroopers, LucasArts is trying to show how even the Empire follows military doctrine. It's just too bad they never produced accurate soldiers or weapons...<br />
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I am literally sneaking into the base as I crawl through an air duct and surprise some poor stormtrooper's shins:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8fDPpasPyNHStjNXrFqdugXFD3zKqu7tYgLH5DWEb4V8-CH4vP_QK1oY9wJfO00pLcJ6M4Y-wluACXm-LN2mTCxi9hyphenhyphen5db4oOWvueYx9ZbtXAHmBl4QkVIxK_gQj5vUm7wjOkwGYnp4by/s1600/dark_014.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8fDPpasPyNHStjNXrFqdugXFD3zKqu7tYgLH5DWEb4V8-CH4vP_QK1oY9wJfO00pLcJ6M4Y-wluACXm-LN2mTCxi9hyphenhyphen5db4oOWvueYx9ZbtXAHmBl4QkVIxK_gQj5vUm7wjOkwGYnp4by/s640/dark_014.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Now that I'm inside, I'm starting to run into ceiling turrets. Remember how I mentioned how cumbersome it is to look up and down? Now I've got ceiling turrets that do a SHIT load of damage. It seems like they can kill me in only a few hits. I am making heavy use of strafing in and out of cover to get a few shots off on them at a time. I tried to get a good screenshot of them but every time I tried I just ended up dying. Here see for yourself:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw-6UKsdQxXSaDe60xjDnDG0gpCQ64Cf6VATN3MTWXwWn7Jsd4dOlq03yULeSQf1KBbLul_k300JwibbkI6Bd7nkXlL0mxAdn2wbyyG-yHbMuuIje1ZFuboX0OA8rlPkebZLYwqNaPTC_y/s1600/dark_016.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw-6UKsdQxXSaDe60xjDnDG0gpCQ64Cf6VATN3MTWXwWn7Jsd4dOlq03yULeSQf1KBbLul_k300JwibbkI6Bd7nkXlL0mxAdn2wbyyG-yHbMuuIje1ZFuboX0OA8rlPkebZLYwqNaPTC_y/s640/dark_016.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See the turrets?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8EOIvuryvD5z5qXgeiPeusyzJ10lUNvaig6xxx_yX_SdylXQ0gunbe0Dk5pqcHD_BnW3j9E_UwDqUmtBakPkajttJHQ7yKFlKzogptDwBKPnIUuv7ppb5-XUGrwi972dyW62_rN4VlB3W/s1600/dark_020.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8EOIvuryvD5z5qXgeiPeusyzJ10lUNvaig6xxx_yX_SdylXQ0gunbe0Dk5pqcHD_BnW3j9E_UwDqUmtBakPkajttJHQ7yKFlKzogptDwBKPnIUuv7ppb5-XUGrwi972dyW62_rN4VlB3W/s640/dark_020.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Whelp, nevermind</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Besides having to fight turrets awkwardly placed on the ceiling, this level is relatively straight forward. There hasn't been any places where I can get lost or stuck, which is a nice change of pace from the previous sewer level. Plus, I've always liked the imperial aesthetic so I don't mind running around in these kinds of locations.<br />
<br />
As I make my way through the level, I come across the first keycard door of the game. This is not strictly true, there was a red key door on the first level, but this level has a proper <i>Dark Force </i>keycard door. By that I mean it has a door opened by a code that I need to retrieve off of a keycard from an officer. Here is what the code station looks like:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvAroQ5zsmVnrhTlu18MOLS2myfGONqQokKDyTUX68m5hXvZ5QZ_FGRdSUSg5eC1msQrNB8F-ROnQnuzwVvy5TSeLcBIN87hL8YrJlz1uO-W6pOVDmTahe-dovX5ujLlME85jHQYjWXAeR/s1600/dark_022.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvAroQ5zsmVnrhTlu18MOLS2myfGONqQokKDyTUX68m5hXvZ5QZ_FGRdSUSg5eC1msQrNB8F-ROnQnuzwVvy5TSeLcBIN87hL8YrJlz1uO-W6pOVDmTahe-dovX5ujLlME85jHQYjWXAeR/s640/dark_022.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
The three symbols can be changed by hitting the USE key on them. Somewhere an officer has a keycard that I can take into my inventory, and this keycard has the correct series of symbols on it. So I need to keep my eyes peeled for an officer.<br />
<br />
Wait a second...gah! I just ran out of ammo for my rifle and pistol, and the game automatically switched me to the imperial repeater rifle! When did I pick this up? I hope I didn't have it the whole time I was punching my way through baddies at the beginning of the level. I must have totally missed picking it up.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJkifWtuu3ZV9Ids7D2tsihToJeYpdoDxM1dtv-NXCb4gcywoSy49xyrZDoG-2YvSmbCx01z-97CvOMHzzJPaPLplOyE7xEIwqswfEerbZ8oHlXaJ3z30xwbjJ3gi8JLaeqk3Ce3HTagRZ/s1600/dark_023.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJkifWtuu3ZV9Ids7D2tsihToJeYpdoDxM1dtv-NXCb4gcywoSy49xyrZDoG-2YvSmbCx01z-97CvOMHzzJPaPLplOyE7xEIwqswfEerbZ8oHlXaJ3z30xwbjJ3gi8JLaeqk3Ce3HTagRZ/s640/dark_023.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wish I knew I had this earlier...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And then it dawns on me that I have an inventory screen (to look at my keycards when I pick them up). My inventory also lets me see my weapons I'm carrying. Doh! I should have checked earlier when I was low on ammo. Oh well, I don't think I had this gun at the beginning of the level.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqmEnreWWd9yTvJbBapzVdZnnwikRcz1ANV4HEcEUggYsnePYhDguwHwkWgOzWTh-GovV4R_dLNf7KzhgrjHD6O6vEvUXuO0OPvCICHcvubVT2FYZ7amT7C7ET9VnMPCp2-Pw_qTtdG8WC/s1600/dark_024.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqmEnreWWd9yTvJbBapzVdZnnwikRcz1ANV4HEcEUggYsnePYhDguwHwkWgOzWTh-GovV4R_dLNf7KzhgrjHD6O6vEvUXuO0OPvCICHcvubVT2FYZ7amT7C7ET9VnMPCp2-Pw_qTtdG8WC/s640/dark_024.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inventory</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvX4xa70p82dgdqCj2zk-0FQ1D-L6D4V5uN3Fa-XGkYYguSO3enD4718hzRriyV4Gyx8_2bXummZCQR087L2w9bzQ7StbPH8QOISsm0DrH86PQgxJSYu-btXfdIm9MLe3rO93mxgtX-1Zg/s1600/dark_026.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvX4xa70p82dgdqCj2zk-0FQ1D-L6D4V5uN3Fa-XGkYYguSO3enD4718hzRriyV4Gyx8_2bXummZCQR087L2w9bzQ7StbPH8QOISsm0DrH86PQgxJSYu-btXfdIm9MLe3rO93mxgtX-1Zg/s640/dark_026.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turret killed me again</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After getting killed by a turret again, I am being more careful now.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ6QuyER3X9wropwmQnc6XDGQfQZDiEkiwQQRzHUtGEC8zahrpKn3ttpamELsK4Gt7-h6Nm8S9epN_FVVzXqjI1_vcbTK6HAvetcD4ZptRRu6CHovqag-UOmbRi55G74CD5nI9qy9_BsBT/s1600/dark_027.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ6QuyER3X9wropwmQnc6XDGQfQZDiEkiwQQRzHUtGEC8zahrpKn3ttpamELsK4Gt7-h6Nm8S9epN_FVVzXqjI1_vcbTK6HAvetcD4ZptRRu6CHovqag-UOmbRi55G74CD5nI9qy9_BsBT/s640/dark_027.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keycard</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiyZjLruaCdWewx28Samwop2DA36DEfZisT83mif2KxYCvXeRHGf7mBZOLfh3zO3D5MySBbYtv9o3ERxBPWNTYTITrMH0ZHFnT_VhhZWWXog-w1oAm8rPPhFIFL1AkTleNE-NGUvQeQ5q0/s1600/dark_028.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiyZjLruaCdWewx28Samwop2DA36DEfZisT83mif2KxYCvXeRHGf7mBZOLfh3zO3D5MySBbYtv9o3ERxBPWNTYTITrMH0ZHFnT_VhhZWWXog-w1oAm8rPPhFIFL1AkTleNE-NGUvQeQ5q0/s640/dark_028.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keycard in my inventory</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I was able to find the keycard and use it to open the door I needed to open to progress in the level. And now I've come to the centerpiece of this mission: a giant pillar in the middle of a huge room with the metal sample sitting on the top of the pillar. Along with high cliff drops, <i>Dark Forces </i>was also known for these kinds of bizarre puzzles that allowed it to show off its engine and the creativity of the level designers. Here is the pillar:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj87tRo5nkSOA-RUOJ-vpTg5HDmHS0IcfBTPyUPxAoUqNlK4NiYopGGBs894lZmSrfF9iM_gUqbi6G9waayRsQvEbMUKlmlKoF3yfNDwlQzCxe6wID4BAHn18TsFoSOFfcriGzw5SfGbbxL/s1600/dark_030.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj87tRo5nkSOA-RUOJ-vpTg5HDmHS0IcfBTPyUPxAoUqNlK4NiYopGGBs894lZmSrfF9iM_gUqbi6G9waayRsQvEbMUKlmlKoF3yfNDwlQzCxe6wID4BAHn18TsFoSOFfcriGzw5SfGbbxL/s640/dark_030.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
See the door in the upper part of the screen? There are a couple other doors like it going further up the outside of the pillar room. At the top of the pillar room is a set of buttons I can push that moves a bridge up and down and around in circles around the pillar. I can use these buttons to line up the bridge with the doors along the outside of the pillar room and the buttons on the pillar you can see in the screen above. In this way, I can slowly press each button on the pillar by moving the bridge from door to door. It sounds more complicated than it really is. While writing about games on this site, I've discovered how difficult it is to describe video game puzzles in words.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxqJDLk5gh1iJisVyR3pbL1S3TyfkZ-Y0tTjFAWAvId3qzYQqERt77wjW7GFV5IlsK-soYfmBuGYZhiwEggHIJTadgaCWgCbl_lxrpkXpB69MAEMYauoOFF5ZSz_rtGr6PZu34sNDBv721/s1600/dark_034.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxqJDLk5gh1iJisVyR3pbL1S3TyfkZ-Y0tTjFAWAvId3qzYQqERt77wjW7GFV5IlsK-soYfmBuGYZhiwEggHIJTadgaCWgCbl_lxrpkXpB69MAEMYauoOFF5ZSz_rtGr6PZu34sNDBv721/s640/dark_034.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Surprise! I love the way their little hats fly off </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Here is the control room to control the bridge.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRCniO8DKBgSCflxa4-6GR_qFUZI7Ll5BzguegHVVsvU4QtJagI7RyrjhIvOPKDqEfCm2w6EVJn81ecc9SH2hA3HLpGSvK4sBX7j-fllzruEmpkwNcMbAJCA2S6Ino4N9hTXVkRARMq4cr/s1600/dark_035.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRCniO8DKBgSCflxa4-6GR_qFUZI7Ll5BzguegHVVsvU4QtJagI7RyrjhIvOPKDqEfCm2w6EVJn81ecc9SH2hA3HLpGSvK4sBX7j-fllzruEmpkwNcMbAJCA2S6Ino4N9hTXVkRARMq4cr/s640/dark_035.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The metal sample</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjnfCIu9-Q5VCwWFdZn60bE1lNfsW7NpMzelA_7Iwv3OoH_ei-EStGfZqn2s5TLAUCseNiZ-ns8Tk25en8oE3B-SIGOEIxHultjJKL-l5Nydasulp_guGceYEuIqHkEsH7abgOA9tKBo9z/s1600/dark_036.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjnfCIu9-Q5VCwWFdZn60bE1lNfsW7NpMzelA_7Iwv3OoH_ei-EStGfZqn2s5TLAUCseNiZ-ns8Tk25en8oE3B-SIGOEIxHultjJKL-l5Nydasulp_guGceYEuIqHkEsH7abgOA9tKBo9z/s640/dark_036.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bridge starting position</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDln5CKKHXLzKymUyW7W-NeWXm7f-BhBQ-RnN0xkHK3SeQKKziLMfwQ4tpEdW4CGTALHQQV05uXBS2skKuXs0OyDxwfBzZORm6IXWySrvwTs6aHGB7G68zY7TUASwrz9F_7kejwP2S_6Mo/s1600/dark_037.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDln5CKKHXLzKymUyW7W-NeWXm7f-BhBQ-RnN0xkHK3SeQKKziLMfwQ4tpEdW4CGTALHQQV05uXBS2skKuXs0OyDxwfBzZORm6IXWySrvwTs6aHGB7G68zY7TUASwrz9F_7kejwP2S_6Mo/s640/dark_037.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I moved the bridge to the first door</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I won't show you each step of the way because that would be pointless. But I did all the button pressing and that opened a door so I could get the metal sample and make my escape. After getting back to the landing area and exiting the mission, I got a quick cutscene of the Moldy Crow flying towards a Mars-like looking planet:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDYWPcH1bEmmtFcYcVXHjEjkvRYPZsvuSzIjLmnChcIvUzD22CqAYOo1CrIfxCzB8tUHx54KddKMKbgYBcX-RCGXOgWVkDI1KlK87lBqprsxotggGXYW8jNAKzVkWt2WSjt0t_6Cvt_bLV/s1600/dark_045.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDYWPcH1bEmmtFcYcVXHjEjkvRYPZsvuSzIjLmnChcIvUzD22CqAYOo1CrIfxCzB8tUHx54KddKMKbgYBcX-RCGXOgWVkDI1KlK87lBqprsxotggGXYW8jNAKzVkWt2WSjt0t_6Cvt_bLV/s640/dark_045.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Again I got overzealous with the screenshots and detail and filled up too much space and now I need to break this game up into multiple posts. I'll try to tone it down in subsequent posts (I said that about <i><a href="http://rememberpcdosgames.blogspot.com/2018/01/crusader-no-remorse.html">Crusader: No Remorse</a> </i>too).<br />
<br />
But overall I am still enjoying my time replaying <i>Dark Forces. </i>I'm having more fun than I did when I played <i><a href="http://rememberpcdosgames.blogspot.com/2018/01/blood.html#more">Blood</a>, </i>but that could be partly due to nostalgia. The only thing that is really bothering me is the lack of in mission saves. Otherwise it plays surprisingly well using a mouse and keyboard, it even allows me to use WASD for movement. The game actually has rebindable keys, but not in-game. To rebind the keyboard keys and mouse control keys, you can run install.exe file and choose to configure controls, which can be done without needing to actually reinstall the game. <br />
<br />
So I'm enjoying the game so far with missions 1-4. But will it continue to hold up? Read part 2 to find out!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://rememberpcdosgames.blogspot.com/2018/02/dark-forces-part-2.html"><i>Dark Forces</i> - Part 2</a><br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069718226803277447.post-28389348339446409242018-01-27T17:47:00.001-08:002018-01-28T13:51:02.849-08:00Alien Odyssey (1995)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsPswTwRGak_i_4oTmpSzQXLgCf-2P5ElaFDhsNrb68fAzB94TXJbQY5aDa23R94aeIAyNDR2IvX4gNPOzK5_uBj4FA5zIRpzxQn0Wa8z45qsJu5a_ojK7FBRD7tUdgZFHmoOA_qM11K-h/s1600/aocover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1019" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsPswTwRGak_i_4oTmpSzQXLgCf-2P5ElaFDhsNrb68fAzB94TXJbQY5aDa23R94aeIAyNDR2IvX4gNPOzK5_uBj4FA5zIRpzxQn0Wa8z45qsJu5a_ojK7FBRD7tUdgZFHmoOA_qM11K-h/s320/aocover.jpg" width="251" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Date: 1995<br />
Developer: Argonaut Software<br />
Publisher: Phillips Interactive<br />
<br />
System Requirements:<br />
<br />
- IBM PC compatible 486/DX2-66MHz<br />
- 8MB of RAM<br />
- DOS 5.0 of higher<br />
- 8MB HDD space<br />
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Where to purchase?<br />
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- It is not sold digitally anywhere, so your options are limited to resellers like Amazon and Ebay. Copies go for anywhere from $2 - $40, so it is pretty cheap<br />
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For the next game on RPDG, I'm playing a game that is completely new to me: Alien Odyssey by Argonaut Software. Alien Odyssey is a game that is difficult to categorize, it is kind of a mix of genres. Based on my reading about it, it supposedly combines FMV rail shooter sequences like Rebel Assault or Cyberia with third-person adventuring like Bioforge or Alone in the Dark. As I mentioned, I've never played the game so this understanding is based on the background reading I've done on the game, I could be completely wrong. But I'm curious to find out.<br />
<br />
FMV or pre-rendered rail shooters had a period of brief popularity in the mid 90s as CD-ROM technology was first establishing itself on the market. Games that combined rail shooting sequences with other genres like third person adventuring also seemed to be a popular niche in PC gaming for a short while from what I can remember. I've played a few games that fit that description and I don't remember them being particularly fun, but maybe Alien Odyssey will change my mind. Let's find out!<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- Development -</u></span></h2>
<div>
There is not a lot of information available regarding the development of this particular game, so I'll do the best with what I could find. </div>
<div>
Alien Odyssey was developed by Argonaut Software, a development company that has a reasonably large game library spanning quite a few different platforms. They developed games for the Commodore 64, Atari ST, Amiga, DOS, Game Boy, SNES, Windows, Playstation 1 and 2, Nintendo 64, Gamecube, Sega Saturn, and Xbox spanning from 1984 to 2004. Argonaut Software was founded by Jez San in 1982 and spent most of its life based in London, with an overseas office opening in California sometime in the 90s. I think they are most famous for helping develop <i>Star Fox </i>for the SNES, but some older gamers will know them as the developers of the popular <i>Starglider </i>games for the Amiga and Atari ST. <i>Starglider </i>was actually the basis for the early prototypes of <i>Star Fox </i>running on the NES and SNES prototypes. </div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl9805hwSrSQGCG1TzZZgrRgxr1RB3YmfP7GziNQfVc7MMi5e6g1w1CbD6mTj4YgKMynLuuoiP1FC_iWeLObfNn6C_jiwjMRjWJzFBtrKaGpkDCvuyE43pfTkhToT_c82pRYIi8CCXJEcI/s1600/starglider.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl9805hwSrSQGCG1TzZZgrRgxr1RB3YmfP7GziNQfVc7MMi5e6g1w1CbD6mTj4YgKMynLuuoiP1FC_iWeLObfNn6C_jiwjMRjWJzFBtrKaGpkDCvuyE43pfTkhToT_c82pRYIi8CCXJEcI/s640/starglider.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starglider 2 for the Amiga...I'd say that looks pretty good for 1988</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
At some point in the early 90s, Argonaut developed a 3D graphics engine and dev toolkit called BRender. BRender would go on to be used in such games as Carmageddon, FX Fighter, and Alien Odyssey. I could not find much else about BRender other than it was licensed to companies developing games for Windows, DOS, and Playstation, and it supported Intel's short-lived MMX technology.</div>
<div>
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<div>
The early 90s saw the rapid rise of the CD-ROM as a viable and then revolutionary media for gaming. Prior to CD-ROMs, the standard media for PC games was the high density 3.5" disk that holds 1.44MB of information. A normal CD holds 650-700MB of data, so that is over 400x more information. Games like <i>Myst </i>and <i>7th Guest </i>showed gamers and developers how CDs could be packed with 3D pre-rendered graphics and FMV cinematics, and there was a rush to develop games that could take advantage of this new technology. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
While <i>7th Guest </i>and similar adventure games used static, pre-rendered backgrounds to deliver otherwise standard point-and-click adventure gameplay, other companies were experimenting with using all this new storage capacity of the CD-ROM to make new kinds of action games. The Star Wars game <i>Rebel Assault </i>was really one of the first games to deliver the "rail shooter" experience. In these types of games, the player follows a preset path through a pre-rendered environment, usually but not always in a first person perspective. The player's cursor acts as the target and functions much like a light-gun at an arcade game. The player moves the cursor around the screen shooting enemies while having little or no control as to the direction the player takes through the game world. These are called "rail shooter" games because the player is, in essence, on a rail like a rollercoaster and unable to deviate from that rail. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZaYti3UpHSS54jgnU1ZaZMEZSrC8IXaKZmtvlBGL6lMjN_2BBFOKoDkhSRTsdNP4NoqsWsQhMaMWvPW4pSpJgaipXBKjlDjizg4kDGy6t-TUqJ-01u8cJyxXlUMEVkgkvtmk4_zMoC_-d/s1600/cyberia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZaYti3UpHSS54jgnU1ZaZMEZSrC8IXaKZmtvlBGL6lMjN_2BBFOKoDkhSRTsdNP4NoqsWsQhMaMWvPW4pSpJgaipXBKjlDjizg4kDGy6t-TUqJ-01u8cJyxXlUMEVkgkvtmk4_zMoC_-d/s640/cyberia.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rail shooter <i>Cyberia (1994)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwQzE2hv8-iQjphBsfCBTDgpO2-njZO8PM2xBlzyBjq7dBJtYCfok6hl0MLtPhHogWP844-wUKIwNTXvkAgNWifHvmSykhFePsIzPDVtPqyA_PG6lMUzJnwXb5Qk43vi5hcsrTwQn8tJtx/s1600/rebelassault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwQzE2hv8-iQjphBsfCBTDgpO2-njZO8PM2xBlzyBjq7dBJtYCfok6hl0MLtPhHogWP844-wUKIwNTXvkAgNWifHvmSykhFePsIzPDVtPqyA_PG6lMUzJnwXb5Qk43vi5hcsrTwQn8tJtx/s640/rebelassault.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Rebel Assault (1993)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Argonaut Software decided to enter the CD-ROM rail shooter market in 1994 with the PC and Playstation game <i>Creature Shock</i>, a game I actually bought new when it originally came out. I was going to play it instead of <i>Alien Odyssey, </i>but I wanted to play a game I had never played before. In making <i>Creature Shock, </i>Argonaut went a step further and added in primitive flight simulation and first-person shooting gallery type elements to the game. Both of these additional game modes are fairly basic and the main part of the game is the rail shooter action part.</div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_e7b3MdaA1W-zsbmTWvNSweht2l6vbGz9HFXsg616P4jugMViyM3HImmitTD1PbHufjwznuAcQ3vh4yN_TFu19RA4VI3FtfPvK93bT_yvsCDKTlzKepCeMeVmFQE9427vgqxksWKC_KEt/s1600/cs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_e7b3MdaA1W-zsbmTWvNSweht2l6vbGz9HFXsg616P4jugMViyM3HImmitTD1PbHufjwznuAcQ3vh4yN_TFu19RA4VI3FtfPvK93bT_yvsCDKTlzKepCeMeVmFQE9427vgqxksWKC_KEt/s640/cs.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Creature Shock </i>is a weird game</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
</div>
A year after <i>Creature Shock,</i> Argonaut released <i>Alien Odyssey. </i>Alien Odyssey retains the rail shooter gameplay of Creature Shock and, from my understanding, adds in 3D adventuring and also makes use of Argonaut's BRender engine. Since I have played Creature Shock, I'll be curious to see how Alien Odyssey improves upon its immediate predecessor. I have also played <i>Bioforge </i>and <i>Alone in the Dark</i>, the games that I see Alien Odyssey's 3D adventuring parts compared to, so I will have some basis for comparison there.<br />
<br />
At the time of it's original release, Alien Odyssey received only average reviews. I'm going to fire it up and see if it is any fun to play.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- The Game -</u></span></h2>
<div>
Installation is quick and straightforward using DOSBox. I always like old DOS sound setup menus, it brings back some good nostalgia feelings.</div>
<div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjasqqQRr0K6rqtmtY6jbgXhgCNYiX2oghreL9P7zZT5Z4rJ1MVOMAymnu22bi_LCGVdMFQ7LKNzpkZ3_7JYZZn6xAny8hU3UfDx-PbbLC2a3dUDUoC5jJ3nRRVqCCp0EHYwQnr-wq4H5JF/s1600/setsound_000.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjasqqQRr0K6rqtmtY6jbgXhgCNYiX2oghreL9P7zZT5Z4rJ1MVOMAymnu22bi_LCGVdMFQ7LKNzpkZ3_7JYZZn6xAny8hU3UfDx-PbbLC2a3dUDUoC5jJ3nRRVqCCp0EHYwQnr-wq4H5JF/s640/setsound_000.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Luckily the autodetect for settings worked for both MIDI and Digital, so I did not have to mess with IRQ and DMA. I can remember always choosing the same numbers, but I can't remember which numbers those were. </div>
<div>
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<div>
After a smooth and quick install, time to fire it up! It starts with the standard pub/dev logos and then a cool logo for the BRender engine that I presume is used in the game. I'm kind of surprised this game was never released on the Phillips CDi, given that is was published by a Phillips company. I assume those two Phillips companies are related. </div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ7mfXUaBQL6BRHja1c-1Wt5Tc5fihNUz7WhAy21SI67RVfYAXEFtGJtBvCwEqkuq-dw_sXV1dbFcwJeqlfhyphenhyphen36xqbwB-Tq0S3zC_2nTRZ3apQ3feKhtWhAaSGerSlh3RBDjeju8LeaHKr/s1600/dos4gw_000.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ7mfXUaBQL6BRHja1c-1Wt5Tc5fihNUz7WhAy21SI67RVfYAXEFtGJtBvCwEqkuq-dw_sXV1dbFcwJeqlfhyphenhyphen36xqbwB-Tq0S3zC_2nTRZ3apQ3feKhtWhAaSGerSlh3RBDjeju8LeaHKr/s640/dos4gw_000.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Publisher</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9OX1XmdED8HmMnkBpFGaAsN6LtFAHrXaBJLCao1ejk_sOB0hQbff0KDx-A6Pzpn6LvwvXE0kxOYnGP6jJVu7lkzPmv-C6aXR9-Zj2fX6qvUIqjJ9qK6SfTTrPx6Wi4yTw70C5XMzQprZZ/s1600/dos4gw_034.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9OX1XmdED8HmMnkBpFGaAsN6LtFAHrXaBJLCao1ejk_sOB0hQbff0KDx-A6Pzpn6LvwvXE0kxOYnGP6jJVu7lkzPmv-C6aXR9-Zj2fX6qvUIqjJ9qK6SfTTrPx6Wi4yTw70C5XMzQprZZ/s640/dos4gw_034.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Developer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9e6CC-iC9J-zcMNWHOVtPXuQy_Eibjubo-H-MfaGY4wovogJT-ZtZ9tCnsOqN7h7VKVzf0KiuRpaYQcGdiBPM9bypFYJA5sqd5Q_Ap7KvAo1CiKazuRWE2xFFxbx21GvIgamZYrWoNtI5/s1600/dos4gw_037.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9e6CC-iC9J-zcMNWHOVtPXuQy_Eibjubo-H-MfaGY4wovogJT-ZtZ9tCnsOqN7h7VKVzf0KiuRpaYQcGdiBPM9bypFYJA5sqd5Q_Ap7KvAo1CiKazuRWE2xFFxbx21GvIgamZYrWoNtI5/s640/dos4gw_037.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Engine</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
After the logos, the intro cinematic begins playing. I was able to track down a manual, where there is a brief backstory description:</div>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Your scout craft emerges from the launch bay of the huge mothership that has transported you. Psaph Abal. far from your home planet of Taola. As the rays of a distant sun star fall on your craft's hull, a planet glides into view, its surface hidden below a vaporous, swirling atmosphere.<br />
For thousands of years, your advanced race has sought out new worlds and life forms in the quest for knowledge and an understanding of the universe. New discoveries involve complex data collection procedures - a complete study of every physical, biological, chemical, elemental and socialstructuring detail. Only then will everything be in place to make that tentative first contact.<br />
As a scientific surveyor, it's your mission to initiate the first data collection run on the planet slowly rotating before you.<br />
Your craft, a very advanced machine of liquid metamorphic metals, goes into a high orbit around the shrouded planet and starts carbon lifeform scans, by performing a routine mapping of terrain several miles below. Incoming data is transformed into a 3-dimensional holomodel of the landscape below - initially nothing but swamp and vegetation. After mapping a complete orbit, a carbon form of sentient life is detected in a single pocket of forest close to the equatorial belt. But there's something corrupting several of the data streams and you can't deduce any further readings - so you decide to break with protocol and ease down through the atmosphere to see for yourself.<br />
Almost immediately, a warning beacon screams. You're on the edge of a swelling, electromagnetic storm right in your flight path. You've no time to avoid it...a fork of lightning strikes, the rear of your craft melts and you're in an uncontrollable downward spiral.<br />
Suddenly you're through the lower cloud layer. There's a forest below. For seconds you regain some control and guide the craft towards a sparsely tree lined area bordering the horizon. As you and your craft smash on to the planet's surface, your world goes black...but...<br />
someone, something is watching...</blockquote>
</div>
<div>
TL;DR is I am a scientific explorer sent to explore a planet and I crashed on it after detecting life.</div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg88vxJyq_gimpkMF2wWtSioL0OvOqSXhCi0h4WZnu1ntQ5jruMZJcHif9FsojyY6cVzhLVQ5TpYvkroxZ0VtyDF5KE_3yTMvuVxFdNykovzoi73d8msy9r9cGqwtPFNOD0KkbFWkHqFs80/s1600/dos4gw_003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg88vxJyq_gimpkMF2wWtSioL0OvOqSXhCi0h4WZnu1ntQ5jruMZJcHif9FsojyY6cVzhLVQ5TpYvkroxZ0VtyDF5KE_3yTMvuVxFdNykovzoi73d8msy9r9cGqwtPFNOD0KkbFWkHqFs80/s640/dos4gw_003.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My mothership</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3RYGKySm4I1qn46daO3fjk7RawOBHjRlAhCjhIZXycwO3yfTBS80B7cFMCf9MhsMOce-MLkb2m8qFMyyv9wLG_NHVORxALQtSJngHa76Sgj5ITK58ah_8fOHHicZOZQZFEN3vgnJf5T0y/s1600/dos4gw_005.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3RYGKySm4I1qn46daO3fjk7RawOBHjRlAhCjhIZXycwO3yfTBS80B7cFMCf9MhsMOce-MLkb2m8qFMyyv9wLG_NHVORxALQtSJngHa76Sgj5ITK58ah_8fOHHicZOZQZFEN3vgnJf5T0y/s640/dos4gw_005.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The planet</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUFnPbl4Xi9BVPsK2WNWxrhYV8tLw5Xl1hHpYMjjkvu-NisEuV_qO6FwSoB0oHvsA2mQjbRFODV8lg_uet4Z0jOr2YKrjuqDZtPGpiLP3vW3Aia3AmoZsgGkRlNu1RdRg9OD_lVLUjD3jp/s1600/dos4gw_006.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUFnPbl4Xi9BVPsK2WNWxrhYV8tLw5Xl1hHpYMjjkvu-NisEuV_qO6FwSoB0oHvsA2mQjbRFODV8lg_uet4Z0jOr2YKrjuqDZtPGpiLP3vW3Aia3AmoZsgGkRlNu1RdRg9OD_lVLUjD3jp/s640/dos4gw_006.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG9VEtgbF0JzU_7c5ocBRsB4HMl7l9TyP0Yp_fF2NVsoXQ_pTA4UgwyEXjYJzBAyPDKH0ODuUochAhgsRVJ_o9d5QC6m6xkfPe8oZNSigCxfYFao8n29VT6DZ454-l_pdyebDRcpwPdK51/s1600/dos4gw_007.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG9VEtgbF0JzU_7c5ocBRsB4HMl7l9TyP0Yp_fF2NVsoXQ_pTA4UgwyEXjYJzBAyPDKH0ODuUochAhgsRVJ_o9d5QC6m6xkfPe8oZNSigCxfYFao8n29VT6DZ454-l_pdyebDRcpwPdK51/s640/dos4gw_007.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm giving her all she's got captain!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOwWrfcaeqQGxYd-zrlJ_yjKM3tJ3QfaX4cYBom-ovt4lJyNrAcKLYxmx0mELdtbEwfoTKt9PhZvCrEM6BFVdCjlE37MxG5a9vONx7KCj809PTim-7jyfTc-4d7sEhP1M-s1jv59o_uf6L/s1600/dos4gw_009.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOwWrfcaeqQGxYd-zrlJ_yjKM3tJ3QfaX4cYBom-ovt4lJyNrAcKLYxmx0mELdtbEwfoTKt9PhZvCrEM6BFVdCjlE37MxG5a9vONx7KCj809PTim-7jyfTc-4d7sEhP1M-s1jv59o_uf6L/s640/dos4gw_009.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Going down</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUP94cfJCl5Gb9VBVeG59gr65AljvXqP21EEEsPaM3UMMWulPWaIbm3rSixYQueXluwAHoO82CbNL91qfbWd0MQuPzO2YhEWh4PH22scg7h_PYWLca08uG1ucY4YK_FjC3rv6l29yzo_-a/s1600/dos4gw_010.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUP94cfJCl5Gb9VBVeG59gr65AljvXqP21EEEsPaM3UMMWulPWaIbm3rSixYQueXluwAHoO82CbNL91qfbWd0MQuPzO2YhEWh4PH22scg7h_PYWLca08uG1ucY4YK_FjC3rv6l29yzo_-a/s640/dos4gw_010.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This fellow watched my ship crash</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf9miylY6kXiMkRyA0okzoD26hx_XKo4_le9bIIirO2CiPGWy6bz6GkELySZogOuddXdyfB7vTMXx3letjlo_1FenTc86qu_gxxkEhoao_cg0Gpx1zrrwOkv0MBZs-kggsNwq4NEV2iZnz/s1600/dos4gw_011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf9miylY6kXiMkRyA0okzoD26hx_XKo4_le9bIIirO2CiPGWy6bz6GkELySZogOuddXdyfB7vTMXx3letjlo_1FenTc86qu_gxxkEhoao_cg0Gpx1zrrwOkv0MBZs-kggsNwq4NEV2iZnz/s640/dos4gw_011.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title screen</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
There's a lot of cutscenes so far, so I'm trying to balance posting too many screenshots while also showing how the story is established. I'll try to be careful not to overload the page with cinematic screenshots.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
After I crashed, I'm shown laying on the jungle ground after being thrown from my ship. The alien that watched my ship go down runs over to me to help (I hope):</div>
<div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifg9c2Y5oIc_HuIj0qfe7XFUghrNkQSIl4LYceeqrxX-sgbGtJh0eEkXQPe_xn0aWbANRlOjbI_oZWfXW9SI5rNodo4AtFSFuwPfAKW34bLmfzqI55I9TnYSc4qNuIJRm8Xo0O2lrqcvm4/s1600/dos4gw_012.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifg9c2Y5oIc_HuIj0qfe7XFUghrNkQSIl4LYceeqrxX-sgbGtJh0eEkXQPe_xn0aWbANRlOjbI_oZWfXW9SI5rNodo4AtFSFuwPfAKW34bLmfzqI55I9TnYSc4qNuIJRm8Xo0O2lrqcvm4/s640/dos4gw_012.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ms5DNBy__2-aakrfXCaUX7nFYJ7wV0Vgs7T_hb2PGLFZVQ9ZtcjTYPLJ7XNbr4TYOLDP_1uEBAcsCON6Nqu9JheUrX4HlygGoOLjXiWSuvVbrm_b1imem3kJgMCoLLfgMwin20GR1TL8/s1600/dos4gw_013.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ms5DNBy__2-aakrfXCaUX7nFYJ7wV0Vgs7T_hb2PGLFZVQ9ZtcjTYPLJ7XNbr4TYOLDP_1uEBAcsCON6Nqu9JheUrX4HlygGoOLjXiWSuvVbrm_b1imem3kJgMCoLLfgMwin20GR1TL8/s640/dos4gw_013.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLAuPzJhwy-fom_FEhXyqZVmQJ694UHR0ixKkxekKwktscKlXgRv3QbSFls_BS53k6f9gy9ZyXVwroY2-pdU3j5vllCiBXR57vLy5DBRPparyAKyObWSz7DS3nSeGN7U5iBOH-gpIrqG0L/s1600/dos4gw_015.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLAuPzJhwy-fom_FEhXyqZVmQJ694UHR0ixKkxekKwktscKlXgRv3QbSFls_BS53k6f9gy9ZyXVwroY2-pdU3j5vllCiBXR57vLy5DBRPparyAKyObWSz7DS3nSeGN7U5iBOH-gpIrqG0L/s640/dos4gw_015.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Resurrecting me?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
The alien puts some kind of purple orb into me and I rise up and emit a purple glow and then regain consciousness. My new alien friend looks like a mix of gazelle and ant, and like most aliens he/she/it does not wear pants. Just as I am asking who the alien is and what happened to my ship, some bad guy enemies come flying out of the jungle on jetbike speeders just like in <i>Return of the Jedi</i>. The alien gets on his jetbike and gives me one that I jump onto and then...the game cuts to the main menu. It's kind of like a cliffhanger to make sure you want to actually start a new game.</div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7DO3NC83Ud63HwuZ-kN4Nt8590yTiEB8uWdKKDKyBgevT0EbsQKaPHAI_t7_Xfl8YgSni_1UZYHqzrYJIkZgVSVM-Xx5hW8r6f24_K_4N66jsm5f9zMssdU0xMa8yki2FHrzFebMzUrwq/s1600/dos4gw_038.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7DO3NC83Ud63HwuZ-kN4Nt8590yTiEB8uWdKKDKyBgevT0EbsQKaPHAI_t7_Xfl8YgSni_1UZYHqzrYJIkZgVSVM-Xx5hW8r6f24_K_4N66jsm5f9zMssdU0xMa8yki2FHrzFebMzUrwq/s640/dos4gw_038.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Main menu</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
The main menu is pretty standard. Difficulty options are Normal and Expert, I'm starting on Normal. Game Configuration is mostly control options, of which there are a lot. There are options for mouse, joystick, joypad, and keyboard control, cursor speed, and whole bunch of different language selections. I guess being a European developer must have helped in having all these language options. I'm not used to seeing Dutch as a language option. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Selecting Start New Game puts me right back into the game, sitting my jetbike with my new alien partner motioning for me to follow:</div>
<div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVFOXVefWAqrVQvUcG6Ti04wa65YaioQKUKgL18LOmjY7Ca_iCTI-prC_xMUd0p7H5rE-km7ir7flSjfGLKFiaabHY_GB62RFOdmqRVDyxhvc-gKrFoX93ViG65uIVORAIJBNUchiUXsyq/s1600/dos4gw_017.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVFOXVefWAqrVQvUcG6Ti04wa65YaioQKUKgL18LOmjY7Ca_iCTI-prC_xMUd0p7H5rE-km7ir7flSjfGLKFiaabHY_GB62RFOdmqRVDyxhvc-gKrFoX93ViG65uIVORAIJBNUchiUXsyq/s640/dos4gw_017.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWq5RBCHE5zlgNlhz3F2RG9qX9EiVsUBvPCqC9TV4FmV9rRYxva8xLdva0DL83AB6Gf2fsPgqikPL1hRSOvrQ6r_rGQjTFVA2AofUTn6oJhScqPCfKZ6lb8NvcSagipHW-eA1jnSXID3fK/s1600/dos4gw_018.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWq5RBCHE5zlgNlhz3F2RG9qX9EiVsUBvPCqC9TV4FmV9rRYxva8xLdva0DL83AB6Gf2fsPgqikPL1hRSOvrQ6r_rGQjTFVA2AofUTn6oJhScqPCfKZ6lb8NvcSagipHW-eA1jnSXID3fK/s640/dos4gw_018.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alien partner</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwR139EoNfGSkOoUb3bAoTXHSQKXMCaxy9yJar36zfaqdBO4xiQrzZ2vGbdBAtPLR3z5qydhPprMwzEQRdcDZUVXLxW63ALdgkqbETpgY2SoGDPlxuJ9liOvYX0d2rUUho6-0r08dBdzeH/s1600/dos4gw_019.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwR139EoNfGSkOoUb3bAoTXHSQKXMCaxy9yJar36zfaqdBO4xiQrzZ2vGbdBAtPLR3z5qydhPprMwzEQRdcDZUVXLxW63ALdgkqbETpgY2SoGDPlxuJ9liOvYX0d2rUUho6-0r08dBdzeH/s640/dos4gw_019.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gameplay starts</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
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<div>
Here is the gameplay of the first level in action. I'm shooting at two enemies while they throw bombs at me. I destroy one of the enemies at the end of the GIF:</div>
<div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfnBbHtFMCb4pxv5Y2hZd666VJkdiBFdjnrhG0z8M0jHbnNejdTbtZZgd6_C01wQwD6P5lAmMEFxM6nmH_Rz4Lukh134EQv0cG1jucTJVBBkiGMSIW9IGA91vxpl4OIg4RE8iBDZ1lb74Z/s1600/aogif.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="637" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfnBbHtFMCb4pxv5Y2hZd666VJkdiBFdjnrhG0z8M0jHbnNejdTbtZZgd6_C01wQwD6P5lAmMEFxM6nmH_Rz4Lukh134EQv0cG1jucTJVBBkiGMSIW9IGA91vxpl4OIg4RE8iBDZ1lb74Z/s640/aogif.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
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<div>
The whole sequence really is a lot like the speeder scene in <i>Return of the Jedi, </i>except here the stormtroopers are evil cyborgs and Leia is a bipedal gazelle. I get a few seconds to shoot at the enemies and defend myself by shooting the bombs they throw at me before the game cuts to a quick pre-rendered cutscene for a few seconds, then cuts back to gameplay again. Killing an enemy results in a pre-rendered death animation. The bars in the console in the middle of the screen represent my health (orange) and the gun energy (green). Shooting causes the gun energy bar to rise and if it hits full, my guns slow down their rate of fire until they cool down. The actual shooting isn't bad for what it tries to do. I like that there is an actual animation of the guns firing, and the sound is what I imagine a machinegun or autocannon on a futuristic jetbike would sounds like. I can't complain.<br />
<br />
I can complain about the music though because its awful. It reminds me of a Saturday morning cartoon action scene from the 80s, which in itself isn't bad, but here it doesn't set a very tense mood. The graphics are nicely rendered and smooth, which is all I can ask for from this kind of game. It reminds me of a lot of other typical 90s DOS and early Windows CGI graphics.<br />
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After blowing up about 10 of the enemies, my new friend and I make our way to what I assume is his home village.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaLBwecWyi2hlS8XoI6BElkmOvTAQjbx0ZtxvX-U-Izta9RAurM5vusIPuJKDCBe_ASiaWObsMaXYJ3OSlBNoZEWHTKkpZwkl3h9Z48JN1AAOj0BuJ7BA_mYJkCm00yL-dcjYMSDWTKdo7/s1600/dos4gw_028.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaLBwecWyi2hlS8XoI6BElkmOvTAQjbx0ZtxvX-U-Izta9RAurM5vusIPuJKDCBe_ASiaWObsMaXYJ3OSlBNoZEWHTKkpZwkl3h9Z48JN1AAOj0BuJ7BA_mYJkCm00yL-dcjYMSDWTKdo7/s640/dos4gw_028.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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We walked into a large temple-looking building and immediately the guy above starts yelling at us and accusing me of being an intruder. Luckily he and everyone else here speaks English, so there is no awkward language barriers. This ant/gazelle leader also does not wear pants by the way. But he does look quite strong so I'm duly intimidated. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnX9H9qzEQ5G31UQy5yl8gSb1u_206LimzGGMSHDzVZY556zBq2jVu9e46jYdSZk59xKTVvaVf7gkEyRp8TNCWlLhxXCRONOw-LChOGrkxWSSk4Gwgbc-iwkuPvZqDRacXm7SJaEAxxPx7/s1600/dos4gw_029.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnX9H9qzEQ5G31UQy5yl8gSb1u_206LimzGGMSHDzVZY556zBq2jVu9e46jYdSZk59xKTVvaVf7gkEyRp8TNCWlLhxXCRONOw-LChOGrkxWSSk4Gwgbc-iwkuPvZqDRacXm7SJaEAxxPx7/s640/dos4gw_029.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Luckily my new alien friend comes to my defense, at which point I also learned his name is Gaan. That's a nice name I suppose...Gaan.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj5y395LiL7G-BpAWnq3FDUSiuFyw5hefwecIKsHy_yH4Pbu5m1hBxlKdG1lWKho6fW643x5a02oyQgqOm9njnYR2JEgXWZJ_bpyZg0U3Dp9mRhANHqomm4tYNPuv64eIqtv7iyz2f91Y5/s1600/dos4gw_031.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj5y395LiL7G-BpAWnq3FDUSiuFyw5hefwecIKsHy_yH4Pbu5m1hBxlKdG1lWKho6fW643x5a02oyQgqOm9njnYR2JEgXWZJ_bpyZg0U3Dp9mRhANHqomm4tYNPuv64eIqtv7iyz2f91Y5/s640/dos4gw_031.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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At some point in the conversation, the leader reveals that his species is fighting a war of survival against the cyborg enemies that attacked Gaan and I. In the distance past, these two peoples were actually the same species, but the cyborgs became too attached to their technology and the two species diverged. Now the cyborgs oppress and exterminate Gaan's people, who are unable to fight back against the cyborg's superior technology. The leader makes a proposal to me:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK10uLYk6t0u5Jy9QZdUHlIhcNMIuy3kTS9R4yS48lC966A82icbAG83LuBuGiX3akpbp4G_6zYOf8xizlDFHW6zTe3XMTdzHEGERkWRIiDL10RWFnl-r0rohmiXO-Twp8eNJpB2yftyvO/s1600/dos4gw_033.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK10uLYk6t0u5Jy9QZdUHlIhcNMIuy3kTS9R4yS48lC966A82icbAG83LuBuGiX3akpbp4G_6zYOf8xizlDFHW6zTe3XMTdzHEGERkWRIiDL10RWFnl-r0rohmiXO-Twp8eNJpB2yftyvO/s640/dos4gw_033.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seeing as how I don't have much a choice...I'll take it!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The first step in fighting back against the cyborg gazelles is taking out an outpost not far from the village. Gaan and I are to sneak in and blow the place up.<br />
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I have the subtitles turned on but there is voice acting throughout the game so far. The voice acting is not great but its no worse than other games of this era. The main character and my sidekick are kind of cringey, but surprisingly the village leader voice actor is doing a nice job.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBIUSxCYyYPX03_CGKWoFr6cWi6RmkgQV5QHAKKhkhU4Nbd0Vtrbeb74wIBPJd_f0mYUn82jePj8IgEvsa0bZiUk9fsItALzKFSwuRpH1-0vHAxHkNg7rtvE2bJUbCzYBaU0IPcQHYUxNO/s1600/3dgame_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBIUSxCYyYPX03_CGKWoFr6cWi6RmkgQV5QHAKKhkhU4Nbd0Vtrbeb74wIBPJd_f0mYUn82jePj8IgEvsa0bZiUk9fsItALzKFSwuRpH1-0vHAxHkNg7rtvE2bJUbCzYBaU0IPcQHYUxNO/s640/3dgame_001.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The outpost</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTI0OJ66dSxfx4jGPmz_s-I_czuExoI-glVPDgv5sV4KMSVj8b1h6zbSNIv2uWWM_QhxTXC2A3QRpQLfIY0NxN3eWCyJlMrGYjAThuVV3qXZPPz656xW6XBnsa22rDBOQjbzrV2MZ7GrpJ/s1600/3dgame_002.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTI0OJ66dSxfx4jGPmz_s-I_czuExoI-glVPDgv5sV4KMSVj8b1h6zbSNIv2uWWM_QhxTXC2A3QRpQLfIY0NxN3eWCyJlMrGYjAThuVV3qXZPPz656xW6XBnsa22rDBOQjbzrV2MZ7GrpJ/s640/3dgame_002.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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I'm already making jokes and acting quite comfortable around my new alien friend. Gaan takes out the lone guard with a ninja star, and then he and I sneak into the outpost through this sewer pipe. Once we got inside, Gaan was immediately grabbed by a cyborg enemy and taken through a door that locked behind him and his kidnapper.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJWFgw-mJEymI7x7VReSisNsToWQvnt641X6blxVCs-aBO6qNRhrCX0dhJbl7WeByh2K1iZ18zG1mx2HY__2DLB3Nbfm03FEs-pbRw0h2xl8MJN6BG7cnd4j-zFWJzaicip81J5rdbwuoM/s1600/3dgame_004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJWFgw-mJEymI7x7VReSisNsToWQvnt641X6blxVCs-aBO6qNRhrCX0dhJbl7WeByh2K1iZ18zG1mx2HY__2DLB3Nbfm03FEs-pbRw0h2xl8MJN6BG7cnd4j-zFWJzaicip81J5rdbwuoM/s640/3dgame_004.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Gaan!" I yelled</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After Gaan is taken, the game switches to the 3D adventure mode. The village leader mentioned earlier that he is a telepath, so assume that is him talking to my mind below.</div>
<div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKNa-BfKep8TWA6W8hCfQnYoE-YfWzwRUN3rfa2mkFgS6LuC2rIqlsW3-q-GapUxA0o-xh4_YmaBt127OkQdlUvtIoiNrdqoYhoIK3g60Vk3vl5amaF7WKqlZ0231R-GozM1cKVcSbw9wf/s1600/3dgame_005.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKNa-BfKep8TWA6W8hCfQnYoE-YfWzwRUN3rfa2mkFgS6LuC2rIqlsW3-q-GapUxA0o-xh4_YmaBt127OkQdlUvtIoiNrdqoYhoIK3g60Vk3vl5amaF7WKqlZ0231R-GozM1cKVcSbw9wf/s640/3dgame_005.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
OK, the 3D adventure part of the game. It is as awkward to control as I thought it would be. The camera is fixed and you move the character around my turning left or right and then pressing UP to go forward in that direction. The basic movement controls are similar to games like <i>Bioforge, Alone in the Dark, </i>and even the game I just finished playing: <i>Crusader: No Remorse. </i>And like those games, the controls are difficult to use.<br />
<br />
And also like those games, the camera is fixed and sometimes it is fixed at inconvenient positions that makes it so you can't see where your character is going. I'll try to find a bad one for a screenshot later on. I'm starting out in a sewer pipe here so there isn't a lot to say about the background graphics besides the fact they are fine. There is no mistaking that this is a game that came out early in 3D polygonal graphics technology though. I can barely tell that my character has a face, his entire body is heavily pixelated. But I'll give the game a pass for that since it did come out in 1995.<br />
<br />
The first thing I'm going to do is check out that conspicuous blue thing on the wall. My copy of the game is just the jewel case, but I was lucky enough to find a manual online so I could check the controls. "1" draws my weapon, CTRL fires, and SPACEBAR uses things. Using the blue thing brings up a computer interface in an alien language.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifQTpGcDWGN2rcpRhljGNw1fzqwrBwZH1mS00yjCNK32f9o9dGwce9oCjwIB0CBbYOvT_rWUEB_Fk5LUI6qnR1z_ADsvfQrSVaVgzi8dG5uBM65ecKtxOlN-G0w__M3owSsgTAW8X0aUdL/s1600/3dgame_003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifQTpGcDWGN2rcpRhljGNw1fzqwrBwZH1mS00yjCNK32f9o9dGwce9oCjwIB0CBbYOvT_rWUEB_Fk5LUI6qnR1z_ADsvfQrSVaVgzi8dG5uBM65ecKtxOlN-G0w__M3owSsgTAW8X0aUdL/s640/3dgame_003.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Indeed</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In a nice touch, I can use the top button in the middle of the interface to access a database of...stuff and the bottom button to access a map. I can even click on parts of the map to bring up options to do things like open and close doors. Cool, I like that.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLUxbLRZVxZ6J-CCRBE7ChpbVmvk5SxEik00Gg9a8QzhicFk_-uuWbGUUzqqK19khFwX2Rjr8tnqffc0tanDMLD9PNXLudo9GPBA8d8tEx_9KTVa-ryuo8ophuPwYCA6sMN7WyV1xoCiq3/s640/3dgame_004.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maybe this is an enemy? From the database</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLUxbLRZVxZ6J-CCRBE7ChpbVmvk5SxEik00Gg9a8QzhicFk_-uuWbGUUzqqK19khFwX2Rjr8tnqffc0tanDMLD9PNXLudo9GPBA8d8tEx_9KTVa-ryuo8ophuPwYCA6sMN7WyV1xoCiq3/s1600/3dgame_004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br /></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLUxbLRZVxZ6J-CCRBE7ChpbVmvk5SxEik00Gg9a8QzhicFk_-uuWbGUUzqqK19khFwX2Rjr8tnqffc0tanDMLD9PNXLudo9GPBA8d8tEx_9KTVa-ryuo8ophuPwYCA6sMN7WyV1xoCiq3/s1600/3dgame_004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-uR9Uy6gZpq7bqL8W8NjQ40bUVQKCAKgfSbiIXdz2R7p8uzZBy2PAGOtQg3HUT8oC6uloy0zFOVmGLuqahhfJeKRbuXZNO4t03XrkOr4-mSDe3xbWF50d3s05RJnur92_BvTP218qF7n4/s1600/3dgame_007.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-uR9Uy6gZpq7bqL8W8NjQ40bUVQKCAKgfSbiIXdz2R7p8uzZBy2PAGOtQg3HUT8oC6uloy0zFOVmGLuqahhfJeKRbuXZNO4t03XrkOr4-mSDe3xbWF50d3s05RJnur92_BvTP218qF7n4/s640/3dgame_007.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Map (also, I like the reflection in the screen)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After messing around with the computer for a bit, the only way forward is to walk further down the pipeline. The depth perception in this game is pretty horrible, I can't tell if the pipe goes on for a hundred feet or 5 feet.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwrH2lxuzgTYKm_ozGqSUMqlD0PBkrKIP0ovDUKsRGiCf3WrBXmV0WELoDNSQowaPnyHHtJjsBwPWy-xFdHq761dlCQH7YkcAXgSRM3YUI5Qybq18-gdu78D5lahjWl2Kr3C8pZK4-5kng/s1600/3dgame_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwrH2lxuzgTYKm_ozGqSUMqlD0PBkrKIP0ovDUKsRGiCf3WrBXmV0WELoDNSQowaPnyHHtJjsBwPWy-xFdHq761dlCQH7YkcAXgSRM3YUI5Qybq18-gdu78D5lahjWl2Kr3C8pZK4-5kng/s640/3dgame_001.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
After less than 5 feet, I fell down a hole into another pipe, and this pipe has a fan that is sucking me towards it! I can run against it and escape its pull, but if I stand still it pulls me in. Also, notice how I don't really have a face. The red ring around the fan makes me think this might be a bad idea, but I'm going to try running through its blades since I can't think of any other way to go.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLZOBYPebsVHc4g8zBfQms3TrAEOwDZrfvHlME-h9EZwm5ZoXgsWs0yNzDtaMU2giJ4ZjFj_LQlstWIg1R5skyLTnaPmsLBpbXvweZxP-Mc3VNGDYSt9URkYgJAP-XAzXprFKQ5T0GSAYf/s1600/3dgame_002.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLZOBYPebsVHc4g8zBfQms3TrAEOwDZrfvHlME-h9EZwm5ZoXgsWs0yNzDtaMU2giJ4ZjFj_LQlstWIg1R5skyLTnaPmsLBpbXvweZxP-Mc3VNGDYSt9URkYgJAP-XAzXprFKQ5T0GSAYf/s640/3dgame_002.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That didn't work</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
Instead of running through the blades, the blades chopped me up into pieces. Maybe shooting the fan is an option. My weapon shoots a green laser and does not appear to be limited by ammunition, which is good since the aiming is so impossible so far.</div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWUox2qs0-q7uIPozkhQQnI785vnnCqW1EHt694M-Oz6gjt-2oLD4umFUe3qp056Q7l9MJIwMDVXqxowmD3nu1tBs5O-nAXshwaSMb86xwi0Zb7vHoWnfqZsc-H76eBrpcfxKx6g3TU1YZ/s1600/3dgame_010.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWUox2qs0-q7uIPozkhQQnI785vnnCqW1EHt694M-Oz6gjt-2oLD4umFUe3qp056Q7l9MJIwMDVXqxowmD3nu1tBs5O-nAXshwaSMb86xwi0Zb7vHoWnfqZsc-H76eBrpcfxKx6g3TU1YZ/s640/3dgame_010.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ha</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
I was able to shoot the fan which destroyed it and opened a passageway forward. After dropping down into a few more holes and jumping over another fan, I came to the first enemy that I could easily see. It is a small lizard type creature that does not seem sentient. In fact, it is just kind of sitting there even after I shot at a it a few times.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheWYwy3O2VPxP06HBbFw7pMDZeIVZYvfxKOZnFrHLK2sheCOsdZypFykv1cbEr51mxj7LhoOKJTC7hhxrH3rU6np4a5kBlspNK4Tvld6vHu7hMHGRBhi-QmFJK6gvlwhSe300nJpa0AhEQ/s1600/3dgame_023.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheWYwy3O2VPxP06HBbFw7pMDZeIVZYvfxKOZnFrHLK2sheCOsdZypFykv1cbEr51mxj7LhoOKJTC7hhxrH3rU6np4a5kBlspNK4Tvld6vHu7hMHGRBhi-QmFJK6gvlwhSe300nJpa0AhEQ/s640/3dgame_023.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shooting at a lizard creature</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The next room seems to be a dead end, unless those conspicuously placed barrels could be explosive...?<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn_x2Z6s1vdnzvf9mbPx1C1b-y8ZHux6D1HeG83jgILKDuDySgXtLcjp76m-EnUN3E3rXMUuLVf6oTkFqD5-cEvdLlYfXYrWeb1kFVuuetIlX1y8335oot4UQAg1lIYxkNEhKChkbGc2Hv/s1600/3dgame_024.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn_x2Z6s1vdnzvf9mbPx1C1b-y8ZHux6D1HeG83jgILKDuDySgXtLcjp76m-EnUN3E3rXMUuLVf6oTkFqD5-cEvdLlYfXYrWeb1kFVuuetIlX1y8335oot4UQAg1lIYxkNEhKChkbGc2Hv/s640/3dgame_024.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There's something about the way those barrels are placed...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7DE8NEE7laBg1r4fudtHtZgZJ3QUMTJZ6rzNnESt1T4dMOZOTWHXgW7TCkGhCPjLatGg7cg5wBZdpwB1aBVULGAQSuvwztw3tggQbogbiGAQi7PrM4qtwnurrSr1zRZkdKKrQqA_3zqPC/s1600/3dgame_025.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7DE8NEE7laBg1r4fudtHtZgZJ3QUMTJZ6rzNnESt1T4dMOZOTWHXgW7TCkGhCPjLatGg7cg5wBZdpwB1aBVULGAQSuvwztw3tggQbogbiGAQi7PrM4qtwnurrSr1zRZkdKKrQqA_3zqPC/s640/3dgame_025.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They are explosive</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
That opened up another passage way. I'm thankful there haven't been any difficult puzzles to solve yet, especially involving that alien computer interface. Although I have a feeling I'll be using that later. The game has been linear so far, but I've gone done some holes and taken an elevator, so I'm moving around a lot vertically. It was not long before I found my first cyborg enemy and fought a pretty one-sided duel with it. It shot back at me a few times, but it was pretty easy to kill.</div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL6A3UZo8-LBSbseQY0vSZJ1IsbkWSPiq4hZ33nJLp9UM0xxGi2QkLL-HwhCYGQS38rSOlcdJA-35pzUAmZgeQQF8F7UPFQOK3Tl05YIjatKv0f-Pg6Jy4oVo_78MzDbJyuaSfePQmIrha/s1600/aogif1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="636" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL6A3UZo8-LBSbseQY0vSZJ1IsbkWSPiq4hZ33nJLp9UM0xxGi2QkLL-HwhCYGQS38rSOlcdJA-35pzUAmZgeQQF8F7UPFQOK3Tl05YIjatKv0f-Pg6Jy4oVo_78MzDbJyuaSfePQmIrha/s640/aogif1.gif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My first encounter with an enemy cyborg</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
It seems to have the same kind of weapon that I do. Which makes sense because I'm using a borrowed weapon from my new alien friends, and they evolved from the same species as these enemies. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I killed one of these guys and it dropped one of it's hands that I assume I can pick up since none of the other cyborgs were dropping a hand. It took me a long time to figure out that crouch (Z) is also the pickup button. You have to lined up exactly on the item, so I spend a few minutes bobbing up and down walking around in circles trying to pick up that damn hand. </div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikPU64UKuzOwdWWUTR85L9QFSlUDS0FDpYNtfCmSQ4_TGEvv19zM7owhRty7ZoFMJcL_h1THBaUlcR3MGh810OIw838UA2phPcrc5vfo1ecm6Yy-Q8EEVzGVvF-3WO9QTZ2cL4YkyrCNja/s1600/3dgame_005.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikPU64UKuzOwdWWUTR85L9QFSlUDS0FDpYNtfCmSQ4_TGEvv19zM7owhRty7ZoFMJcL_h1THBaUlcR3MGh810OIw838UA2phPcrc5vfo1ecm6Yy-Q8EEVzGVvF-3WO9QTZ2cL4YkyrCNja/s640/3dgame_005.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The hand</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>
Now that I have the hand, I can't figure out to do with it. The controls are very simple, there is only one weapon and one fire button and no inventory, so I know it's not a second weapon I can equip. I finally had to break down and check an online walkthrough, and it turns out I need to go back to earlier computer console and use that console to upgrade my laser. I don't think I would have found that out on my own.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYsIwJYGluiknXZ57Kp99pmebHJJvMTpK_YpRYAKKJFQ0xCbNb_1MJxhgKku7swFwmQ3AUWQs9Sss6TWaovxt_wiMKV3cc_YPKMQZsId7qwRXdtp-sodSvfUc11UwUBbQ-7U97QT_9gZmB/s1600/3dgame_006.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYsIwJYGluiknXZ57Kp99pmebHJJvMTpK_YpRYAKKJFQ0xCbNb_1MJxhgKku7swFwmQ3AUWQs9Sss6TWaovxt_wiMKV3cc_YPKMQZsId7qwRXdtp-sodSvfUc11UwUBbQ-7U97QT_9gZmB/s640/3dgame_006.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Now it's my new hand</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAmZGXegNeierpUoGuwTrlU00CuIacAE0Ca4gxrTjD2lF4rnDMS2iM47SqeMRg2wNnKM2E1qUoJwvfM_rdwZy0xm5By9gwdMpT8wePfWFTW19cUjx4QgCbsQe5ReZbsKxkf1BS4hrYsBjB/s1600/3dgame_009.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAmZGXegNeierpUoGuwTrlU00CuIacAE0Ca4gxrTjD2lF4rnDMS2iM47SqeMRg2wNnKM2E1qUoJwvfM_rdwZy0xm5By9gwdMpT8wePfWFTW19cUjx4QgCbsQe5ReZbsKxkf1BS4hrYsBjB/s640/3dgame_009.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Upgrading my laser</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After upgrading my laser (it now shoots red and faster), I find my way to much more open environment of raised platforms over a deep pit. Even my character comments how big it is.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGrI8o7-4NNknnoMuUi-aCZDkEPSMDettLd8Kchk5qnkTeG_nSZyK0cEh2a344b8fIn7dpTqJLIIsAvU0rYEhBq9oEaqy1kwmkgi3MijKYKmLLuhH3hiiyqIzWxDuDboi8jDHrlCnJZ5Mz/s1600/3dgame_010.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGrI8o7-4NNknnoMuUi-aCZDkEPSMDettLd8Kchk5qnkTeG_nSZyK0cEh2a344b8fIn7dpTqJLIIsAvU0rYEhBq9oEaqy1kwmkgi3MijKYKmLLuhH3hiiyqIzWxDuDboi8jDHrlCnJZ5Mz/s640/3dgame_010.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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I'm a little worried about falling off these platforms, since this seems exactly like the kind of game that would have that be a possibility.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWMvoijd96VljToLcMQ7D6HHYe3Vi6_yjf0MvZ10_5y8QtyXSA6AO0Y9q71tRTBwfKpZ1j5THLHnrPJfFV7RAA2XCpz5j3brtPuMgNmPvx_tctoIHaygdtiKCFxI-2SHwqw1PyShuUMDJ7/s1600/3dgame_011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWMvoijd96VljToLcMQ7D6HHYe3Vi6_yjf0MvZ10_5y8QtyXSA6AO0Y9q71tRTBwfKpZ1j5THLHnrPJfFV7RAA2XCpz5j3brtPuMgNmPvx_tctoIHaygdtiKCFxI-2SHwqw1PyShuUMDJ7/s640/3dgame_011.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">*sigh*</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDtrXnmrBdAKSkI1OY00u2jXpufgKYOoBzkB7-2z-NJhNlCXrNj__sQUbdOS_ZMQy2BXJ-eBMrt82KieiI4jpEOHJCS_SogbO4vMOTZhcEazNiuiCcF1flcNUxwrJgToh4ie9QRW_9HBTz/s1600/3dgame_012.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDtrXnmrBdAKSkI1OY00u2jXpufgKYOoBzkB7-2z-NJhNlCXrNj__sQUbdOS_ZMQy2BXJ-eBMrt82KieiI4jpEOHJCS_SogbO4vMOTZhcEazNiuiCcF1flcNUxwrJgToh4ie9QRW_9HBTz/s640/3dgame_012.png" width="640" /></a><br />
OK so I need to be more careful around the edges. Actually, after reloading my game and walking around, it turns out the part where I fell off the platform is the only part you can fall off, I think. Everywhere else, the railings do their job. There were two enemies on the platforms that I dispatched, and then I mapped what else is up here. There is one computer terminal, one elevator, and one broken looking piece of platform. I'm going to use the computer terminal first before going anywhere.<br />
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It brings up the usual database and map options. On the map option, I can click on two things. Clicking on a big wrench symbol (aliens use wrenches like us!) plays a video of a repair droid coming down to fix the bridge but instead it breaks the bridge, creating a ramp down to the lower level:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd3lCt1Q2Xu40Kqt_4Os4uIY-vM1jahmSXgy0WaXcqiigcNMhs0qv5l0BbCRlooxdZ212qRHq33EkJr7-jj1ChfufwQxdVV67qbeiY3twI74i6uY5ZoaBGQ35mFcIMi3VWe8XLP_uk5J1_/s1600/3dgame_015.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd3lCt1Q2Xu40Kqt_4Os4uIY-vM1jahmSXgy0WaXcqiigcNMhs0qv5l0BbCRlooxdZ212qRHq33EkJr7-jj1ChfufwQxdVV67qbeiY3twI74i6uY5ZoaBGQ35mFcIMi3VWe8XLP_uk5J1_/s640/3dgame_015.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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The other thing I can click on the map is a doorway button that when clicked brings a clear tube across to connect to the dead end platform that I fell off earlier. I followed the ramp down and it brought me eventually to a dead end where my character won't go on because it's too dark. So I must need to turn on some lights somehow.<br />
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Taking the elevator down lead me to a new kind of cyborg enemy that did some nasty damage to me and also resulted in a dead end door that I could not open.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaIgxwPnBRGFU6MYqFXuNQgO01H-szKJ-ZyXia_cE5LkxQx-dkViBahDQ6LZvP_RD7l0yeC5Xt-j2oaaCIvEUcD1yznLuRmdxX5FUtWzqvlXmkLI6jx0jXrVveuVbmC_6x8fO8NCg2Yhz4/s1600/3dgame_017.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaIgxwPnBRGFU6MYqFXuNQgO01H-szKJ-ZyXia_cE5LkxQx-dkViBahDQ6LZvP_RD7l0yeC5Xt-j2oaaCIvEUcD1yznLuRmdxX5FUtWzqvlXmkLI6jx0jXrVveuVbmC_6x8fO8NCg2Yhz4/s640/3dgame_017.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The silver blob is the new enemy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So the only other option is to go across the clear tube that I activated on the computer terminal. I found a room that has a lattice-work of lasers across the floor, and an item to pick up on the otherside of the room. If I've learned anything from videos games about lasers on floors, its that walking through those lasers will trigger some kind of trap.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHw0_4prPRuI0VyxDt6otMW2JDPKfKZNCtp1EkqrS74FcXacMIMqrR3bvHGbwsFM5cJNVLCkiqs248XY0_kJamN0picl3hUqpvsBepFjRCr4uQh1lqVoEajRF3egews6C3yCuJEzwClQeH/s1600/3dgame_024.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHw0_4prPRuI0VyxDt6otMW2JDPKfKZNCtp1EkqrS74FcXacMIMqrR3bvHGbwsFM5cJNVLCkiqs248XY0_kJamN0picl3hUqpvsBepFjRCr4uQh1lqVoEajRF3egews6C3yCuJEzwClQeH/s640/3dgame_024.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's a trap!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Yep! Those green lasers are shooting at me from the turrets that rose up in the corners of the room. I was able to pick up the thing and it is an Audio Key. Checking the manual lets me know that Audio Keys are used to open security doors by using them to match the notes made by the doors. I'm glad I checked the manual again because I also learned that the enemies are called "Daks" and I learned the game has 4 levels: The Forest (which I already played), the Mine, and two Dak Bases (Armory and Outpost). So that gives me an idea of the length of the game.<br />
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Using the audio key here was easy since the security door I needed to open only made one sound, but I'm sure they will get more difficult later on.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9vaJhy38g2fq5i-crbY05X-p1c8_BnQnEpZqsKkCBiVfEgqN2BSzNnFz23SRJCyXKWQN0tab3SR12MU5k07IgahaRIZuQ-qu5j0JXGtmKHfO2YIpigoA3bgVBZoCgtAXOKiLrQVW96wo5/s1600/3dgame_025.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9vaJhy38g2fq5i-crbY05X-p1c8_BnQnEpZqsKkCBiVfEgqN2BSzNnFz23SRJCyXKWQN0tab3SR12MU5k07IgahaRIZuQ-qu5j0JXGtmKHfO2YIpigoA3bgVBZoCgtAXOKiLrQVW96wo5/s640/3dgame_025.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Audio key interface</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzo9XdoFoB3VeqHepKQnhOIRqjZZ8E9bxCLi9kValirEUORlrOnpY4TNoPtoSKo-HiIpmzpLniaoPY6Xk4wzyXLXZnPlmG_wHG8MOaBYdguJ9qEaZDpCgNYD9D9j-x4lS_X5aQMEKiPF5a/s1600/3dgame_029.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzo9XdoFoB3VeqHepKQnhOIRqjZZ8E9bxCLi9kValirEUORlrOnpY4TNoPtoSKo-HiIpmzpLniaoPY6Xk4wzyXLXZnPlmG_wHG8MOaBYdguJ9qEaZDpCgNYD9D9j-x4lS_X5aQMEKiPF5a/s640/3dgame_029.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Those yellow bolts are coming from an enemy I can't see</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'm now coming to some larger rooms that are made difficult by the terrible camera angles. In the screenshot above, a Dak is shooting me from outside the screen, so all I can do is blindly shoot back at the direction the Dak's bolts are coming from and hope I hit him. Look at my health too, I'm doing so great.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikovhZGIQmVreEM3YvynT56JsdVJvvPxqIvsZI0iIBkkRMt8S12fNI6tsr3VxtRtoX2yYsE2Ow7ZNhYdwLzJHTD4AgxzHbTqytR8AxuqBhFqaW_u_T1LtirTm2xPsdfBwy8V-RvfePiU2d/s1600/3dgame_030.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikovhZGIQmVreEM3YvynT56JsdVJvvPxqIvsZI0iIBkkRMt8S12fNI6tsr3VxtRtoX2yYsE2Ow7ZNhYdwLzJHTD4AgxzHbTqytR8AxuqBhFqaW_u_T1LtirTm2xPsdfBwy8V-RvfePiU2d/s640/3dgame_030.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Again</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Whoa, I let this post get out of hand again, it is getting way too long. I need to work on posting less detail I think. I'll try to wrap this one up soon.<br />
<br />
Now that the levels is opening up with some larger rooms, I'm having issues getting my bearings and keeping the rooms straight. A lot of these big hangers look the same. I'm also dangerously low on health and I'm not finding any health pickups. I did find another powerup for my gun though, so I have "more firepower", as my character says.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDUPzl9i7e1Tby2Vkkjk52wnvMd90upGMhw4yqvZjwV6MTEqu_78H8W5EMVpj59I3d09Vdx8XYVAU512VauM77Fo7d_m5xdvyfnRom7M-KWpQ-YPAzWXPzvqs0Kk_PuQsYYtSZuaxuw0QT/s1600/3dgame_036.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDUPzl9i7e1Tby2Vkkjk52wnvMd90upGMhw4yqvZjwV6MTEqu_78H8W5EMVpj59I3d09Vdx8XYVAU512VauM77Fo7d_m5xdvyfnRom7M-KWpQ-YPAzWXPzvqs0Kk_PuQsYYtSZuaxuw0QT/s640/3dgame_036.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Button pressing puzzle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This was a timing puzzle that took me a while to beat. The three consoles all have to be activated and running at the same time. But when I turned one on, it only stays on for 10 seconds or so. So I needed to rush to all three consoles and turn them on all within 10 seconds of starting the first one. I actually prefer timing puzzles like this over platforming puzzles. As I've said many many many times already on this site. Sorry.<br />
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After completing that puzzle, I received a message from my alien ally that I need to find and disrupt their communication beam by finding its terminal.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjanSQj5elH6NoeHzOPwRe6vsKaXpm656W59oPw1rmG6XjdAZe5HiSWXDZZw4MJrQMFDw-6SAP2FPPVn6yP1tc_RhbXd_6V5DJU5dn1cWO8aiBU6-El7XIjEfWq7f5MNu3-uc8al6d6zWli/s1600/3dgame_039.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjanSQj5elH6NoeHzOPwRe6vsKaXpm656W59oPw1rmG6XjdAZe5HiSWXDZZw4MJrQMFDw-6SAP2FPPVn6yP1tc_RhbXd_6V5DJU5dn1cWO8aiBU6-El7XIjEfWq7f5MNu3-uc8al6d6zWli/s640/3dgame_039.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Health!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The final part of this level was confusing so I'll just outline what I did. I ran back to an earlier part of the level and boarded a tram to a central computer room. There I turned off a bunch of things on another alien computer interface screen. I then took the tram back and went to a big central room where I had to crouch to shoot a laser lens that was not obvious at all. I then went back to another seemingly random computer terminal and turned the laser back on, which resulted in a self-destruct sequence where I have limited time to escape.<br />
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I am probably just getting older and I'm probably not as invested in this game as I should be for a legitimate playthrough, but there is no way I would have figured this out on my own. I used a walkthrough to finish this last part of the mission. I think there are a couple reasons why I found it so difficult. First off, like I mentioned, I am not super invested in this game. If I was, I may be more inclined to remember which computer terminals control what and which doors remained locked vs. which can be opened by switches, etc. Also, this kind of difficulty was just more prevalent during this era of gaming. Without these puzzles, the game's levels are not that big and could be rushed through in an hour. But this game requires the player to backtrack a lot and re-try all of these terminals and buttons that the player has already passed by. There is a lot of trial and error and backtracking that adds length to the game. I suppose if you paid extreme attention you could remember that there was a terminal further back in the level that had a button that you couldn't press at the time, and could therefore intuit that maybe that button would be active now. But that is a lot to ask of a player (me) right now.<br />
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But back in the 90s, we didn't have easy access to walkthroughs online, so if we bought a game like this, we put in the time and effort to solve these kinds of puzzles. I'm just not willing to do it right now. Also, I don't like this game very much.<br />
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ANYWAY...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0m8JdLKj9ifBW1PKt95MS1oISea_xOgJcUhLYTHvmw4QPWM8KPT5phM8KluNIwNoibu9KdFiTm_gaU8NhysejkjO24T4ucamkAvPH9wYFhqa-oBqk0k16Xo9aRky_y_0keKVoynCOyvtO/s1600/3dgame_040.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0m8JdLKj9ifBW1PKt95MS1oISea_xOgJcUhLYTHvmw4QPWM8KPT5phM8KluNIwNoibu9KdFiTm_gaU8NhysejkjO24T4ucamkAvPH9wYFhqa-oBqk0k16Xo9aRky_y_0keKVoynCOyvtO/s640/3dgame_040.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Add caption</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Now I have a timer to escape, it starts at 4:00. I need to run back through a lot of the level to escape. Again, I would not have any idea to go without a walkthrough. I end up finding a door that had been previously locked and opened by using a computer terminal that had a button that I previously could not push. Clear as mud.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTEMZ9IxVe4JaBHsjMxeax1UKB1noa10BOypx2WWE2N-ijzs1tF_2sx2PwYP8APCRtSTkZn9p6dc2t4dXqWuy3r4k7OSuzPH-hag81JhOt43iUyVMYTQi5HG31DaJXrHRCeqEnnxW_L-Sm/s1600/3dgame_041.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTEMZ9IxVe4JaBHsjMxeax1UKB1noa10BOypx2WWE2N-ijzs1tF_2sx2PwYP8APCRtSTkZn9p6dc2t4dXqWuy3r4k7OSuzPH-hag81JhOt43iUyVMYTQi5HG31DaJXrHRCeqEnnxW_L-Sm/s640/3dgame_041.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Timer in the upper right</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9S55U6eddJWqEzhWWNhB7ndpXSq59AXu8xDxui0sNQI9KPhGh3ePlsyyerubmLu_bcDs2rCbFNrazncRcd5672Gwu4QgEB-U7EhIJZfEABxQng3irGfuzQFoal3t8oD5JLSQXspOT0cv7/s1600/3dgame_042.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9S55U6eddJWqEzhWWNhB7ndpXSq59AXu8xDxui0sNQI9KPhGh3ePlsyyerubmLu_bcDs2rCbFNrazncRcd5672Gwu4QgEB-U7EhIJZfEABxQng3irGfuzQFoal3t8oD5JLSQXspOT0cv7/s640/3dgame_042.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That big mech looks dangerous</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I found my way to this big hanger guarded by the biggest enemy I've encountered yet. A huge purple mech.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLs7Y6kLn5YSpFGOCBiEEIyL-BoVmPGAqSiBN45irCd-gX3efup9q7H2zTlP5nxyNpTCP4WKj2m5LU08Tbp0ewc3VLQRMkJtNhtuWFOpfRUXQ3F18ljbiNIYF8xzSkHqyte2cu5stMaDZb/s1600/3dgame_043.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLs7Y6kLn5YSpFGOCBiEEIyL-BoVmPGAqSiBN45irCd-gX3efup9q7H2zTlP5nxyNpTCP4WKj2m5LU08Tbp0ewc3VLQRMkJtNhtuWFOpfRUXQ3F18ljbiNIYF8xzSkHqyte2cu5stMaDZb/s640/3dgame_043.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fighting the purple mech</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After destroying the big purple mech, I ran do a door and started a cool first-person shooting sequence where I need to shoot an oncoming truck.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilpq31j_IOMke6XdFZpKM3FQxy0F-M27LGoBoSgUpdovnEUOQX8vRzno5WL7XCuU8GJQa5svkGqdfKvJwNG7PgvEnCQqxFLEgHBLiyTAslncsY_6ILH6CfJIqs504n7_LtynxH4bNvzRFc/s1600/3dgame_046.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilpq31j_IOMke6XdFZpKM3FQxy0F-M27LGoBoSgUpdovnEUOQX8vRzno5WL7XCuU8GJQa5svkGqdfKvJwNG7PgvEnCQqxFLEgHBLiyTAslncsY_6ILH6CfJIqs504n7_LtynxH4bNvzRFc/s640/3dgame_046.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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I kind of liked this quick sequence, too bad it only lasts a few seconds. The game should include more of like it.<br />
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After that, the escape cinematic plays of me escaping the exploding outpost:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuoA5ko7yxHjH1oIHvfmyiLPTQ6YWYD3qNPX1Y8tyhG0oMpBuVPzA2n-VeVFYhzdpw-sVPHjL2-Xb9z5kfzE4wWpjLgj_AVkaGuqTX-4Iaxo4fOW4BgMZqFQaHFodb_5ymuL8fDOkGk5In/s1600/3dgame_049.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuoA5ko7yxHjH1oIHvfmyiLPTQ6YWYD3qNPX1Y8tyhG0oMpBuVPzA2n-VeVFYhzdpw-sVPHjL2-Xb9z5kfzE4wWpjLgj_AVkaGuqTX-4Iaxo4fOW4BgMZqFQaHFodb_5ymuL8fDOkGk5In/s640/3dgame_049.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Action hero style!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As soon as I return to the alien village, the elder immediately tells me to attack the Dak armory where Gaan and some other prisoners are held. Come on man! Can I at least get a snack and a shower? The main character actually complains about needing some down time. But nope! The next sequence is a rail shooter sequence:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdSIqFg6a2t8cbgeuE113WDwhzjmCN2W9QEviI2BD9ghbIZIL3eGUPYt3LQwYnUO7cNlVZQK93XM-fLTfufmbCALbIGR6gP1j98XPEDFlcr_uMG0sH_uOAYPcoCvzMOhQW0bNueU8IBAx0/s1600/dos4gw_000.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdSIqFg6a2t8cbgeuE113WDwhzjmCN2W9QEviI2BD9ghbIZIL3eGUPYt3LQwYnUO7cNlVZQK93XM-fLTfufmbCALbIGR6gP1j98XPEDFlcr_uMG0sH_uOAYPcoCvzMOhQW0bNueU8IBAx0/s640/dos4gw_000.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzL-pMp0WlCxcNIF-qfnm0M3WZImXtgX_gvaLmTkiMmUHaFfA1oQX0IeAVI0Leex5J1IpOv1lXvx4K4Z_LV3G8toCGUBD-k1u5lhRP2ddSMvVq6r2E6IyUwQtmzDBgDazEo8sHqDIS2mMl/s1600/dos4gw_004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzL-pMp0WlCxcNIF-qfnm0M3WZImXtgX_gvaLmTkiMmUHaFfA1oQX0IeAVI0Leex5J1IpOv1lXvx4K4Z_LV3G8toCGUBD-k1u5lhRP2ddSMvVq6r2E6IyUwQtmzDBgDazEo8sHqDIS2mMl/s640/dos4gw_004.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not doing too well...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This sequence is pretty tough. I need to shoot enemies, their bombs they throw at me, and oncoming pylons. The game also seems to hint that I need to roll my ship to line up with the tunnel openings, but I can't figure out how. Maybe I am supposed to use my shields and just absorb the hits I take from hitting the tunnel debris?<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMZnXkVp6FFYdgxGf8u7D6pOiOyrt5k0xHFhyphenhyphenNTZd1Bl1A56iseJ2ZnQbdEL0XZhp_TTZlRA8oMMAiOPE13pPWVh9vWxwjso3PxMNEp_UUGGMgNsdErx3JG-GkoHg3MvTjDqslQhSTF4Sz/s1600/dos4gw_009.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="320" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMZnXkVp6FFYdgxGf8u7D6pOiOyrt5k0xHFhyphenhyphenNTZd1Bl1A56iseJ2ZnQbdEL0XZhp_TTZlRA8oMMAiOPE13pPWVh9vWxwjso3PxMNEp_UUGGMgNsdErx3JG-GkoHg3MvTjDqslQhSTF4Sz/s640/dos4gw_009.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I failed</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I tried this sequence a few times, but I think it's time to call it quits on Alien Odyssey. I put a few hours into it and I'm ready to move on to the next game.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- Review -</u></span></h2>
</div>
<div>
Alien Odyssey is definitely a product of its time. The gameplay is just not very good in any of its modes, but that was considered OK at the time because it had great graphics. Developers were so excited to make use of the new possibilities of CD-ROMs and improving computer graphics that a lot of times they forgot to make the gameplay good. There are many examples of terrible FMV games that exist solely because they are FMV. Alien Odyssey is not as bad as many of those games, but it is not good either. </div>
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The graphics are difficult to criticize because while they look horrible when compared to today's games, they were really good when it originally came out. The voice acting is not great, but it was notable that it had voice acting at all. Also, the main village elder does a nice job. </div>
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<div>
The opening scene on the jetbikes is not bad. It is a rail shooter with pre-rendered graphics and that's all there is to it. It's hard to nitpick on that kind of gameplay because there is so little to it. The cursor is responsive and I like the sound of the machine guns. That's all I can really say. Similarly, the sequence in the mine at the end of my playthrough is good enough, even though I died trying to get through it. It reminds me a similarly frustrating sequence in <i>Rebel Assault 2. </i></div>
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The 3D third person adventuring was not any fun. I had more fun on the rail shooting scenes even though they were just a small fraction of my playing time. The adventuring portion has poor control and confusing puzzles. A big problem is nothing is ever explained to the player, I never really had any idea of what to do. Essentially, I was just constantly trying to progress to new rooms and hope that another cinematic would trigger and move the story forward. Without a walkthrough, I would never have figured out I was supposed to shoot the lens while crouching and I would have never figured out which computer terminal to use to start the self-destruct sequence or which ones open some of the doors. </div>
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Even though the game has most of its emphasis on the adventuring part, it is not as well developed as other games of the time. You don't have an inventory, there are no NPCs, no backstory, and a really wimpy sounding weapon. I do like that I was able to upgrade my gun though. </div>
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After spending a few hours with Alien Odyssey, I can say that I don't recommend it. It's not a terrible game, but it contains a lot of the tropes that were common in the 90s (sacrificing gameplay for graphics, obtuse puzzles) that will drive modern gamers crazy. I give it 1 Alien Odyssey Hero out of 5.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsEAN5-cWsuPhraWuzl-GD3CyrtNAMlCV3-1z3sFbZVpu3sSXfLmY5lKDwtqPYmcDBVXbzclef7hfMEe_Y0FdOcgXmhy2lia57CvLq5v_eJ2vOnybrOZBjELxeN2EVMg7fbOQBSprJjwPc/s1600/scoreao.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="729" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsEAN5-cWsuPhraWuzl-GD3CyrtNAMlCV3-1z3sFbZVpu3sSXfLmY5lKDwtqPYmcDBVXbzclef7hfMEe_Y0FdOcgXmhy2lia57CvLq5v_eJ2vOnybrOZBjELxeN2EVMg7fbOQBSprJjwPc/s640/scoreao.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Thanks for reading my post about Alien Odyssey! I'm not sure what the next will be. If anyone reads this and has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069718226803277447.post-28005655656748238372018-01-24T16:47:00.003-08:002018-01-28T13:50:18.728-08:00Crusader: No Remorse - Part 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbeksMVPQCodvwajUmNoEahmaN6C0cGuvpbx3AE4hjmoOZKaP13IJxWff-Amju1GimURsfDg_x930CidpLh7D9tfzxyRA6K2IIexOMS1aDq6Fnb-6U-iUg9n5fW8yFHg1Iddwxkz3qbUpF/s1600/boxpc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="773" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbeksMVPQCodvwajUmNoEahmaN6C0cGuvpbx3AE4hjmoOZKaP13IJxWff-Amju1GimURsfDg_x930CidpLh7D9tfzxyRA6K2IIexOMS1aDq6Fnb-6U-iUg9n5fW8yFHg1Iddwxkz3qbUpF/s320/boxpc.jpg" width="264" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://rememberpcdosgames.blogspot.com/2018/01/crusader-no-remorse-part-2.html#more">Crusader: No Remorse - Part 2</a><br />
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<a href="http://rememberpcdosgames.blogspot.com/2018/01/crusader-no-remorse.html#more">Crusader: No Remorse - Part 1</a><br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- Mission 3 -</u></span></h2>
<div>
I've realized that to keep posting the amount of detail I have for the previous two posts will result in my just playing and posting about Crusader for the next month. While I don't mind playing Crusader, that will take up too much time and space on this site and I want to eventually get to other games. So I'm going to try to cut down again on how much I post for each game going forward. Like I've said before, this is new to me so I'm still trying to find a good middle ground. </div>
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Anyway, on to mission 3! Back at Echo Sector Base, no really has anything interesting to say to me. I am blamed for the deaths of the prisoners by some of the Resistance fighters, but we know it wasn't my fault. What I am going to do is buy a new gun from Weasel. I'm going to try one of the assault rifles.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrvGAAbPH1uFt_wadqO9b13N6LQy9PMZXDYgUnRQhE2CXDhsuDhoUDHZVOkQO5c0TigewcgpLRugKIMd3RpXwakP7yd6QbVcCc5lSbIov19ErBd2iZV5rF6koBnu4MRIYBJyjicQLsy8TE/s1600/Screenshot+%2528281%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrvGAAbPH1uFt_wadqO9b13N6LQy9PMZXDYgUnRQhE2CXDhsuDhoUDHZVOkQO5c0TigewcgpLRugKIMd3RpXwakP7yd6QbVcCc5lSbIov19ErBd2iZV5rF6koBnu4MRIYBJyjicQLsy8TE/s640/Screenshot+%2528281%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Buying a new gun</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
I ended up buying the RP-22 and some ammo (the step down from the one above). Hopefully I find some ammo in the next mission, but if not I still have my trusty pistol I've had since the beginning. The briefing by the commander states I am to infiltrate a mech factory and steal plans for a new mech the WEC is building. Seems easy enough.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOmZfBEApUDosXQMaQNZTy4ZUeS4yEQ-rThBj6fYidOaQI_YhFtOO0y25oU1EbAtHS6K96PJbbFoLayOA2TBR0gV48gbm1kUNZmQy2OKj5aJuDsiRdQAwTu7Epbq0WikXCeERgmzSr6I2W/s1600/Screenshot+%2528282%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOmZfBEApUDosXQMaQNZTy4ZUeS4yEQ-rThBj6fYidOaQI_YhFtOO0y25oU1EbAtHS6K96PJbbFoLayOA2TBR0gV48gbm1kUNZmQy2OKj5aJuDsiRdQAwTu7Epbq0WikXCeERgmzSr6I2W/s640/Screenshot+%2528282%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He's always got his cigar</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj88U47UaIb5g5iQm2YLyr8j-Il-A5UpK8oSDiuDWjirSneDSF8HPxb2TP33W3hidmdr5pfyy88CVSWf_n5HxskfQCHRtyIMomkPLH4lsLYiaRo1U45lS49V5F9GKdfK1sjFN-0JpsLATTC/s1600/Screenshot+%2528283%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj88U47UaIb5g5iQm2YLyr8j-Il-A5UpK8oSDiuDWjirSneDSF8HPxb2TP33W3hidmdr5pfyy88CVSWf_n5HxskfQCHRtyIMomkPLH4lsLYiaRo1U45lS49V5F9GKdfK1sjFN-0JpsLATTC/s640/Screenshot+%2528283%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting area</td></tr>
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<div>
Right away I notice this definitely a new environment. I've gone from an office space to an industrial space, with spilled barrels of pollution and lots of electrical transformers and storage bins and things like that. I'm also running across new enemies that are clad in blue instead of grey and they seem to have a bit more armor and take more shots to bring down. Also, some of them have a kind of laser gun that does more damage than usual. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCbwcXrLw6uV1VMuFi0CRI3h_p5XQ50hMQ2tTKlOEv7bQCR6V_mxaFUh0a74Jl4zl1inYrAg0xonAAWeMSnXkfhR9NwMryiYNSOWlm_uJ0yjsAICFyQaOdd7XKJsZk6By3vYDiLFUKYsF8/s1600/Screenshot+%2528284%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCbwcXrLw6uV1VMuFi0CRI3h_p5XQ50hMQ2tTKlOEv7bQCR6V_mxaFUh0a74Jl4zl1inYrAg0xonAAWeMSnXkfhR9NwMryiYNSOWlm_uJ0yjsAICFyQaOdd7XKJsZk6By3vYDiLFUKYsF8/s640/Screenshot+%2528284%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh damn, mechs!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There are also mech enemies on this level! Bad news! They shoot a laser and take a lot of shots to bring down. The brown barrels with the nuclear material insignia on them are explosive, so that can make for some nice pyrotechnics. Notice the enemy below that was too close and got lit on fire. This was a noteworthy enemy death animation when Crusader came out and was somewhat famous in PC gaming circles. In fact, there are few gruesome death animations that Crusader was famous for when it came out, like enemies disintegrating, melting, that kind of thing. But the poor guy below is doing the "on fire and burning" death animation.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd6fhui-yXPB72C_MydcriZUE9Zcfd10a8ELx8MTLp2sH4HoCfbRfAcNvginMe7CRS-zJOXVff5TynGnI1rNe7lRWP1hKmFxicNsIH5J6lNM2vW0QCuip5lXNkkoHngJ0Mdh-TaynfdPYD/s1600/Screenshot+%2528286%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd6fhui-yXPB72C_MydcriZUE9Zcfd10a8ELx8MTLp2sH4HoCfbRfAcNvginMe7CRS-zJOXVff5TynGnI1rNe7lRWP1hKmFxicNsIH5J6lNM2vW0QCuip5lXNkkoHngJ0Mdh-TaynfdPYD/s640/Screenshot+%2528286%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ouchy...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
It seems to me that having explosive barrels of nuclear waste laying around is another sign that the WEC does not take employee safety seriously. </div>
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<div>
A few minutes later in the level and I've come to a room with some dreaded platforming puzzles. I was really hoping that Crusader would keep these kinds of things to a minimum since I don't think anyone really likes them. In this room, there is one of those floating platforms moving around the room that I need to get on and ride to another part of the room.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNaags9_7997I_-9Fy1NvAiR0LoI2LapGUUzxRpnMz4NS__L0qxjnAx-bKHWaWzw0Yk0snDywFjtAfamlyEbLXAKC07X383Yo-OJUhWr_qFsWNnq6hFbZl0Pr-vh0C8Mj3dRjJnPsCOzx8/s1600/Screenshot+%2528288%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNaags9_7997I_-9Fy1NvAiR0LoI2LapGUUzxRpnMz4NS__L0qxjnAx-bKHWaWzw0Yk0snDywFjtAfamlyEbLXAKC07X383Yo-OJUhWr_qFsWNnq6hFbZl0Pr-vh0C8Mj3dRjJnPsCOzx8/s640/Screenshot+%2528288%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I need to get to the upper left area with the red keycard on the desk</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh80-wuxqdUiecO1VSJafFtJtyNRLYowDvPJIUbHAXXNSFTUeepoV0_eMVmF9SYQ7yE8zYHx45kQ0UDrhTL0YLi9c0YfuDPB1FXYj9zaPeeSWRjOj_ZVeWVZ0NY5ym88o55hPWFMQQ4yDqQ/s1600/Screenshot+%2528289%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh80-wuxqdUiecO1VSJafFtJtyNRLYowDvPJIUbHAXXNSFTUeepoV0_eMVmF9SYQ7yE8zYHx45kQ0UDrhTL0YLi9c0YfuDPB1FXYj9zaPeeSWRjOj_ZVeWVZ0NY5ym88o55hPWFMQQ4yDqQ/s640/Screenshot+%2528289%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here I am getting on the platform</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH5sHCLHZgfGZYnO6Ryl3ccFuPraOJ0LiBXnhIfJo-vEf7czNwomVsXtZ_SIXII1xXXZyqt2oBOqGrdZiKqxia6Xiki7Z5kZFtQv9UTWQPR5x3OSe01GX4XZy4EhHao_OqjAJw0-2rtgqF/s1600/Screenshot+%2528290%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH5sHCLHZgfGZYnO6Ryl3ccFuPraOJ0LiBXnhIfJo-vEf7czNwomVsXtZ_SIXII1xXXZyqt2oBOqGrdZiKqxia6Xiki7Z5kZFtQv9UTWQPR5x3OSe01GX4XZy4EhHao_OqjAJw0-2rtgqF/s640/Screenshot+%2528290%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Weee...I'm riding it</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX-Gh2cbsmxY33dqgqb1br-JjtFjNdMh-VOkFSKVi7PwTuu35B-3CObAiUQRhyphenhyphenwBE_tssTU3uVdf1UATPKfvrEXYFyzW8owdTlVwih9UldBmvXyHRF1wWpvMjbB03ptOdd_IJUbP31QvHc/s1600/Screenshot+%2528291%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX-Gh2cbsmxY33dqgqb1br-JjtFjNdMh-VOkFSKVi7PwTuu35B-3CObAiUQRhyphenhyphenwBE_tssTU3uVdf1UATPKfvrEXYFyzW8owdTlVwih9UldBmvXyHRF1wWpvMjbB03ptOdd_IJUbP31QvHc/s640/Screenshot+%2528291%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Made it</td></tr>
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<div>
That took me a long time to accomplish. To add to the difficulty, the red and blue lights on the walls are buttons that I needed to shoot in certain orders to raise and lower elevators that gave me access to the raised platforms from which I got onto the floating platform. It is difficult to describe, so lets just say it was annoying as hell. In fact, here is a GIF of me trying to maneuver a similar platforming section from later on in the level (it's a long GIF, I tried taking out some frames in the middle to cut down on size, I'm still new on making GIFs):</div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid46djwM_7oWJKbm-TL-6LYzaNE1rNeMipEOws9JAzb4n-Y-WklJIAa8NJW_YLdfZFk1Y7QzOaAKGgudGQzo9ck8YkcFJwZ8ywaEgW0YmAJNEhiMDxSfMA5kucfkg-eM17GuKEkB7kDkhy/s1600/crusadgif.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="631" height="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid46djwM_7oWJKbm-TL-6LYzaNE1rNeMipEOws9JAzb4n-Y-WklJIAa8NJW_YLdfZFk1Y7QzOaAKGgudGQzo9ck8YkcFJwZ8ywaEgW0YmAJNEhiMDxSfMA5kucfkg-eM17GuKEkB7kDkhy/s640/crusadgif.gif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
See, that just isn't fun. Sure it's difficult, but not difficult in a fun or challenging way. It's difficult in a frustrating way. I don't have anything against platformers or platforming action in a game, but the engine has to be built in a way that makes the platforming fun. In this instance, it just isn't. I don't really feel like I have control over the Silencer to make him do what I want. He doesn't respond to movement commands quickly enough or predictably enough, and those are key elements of having fun platforming in a game. So that is definitely a knock against Crusader. The controls are already iffy and clunky enough, adding precision movement puzzles into the game makes an already bad problem even worse. If I recall, this was also a complaint against Ultima VIII.<br />
<br />
At least in these sections, there is not jumping involved. In all the platforming areas in this level, I was only required to walk onto moving platforms and not jump onto them. And in the end I only had to redo each segment a few times before successfully completing it. I spent way more time figuring out button combination puzzles or key finding puzzles than I did on platforming segments. So don't get the wrong idea and think the whole level is one big platforming sequence, because it was only a few rooms that had things like this. They just drive me crazy.<br />
<br />
I eventually confronted and destroyed a few more mechs and found the secret plans and teleported out. An FMV movie played at the end of the level where I am introduced to who I assume is a main antagonist for the game. The cinematic sure doesn't leave any question as to whether or not he is a bad guy:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAln5D2GCxx8pIwrD83EwLPJMiZ3Y-IyFI4KE0DAMHIsUUAea5GKC-sssnVcCoeZq6ba58ahOHPp1wd48KTxuZ72GlckE3gTMQc3y5hymeeCL0cKGH0xX3UYUS8-SbAfAconXREJUul25M/s1600/Screenshot+%2528306%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAln5D2GCxx8pIwrD83EwLPJMiZ3Y-IyFI4KE0DAMHIsUUAea5GKC-sssnVcCoeZq6ba58ahOHPp1wd48KTxuZ72GlckE3gTMQc3y5hymeeCL0cKGH0xX3UYUS8-SbAfAconXREJUul25M/s640/Screenshot+%2528306%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A WEC headquarters</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl4vYHj4KinrZT3BKSMmO70XQikF4fwAJ5DlV3bC_vB0p0Uk43KdZp_kxJWe14tqJptNa7GQ6CxfSHyADbxdU_Vv5cr-XMqXIpJWftChrJwQDHVCFcLP28BIPe5cWH-S2_RHd9MF6CqcQ_/s1600/Screenshot+%2528307%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl4vYHj4KinrZT3BKSMmO70XQikF4fwAJ5DlV3bC_vB0p0Uk43KdZp_kxJWe14tqJptNa7GQ6CxfSHyADbxdU_Vv5cr-XMqXIpJWftChrJwQDHVCFcLP28BIPe5cWH-S2_RHd9MF6CqcQ_/s640/Screenshot+%2528307%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Only bad guys have their faces partly obscured by shadow</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj12UGAactoKketEVoWD0Nt9ZaA6EJUX5loMhVBr3_9gY_TnNcHUeQRkNp_3jAxphFQ1gruuBsqecoooI_nUPRr9TncsiTyU77r_tDaoRH-MwSdpTwOct_6NKouUx0ncka-8hVT858ZIJ4U/s1600/Screenshot+%2528308%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj12UGAactoKketEVoWD0Nt9ZaA6EJUX5loMhVBr3_9gY_TnNcHUeQRkNp_3jAxphFQ1gruuBsqecoooI_nUPRr9TncsiTyU77r_tDaoRH-MwSdpTwOct_6NKouUx0ncka-8hVT858ZIJ4U/s640/Screenshot+%2528308%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Still obviously a bad guy and a sleazeball</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3zU3sjm_qwPE9ZMQ4ko54KXUIRDt-wWfuioB5mhBTK_8lD7P6NAKbOyY5QiG4Djrs5LF5HNegMEYhkgs9j0aeKu-Ph9OlbcRnxPJf2Yv9smqGhnn04r0I9azXWBpAU99rxYn3JQlI9x-G/s1600/Screenshot+%2528309%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3zU3sjm_qwPE9ZMQ4ko54KXUIRDt-wWfuioB5mhBTK_8lD7P6NAKbOyY5QiG4Djrs5LF5HNegMEYhkgs9j0aeKu-Ph9OlbcRnxPJf2Yv9smqGhnn04r0I9azXWBpAU99rxYn3JQlI9x-G/s640/Screenshot+%2528309%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Home sweet home again</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Overall, mission 3 was not as fun as mission 2. I spent most of the mission on the platforming segments or trying to solve some puzzles involving hitting buttons or switches in the correct order while being constantly swarmed by spider mines and enemies. If it seems like I complain a lot about the puzzles and platforming segments, it is just because I really love the rest of the gameplay. The shooting action and even some of the more straightforward puzzles are so much fun. Something that I try to keep in the back of my mind is that this is also a function of when the game was made. This was relatively new territory so games like Crusader were still trying out new things and experimenting to see what was fun and engaging. </div>
<div>
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<div>
On to mission 4!<br />
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*Editorial Note* Someone on the Reddit subreddit <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/dosgaming/">r/dosgaming</a> pointed out to me that DOSBox, which I'm using to run a lot of these games, has its own built in screenshot and video capture feature. I tried this out and it seems to work a lot better than what I was doing, it captures the games at their true resolution (in this case 640x480), and the files sizes are much much smaller. So from now on, I'm going to hopefully have my screenshots and GIFs be a much more manageable size. For now, I'm not going to upscale them, so clicking on the screenshots should show you the image in its actual resolution.<br />
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For this mission, I am supposed to destroy a communications monitoring station by blowing up its central computer. A small animation the Col. here showed me showed a large computer with a spinning antenna on top, so it shouldn't be too hard to miss. Before talking to the Col. and getting my assignment, I went to the bar and talked to my team members there. It was pretty much the same as last time, everyone is suspicious of me and told me to watch my back. Except Pvt. Andrews, he seems to be nice to me.<br />
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I also stopped at Weasel to buy some new guns. I bought a laser pistol and the shotgun. I bought the shotgun mostly because I have been picking up a lot of ammo for it, and I bought the laser pistol out of curiosity. I can't recall how the ammo works for the laser pistol, so we'll see.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJEXoRhE6aOjA_dYFzYtcH96PtK_MEB5iB8D01j0S_Z9GDO6dI-AJroXdTOInUyEIwmDZYuCtH7nYvvP3ZL9AKoKhcjenEofRfVQ8AmfGNlT52tMCLgvH5eIuWKeMzeDrTCeGvCcy7MPy4/s1600/crusader_003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJEXoRhE6aOjA_dYFzYtcH96PtK_MEB5iB8D01j0S_Z9GDO6dI-AJroXdTOInUyEIwmDZYuCtH7nYvvP3ZL9AKoKhcjenEofRfVQ8AmfGNlT52tMCLgvH5eIuWKeMzeDrTCeGvCcy7MPy4/s640/crusader_003.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk1HJv8Ysr77K1zeouTrBjy2UyjpKHfknZwGBt8N0MF1kwEhwZS8GomlQ-HT4bLuCDbwbSUvVuxiaae1baT1tE8g0AVVlO82syCcl7egM_MNC_AtwF3gdNloeFxDXZqG46hmTvMmWmxamt/s1600/crusader_006.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk1HJv8Ysr77K1zeouTrBjy2UyjpKHfknZwGBt8N0MF1kwEhwZS8GomlQ-HT4bLuCDbwbSUvVuxiaae1baT1tE8g0AVVlO82syCcl7egM_MNC_AtwF3gdNloeFxDXZqG46hmTvMmWmxamt/s640/crusader_006.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mission 4 starting area</td></tr>
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Mission 4 starts in another industrial looking area with a lot of explosive barrels sitting around. First things first, I want to try out my new guns.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbETVi1wYNV56XZ5AmAuZpFJFe8D8S40ZjY47CN2OhcO-ElQanSp0TvRqIAJit4A30iEs_Yafvpxc_rO_bRIVtpviUA3_jLPbSGT0XDaHhSYsT59Jv7S8iM-FH_lN1MjCx0BUoZtveZZ2b/s1600/crusader_007.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbETVi1wYNV56XZ5AmAuZpFJFe8D8S40ZjY47CN2OhcO-ElQanSp0TvRqIAJit4A30iEs_Yafvpxc_rO_bRIVtpviUA3_jLPbSGT0XDaHhSYsT59Jv7S8iM-FH_lN1MjCx0BUoZtveZZ2b/s640/crusader_007.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Laser pistol</td></tr>
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The laser pistol seems like it does a lot of damage. It takes away energy from my energy bar in the lower right, which I'm not sure how to recharge. I assumed the red energy cubes were used to recharge that bar, but I can't seem to use them when I select them in my inventory. The shotgun also does a lot of damage but needs to be "pumped" between shots which takes too much time. I don't think I'll use it much.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrrRpABy9UISyZCEx8T5WfbS6RVzT-UAE58_k0gJQoqe-NELVcyMB6Icl2XXaonyYrspXZGTiheQ1ZqXp6FtADorLRxGdLHJA4pwUh36Eegvt1VBUSnsL_sus-8bO2-__ej9C0Ae32ayIR/s1600/crusader_009.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrrRpABy9UISyZCEx8T5WfbS6RVzT-UAE58_k0gJQoqe-NELVcyMB6Icl2XXaonyYrspXZGTiheQ1ZqXp6FtADorLRxGdLHJA4pwUh36Eegvt1VBUSnsL_sus-8bO2-__ej9C0Ae32ayIR/s640/crusader_009.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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This mission has a lot of situations where I need to roll under pipes and ledges. This is something I did not know or completely forgot was even part of the game. In the above screenshot, I am repeatedly trying to jump over the pipe going across the conveyor belt. I spent way too long trying to figure this out before finally going online and watching someone else's playthrough and noticing you can crouch and roll to get under obstacles. Now I'm rolling and crouching like a madman, no pipe or low overhang is safe from me.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkJzINZ4EqQG7xDTI6PBDeY4Zq2KQ-_cvrO9QFyG9jRBYND8cqqR4N7TKIDnII8GHfAMUa3435bkjalt7ma0IlGC6wvZ1IMY8dT228051R4i8L4VKj8CSSjDj5m3rChxmbp-jCJFWmolEG/s1600/crusader_011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkJzINZ4EqQG7xDTI6PBDeY4Zq2KQ-_cvrO9QFyG9jRBYND8cqqR4N7TKIDnII8GHfAMUa3435bkjalt7ma0IlGC6wvZ1IMY8dT228051R4i8L4VKj8CSSjDj5m3rChxmbp-jCJFWmolEG/s640/crusader_011.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Supply room</td></tr>
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I found a nice secret room. At least, I think it is a secret room. The switch on the wall may have opened an important door or it may have just started up the conveyor belt to help me get back out of the room. I was mostly focused on the fact that there were medkits here, because I am needing them a lot in this mission.<br />
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After a bit more exploration, I came to an unpassable forcefield and an FMV cutscene started featuring the nice guy Pvt. Andrews messing with some wires to lower the forcefield for me.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj553ylhwT-MU5p8n8Zjdo7paVsJ0VWL9xty0EAxdxjd7Rq_nLuPe7GA_FyITElB93CwVPFc3uE_R8HI9jSZoW8AEOV2mFA7EzfVUbXubaFNoCGrQahvebmygFGtetgMkve5ZL73ASvQj4s/s1600/crusader_013.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj553ylhwT-MU5p8n8Zjdo7paVsJ0VWL9xty0EAxdxjd7Rq_nLuPe7GA_FyITElB93CwVPFc3uE_R8HI9jSZoW8AEOV2mFA7EzfVUbXubaFNoCGrQahvebmygFGtetgMkve5ZL73ASvQj4s/s640/crusader_013.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our teammate lowering the forcefield for me</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiimIND_T13SCxebQr6IckPAmWPoJYWAS9GTAV9T6YrGnB-ZbQjUqAlqh-s9r5QmmvqiLWxH-2pfHmoMOZvCUbnK7KZb7_T82kWJmaF7LDm7mYDm1BXbcTmsJdcJBhQNcOFSdYtKt2KDju6/s1600/crusader_014.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiimIND_T13SCxebQr6IckPAmWPoJYWAS9GTAV9T6YrGnB-ZbQjUqAlqh-s9r5QmmvqiLWxH-2pfHmoMOZvCUbnK7KZb7_T82kWJmaF7LDm7mYDm1BXbcTmsJdcJBhQNcOFSdYtKt2KDju6/s640/crusader_014.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But then...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwP2efWpMW96NrKkf1ORAD_m0hHi_x8RPIvOXyodQ8NYv9z91ZLifWbCQ2XvF9YVKtojVW2SiIQQE1j3LeIV9FrEHT8fXpFEG9a1UUC9NfgDYUu8AHz-epXW7tmwuAHiqRVaS3N-9SkSHr/s1600/crusader_015.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwP2efWpMW96NrKkf1ORAD_m0hHi_x8RPIvOXyodQ8NYv9z91ZLifWbCQ2XvF9YVKtojVW2SiIQQE1j3LeIV9FrEHT8fXpFEG9a1UUC9NfgDYUu8AHz-epXW7tmwuAHiqRVaS3N-9SkSHr/s640/crusader_015.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh no! They shot him!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
He gets ambushed and shot! They killed the only guy that is nice to me! Oh well, I'm sure I'll get over it. The acting in this scene is great by the way. He doesn't just get shot and then fall down. He gets shot a bunch of times and then has a long, drawn out death sequence that is very nicely over-acted.<br />
<br />
Later on the mission I find the kind of fun diversion that is one of my favorite things about the Crusader games: Controlling turrets and other machines. In the two screenshots below, I take control of the turret on the right side of the screen and direct it by pushing the buttons in front of the Silencer on the left. First I turned the turret and shot the guard, and then the last screenshot is me shooting the explosive barrels to detonate them and destroy the turret so I don't need to worry about it when I later have to go in that room. These kinds of things are way more fun than jumping platforming puzzles.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlpFQtHXezv3H2aSqV2b4CbYg7vHYtQX7QeyI-eN5fW0TwbYU0cvarIW7kbwifzBWu_y6ZQTsnnMRbSKuGA8N2XR3P8qIc0X77DNZ2P7yYXjtX9wkoI1QkoHscqzHDqCCbyMbtZPjqAzQ_/s1600/crusader_019.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlpFQtHXezv3H2aSqV2b4CbYg7vHYtQX7QeyI-eN5fW0TwbYU0cvarIW7kbwifzBWu_y6ZQTsnnMRbSKuGA8N2XR3P8qIc0X77DNZ2P7yYXjtX9wkoI1QkoHscqzHDqCCbyMbtZPjqAzQ_/s640/crusader_019.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEQZ4WUkkRi8BGTfe1YzYD2sNI15rvBbf-qmDl70jn9xQ6lMVNXdk4juC2BnUAbvpyCGH4ZSOdlclitarEap-vjl6CRmyBOKLCUmFBWP1eOQ2lpTr0EnghGiz6wUHtoHc3SszfFo0xTYZ/s1600/crusader_020.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEQZ4WUkkRi8BGTfe1YzYD2sNI15rvBbf-qmDl70jn9xQ6lMVNXdk4juC2BnUAbvpyCGH4ZSOdlclitarEap-vjl6CRmyBOKLCUmFBWP1eOQ2lpTr0EnghGiz6wUHtoHc3SszfFo0xTYZ/s640/crusader_020.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bye bye turret</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcZwkWB3SxjlqnOGLeBNKlm2g57c4Ek-EYaNU8NAWkwY4oyo-8-vvgPDusIfcnZ96sgKcrQd5uebQdKlsooMjwtuIyovJazNJOjIDP_jmufStbduFvsGM8w3TytgrkfK-MHTvPYDMpqqZc/s1600/crusader_023.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcZwkWB3SxjlqnOGLeBNKlm2g57c4Ek-EYaNU8NAWkwY4oyo-8-vvgPDusIfcnZ96sgKcrQd5uebQdKlsooMjwtuIyovJazNJOjIDP_jmufStbduFvsGM8w3TytgrkfK-MHTvPYDMpqqZc/s640/crusader_023.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another turret sequence</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQxiBA19gax5iE3QXU_tIlecszzuDnqXcR-3kfllGz2vLdz3aehYShNGhKSZ2gKbvZ5qF_yBxMAlr4QQN17zd-GZr6n5B04laSBa-iwRWz73xb4VNyDuYtnA9Va4u05ipC8DjzovDtRfeA/s1600/crusader_025.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQxiBA19gax5iE3QXU_tIlecszzuDnqXcR-3kfllGz2vLdz3aehYShNGhKSZ2gKbvZ5qF_yBxMAlr4QQN17zd-GZr6n5B04laSBa-iwRWz73xb4VNyDuYtnA9Va4u05ipC8DjzovDtRfeA/s640/crusader_025.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I destroyed those two mechs, now I'm wrecking up the room</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I kind of got a bit lost later on in this mission, I couldn't find the communications relay. I eventually had eliminated all the guards on multiple different floors and couldn't find the thing I was supposed to destroy. I even took the elevator up to a fourth floor office which did not seem to have any purpose besides giving me a passcode from a computer terminal. But I did like the office theme with the big screen TVs on the walls and the executives in suits:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLetQdPyZHdn2p4zpph7vD3nPW4un6HvOAljTapX54KNmVQX3Ykf_qPsZJfu90E_oi3IYFJrQgmgiNcmBETdryhSWGYGzeu2UauRnWVYi8YhpzfqEQNFUfXUINK9xiurZ-phI9rommeBoP/s1600/crusader_032.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLetQdPyZHdn2p4zpph7vD3nPW4un6HvOAljTapX54KNmVQX3Ykf_qPsZJfu90E_oi3IYFJrQgmgiNcmBETdryhSWGYGzeu2UauRnWVYi8YhpzfqEQNFUfXUINK9xiurZ-phI9rommeBoP/s640/crusader_032.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
I eventually found a teleporter that took me to the room with the communications relay I needed to destroy. It was guarded a few mechs that killed me a few times and required some reloading. A combination of spider mines and save-scumming got the job done. I was able to plant the bomb and blow up the relay:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6SdmU7zg_1w1vsfQAAXCqwYgmKqguTefuPmu4CYqPHG2NG2jFLkiUxHJlzNdlrFLoMkd9Zot9zUBZwMl4GF8Unk1z6kTux720GJeolbX4AqqleHkR-jcNAduJx-xHBpH55YFT-59j6hDM/s1600/crusader_036.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6SdmU7zg_1w1vsfQAAXCqwYgmKqguTefuPmu4CYqPHG2NG2jFLkiUxHJlzNdlrFLoMkd9Zot9zUBZwMl4GF8Unk1z6kTux720GJeolbX4AqqleHkR-jcNAduJx-xHBpH55YFT-59j6hDM/s640/crusader_036.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Then I got a quick message from Wizard again telling me to get the heck out of there.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLFLQWNSa0MKAbNNv07BPourNuz47RQIXsz0_n4nwrdO2bB2Tu7kgXAt3TuG9MwCQE2ob_VfSh2goblGEtXcXgfa0HBU_YuD4c0FCPfppP7xSXHfsKUP7azqVLi1qQ8gUhSSQRTNzlBw59/s1600/crusader_037.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLFLQWNSa0MKAbNNv07BPourNuz47RQIXsz0_n4nwrdO2bB2Tu7kgXAt3TuG9MwCQE2ob_VfSh2goblGEtXcXgfa0HBU_YuD4c0FCPfppP7xSXHfsKUP7azqVLi1qQ8gUhSSQRTNzlBw59/s640/crusader_037.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't call me Tin Man</td></tr>
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As usual, he said I have very little time to get out of there, but there is no timer. Luckily the teleporter was nearby and even though it was guarded by multiple turrets, I was able to just run by them and teleport out.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7fGnUXtYEElbQQlqTa3_BaxiqC5gJMJj9ZDNFYRdIzTRXHyLymTZ2ifRhlFhLWzeVBd72lw4kG-tH3SEimrN5Fhlob5AYk4YalktCVIMtgBSSoaH1rL9Nkj7snKtSk56b_C85XY9x7fjY/s1600/crusader_038.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7fGnUXtYEElbQQlqTa3_BaxiqC5gJMJj9ZDNFYRdIzTRXHyLymTZ2ifRhlFhLWzeVBd72lw4kG-tH3SEimrN5Fhlob5AYk4YalktCVIMtgBSSoaH1rL9Nkj7snKtSk56b_C85XY9x7fjY/s640/crusader_038.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back home again</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdXbUzUMmF_tEzrbPHIO3yzexdA50aVWmLFUIW-OcDbX5mP3b_1caKtuTLm7zySdxW8nvwdeqbk0rL-u9rC5CFiPdLhAGL0gFfP_IHFVO-OlEHIXWzVdSuz4m8z_h1Je6xTMGM9DIlD8NP/s1600/crusader_039.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdXbUzUMmF_tEzrbPHIO3yzexdA50aVWmLFUIW-OcDbX5mP3b_1caKtuTLm7zySdxW8nvwdeqbk0rL-u9rC5CFiPdLhAGL0gFfP_IHFVO-OlEHIXWzVdSuz4m8z_h1Je6xTMGM9DIlD8NP/s640/crusader_039.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uh oh, boss is waiting at the teleport pad again</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvsiVlNpYu4kM-bHsVjcgu0l43xxCvR1MnVixhaURNs12Na93menTSrY7etOxtAaSWLtMcdZrfnVdjug2EJOs6cbS1U8Q9n8Uwq9AjfWA60EgqVy8ioOlHIRK7S9BTf11rJg5iFvVkOjFr/s1600/crusader_040.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvsiVlNpYu4kM-bHsVjcgu0l43xxCvR1MnVixhaURNs12Na93menTSrY7etOxtAaSWLtMcdZrfnVdjug2EJOs6cbS1U8Q9n8Uwq9AjfWA60EgqVy8ioOlHIRK7S9BTf11rJg5iFvVkOjFr/s640/crusader_040.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJi2xUCr_9RoOV6l8zGLZqJrH1m7JSjP2cRBtt1NuvfsKjxs02Szgy1NXbHlKDJcg7pSuBxrtPTJV5V4XyvPE6lDiqWdtNDkyXWZ6ZFFKo775bAFC4Ttj5so17nuNhtQObpy2KP9HWcXPR/s1600/crusader_041.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJi2xUCr_9RoOV6l8zGLZqJrH1m7JSjP2cRBtt1NuvfsKjxs02Szgy1NXbHlKDJcg7pSuBxrtPTJV5V4XyvPE6lDiqWdtNDkyXWZ6ZFFKo775bAFC4Ttj5so17nuNhtQObpy2KP9HWcXPR/s640/crusader_041.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSGcnlJzpFvwH4Ymk-slJzpA8FyBn-e6aH6Um1pQ9KMhmTYfA8zX4RVBi9FweBigOqkJlyHy3sbrvCX0lfiYuHIGdZOxcMu2sPC6l6VT4C54AAkz_85vk3bHJyj_HLJDWESlOdVRv4a6KD/s1600/crusader_042.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSGcnlJzpFvwH4Ymk-slJzpA8FyBn-e6aH6Um1pQ9KMhmTYfA8zX4RVBi9FweBigOqkJlyHy3sbrvCX0lfiYuHIGdZOxcMu2sPC6l6VT4C54AAkz_85vk3bHJyj_HLJDWESlOdVRv4a6KD/s640/crusader_042.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">End of mission 4</td></tr>
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And thus ends mission 4. And thus ends my playthrough of Crusader: No Remorse. I know I only played through a small fraction of the game, and I didn't even get to some of the more interesting weapons and enemies, but like I said in an earlier post: I am anxious to get a few more games up on my site so it has some content.<br />
<br />
Once I have a larger number of games on the site, I may invest more time and play through larger portions of these games. I may even come back to ones like Crusader: No Remorse or Blood and continue my playthroughs of them (or maybe even Dominion...). But for right now, I want to get a few more games up on the site first. I really did not realize how long some of these games were. I thought I would be able to play through the whole game when I first envisioned this site, but now that is less likely. I would still like to do that, but not yet.<br />
<br />
So what did I think of Crusader: No Remorse after all these years and is it worth playing today?<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- Review -</u></span></h2>
<div>
My answer to both of those questions above are: Crusader: No Remorse is still great and absolutely still worth playing today. Even if you are going into the game without any nostalgia from having played it in the past, I think you will still enjoy it. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Crusader was praised at the time of its original release, and some of the reasons its was originally praised (graphics, environmental destruction, immersion) are still valid today. The graphics are very well done. They are sharp, detailed, and really get the atmosphere of each level across nicely. If I was to compare them to another game of that era, I would say they are similar to those of Fallout 1 and 2. Well drawn sprites and textures will always hold up over time, in my opinion, even at 640x480 resolution. Especially with the retro fads nowadays and pixel art being so popular. Crusader does environmental destruction exceptionally well, unbelievably well for a game released in the mid 90s. Almost everything in a room can be destroyed, and sometimes with different levels of destruction. What I love about this is that it isn't based on physics. The artists and designers created and drew damage sprites for everything from ordinary railings to huge storage tanks to computer screens to trash cans. Everything can be damaged or destroyed. And the explosions look really pretty. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The parts of Crusader that I did not like, and that I think most people will take issue with when trying to play the game today, are the controls and some of the puzzles. As I mentioned in my first post on the game, the controls are just...bad. They just are. Even the existing mouse control is terrible. To make matters worse, the Silencer is not responsive enough to these crappy controls. Especially when trying to run or jump. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And that leads me to the jumping and platforming puzzles. They make me mad when I play them. If the game could be just shooting up rooms of enemies with some light key hunting or switch puzzles, that would have been perfect. I'm sick of complaining about the platforming puzzles in the game so I won't talk about them anymore. There aren't that many of them actually, they just really stand out. I didn't even die that many times on them...I just don't like them. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I mentioned earlier in my posts about this game that Crusader kind of reminds me a little of the games in the Deus Ex series, and I think this is something people often forget about the Crusader games. I don't mean to imply that Crusader is anything but an action game, it is definitely NOT an RPG. But there are multiple instances in the missions where you have different options to progress. Some areas have different ways to open locked doors, whether it be finding a key or using a computer terminal to find a passcode to take another way in. And then there are the fantastic instances of taking control of mechs and turrets, which are one of my favorite aspects of the Crusader games. Reading emails messages on computer terminals and viewing security cameras add a nice level of immersion that again reminds me RPGs like Deus Ex or System Shock. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So I did end up enjoying my time replaying Crusader: No Remorse, and I may even continue to play it after I've moved on to the next game on my list for this site. I also recommend the game today regardless of whether or not you've played in the past. I am not giving it a perfect score because of the damn controls, but 4.5 Silencers out of 5 Silencers seems fair. It is an awesome game.</div>
<div>
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That's it for my writeup on Crusader: No Remorse. Thanks for reading anyone who got this far!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069718226803277447.post-50686674594409713342018-01-22T19:34:00.000-08:002018-01-28T13:50:05.280-08:00Crusader: No Remorse -- Part 2<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://rememberpcdosgames.blogspot.com/2018/01/crusader-no-remorse.html#more">Crusader: No Remorse - Part 1</a></span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://rememberpcdosgames.blogspot.com/2018/01/crusader-no-remorse-part-3.html">Crusader: No Remorse - Part 3</a><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- Mission 2 -</u></span></h2>
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Before getting my briefing for mission 2, I walked around and explored the Resistance base. It looks like it is an old subway station, and there is not much to explore. There is the bar where I can interact with my fellow Resistance teammates, Col Ely's office where I can get my mission briefing, a small area with a health recharge station and shield recharge station, and one other room that looks like a clinic area where I can't interact with anyone right now. Now that I've done that, let's meet our teammates at the bar.<br />
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Derrich Andrews was the only person nice to me.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB56WEWYFwgixliPMkSWNJYZVZWAuFuNr_vcdpctxmSrrksrWHPIbvyAQivltW_ahzwS1II7eBuDNG2JzCfXq2jgKbWFfRn2LNnbzCnmmRz0PtFvRLtePvWgcy1PG9fqsdYVneyeqgSWJs/s1600/Screenshot+%2528234%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB56WEWYFwgixliPMkSWNJYZVZWAuFuNr_vcdpctxmSrrksrWHPIbvyAQivltW_ahzwS1II7eBuDNG2JzCfXq2jgKbWFfRn2LNnbzCnmmRz0PtFvRLtePvWgcy1PG9fqsdYVneyeqgSWJs/s640/Screenshot+%2528234%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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This nice lady did not even give me her name, but she did make it clear that she wanted nothing to do with me.<br />
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Yo-Yo here told me he has killed many of my kind and that he knows for a fact we bleed. Pleasant guy.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEz1lZhhY-tLY9bgh4PsPJOTT3wVBgx_01BcvywvTVPOVMrT0boExARahFbKY6YRvIyXLMEhQZUmsHClVa4M_WMr9FZHe_isCBNQSovig25wmkiFoOMH3tMe5Up0OJnYjoM92OT1RNWEqJ/s1600/Screenshot+%2528238%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEz1lZhhY-tLY9bgh4PsPJOTT3wVBgx_01BcvywvTVPOVMrT0boExARahFbKY6YRvIyXLMEhQZUmsHClVa4M_WMr9FZHe_isCBNQSovig25wmkiFoOMH3tMe5Up0OJnYjoM92OT1RNWEqJ/s640/Screenshot+%2528238%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Weasel is the merchant in the game where I can buy weapons and ammo. He has a weird accent and even weirder mannerisms. He comes across as a stereotypical sleazeball, he even has a pet weasel (it actually looks like a ferret) on his shoulder that he refers to as his baby. Let's see what he has for sale.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLyGg_1yiSgXP5-mdFEyJe5eU5YEL9u4B4rpxY5P6J4S2RiDHvGPkwCKbEPmrKkSGhRIdjmdCG66CzhyphenhyphenOvWGJa8Mak-8Cv_7I1Nv0_je_W7qu115w5EAP4-8d339yIHjDuZ1z_WU-EsFhA/s1600/Screenshot+%2528239%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLyGg_1yiSgXP5-mdFEyJe5eU5YEL9u4B4rpxY5P6J4S2RiDHvGPkwCKbEPmrKkSGhRIdjmdCG66CzhyphenhyphenOvWGJa8Mak-8Cv_7I1Nv0_je_W7qu115w5EAP4-8d339yIHjDuZ1z_WU-EsFhA/s640/Screenshot+%2528239%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Buying/selling interface</td></tr>
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You can see I only have 1624 credits and the basic pistol that I already have costs 525 credits. The next step up pistol is 725 credits, the shotgun is 1400 credits, and the assault rifle is 1600 credits. I'm going to wait and leave a save game here in the base and start the next mission without buying anything to see if I pick up a better weapon in the mission. If not, and I'm getting wrecked with just the basic pistol, I can come back to this save and buy a better weapon and restart the mission.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9tfIrLt2JJjCwswugFw5uZLrH2Iu4xLaM9Sbp2OVHRXF8K_lW5zhvqtxDewZ3PkLEYbkbSX-rbanllkP5_gUJE1sQuqKT86pvgyvAZasD_fk5viuS3vspx0Y0lxXOLQtZuvAKU_FHlU3P/s1600/Screenshot+%2528240%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9tfIrLt2JJjCwswugFw5uZLrH2Iu4xLaM9Sbp2OVHRXF8K_lW5zhvqtxDewZ3PkLEYbkbSX-rbanllkP5_gUJE1sQuqKT86pvgyvAZasD_fk5viuS3vspx0Y0lxXOLQtZuvAKU_FHlU3P/s640/Screenshot+%2528240%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyiSnUuIHMix5iHonMguN6DgdwyRIcY5JbC1tRs0LqvVoDUYCzh-T4U3GhXaAWpuZE1wwv2sAcyvrNMBlPsWVKP4M9SCHfjxoihtlJ_rUohIj9U9JnOLyASngRN-vjXM3Emqn0jNJeRBlX/s1600/Screenshot+%2528241%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyiSnUuIHMix5iHonMguN6DgdwyRIcY5JbC1tRs0LqvVoDUYCzh-T4U3GhXaAWpuZE1wwv2sAcyvrNMBlPsWVKP4M9SCHfjxoihtlJ_rUohIj9U9JnOLyASngRN-vjXM3Emqn0jNJeRBlX/s640/Screenshot+%2528241%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Our mission is to free some Resistance prisoners who were captured this morning when their base was attacked by the WEC. Seems straightforward enough.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtCNpwsJS4CTavMBksdib-o5wa9mIfjx5LccI02gFOvtwaZjluV6GBOiA-fWDBCtq1mQRsw9RVoenEsvmukgS9rtOsf18nnIn15a1G5RxRDyA2ol9-q_5ImdEhjQV68docQfcWsMShBTHI/s1600/Screenshot+%2528242%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtCNpwsJS4CTavMBksdib-o5wa9mIfjx5LccI02gFOvtwaZjluV6GBOiA-fWDBCtq1mQRsw9RVoenEsvmukgS9rtOsf18nnIn15a1G5RxRDyA2ol9-q_5ImdEhjQV68docQfcWsMShBTHI/s640/Screenshot+%2528242%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting area</td></tr>
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Alright I am teleported again into an area with enemies straight away. It's the same soldier enemies, so I should be able to handle this. I've got plenty of ammo for my pistol.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJGPkVnGirtEFDT99y2qnDzhRS_NtdRMwEuldR0vVy3TU0LhoOlyZhJdmGpQ9nV9j-Aclbd9kdQ6DzoRX5SzHTDoHD79l4xMWtkRI4-XyMJDhWmUgFy2CHf0b5-EdqvxpuXvAv02culyrG/s1600/Screenshot+%2528243%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJGPkVnGirtEFDT99y2qnDzhRS_NtdRMwEuldR0vVy3TU0LhoOlyZhJdmGpQ9nV9j-Aclbd9kdQ6DzoRX5SzHTDoHD79l4xMWtkRI4-XyMJDhWmUgFy2CHf0b5-EdqvxpuXvAv02culyrG/s640/Screenshot+%2528243%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Huh, now I'm surrounded by a forcefield that electrocutes me when I try to walk through it. Shooting the blue button on the wall below the ALERT sign made the forcefield go down, so no harm done. Nice try WEC.<br />
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As I go through this level, something I'm noticing is there are a lot of computers I can access that have funny but not important messages. I like the atmosphere and sense of environmental interactivity this adds, but it's bad for people that can be a little OCD in games...like I can be sometimes. It also doesn't help that sometimes computers have important bits of information like passcodes or they may even deactivate forcefields or unlock doors. At least these kinds of computers will usually be separate from other groups or in an otherwise obvious place. Reading the message son the computers really gives my the idea that the WEC is quite paranoid about the Resistance and has a very "Big Brother" 1984 feel.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1VvAPiCRMdPGhh3xF09hQsBi4zmUm5tDMWQP7aX8UMPhID3_MLvO3zQgtbj6XvjWujAzKrt2BUctIEV8YTcSxKHOgauDcN2gF01-J7FZeFRbmavs4bjIPULsSzh8r2pyAVCE-D8208i5x/s1600/Screenshot+%2528244%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1VvAPiCRMdPGhh3xF09hQsBi4zmUm5tDMWQP7aX8UMPhID3_MLvO3zQgtbj6XvjWujAzKrt2BUctIEV8YTcSxKHOgauDcN2gF01-J7FZeFRbmavs4bjIPULsSzh8r2pyAVCE-D8208i5x/s640/Screenshot+%2528244%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For example</td></tr>
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I'm also finding a lot more laser and forcefield puzzles on this level, almost similar to a primitive platformer game. There are a lot of hallways with series of lasers shooting across that I have to time just right to run through. Or there will be more puzzles involving pushing buttons to turn off lasers in sequence. Nothing too difficult yet, I've been able to breeze through them all without dying so far.<br />
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But now I've stumbled across my old nemesis...the mega turret:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6CJYU7snMmQl44bTYqunkQpaiJmkyicWwcXAmGM-hNtZBIIiNjE6KxuWzyTHtF7ttw04e6QtxTFETVRJkW8iTpGkiQL6VfM2UuaDLPAv1xM1r0WU9M_bFr8FRjYYFPMsMTAZ8LmNUnkEY/s1600/Screenshot+%2528246%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6CJYU7snMmQl44bTYqunkQpaiJmkyicWwcXAmGM-hNtZBIIiNjE6KxuWzyTHtF7ttw04e6QtxTFETVRJkW8iTpGkiQL6VfM2UuaDLPAv1xM1r0WU9M_bFr8FRjYYFPMsMTAZ8LmNUnkEY/s640/Screenshot+%2528246%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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I think it is time to try out the spider bombs I've been carrying around for the past two levels. From what I can remember, I need to place it and then steer it with the normal movement controls. I haven't tried this yet, so this will be the first time...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSixax3oNBjPuEs0WXUre34WrwIUDZ26DiSqs9x7r0rjZWI1t4m3lEpfhNI-wMOuhKgUwIENOa2SSJlJKKEVNrOWcH7-n-CZjKWAGCLQJB08zThcmekZrA5G1dD3G3bYP_X4LB1BhVtfO/s1600/Screenshot+%2528247%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSixax3oNBjPuEs0WXUre34WrwIUDZ26DiSqs9x7r0rjZWI1t4m3lEpfhNI-wMOuhKgUwIENOa2SSJlJKKEVNrOWcH7-n-CZjKWAGCLQJB08zThcmekZrA5G1dD3G3bYP_X4LB1BhVtfO/s640/Screenshot+%2528247%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">careful....careful...</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX1MM7-aoS2ZlJOFQdcAsad-s1IkKL2qx0Jc6-eTWsEoXrFmwkYC2plR4HDdjhsRzHNUtmXHJov1oM2ywWWVmPm_79XBcx9tXr-SYeq7ncvEhlrnZec-x6WIQT1BjlO6ZEzXE9K727KLL8/s1600/Screenshot+%2528248%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX1MM7-aoS2ZlJOFQdcAsad-s1IkKL2qx0Jc6-eTWsEoXrFmwkYC2plR4HDdjhsRzHNUtmXHJov1oM2ywWWVmPm_79XBcx9tXr-SYeq7ncvEhlrnZec-x6WIQT1BjlO6ZEzXE9K727KLL8/s640/Screenshot+%2528248%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Success</td></tr>
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That worked out pretty well, I would say those controls work pretty well. My Silencer character turns/pivots at the same time I am moving the direction of the bomb, but that's not distracting. It also took out the turret with only one bomb. I like it!<br />
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Here is another example in motion:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_gvW3VYMgJTm70PikFX7mmbRElbvbBEvMfiWc711YnW_xx3f1bRIvqFanrMP0znX0upW5sUIu7bjSQAw6D69H9mE4kjS8ZqhPJ9JBd2i8Cj651ba2SS6N5iZGr2fw7FzgomUX88BpC8hH/s1600/spidergif.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="859" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_gvW3VYMgJTm70PikFX7mmbRElbvbBEvMfiWc711YnW_xx3f1bRIvqFanrMP0znX0upW5sUIu7bjSQAw6D69H9mE4kjS8ZqhPJ9JBd2i8Cj651ba2SS6N5iZGr2fw7FzgomUX88BpC8hH/s640/spidergif.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here is an example of a hallway with shooting lasers going across it. As an added bonus, this hallway also has mines running down it. That poor dead soldier was just standing there when I opened the door when one of the lasers shot him. He probably should not have been standing in a hallway crisscrossed with deadly lasers and pressure mines. Come on WEC...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeKzOqU89PI6_um0oGaeNCBJqpWh-epkHPnqZUsuddX7tyZV2DyRFjYwy_Ecn7O857Vb10b68xJB8h8Sw62QDlZhjLErSzzm-K1kPediWznUzw9CtVnmL99oOh8NRUezL3Sx-IGO3ENs8p/s1600/Screenshot+%2528249%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeKzOqU89PI6_um0oGaeNCBJqpWh-epkHPnqZUsuddX7tyZV2DyRFjYwy_Ecn7O857Vb10b68xJB8h8Sw62QDlZhjLErSzzm-K1kPediWznUzw9CtVnmL99oOh8NRUezL3Sx-IGO3ENs8p/s640/Screenshot+%2528249%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I ran through some more rooms and disabled a bunch more forcefields that were pretty similar to everything else in this level. It has a very office style to it with a lot of conference rooms and cubicles. I thought this was funny:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis9m4fKMua51QuCXcTXKIo6tggEWZuxqZU5XQJOuqbLQyU473p8XKY33VO_spbVcQqbH74g0LsNEn3edo-mwWJIjgv9mFQlD626GOGA_YkkqbqxkwEb2YbHwpTDZPZdAAzCSBdnRNBYfIW/s1600/Screenshot+%2528256%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis9m4fKMua51QuCXcTXKIo6tggEWZuxqZU5XQJOuqbLQyU473p8XKY33VO_spbVcQqbH74g0LsNEn3edo-mwWJIjgv9mFQlD626GOGA_YkkqbqxkwEb2YbHwpTDZPZdAAzCSBdnRNBYfIW/s640/Screenshot+%2528256%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
Even in the future copiers get paper jams.<br />
<br />
I eventually came to a teleporter that dumped me into a room with a pressure plate puzzle. That is a first for this game. But again, it isn't anything too difficult. I would not classify it as platformer difficulty, more like standard action game difficulty. In the room, there are pressure plates in the corners, but there are also lasers shooting along all the walls. I destroyed the laser emitting devices then walked over the pressure plates to open the only door in the room:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcpphRdBhUElB-gYNhHTSZNGO9ygdInJpkI1uekhwhyphenhyphenRGfNQ14lNqDkVRVC1W6WkUrXQwf_JiGPxOaCYNBKv6k2L9faUktpQEYP64YWBUWji-ARaSnL8omAcGfvx6RzhKg0yn0S0G45H9a/s1600/Screenshot+%2528258%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcpphRdBhUElB-gYNhHTSZNGO9ygdInJpkI1uekhwhyphenhyphenRGfNQ14lNqDkVRVC1W6WkUrXQwf_JiGPxOaCYNBKv6k2L9faUktpQEYP64YWBUWji-ARaSnL8omAcGfvx6RzhKg0yn0S0G45H9a/s640/Screenshot+%2528258%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
After the door opened, the lasers on the floor disappeared for a bit but then came back. Instead of reload, I just walked through them. I've discovered I can pretty safely just walk through a lot of the laser traps on this difficulty without worrying about my health too much. Speaking of health, I have not had a problem finding health kits in the game. They usually drop from enemies or are found in crates, and I've remained full (10) for most of my playthough. I have died a few times, but its usually been from high powered turrets that kill me before I can use a medkit.<br />
<br />
I came to this room with a teleporter and the nearby computer has this to say:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRZ5jFRdd5pv4MPWfi3jjlV9lSqmVplUN7_C5S9vLbK0JfLXx8a6WngBKHsamFjbwsN145zGr0bZuDRVI0555luMpwueAvSPc54SkWqj8bLaolfpoZh1WbVdtPFSnIw_d9gELENnVZHX9z/s1600/Screenshot+%2528260%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRZ5jFRdd5pv4MPWfi3jjlV9lSqmVplUN7_C5S9vLbK0JfLXx8a6WngBKHsamFjbwsN145zGr0bZuDRVI0555luMpwueAvSPc54SkWqj8bLaolfpoZh1WbVdtPFSnIw_d9gELENnVZHX9z/s640/Screenshot+%2528260%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
The after closing that screen, the laser forcefields blocking that teleporter in the upper left went down, and it looks to me like it works. I'm going to take it.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb3iPnBgVjoeIZ0yo0SgO9OBpAWHAlWSFJ2XP2svt18E1vKHJ6kDOvmYoZEfxhJWsgpAPEZiQhRgEVorc2igHh5JHr5BQ73J67MGui9hY9WiDEmtMB3WLnCOlha2ZejYvQVoZkCz-1NjzN/s1600/Screenshot+%2528262%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb3iPnBgVjoeIZ0yo0SgO9OBpAWHAlWSFJ2XP2svt18E1vKHJ6kDOvmYoZEfxhJWsgpAPEZiQhRgEVorc2igHh5JHr5BQ73J67MGui9hY9WiDEmtMB3WLnCOlha2ZejYvQVoZkCz-1NjzN/s640/Screenshot+%2528262%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cripes!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
BAW GAWD I melted! I would say that is out of order. Time to reload and try the backup teleporter in the west wing. After walking into the backup teleporter, I'm greeted with another FMV sequence from a soldier telling me I'm being directed to the prisoner wing.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgooQcGeyB7WAyrNkqVzNle_WwN0Ag8BRGMEYCbAcCWzofRjC3MTFPtXfPXhcGqVxpWvW0kNhI4IyrIKL7ZS2BF97SvjMQopKQ7V7F25NN1Uz_o6lRGc4RX85Z0EWcYWOHqWgAW3H3KM2Xd/s1600/Screenshot+%2528263%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgooQcGeyB7WAyrNkqVzNle_WwN0Ag8BRGMEYCbAcCWzofRjC3MTFPtXfPXhcGqVxpWvW0kNhI4IyrIKL7ZS2BF97SvjMQopKQ7V7F25NN1Uz_o6lRGc4RX85Z0EWcYWOHqWgAW3H3KM2Xd/s640/Screenshot+%2528263%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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He states that there is a heavy enemy presence and a lot of defensive measures, so I'll have to fight and figure my way through it all. Fair enough. I have to say, I like these FMV sequences over the gameplay screen instead of the usual method of cutting away from the game engine ala Wing Commander 3 or Jedi Knight. I'm fairly certain the mechanics are the same behind the scenes, that Crusader is actually cutting away from the game image and just leaving a static image as a background screen for the FMV movie, but the effect is a nice change. It tricks you to make you think you are still playing the game.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpr1OxxzszElRtBFniALbMk2qPFmonN38c9N6CeH_0HTG4GKHoBChGkxojgAxT0M3swjecv6N4ZLTBPNcyTF6lIL_lO_1Xt3HHGAAXqHNvNQ4mdjz_aTSgUwM4eueugC2BJl3W0GsRXTLj/s1600/Screenshot+%2528264%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpr1OxxzszElRtBFniALbMk2qPFmonN38c9N6CeH_0HTG4GKHoBChGkxojgAxT0M3swjecv6N4ZLTBPNcyTF6lIL_lO_1Xt3HHGAAXqHNvNQ4mdjz_aTSgUwM4eueugC2BJl3W0GsRXTLj/s640/Screenshot+%2528264%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
He wasn't kidding about all the defensive measures still being active and in place. Each corner of the room also has moving squares on the floor. But here's the thing, I've got 10 medkits, so I'm just going to run through all of these lasers and forcefields. I don't mind a little electrocution or laser burns.<br />
<br />
After running right through all those things and healing myself, I've come to the prisoner area.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFd-8EQunkRtjINqwplDLOWY-W42bNj97vIWpN3iPk1MLmkOBGRQWDECuMOB5L2CCZ5hy_qJk_E839LUlXGd4gycDW3JWVkG8Lj7iybQdhrQn3ED6ARzbiwgBHgXkht8T6KeX1Pp_74gcw/s1600/Screenshot+%2528265%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFd-8EQunkRtjINqwplDLOWY-W42bNj97vIWpN3iPk1MLmkOBGRQWDECuMOB5L2CCZ5hy_qJk_E839LUlXGd4gycDW3JWVkG8Lj7iybQdhrQn3ED6ARzbiwgBHgXkht8T6KeX1Pp_74gcw/s640/Screenshot+%2528265%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hi guys</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As soon as I walked into this room, another FMV sequence starts up with our old friend the Wizard.<br />
He tells me that he can get a teleport pad up and running, but that I need to rescue the prisons fast. But just like last time, there is no timer so I can actually take me time.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ46NpX-o52_vANzFXNmitjjEK3_Ji4MstFfXbhq0Lk4eNT-Msz65NV5-zct6VWafY5ndCOhPLVdax32Uf9MP6bBIfzPQwqpfX1dJ8oXnxNfb6J22GgeIvtGRkZr46Xn95GGTyG17FsZae/s1600/Screenshot+%2528266%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ46NpX-o52_vANzFXNmitjjEK3_Ji4MstFfXbhq0Lk4eNT-Msz65NV5-zct6VWafY5ndCOhPLVdax32Uf9MP6bBIfzPQwqpfX1dJ8oXnxNfb6J22GgeIvtGRkZr46Xn95GGTyG17FsZae/s640/Screenshot+%2528266%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBTMXwC4hCI5sbqL2H1K-N-e979Raeh04YhspDShYZvbJf8TOiPCA3i9Ij8BCwd6Lgbu1kR12Qm0orQyR95UKf7-6ymCKQ3MdoSTsoyAQgQ-0O1UgJxEkW8MHhy3ghT8U8haHTLO-2CTvI/s1600/Screenshot+%2528267%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBTMXwC4hCI5sbqL2H1K-N-e979Raeh04YhspDShYZvbJf8TOiPCA3i9Ij8BCwd6Lgbu1kR12Qm0orQyR95UKf7-6ymCKQ3MdoSTsoyAQgQ-0O1UgJxEkW8MHhy3ghT8U8haHTLO-2CTvI/s640/Screenshot+%2528267%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This area looks nefarious</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
At the end of the prisoner room is what looks like a torture/surgery room. And a strangely dressed NPC.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisj82hePpVnSqOn9VARIM0n8QwP94zmn5hFRIaZrhszpogGU-VLRv-cOnLpegGGAAiXpz-sL_zk5svPelxgh-TiqG-GxVY0c5_8ziKPB2Y-y6TAimRoLC-Ae5UpFIyYRTzNwQUQfad_Cdj/s1600/Screenshot+%2528269%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisj82hePpVnSqOn9VARIM0n8QwP94zmn5hFRIaZrhszpogGU-VLRv-cOnLpegGGAAiXpz-sL_zk5svPelxgh-TiqG-GxVY0c5_8ziKPB2Y-y6TAimRoLC-Ae5UpFIyYRTzNwQUQfad_Cdj/s640/Screenshot+%2528269%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRFvWbHUFGn06mR1t_ZpmnpKbfQovrY-qpfWPmJELKOvCwMa6KCgwWBW-IgwDYuLxAk1VzcQE_qCPFVTW1np8kqGKTVSrQssfUkVnE1myunmg3O9_CXsb_HhIFDFJIV76yRRoImFZlln8R/s1600/Screenshot+%2528270%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRFvWbHUFGn06mR1t_ZpmnpKbfQovrY-qpfWPmJELKOvCwMa6KCgwWBW-IgwDYuLxAk1VzcQE_qCPFVTW1np8kqGKTVSrQssfUkVnE1myunmg3O9_CXsb_HhIFDFJIV76yRRoImFZlln8R/s640/Screenshot+%2528270%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifcoho8bcl6Lh0t1DqjCvWniWqICS5E3fp1EmE7HnY_AT6Gl_PSMIooP9kzMAW22PKiQ7NYqYIRmXgbqMPdcsHltuiod4CvHe7SE46nfy015Nzj_7It-iv-LqjKcq2ipLdKjoaZhXG23DO/s1600/Screenshot+%2528271%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifcoho8bcl6Lh0t1DqjCvWniWqICS5E3fp1EmE7HnY_AT6Gl_PSMIooP9kzMAW22PKiQ7NYqYIRmXgbqMPdcsHltuiod4CvHe7SE46nfy015Nzj_7It-iv-LqjKcq2ipLdKjoaZhXG23DO/s640/Screenshot+%2528271%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
This guy is great. The acting is so over the top that you can tell they had a great time shooting this scene. Dr. Hoffman here is dressed like an mad doctor and he acts like a mad doctor. He insinuates that he's done some horrible experiments on our poor prisoners, then tells me that they've served their purpose and its too late for them.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieYY9miVSNRMipHxEcsQ8WTqmGyM_sWxugfT-sS4Bah4M1-8rKmYJoXKoA54ICVWVDSgULljYUwv90j4RTrzewiI3NzxPnTkmeLOSNDAyxblElN_cJh1OMlWvg14KUprQpkxifkXI22aTu/s1600/Screenshot+%2528272%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieYY9miVSNRMipHxEcsQ8WTqmGyM_sWxugfT-sS4Bah4M1-8rKmYJoXKoA54ICVWVDSgULljYUwv90j4RTrzewiI3NzxPnTkmeLOSNDAyxblElN_cJh1OMlWvg14KUprQpkxifkXI22aTu/s640/Screenshot+%2528272%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Whelp, I tried guys...sorry</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Then it cuts to an in-game cutscene showing a mega-turret rising up out of the floor in the prisoner room and shooting all the prisoners! That Dr. Hoffman sure is evil. After this he runs out of the room and I am unable to chase him, I guess he gets away this time.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPfIt2rPbBPdKt6kdZn58LSTpCEVfggv0TCv7th5bzd50ToRRKHjzu_mflvVNHjBZlQ-PwrCPQt8kMO9xBJcii1UAO3-vfKszEzNu-7vAwdG2KFdYEHdX6aYt02iIzUe3Su9Zv7XSh9LnT/s1600/Screenshot+%2528273%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPfIt2rPbBPdKt6kdZn58LSTpCEVfggv0TCv7th5bzd50ToRRKHjzu_mflvVNHjBZlQ-PwrCPQt8kMO9xBJcii1UAO3-vfKszEzNu-7vAwdG2KFdYEHdX6aYt02iIzUe3Su9Zv7XSh9LnT/s640/Screenshot+%2528273%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At least I was able to save one prisoner</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKR9s9ixJMeDrzk84wlBz8XZYqfJ8rMKE9i29qJkoScaO29xjb6owjvP1wxVVbQr4puagj54y4s5Yb4Duv3NVYH5lQz_1l7vhq1b289cVszpd53cvuWAJS3Gkah1ws7RnmKfKG6AasXK5m/s1600/Screenshot+%2528274%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKR9s9ixJMeDrzk84wlBz8XZYqfJ8rMKE9i29qJkoScaO29xjb6owjvP1wxVVbQr4puagj54y4s5Yb4Duv3NVYH5lQz_1l7vhq1b289cVszpd53cvuWAJS3Gkah1ws7RnmKfKG6AasXK5m/s640/Screenshot+%2528274%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgODsMIkGoLkGN3y5QFwcQCHGyPFF6_7cMkW-PajK2Z7ivsCOj3bkSUBGqrfvC2_5gt9K0CSSEpmI01yno_rghHhPIKWoldcGjXF7ur2EL_Zp0ddbaOsbFtgBTAuAG-TqR-pEGvPamSIEY1/s1600/Screenshot+%2528275%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgODsMIkGoLkGN3y5QFwcQCHGyPFF6_7cMkW-PajK2Z7ivsCOj3bkSUBGqrfvC2_5gt9K0CSSEpmI01yno_rghHhPIKWoldcGjXF7ur2EL_Zp0ddbaOsbFtgBTAuAG-TqR-pEGvPamSIEY1/s640/Screenshot+%2528275%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Home sweet home</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After Dr. Hoffman runs away like an evil coward, I come across one last prisoner that's still alive. Her and I run to the teleporter Wizard has up and running, and we teleport safely back to base. And that's the end of the Mission 2!<br />
<br />
Overall this was a fun outing, but there maybe a few too many laser traps and puzzles. The game is really at its best when I am simply shooting shit up with maybe the occasional spider bomb puzzle or turret puzzle. The engine is just not suited to any kind of platforming or timing sequences, the control is too clunky. I'm going to purchase a better gun for the next mission and see how that goes.<br />
I will continue the saga of the Silencer with Part 3 to come later...<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069718226803277447.post-54417484925725394412018-01-19T16:05:00.001-08:002018-01-28T13:49:31.573-08:00Crusader: No Remorse<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Date: 1995<br />
Developer: Origin Systems<br />
Publisher: Electronic Arts<br />
System Requirements:<br />
- 486/DX2-66 MHz<br />
- 8 Megabytes of RAM<br />
- 2x CD-ROM<br />
- Video card that supports SVGA at 640x480<br />
- 30 Megabytes of HDD space<br />
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Where to purchase?<br />
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<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.origin.com/usa/en-us/store/crusader/crusader-no-remorse/standard-edition">Origin</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gog.com/game/crusader_no_remorse">GOG.com</a></li>
</ul>
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This week on RPDG, I'm going to be playing a PC DOS game that I played and loved when it first came out. I have not played it since then, so this will be pretty close to a new experience for me as it has been 20 years(!) since I last played it. The game is Crusader: No Remorse, an isometric third-person action game by one of the best development studios of the 80s and 90s: Origin Systems. Almost every game Origin made was a classic, I can't think of a bad game by them. They had a run from the release of Wing Commander in 1990 to Wing Commander Prophecy and Ultima Online in 1997 where basically every game they developed was fantastic and a competitor for being a game of the year. Even the games they released as the publisher were great, such as Ultima Underworld 1 and 2, System Shock, and Shadowcaster. </div>
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Crusader: No Remorse came out in 1995, right in the midst of Origin's peak. It got great reviews at the time, but how does it play today? Can a third-person action game, that was acknowledged to have somewhat cumbersome controls at the time of its release, overcome this issue to be still playable and fun? I hope so!</div>
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Development</u></span></h2>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiXnCzumjgobwNNPDbIRLYLFc2-psPFuIb5oHW18nZHeCHm9JddApggDsacq2jLEKWpMY4BXX9F8JTulJ7tRi40x23zOsoDaGwL8NdYuIpNDRDA-IQ4DTLAfmR6-PxV-F0h2nXqbXJ3EEA/s1600/boxps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="640" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiXnCzumjgobwNNPDbIRLYLFc2-psPFuIb5oHW18nZHeCHm9JddApggDsacq2jLEKWpMY4BXX9F8JTulJ7tRi40x23zOsoDaGwL8NdYuIpNDRDA-IQ4DTLAfmR6-PxV-F0h2nXqbXJ3EEA/s320/boxps.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playstation Box</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8FTeoRJSC_9zlLgv3v_VmE4aCJCSrDAlsrT62UosN_6NWu8gxMxaQCn2TZdEdyUWg3AnSe0BubqK58w89QYhTrak8kmgn4HeFDg4OMGPtF6lyAy6tHGYj4i2wkJpLCOZlBWDDPO82GB67/s1600/boxsat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1206" data-original-width="744" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8FTeoRJSC_9zlLgv3v_VmE4aCJCSrDAlsrT62UosN_6NWu8gxMxaQCn2TZdEdyUWg3AnSe0BubqK58w89QYhTrak8kmgn4HeFDg4OMGPtF6lyAy6tHGYj4i2wkJpLCOZlBWDDPO82GB67/s320/boxsat.jpg" width="195" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saturn Box</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As I mentioned above, Crusader: No Remorse was released in 1995 and developed by the great Origin Studios. It took some risks in its technology and was one of the first big commercial games to release only on CD-ROM and to require SVGA-compatible graphics cards. The primary force behind the decision to use these new cutting edge technologies was the game's director, creator, and main programmer: Tony Zurovec. From what I can gather, the Crusader games were really Tony's babies. Which makes sense as he is listed as the director for the franchise.<br />
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In 1995, first-person shooter games were the new "big thing" in PC gaming. If you were a PC developer in the early 90s and wanted to make an action game, your best bet was a FPS game. Even Origin was getting into the FPS market with games like CyberMage: Darklight Awakening (developer) and Shadowcaster (Publisher).<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTYbTz6tBlmnzKrSwhbIAAsGhHq9HA1nZFc4gr47xvytMhat3o_GZRfz119F-3I_wtfVVuXAfBr0Og80WK2jK346KH1UYPqbwnXALanVOjwtqp8I7aHtavu4d2bzl4JccUla3F6JHAOXR2/s1600/cybermage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTYbTz6tBlmnzKrSwhbIAAsGhHq9HA1nZFc4gr47xvytMhat3o_GZRfz119F-3I_wtfVVuXAfBr0Og80WK2jK346KH1UYPqbwnXALanVOjwtqp8I7aHtavu4d2bzl4JccUla3F6JHAOXR2/s640/cybermage.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CyberMage: Darklight Awakening</td></tr>
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Crusader: No Remorse's perspective really was unique. There weren't many isometric third-person action games on the market in 1995, I can't think of any in fact. Part of the reason behind this is that it was difficult to make these games on computers of the early 90s. Computers of this time did not have the processing power to render the high resolution backgrounds expected in a third-person game while also delivering the smooth scrolling expected in an action game. It was much easier to make third-person games in other genres. There were strategy games such as the XCOM games that were turn-based isometric third-person games. RPG games like SSIs Gold Box Dungeons and Dragons games could be classified as isometric third-person games, but this is stretching the definition a little. The only other game that looks and plays similar to Crusader is Ultima VIII: Pagan which was, unsurprisingly, developed at Origin. Also unsurprising is that Tony Zurovec was also a programmer on Ultima VIII.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgml-8As5ZN87Hpg0dMoQ-rtST94Z4vmBYIrThpuV2cPq4YA_H5cRiDDilou72fTjzMW9tTkcylaKIj_B0ExCp9bqRFSewjzp4BcpZrNb1wH1uh3HmToAcWc1xw3_zRtf-o0xOU4l1n1oRq/s1600/ultima.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgml-8As5ZN87Hpg0dMoQ-rtST94Z4vmBYIrThpuV2cPq4YA_H5cRiDDilou72fTjzMW9tTkcylaKIj_B0ExCp9bqRFSewjzp4BcpZrNb1wH1uh3HmToAcWc1xw3_zRtf-o0xOU4l1n1oRq/s640/ultima.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ultima VIII: Pagan</td></tr>
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Ultima VIII's engine was modified and used as the foundation for Crusader: No Remorse. But the question still remains, why did Origin opt to create a third-person action game instead of another FPS? One reason could be that they already had the Ultima VIII engine and decided to get more use out of it by using it to make another game. Mr. Zurovec stated that one of the benefits of using a third-person perspective was the extensive environmental damage that could be implemented. It also opened up the opportunity for more varied kinds of puzzles and map layouts that would be possible in a traditional FPS game or side-scrolling game. To get around the problem of smooth scrolling, Mr. Zurovec kept the static frame method from Ultima VIII. This means the game screen stays locked to a position until the player's character moves to an edge, at which point the screen moves to the next location. This negates the need for constant, smooth scrolling.<br />
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Crusader's development took 16-18 months, which seems incredibly short compared to today's game development. It was around this time that Origin's upper management promised Mr. Zurovec royalties from the sales of Crusader: No Remorse. The game released to critical praise and sold very well. The publisher EA wanted a Crusader 2, but only game Origin and Mr. Zurovec 10 months to develop it. Zurovec pushed back, saying this was not enough time, and won EA's agreement to call the game Crusader: No Regret instead of Crusader 2: No Regret. 10 months was not enough time to implement all the changes he wanted to make for a full blown sequel, such as outdoor environments, alien environments, and new AI algorithms. Towards the end of the development of Crusader: No Regret, he had still not received his royalties and it now turned out EA had never agreed to this in the first place or they were now reneging on that agreement. Either way he wasn't going to see that money, so he left Origin. Origin brought in some new people to try to develop a third Crusader game, but that ended up going nowhere.<br />
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There was some work done on a PSP port of the game around 2006, but this also went nowhere. You can view some gameplay of this build <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJvkaw4xerY">here on youtube.</a><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1zGXZoMLAA7OMSt6BXnQ-NjdJvzLZOi_MmB7KHV5mL4ln_01ROL1EBQ8wvX3TunCLU9_jnHJeUIrkgMO56pP6Du0cvIASf48DV4FY-DrzEi62i666_YTRc_0SuOmhJzxECPVzbmp_LrE/s1600/crusgif.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="722" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1zGXZoMLAA7OMSt6BXnQ-NjdJvzLZOi_MmB7KHV5mL4ln_01ROL1EBQ8wvX3TunCLU9_jnHJeUIrkgMO56pP6Du0cvIASf48DV4FY-DrzEi62i666_YTRc_0SuOmhJzxECPVzbmp_LrE/s640/crusgif.gif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crusader: No Pity on PSP</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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That actually looks like it could be really fun.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- The Game -</u></span></h2>
Crusader: No Remorse takes place in the year 2196 on an Earth ruled by a group of mega corporations that refer to themselves as the World Economic Consortium, or WEC. The WEC controls Earth and her colonies spread out over the rest of the solar system in a ruthless and brutal manner. Think 1984, Warhammer 40k, and a little bit of a dystopian version of where we are headed today. To help the WEC maintain control, they employ a force of super-soldiers called the Silencers, of which our character is a part of. A group called The Resistance is fighting back against the WEC, and they are headed by a former officer of the WEC named Quentin Maxis. I can't remember if we get to meet him in the game, I hope so.<br />
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Like a lot of 90s PC games, the game makes heavy use of full motion video (FMV) to tell the story between missions. I also need to mention the music in this game, it is fantastic. Do yourself a favor and check it out: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=934jQZQy-VU">Youtube link</a><br />
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The game opens with 3 Silencers walking through a sewer returning from a mission where they refused to kill some unarmed civilians, who they were told were "rebels". They are in a bit of a panic about disobeying a direct order...<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKhgFiruntOwR0rcOjSxbRQCwzI3e868bFfj2TFqHDo2-V3Fmxrz64KQnHXWdWTixzfaf-Gq14QlOOJ9pRQOO1z5zcbHyLPGZpfq59RPGksl9keYj4gN1wqupCqniy4wAHp6lWupfASR8o/s1600/Screenshot+%2528134%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKhgFiruntOwR0rcOjSxbRQCwzI3e868bFfj2TFqHDo2-V3Fmxrz64KQnHXWdWTixzfaf-Gq14QlOOJ9pRQOO1z5zcbHyLPGZpfq59RPGksl9keYj4gN1wqupCqniy4wAHp6lWupfASR8o/s640/Screenshot+%2528134%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ah Origin...I miss you</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho1aGMYhTrj_aQfa67H7otSXQyGGwWKhyphenhyphenxw0NI3BwUBFqqVYA18Qs44sxfcybd2Q8Jbro-R0Yp_nCMP8g63irBZmeN8IPl5pCH7oXD2x4x0x0xvZBIBXlTAH7IvDIw4bk38Y5xl8BXiNyo/s1600/Screenshot+%2528135%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho1aGMYhTrj_aQfa67H7otSXQyGGwWKhyphenhyphenxw0NI3BwUBFqqVYA18Qs44sxfcybd2Q8Jbro-R0Yp_nCMP8g63irBZmeN8IPl5pCH7oXD2x4x0x0xvZBIBXlTAH7IvDIw4bk38Y5xl8BXiNyo/s640/Screenshot+%2528135%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our man Tony</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgc2JUZUkjp2gjhqK2uGluTpDzEl9_jU85IqdS5vhrvxcI9I4hpj9X6kOEpDGpBiC6SrUBPLamU5Zh-gUbXGecbLPXTq7b0EXK6RNIkr7Rh3I4UKqjaPirWkp5GgCz0GY50wiJYE6QSDcQ/s1600/Screenshot+%2528137%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgc2JUZUkjp2gjhqK2uGluTpDzEl9_jU85IqdS5vhrvxcI9I4hpj9X6kOEpDGpBiC6SrUBPLamU5Zh-gUbXGecbLPXTq7b0EXK6RNIkr7Rh3I4UKqjaPirWkp5GgCz0GY50wiJYE6QSDcQ/s640/Screenshot+%2528137%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNj1zSsUUrA4Kd4Q7QwilmVhCGIHIOhQX4Of1wU7RV8DwmmrjrWw4i3yt8Hp09H4FKhDcNEoRmxcESzbo4EYsC4ATY-jsQMmOU-4M79xHfgzGow0j7TLKsQ5-Uhd5L2Z0lvQxtV4ENTvYT/s1600/Screenshot+%2528138%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNj1zSsUUrA4Kd4Q7QwilmVhCGIHIOhQX4Of1wU7RV8DwmmrjrWw4i3yt8Hp09H4FKhDcNEoRmxcESzbo4EYsC4ATY-jsQMmOU-4M79xHfgzGow0j7TLKsQ5-Uhd5L2Z0lvQxtV4ENTvYT/s640/Screenshot+%2528138%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of them regrets not killing the civilians...nice buddy</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE6XOeSVBeN_1GO0BtbfnygQ1bO_XCsYGBeiYER01guNd20Ks0WFK96jy6qTU6EmpEg1hWIRNd0Uz17nCbi3rUuw0wcGR2uu1nnNSFZBXgiR_uWW63TX5lyyvn1F_NhdgK266DwW1vuCgY/s1600/Screenshot+%2528139%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE6XOeSVBeN_1GO0BtbfnygQ1bO_XCsYGBeiYER01guNd20Ks0WFK96jy6qTU6EmpEg1hWIRNd0Uz17nCbi3rUuw0wcGR2uu1nnNSFZBXgiR_uWW63TX5lyyvn1F_NhdgK266DwW1vuCgY/s640/Screenshot+%2528139%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A WEC mech identifying the Silencers as targets for termination </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKvHCIeIa7BzoqaID6d751wBvmCHG2WQ-mVsqGpW4swjKEBsvgOEDaAkQD-mzkh2GSITbT5xf-M1ALW_l8Kfyh294oHfiTd6s6Q1Pld8JpqYs7skP5gPLtvzVBBdWaGkTLAg0nD2CNnJZ/s640/Screenshot+%2528140%2529.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The WEC mech performing that termination</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXY0AotjtiL_kFRHWTG5k1GNprQ64oHS6OLgMXl75HVYTBBHL1ii68ijGI-er3fUcMBK9SN9BIJCGKp47GmzzE19TFKXh-rTPRrnu3H-JofKD3eBEvJPLOYvGOSFwi6q3BZAr3GClsLQIt/s1600/Screenshot+%2528141%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXY0AotjtiL_kFRHWTG5k1GNprQ64oHS6OLgMXl75HVYTBBHL1ii68ijGI-er3fUcMBK9SN9BIJCGKp47GmzzE19TFKXh-rTPRrnu3H-JofKD3eBEvJPLOYvGOSFwi6q3BZAr3GClsLQIt/s640/Screenshot+%2528141%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our character survives, and tosses a grenade under the mech</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_xQ5iRbwhz3lPa8lstTnVjqPji3ZTGuubPvizcISlTxnkCWrnVoHr3WbPFIhqnZ46h1gFSQshG_7ZfXaEu-dRw1PwQfTbBhgOapDUn1BlseJBnyKDVqNpmC1jaH5c0kw2Lv02siTbyddp/s1600/Screenshot+%2528142%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_xQ5iRbwhz3lPa8lstTnVjqPji3ZTGuubPvizcISlTxnkCWrnVoHr3WbPFIhqnZ46h1gFSQshG_7ZfXaEu-dRw1PwQfTbBhgOapDUn1BlseJBnyKDVqNpmC1jaH5c0kw2Lv02siTbyddp/s640/Screenshot+%2528142%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mech is disabled and our character walks up to its malfunctioning camera and shoots it</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYb2pFga_7d8-k6EyET5AmSdtwzuUk0-i9Kq8ByyiIiBsytD7lbtgLQotUb2TbHN4F-52cO4VlFwGvqHS3YXhzJHZ3pKrZ5U6MnGgCd8M1_klm-DYZEWVi-mDT8Xlrd8PWpeuaQiYwwpLH/s1600/Screenshot+%2528143%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYb2pFga_7d8-k6EyET5AmSdtwzuUk0-i9Kq8ByyiIiBsytD7lbtgLQotUb2TbHN4F-52cO4VlFwGvqHS3YXhzJHZ3pKrZ5U6MnGgCd8M1_klm-DYZEWVi-mDT8Xlrd8PWpeuaQiYwwpLH/s640/Screenshot+%2528143%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The main title screen, a recreation of that last scene from the intro of the Silencer blasting the disabled mech</td></tr>
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Our nameless hero just became a traitor to the WEC cause. Nothing else to do besides join the Resistance. Let's start a new game on the second difficulty level and see where the story leads to next...<br />
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<b><u>Mission 1:</u></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht9uPJwpkjrtZlxpA6RB5won6hziJHhh95KsLYSGpMO1H5dRTrOG7OGJr9LdG3uKVmPQTfbLHmmdJmAkSNdmn0ohVnVvCbC26tQpO5AaSnvI_XNtfQgdd7kX5g5VBwQEwvFDkSstPvSfkS/s1600/Screenshot+%2528145%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht9uPJwpkjrtZlxpA6RB5won6hziJHhh95KsLYSGpMO1H5dRTrOG7OGJr9LdG3uKVmPQTfbLHmmdJmAkSNdmn0ohVnVvCbC26tQpO5AaSnvI_XNtfQgdd7kX5g5VBwQEwvFDkSstPvSfkS/s640/Screenshot+%2528145%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I like the psuedo-email address on the bottom, nice touch</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGDd-KndkzLYENhx4G0rlEm5pnf-jrTh7UwaqlYuVT9eZKBpE-mi8xQnM4ZUD9rcmfB8haB-ME_Vy8RFx8DEY6aZClQ7jLYZR2f6HpMP2ScrmmPMDVVRLkOLZy4wBTpjr4e0BD78u3JjxA/s1600/Screenshot+%2528146%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGDd-KndkzLYENhx4G0rlEm5pnf-jrTh7UwaqlYuVT9eZKBpE-mi8xQnM4ZUD9rcmfB8haB-ME_Vy8RFx8DEY6aZClQ7jLYZR2f6HpMP2ScrmmPMDVVRLkOLZy4wBTpjr4e0BD78u3JjxA/s640/Screenshot+%2528146%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gen. Quentin Maxis, I guess we meet him right away</td></tr>
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Right away the game starts off with a video email message from General Quentin Maxis himself welcoming us (now known only as "Captain") to the Resistance. He makes sure to state that a lot of people in the Resistance think I am a spy, so he is giving me one shot to prove I am now loyal to the Resistance. My mission is to infiltrate an oil refinery and plant an explosive device on some specific part. Interestingly, I'm going to get in and out via teleport pads. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzrR4nRt5Ny4YNEkwhsfKSIcfV-K95Luo9uLodEnoapX9ZkEgx0CqoxlNoun9ZmuHkdUfH9k3sfl-ace3BSmUjngCrXs44OtbmLZQ9SPuqJ4PigKEthUFD71a3JDuNBrGXl7Wj1nCj2ldY/s1600/Screenshot+%2528148%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzrR4nRt5Ny4YNEkwhsfKSIcfV-K95Luo9uLodEnoapX9ZkEgx0CqoxlNoun9ZmuHkdUfH9k3sfl-ace3BSmUjngCrXs44OtbmLZQ9SPuqJ4PigKEthUFD71a3JDuNBrGXl7Wj1nCj2ldY/s640/Screenshot+%2528148%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First gameplay screen</td></tr>
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Right away I teleport in am greeted by a worker who says I am not supposed to be there, and then he goes and sets off the alarm. Great, thanks man. The interface is pretty straight forward along the bottom of the screen. The gun on the lower left is showing me which weapon I have equipped. Next to that is the ammo and number of clips. In the middle is which inventory item I have equipped. Finally we have our health and energy, energy being used for shields and energy weapons. </div>
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The first thing I'm going to do now is get revenge on that worker for hitting the alarm. I mean, if I was in his shoes and saw a heavily armed unauthorized super soldier teleport into my work area, I might hit the alarm as well. But you can loot dead people in this game and he might have some stuff I want. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWsx-Ok29V5_WnMffwTxAWP7Q0PNbF_843jZE3yruz_nE-C0wrCS6WLlo4hIqnK6n3hhgocFX_i_V6uKYi6sqrjP7fOxozfYk2zxDmIgD1A04RHIwz0xpixlAVEn_Qa2qJyhJjYNr2hiD0/s1600/Screenshot+%2528150%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWsx-Ok29V5_WnMffwTxAWP7Q0PNbF_843jZE3yruz_nE-C0wrCS6WLlo4hIqnK6n3hhgocFX_i_V6uKYi6sqrjP7fOxozfYk2zxDmIgD1A04RHIwz0xpixlAVEn_Qa2qJyhJjYNr2hiD0/s640/Screenshot+%2528150%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bam...</td></tr>
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Remember how in the intro I got into this whole mess because I wouldn't kill unarmed civilians? Well...</div>
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I am now remembering how...clumsy the controls are in this game. They are really pretty bad. The game has "tank" controls where your character doesn't control relative to their position in the game. The only way to move in a walk or run is to go forward the direction your character is facing. Using the left and right arrow keys turns your character in place in those directions, then you press the up arrow key to move forward in the direction you are now facing. Holding ALT allows you to side step left or right, and holding CTRL allows you to roll left or right. But its awkward because the directions are absolute relative to the character and not their position on the screen. In other words, if you are facing towards the bottom of the screen and you hold ALT and press right, the character side steps to THEIR right, and not towards the right of the screen. It will take some getting used to. Mouse control is present but not any better, so I think I'll stick with keyboard controls for now. </div>
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There is no auto aim, but a target appears over an enemy when you are pointed in the right direction to hit them. This is hugely helpful because otherwise there is no way to tell if you are pointing close to an enemy or not.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNdGMY67ntrdwnz-EOZDST9Q8StYICL1Wbi5Av4rOw9M-sZ3BSZNIE_hJaPHfH7Xu_2TlDoVViu-FQzjuZUFy5iYtf6pyADbo4ArmLZBb0YOWQV1AqMm3DaYvpezhHrrlWOcY6CVgXXrnc/s1600/Screenshot+%2528153%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNdGMY67ntrdwnz-EOZDST9Q8StYICL1Wbi5Av4rOw9M-sZ3BSZNIE_hJaPHfH7Xu_2TlDoVViu-FQzjuZUFy5iYtf6pyADbo4ArmLZBb0YOWQV1AqMm3DaYvpezhHrrlWOcY6CVgXXrnc/s640/Screenshot+%2528153%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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After dispatching the soldiers that came running in response to the alarm, I turned off the alarm and moved on to find this engineer fellow taking a nap in a pool of red water. Honestly, he was like that when I found him. But as I walked past him, two doors opened in the wall to reveal hidden turrets.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ajm2f69sCaNKlIculIoghrRv6LHk9Jwp39udrZ0espegWRm70v8JVPh0HbMBViQTApMmMukZsGv5g1zxXW_tesEDKV17Sn5dPx7lzx00rlLQpjILRw2UP0boy08RO5aRNv2boFmVamLH/s1600/Screenshot+%2528155%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ajm2f69sCaNKlIculIoghrRv6LHk9Jwp39udrZ0espegWRm70v8JVPh0HbMBViQTApMmMukZsGv5g1zxXW_tesEDKV17Sn5dPx7lzx00rlLQpjILRw2UP0boy08RO5aRNv2boFmVamLH/s640/Screenshot+%2528155%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Destroying the turrets</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWT5ututGcGPWSADp6TYUcOQFpC-lxvJkIy6k4fk6FYLhhr_95S1NX9hyF8AbUxqsSKfnbM_sHNHWtSSU2D3AKpElO6xsVF2f69z-a2G0WS_bCMsHS8Bi7zeEjDj3yZ_h5IeaJlEHZS0hT/s1600/Screenshot+%2528157%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWT5ututGcGPWSADp6TYUcOQFpC-lxvJkIy6k4fk6FYLhhr_95S1NX9hyF8AbUxqsSKfnbM_sHNHWtSSU2D3AKpElO6xsVF2f69z-a2G0WS_bCMsHS8Bi7zeEjDj3yZ_h5IeaJlEHZS0hT/s640/Screenshot+%2528157%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Searching a green box</td></tr>
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Moving on, I remembered that I should be searching containers and dead bodies. I forgot to search that poor worker I shot back at the beginning. Pressing "S" when next a usable item like a container or button brings up this blue target like in the screenshot above. Hitting "ENTER" takes whatever items are inside, which can be anything from ammo to credits to deployable spider bombs. </div>
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The interactivity with items and the environment makes the Crusader games almost like an early, third-person Deus Ex. Parts of this game can be very RPG-like in that you can solves puzzles and get through areas in multiple different ways. For example, below I found a computer terminal that has an email containing the new passcode to get into a restricted area. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-aqb1LIrnwpud1Zj_3C3BGigrCYnmRrWvS6A0KbwMHt832y86GZEuf4-lxwPxFF_Neizf0wKCV9aYJyP_dXQ_zCy7q7vhmBUEHgyslmzqAN8V9ajreEjoscWW0RMmcAsrpaTNY-1EXrIL/s1600/Screenshot+%2528158%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-aqb1LIrnwpud1Zj_3C3BGigrCYnmRrWvS6A0KbwMHt832y86GZEuf4-lxwPxFF_Neizf0wKCV9aYJyP_dXQ_zCy7q7vhmBUEHgyslmzqAN8V9ajreEjoscWW0RMmcAsrpaTNY-1EXrIL/s640/Screenshot+%2528158%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Good there are no spies around here...nope, no sir...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqWzHwqlSzsWFyi6vzo8ImAJ6TRC5QGrPkHMYqy-bGpWSmT4R5qGbTljyqlAfil8qaDcEiI7TuoBdveep3_Ru6bN5j4EixbOcn8up7WkhgMz2_M8I0E67GfvTWsP18y8S83Qujwm8UGru3/s1600/Screenshot+%2528159%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqWzHwqlSzsWFyi6vzo8ImAJ6TRC5QGrPkHMYqy-bGpWSmT4R5qGbTljyqlAfil8qaDcEiI7TuoBdveep3_Ru6bN5j4EixbOcn8up7WkhgMz2_M8I0E67GfvTWsP18y8S83Qujwm8UGru3/s640/Screenshot+%2528159%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Punching in the passcode</td></tr>
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I reduced the size of my screenshots by half since 1900x1200 was making each screenshot 3-4MBs, which is too big. So that is why they might look a little artifact-y now.<br />
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Moving on, below is an example of the standard enemy soldiers behind a laser-wall that is deactivated with a switch on the wall next to it. I am hiding behind those boxes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJKn_BcYKMmqaWdPlLulRAbFfmtAH_57AtdGr4iWc6XNBpXAezRkj_5k0x2hKOoXZe5jRi27vKuvTpg-7BYlDNVMO5VM6dCRmRXP2cCCwNJF-RCn8m6hCFpUsSAs_vZKOgnojo5ruLaubo/s1600/Screenshot+%2528160%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJKn_BcYKMmqaWdPlLulRAbFfmtAH_57AtdGr4iWc6XNBpXAezRkj_5k0x2hKOoXZe5jRi27vKuvTpg-7BYlDNVMO5VM6dCRmRXP2cCCwNJF-RCn8m6hCFpUsSAs_vZKOgnojo5ruLaubo/s640/Screenshot+%2528160%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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After some practice, I am able to get the hang of the controls. Using the roll and sidestep function is still not easy, but it can work. Here is an example of me using a roll to be a true super soldier and take out some bad guys:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSpIonP2q2WHyizaNnuPNmVmvNZGYM8EKO273Ha8eY7WXoCEo4P7Ur-zhcsNRBLECqoY31NME1gBFhRlMuPq95PIJKVKnEOjK0N3jBlAnF-D20FFEedfHiXOKnO2OqzcE-UhjEn7TNTiQ9/s1600/crusader1gif.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="773" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSpIonP2q2WHyizaNnuPNmVmvNZGYM8EKO273Ha8eY7WXoCEo4P7Ur-zhcsNRBLECqoY31NME1gBFhRlMuPq95PIJKVKnEOjK0N3jBlAnF-D20FFEedfHiXOKnO2OqzcE-UhjEn7TNTiQ9/s640/crusader1gif.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
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This mission has a lot of doors and switches and as far as I know there is no in game map. This has been OK so far as I haven't had to back track much at all yet. After moving through a few more rooms with enemy soldiers, I came to one of the best features of the game: taking control of a mech!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid5z-HIVTtDyIvWujaK8zgPGltgvT6xK6CH3F8R5BYZJdjhYVo9nk_gdkHEK9uAEj8uJj9ytTgd-KwaAEg0XpuFvwtHidgEMxHivQCCFS8wtPwnNAduNeZOUZwz5gp_4vWiBErJ_Hs68nf/s1600/Screenshot+%2528166%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid5z-HIVTtDyIvWujaK8zgPGltgvT6xK6CH3F8R5BYZJdjhYVo9nk_gdkHEK9uAEj8uJj9ytTgd-KwaAEg0XpuFvwtHidgEMxHivQCCFS8wtPwnNAduNeZOUZwz5gp_4vWiBErJ_Hs68nf/s640/Screenshot+%2528166%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A remote service droid with machine guns!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
You can take control of service droids and combat mechs throughout the game from terminals like this. In most cases that I can remember, there is no time limit or distance limit, you are only limited by closed and locket doors that the mech can't open. They also do a lot of damage, as you'll see below.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVmbCNM1APEU6T3Cwy9kVsa3cFpLsaZQEQOSILh3r2MJwuBKxFC83kRj4qnA1rwgcISkhM_Sqgf5Qr9QQ1sOcYgA-DUc75az4dFgMy2GT5liWzff6mnsKOIG1Z9XLLUYDcZrvwJ_d1bsi-/s1600/Screenshot+%2528167%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVmbCNM1APEU6T3Cwy9kVsa3cFpLsaZQEQOSILh3r2MJwuBKxFC83kRj4qnA1rwgcISkhM_Sqgf5Qr9QQ1sOcYgA-DUc75az4dFgMy2GT5liWzff6mnsKOIG1Z9XLLUYDcZrvwJ_d1bsi-/s640/Screenshot+%2528167%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I am not controlling the mech</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid-ACl6peDUNUE3NQqzJbqRNsFWzNPFL3mjW4jz9QZXhIavQfKQWZqQbUyWLTPD0CUQe8UT7rlwKXH1t3Y5ofQRO4_ZGu3-w6565RcHgsv9ruyZshDdqaTxw7AJOtQ6Ku3Aq01VX3Zn09T/s1600/Screenshot+%2528168%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid-ACl6peDUNUE3NQqzJbqRNsFWzNPFL3mjW4jz9QZXhIavQfKQWZqQbUyWLTPD0CUQe8UT7rlwKXH1t3Y5ofQRO4_ZGu3-w6565RcHgsv9ruyZshDdqaTxw7AJOtQ6Ku3Aq01VX3Zn09T/s640/Screenshot+%2528168%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shooting through the doorway</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_64l1VTvIaAWDl-zXXvv7OHKmL2PBomx8P-Dj4iY-sTgtDDpdGUd5un7gPOiVQRdOLUQjCTYCHdi4cgmlpCuFn4YIG1n7X7I7ZkWcHlbDYC_AjDJMNDMJbCUP-GBDc057EtrLMOxXg5ju/s1600/Screenshot+%2528169%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_64l1VTvIaAWDl-zXXvv7OHKmL2PBomx8P-Dj4iY-sTgtDDpdGUd5un7gPOiVQRdOLUQjCTYCHdi4cgmlpCuFn4YIG1n7X7I7ZkWcHlbDYC_AjDJMNDMJbCUP-GBDc057EtrLMOxXg5ju/s640/Screenshot+%2528169%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blowing up everything</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQgH6GiUME0vMvaspO7hpsz5eXFllauqxVwRSvCyztU81R5IaGZP11eQ8H8yHtr46Hsb9-VAJg0NSKpLOvQFWZf3HBZ4fDjaHxc5dEupReJT0N1vB2vE2xZQYTLq5oZLWlZ5LKY_kkqRlj/s1600/Screenshot+%2528170%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQgH6GiUME0vMvaspO7hpsz5eXFllauqxVwRSvCyztU81R5IaGZP11eQ8H8yHtr46Hsb9-VAJg0NSKpLOvQFWZf3HBZ4fDjaHxc5dEupReJT0N1vB2vE2xZQYTLq5oZLWlZ5LKY_kkqRlj/s640/Screenshot+%2528170%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blowing up more of the room</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxUAvaoH7fM_5mdL9_MwPAfIm90RPCcwskHYSd6xFHqcfLGyGu3FH_NiSSR3liIC0NQKkpR7gMbPc85bQmYvRTcPZhaFt7gKHwxsfMCXygpXbtqFsmWNG2svgUwV_8DCgVgTvuQIzktXV8/s1600/Screenshot+%2528171%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxUAvaoH7fM_5mdL9_MwPAfIm90RPCcwskHYSd6xFHqcfLGyGu3FH_NiSSR3liIC0NQKkpR7gMbPc85bQmYvRTcPZhaFt7gKHwxsfMCXygpXbtqFsmWNG2svgUwV_8DCgVgTvuQIzktXV8/s640/Screenshot+%2528171%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me now standing in the aftermath</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Notice all of the damaged equipment with new textures showing their damaged state. I love the detail in all that. The explosions also look great as well, the high resolution graphics and textures really do make a difference I think. In this room, I was able to get a keycard from a safe and I also accessed some security cameras, one of which showed my target for this mission:<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG4ouMg_KBc5owmCloAjVyWCafl662a3IjGCwnvDSdxIPRU3Fw-AL2-paswIJAaY2ZoKiWp7lpIJEp8eBpK6EiQabZwIXwtK6WVBm8vYRsbq7iluo1JRsXH50qqt1mMMjJ7mJ1UE2-MYgm/s1600/Screenshot+%2528175%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG4ouMg_KBc5owmCloAjVyWCafl662a3IjGCwnvDSdxIPRU3Fw-AL2-paswIJAaY2ZoKiWp7lpIJEp8eBpK6EiQabZwIXwtK6WVBm8vYRsbq7iluo1JRsXH50qqt1mMMjJ7mJ1UE2-MYgm/s640/Screenshot+%2528175%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My target</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
A bit later I came to another puzzle Crusader likes: turn the valve to shut off or turn on leaking steam or fire. In this instance, I have to close the valve to shut off the flames, but in other instances you can turn on steam or flames to burn unsuspecting enemies. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuR8yuX5XbcS_Uek5sFWBz04H2s3pjP4RrsLa79-tSRm6cLqInMFxrqRKeaQNzaEaRS98pqLqT4JqCyhu8kJ7Vo-X3oD5TCAiqefNb0lqEsPH7tT9_NTtvNnu5iQ10rujqK1Uwf-WrstCg/s1600/Screenshot+%2528176%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuR8yuX5XbcS_Uek5sFWBz04H2s3pjP4RrsLa79-tSRm6cLqInMFxrqRKeaQNzaEaRS98pqLqT4JqCyhu8kJ7Vo-X3oD5TCAiqefNb0lqEsPH7tT9_NTtvNnu5iQ10rujqK1Uwf-WrstCg/s640/Screenshot+%2528176%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMAp2FOUcwnlc7dX-SjZmu3NgWYqMUdvKyliByv3igSaOMR5laLFpAUfbAVkz3CswdW8rdSP6TatSR480yIiWqcZC_-BFzGiLbJTKa-uv30MJWvv7GB1W_TUCRu2J3H_iDkuAglTUo2z5S/s1600/Screenshot+%2528177%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMAp2FOUcwnlc7dX-SjZmu3NgWYqMUdvKyliByv3igSaOMR5laLFpAUfbAVkz3CswdW8rdSP6TatSR480yIiWqcZC_-BFzGiLbJTKa-uv30MJWvv7GB1W_TUCRu2J3H_iDkuAglTUo2z5S/s640/Screenshot+%2528177%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The valve </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHqppzfb7W6qrrWb83_b8Y3JJI_85wJY3FbQQAbahJo3FXwuJzY16Q6Yw8WLOggdsCueVBGPjT2Jc1kA4pcPG11xO6DQTXcdZUfNMnD_STUcIgSUI27QWW4_DizHglf5dX8I3fKfnKl1dk/s640/Screenshot+%2528178%2529.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All clear</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHqppzfb7W6qrrWb83_b8Y3JJI_85wJY3FbQQAbahJo3FXwuJzY16Q6Yw8WLOggdsCueVBGPjT2Jc1kA4pcPG11xO6DQTXcdZUfNMnD_STUcIgSUI27QWW4_DizHglf5dX8I3fKfnKl1dk/s1600/Screenshot+%2528178%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br /></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHqppzfb7W6qrrWb83_b8Y3JJI_85wJY3FbQQAbahJo3FXwuJzY16Q6Yw8WLOggdsCueVBGPjT2Jc1kA4pcPG11xO6DQTXcdZUfNMnD_STUcIgSUI27QWW4_DizHglf5dX8I3fKfnKl1dk/s1600/Screenshot+%2528178%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
<div>
I'm not sure what that liquid is below this walkway. I'm supposed to be at an oil refinery, so maybe that is the ocean but very heavily polluted. Or else the WEC builds their oil refineries over pools of their own pollution, which could also be the case. Anyhow, that doesn't seem very safe or sanitary. </div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7yXJbfEHOW2DWO0jKh26f6DziSglO3RMYUT1eun7zgZt92O4O4ocIni53etaah_MTH6B2NfC5WbBktloB84FXpOJXVgfwx2_w7gz544ThRCtwTSnZbmDTUHajMQhmPzLKbC57vGHujBhd/s1600/Screenshot+%2528180%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7yXJbfEHOW2DWO0jKh26f6DziSglO3RMYUT1eun7zgZt92O4O4ocIni53etaah_MTH6B2NfC5WbBktloB84FXpOJXVgfwx2_w7gz544ThRCtwTSnZbmDTUHajMQhmPzLKbC57vGHujBhd/s640/Screenshot+%2528180%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thanks a lot Brandt</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
It also does not sound sanitary to leave puddles of dangerous plutonium on the floor. I am starting to think WEC does not care very much for the wellbeing of their employees. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
After moving on, I found the red keycard and the red door. Even though Crusader: No Remorse is an innovative game, it still came out in the 90s and therefore is required to have color coded keys and doors. After going through the red door, I was met by a scientist who is also a Resistance spy. He gave me a keycard I needed to get to my target area:</div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqCU790YdughL8KyyM-mf0_GHiZW1bgoya0pwmUAmURCRVDfVe0WsLO30Iih2cmr19XfI67zg2BeFCCdo30SBEmrLuJqUx9h3XglShWFUP1fxI4Oq3Q_1_FGKk6ArbojwvLal_2b9XuxQj/s1600/Screenshot+%2528187%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqCU790YdughL8KyyM-mf0_GHiZW1bgoya0pwmUAmURCRVDfVe0WsLO30Iih2cmr19XfI67zg2BeFCCdo30SBEmrLuJqUx9h3XglShWFUP1fxI4Oq3Q_1_FGKk6ArbojwvLal_2b9XuxQj/s640/Screenshot+%2528187%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nice suit</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4-kpicQC7KD16ZguTI5gdd5Ifbf02E2749qT38cCL2L7DxN2p59fZbbmWAW9Dh4W6j_AFfxGCs5k_SYIlVLPpPirGhcURKMccJlKf6HVsrTBwOQ7Uafj3lDc-mRPS_4VrWGoGC2TEWVYp/s1600/Screenshot+%2528188%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4-kpicQC7KD16ZguTI5gdd5Ifbf02E2749qT38cCL2L7DxN2p59fZbbmWAW9Dh4W6j_AFfxGCs5k_SYIlVLPpPirGhcURKMccJlKf6HVsrTBwOQ7Uafj3lDc-mRPS_4VrWGoGC2TEWVYp/s640/Screenshot+%2528188%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4XyJA7niViUhrRNb1bpv_9zrFJRmlkmyVFyplG04s1ZH2XC1wANBWQj0HLbmCboXRPa0MRj7Js2VdDKzZIuaP7EXlgMpzdk7bsT_jwnylChBA_f61qn_ms5AuKnI809sGVsV2jHyyFZQn/s1600/Screenshot+%2528189%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4XyJA7niViUhrRNb1bpv_9zrFJRmlkmyVFyplG04s1ZH2XC1wANBWQj0HLbmCboXRPa0MRj7Js2VdDKzZIuaP7EXlgMpzdk7bsT_jwnylChBA_f61qn_ms5AuKnI809sGVsV2jHyyFZQn/s640/Screenshot+%2528189%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After giving me the key, he gets the heck of there as the alarm goes off</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
I was swarmed by guards here and use some of my medkits from my inventory. Leaving this area, I came to a bridge over the sludge with a guard standing on a moving platform over the sludge that looks so ridiculous it made me laugh out loud.</div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG3rhnMKZr9bBR4UXVZjPvIssgpt1bwVhRySp9R1lusPVeJ_EZPc_fbL31l5IvdJW19tzZrQYg_semdlGUU_bN8pLhddbQrY8i0iE1DcL_9WWG180LOH1qsd_S9Zjg6jD5kUNkS4cfkIJV/s1600/Screenshot+%2528190%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG3rhnMKZr9bBR4UXVZjPvIssgpt1bwVhRySp9R1lusPVeJ_EZPc_fbL31l5IvdJW19tzZrQYg_semdlGUU_bN8pLhddbQrY8i0iE1DcL_9WWG180LOH1qsd_S9Zjg6jD5kUNkS4cfkIJV/s640/Screenshot+%2528190%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">lol...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
It's hard for me to take WEC and their security forces seriously when one of them are zooming around on a hover platform. I then found an elevator that takes me to the second floor. These levels are bigger than I remember. I may have to break these playthroughs up into multiple posts if subsequent levels get even bigger. But before leaving this floor, I found another instance of a WEC employee being careless and this time they started a fire. It makes me wonder if maybe this might be purposeful sabotage? More likely these employees are just idiots.</div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrX-tc3iFPQck_Q87tsSF6LWdNW7xS6dTfknNBxORyQMpYWpjFOaHD-wUM4eHL7jKx6-0XkDenKAOZTcLNA_i24K77S-AVAkRTjlaOSNLUYHNI90fU6c7ZMVEtnQRa3eJ9zDCBRnSb5WkO/s1600/Screenshot+%2528191%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrX-tc3iFPQck_Q87tsSF6LWdNW7xS6dTfknNBxORyQMpYWpjFOaHD-wUM4eHL7jKx6-0XkDenKAOZTcLNA_i24K77S-AVAkRTjlaOSNLUYHNI90fU6c7ZMVEtnQRa3eJ9zDCBRnSb5WkO/s640/Screenshot+%2528191%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sounds like Tech Stokes has done this kind of thing before...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggf-7P9PR29dDad3Aw4dj33LJ4gyewWshJlrgZkHmJ0KitKDqgUVajJ3mKYhO1NuIV_d1tkK17KdHYf2iydB-8S3g91Z6comwyWoxSCSyWYPF8Mc_KkVJ9uHA3Au6JYPuBZUbvwgtV2LkC/s1600/Screenshot+%2528192%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggf-7P9PR29dDad3Aw4dj33LJ4gyewWshJlrgZkHmJ0KitKDqgUVajJ3mKYhO1NuIV_d1tkK17KdHYf2iydB-8S3g91Z6comwyWoxSCSyWYPF8Mc_KkVJ9uHA3Au6JYPuBZUbvwgtV2LkC/s640/Screenshot+%2528192%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elevator to floor 2</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitFaydbfJFMbzFYEN1ooL0-tJBTbgF2CtqF27FgHkl1-SESc0FEQCjM1GupIcWVmSVyNFY10wl8diiZkPvjPXF-XBeC3CNKaVSjQ6XEKpITqAo8Tu_f13v0nHCL_U5BwdcmhjOmagWbEVz/s1600/Screenshot+%2528193%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitFaydbfJFMbzFYEN1ooL0-tJBTbgF2CtqF27FgHkl1-SESc0FEQCjM1GupIcWVmSVyNFY10wl8diiZkPvjPXF-XBeC3CNKaVSjQ6XEKpITqAo8Tu_f13v0nHCL_U5BwdcmhjOmagWbEVz/s640/Screenshot+%2528193%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Floor 2</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Those orange squares move in a pattern and are electrified, stepping on them takes away about 1/5 of my health. I just ran over them and took the health hit, I couldn't find any way to turn them off. Usually there are ways to avoid the traps in this game, but in this instance I couldn't find any. I moved through a couple more rooms and killed another guard on a floating platform. Another thing Crusader gets right is its level design. So far no two rooms have been the same, and most have distinguishing features or traps that make them memorable.<br />
<br />
I eventually find myself at this red key door that I can't open.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRkbh0AIamUr32XEDnI3k1oGPv2xjPO8FUX_m99lLmmDJHh2jDOYN6wHlC8clf4Ms0jQ6fKAIlI4M0aFZRDxQblhwZ6zJ4u8FxmZt5kpQZbDTqPdkBQXE_74nLqHnGEsyc9G3w0bSMErEB/s1600/Screenshot+%2528196%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRkbh0AIamUr32XEDnI3k1oGPv2xjPO8FUX_m99lLmmDJHh2jDOYN6wHlC8clf4Ms0jQ6fKAIlI4M0aFZRDxQblhwZ6zJ4u8FxmZt5kpQZbDTqPdkBQXE_74nLqHnGEsyc9G3w0bSMErEB/s640/Screenshot+%2528196%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stuck</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I can't figure this out. I've gone back and forth to the beginning of this level again and again and I can't find the damn red key. I've checked all bodies and containers and blown up a bunch of things but I can't find the key. I'm going to have to search on the internet for a walkthrough...<br />
<br />
<Some time later> I couldn't find a walkthrough, but I did find a video in German of someone playing through the entire game. I had to watch very closely, but I found the key:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwNENASB_jzo4CQIdqw5hfScSAU4GrOvmLJvBUMvUX_hf3wocjDjGhVi1bwRMd3x9rb7kFLALEQzSMgVHKiw4jiF6T-ezYCAmcSdOGePFiuy2sqcy1pxxnsBeDA7NEMzNt3cf6CMaMq5zW/s1600/Screenshot+%2528197%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwNENASB_jzo4CQIdqw5hfScSAU4GrOvmLJvBUMvUX_hf3wocjDjGhVi1bwRMd3x9rb7kFLALEQzSMgVHKiw4jiF6T-ezYCAmcSdOGePFiuy2sqcy1pxxnsBeDA7NEMzNt3cf6CMaMq5zW/s640/Screenshot+%2528197%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How NOT obvious</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I mean, realistically it makes sense that the key would be on the desk next to the cool retro desktop computer. But in computer game logic, that is not where I was looking. It is also really hard to see it there. I'll just keep my eyes peeled now for keys on desks. After all that work searching for the key that was in plain sight the whole time, my health is looking pretty low. I could use a medkit, but there is a health station on the other side of the red door forcefield. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7wfmvV2eO-41EWAvU7phmfiZPkkg5Ioa7Uy_1H6ABKk5fvsmI04atZklbOjFxrjGVHULwBkf6bpILG2Q4gn2TIK7-0cbvkFSDVCaYPGwJ1azGXuQ-sW-E2z8gXCP00hDxojyOaN5_5GpK/s1600/Screenshot+%2528198%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7wfmvV2eO-41EWAvU7phmfiZPkkg5Ioa7Uy_1H6ABKk5fvsmI04atZklbOjFxrjGVHULwBkf6bpILG2Q4gn2TIK7-0cbvkFSDVCaYPGwJ1azGXuQ-sW-E2z8gXCP00hDxojyOaN5_5GpK/s640/Screenshot+%2528198%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Recharging health</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A few more rooms then it is up to floor 3:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja6igrzi7zXJ9iVuA-A6s-KSXvraJYQKJZ2hd3x7MUjgA8CgBRsQQhQZgCN_Vlvlif-psYcu-G1sBAxAmOFRVOfLhsxedhPx8tXUpGojrP95bX2QBr5-1Z8vztT7NYZxQ-U4W9pnl-QOrA/s1600/Screenshot+%2528200%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja6igrzi7zXJ9iVuA-A6s-KSXvraJYQKJZ2hd3x7MUjgA8CgBRsQQhQZgCN_Vlvlif-psYcu-G1sBAxAmOFRVOfLhsxedhPx8tXUpGojrP95bX2QBr5-1Z8vztT7NYZxQ-U4W9pnl-QOrA/s640/Screenshot+%2528200%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Huh...the sign under that turret says "Out of Order"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The sign under the turret was a trick! After I walked past, the turret fired up and shot me in the back. In retrospect, I should have suspected something. I was too trusting of the nice folks at the WEC. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxyRM9KbNUqYowpigKBXqg-T2PiO-za7-8NB5KKG9odtFTcmBqYOBLywbNovJ1WXkCl8LtcGB6df_pf7L1RY6ILNM-QPTA9q4nadzBYk9f3_Vh6BgRHIMsPnGtiTm0wZqlPmjZ4gS2nIdU/s1600/Screenshot+%2528201%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxyRM9KbNUqYowpigKBXqg-T2PiO-za7-8NB5KKG9odtFTcmBqYOBLywbNovJ1WXkCl8LtcGB6df_pf7L1RY6ILNM-QPTA9q4nadzBYk9f3_Vh6BgRHIMsPnGtiTm0wZqlPmjZ4gS2nIdU/s640/Screenshot+%2528201%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Moving on, I've found some spilled radioactive material. The email from earlier said tech Brandt had spilled plutonium on the floor on the 5th floor, and this is the 3rd floor. So that means at least two floors in this oil refinery have puddles of plutonium or other radioactive material waiting to be cleaned up. Time to write a Yelp review! <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgoaX9TW61_aJ0uw4Uqoac8otFqnvw1TR7PhQ9AqwTdwntOOejCg_XnTgnj0P0vcaNs4MSmmz8UEoNrqAJvVE6N-yRs4D_GXMgcvyugwSTFujbU89pRhQaG7n8Dr6REdelyMfHMVNm99e4/s1600/Screenshot+%2528202%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgoaX9TW61_aJ0uw4Uqoac8otFqnvw1TR7PhQ9AqwTdwntOOejCg_XnTgnj0P0vcaNs4MSmmz8UEoNrqAJvVE6N-yRs4D_GXMgcvyugwSTFujbU89pRhQaG7n8Dr6REdelyMfHMVNm99e4/s640/Screenshot+%2528202%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Well this sounds promising...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAfi26HZd7X4NHXY_qkPjRdrIcfJ22boZA_EjH9Hngg5m8JBdaPyyLfFqlCqqfr0dsizRfxLWYImxLSVTg4hGd6eB6yHvs_abiPV6MAmzkFwkgtkPkWyPg0TiX-LYTOENZ5j5cVNXAgPBT/s1600/Screenshot+%2528203%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAfi26HZd7X4NHXY_qkPjRdrIcfJ22boZA_EjH9Hngg5m8JBdaPyyLfFqlCqqfr0dsizRfxLWYImxLSVTg4hGd6eB6yHvs_abiPV6MAmzkFwkgtkPkWyPg0TiX-LYTOENZ5j5cVNXAgPBT/s640/Screenshot+%2528203%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bwahahaha! That is a big gun pointed at you buddy!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Hmm, I got the first soldier that I'm looking at in the above screenshot, but I can't hit another one to the south of the turret. The soldier is at an angle where I can't get the turret to line up with him. The turret jumps a few degrees when turning it around, it isn't a smooth circle. I also have the feeling that I'll be running into this turret myself really soon.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnody5spN94tJvlrWBzUpvGpOEX8DLplA-mbJNSImEw3F4kNVB1iOFlJpS4XzSnNVfhjNyzkwm-gs6ZAFb_odyFn5Kd5X7I269WMzT2MOVDHDjT-ypyVVcH_aXvYCfgZqEs8muznbyTkn2/s1600/Screenshot+%2528207%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnody5spN94tJvlrWBzUpvGpOEX8DLplA-mbJNSImEw3F4kNVB1iOFlJpS4XzSnNVfhjNyzkwm-gs6ZAFb_odyFn5Kd5X7I269WMzT2MOVDHDjT-ypyVVcH_aXvYCfgZqEs8muznbyTkn2/s640/Screenshot+%2528207%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just can't quite line up on him</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I found an elevator nearby so on we go to the fourth floor. Wait a second, the security camera I was just looking at had an elevator exit and it was on the fourth floor...<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj71-GXePTzovWj3KTBM-96kPR4Ha4Go7Y3xXJIeVfiaQ_oCgHnrX689vmA09mQfc5dPS7SECCGMTUZxtppu3Po7p5u8wFxpKo4dLDljwPDcd_sIVv-OfchpmUQlnYCfOWaMf-Isv5ytIpF/s1600/Screenshot+%2528208%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj71-GXePTzovWj3KTBM-96kPR4Ha4Go7Y3xXJIeVfiaQ_oCgHnrX689vmA09mQfc5dPS7SECCGMTUZxtppu3Po7p5u8wFxpKo4dLDljwPDcd_sIVv-OfchpmUQlnYCfOWaMf-Isv5ytIpF/s640/Screenshot+%2528208%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crap</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPfuCHBIXmn-luWYqQ71ORyhDLWku7vtObY6OWSHq8bCJQotX7XXD2AuwcHWGFd6ORBLE9HDNDWuEvujxoa2rj_-oTiXQmUlY0D8ydE-RQUt6zl1gomnvxtCDdEAnf2yijlJHmj8peIHdU/s1600/Screenshot+%2528210%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPfuCHBIXmn-luWYqQ71ORyhDLWku7vtObY6OWSHq8bCJQotX7XXD2AuwcHWGFd6ORBLE9HDNDWuEvujxoa2rj_-oTiXQmUlY0D8ydE-RQUt6zl1gomnvxtCDdEAnf2yijlJHmj8peIHdU/s640/Screenshot+%2528210%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I got shot by the turret</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Well, I found out those turrets do a lot of damage. I had 3/4 of my health, and it killed me in about 2 shots. I'm going to try this again, but this time I'm going to run past the turret and not try to fight it. Maybe if I had a better weapon, but all I have is my pistol and some spider bombs, neither of which I'm confident will be able to make a dent in that thing.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQPAM6BUAq4J6osYqXPAFKL5QX3c1JC0t5X5DAcXL850cTkFp5po-k2yYiZ4_c-_NKuP3zRVaXNG6iR68403H6SRIFp_AG_QmGeKK0Ml5wZZGN_VLBLBCE7G5WlhwrXSUJARagobKGipGG/s1600/Screenshot+%2528211%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQPAM6BUAq4J6osYqXPAFKL5QX3c1JC0t5X5DAcXL850cTkFp5po-k2yYiZ4_c-_NKuP3zRVaXNG6iR68403H6SRIFp_AG_QmGeKK0Ml5wZZGN_VLBLBCE7G5WlhwrXSUJARagobKGipGG/s640/Screenshot+%2528211%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Moving past the turret, I come to another electrified grid room. At least these rooms aren't jumping puzzles, that would be terrible. I'll just hit the button on my right which I assume turns off the grid, and I'll be on my way then...<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR8jb69lgtrDjwwmK57d0mFNWdP8jUukmo5FZIRWrJC_RySXZBKZ2vTYmMery8pqzyX7snOLHAlFkFQpc9fA5Fie1s6ZEq5FKYchX82o5dL7UQKDdSaxCMzUi-NzZ5ogdxRxtwBevL5iDk/s1600/Screenshot+%2528212%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR8jb69lgtrDjwwmK57d0mFNWdP8jUukmo5FZIRWrJC_RySXZBKZ2vTYmMery8pqzyX7snOLHAlFkFQpc9fA5Fie1s6ZEq5FKYchX82o5dL7UQKDdSaxCMzUi-NzZ5ogdxRxtwBevL5iDk/s640/Screenshot+%2528212%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Great...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
See that little tiny dot on the wall next to the orange and white poster on the wall? That is a sensor that is really hard to see that re-activated the floor grid and raised a force field across the doorway. So I need to shoot the little sensor, walk back across the floor while getting electrocuted, and turn off the grid again.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicLYzE1VPGkH7N0vpXvVuH8vut1L_0Fhh5-PfYF00Cbj97JLPgSMaHnXrESGXn4p3g3ZnH-DGT2rjJzcFfXq41AF34rFmkVIsDr6dccgyZlTtQqk3coCrU-dKdELydVjU_PzyFMMh3A9hH/s1600/Screenshot+%2528213%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicLYzE1VPGkH7N0vpXvVuH8vut1L_0Fhh5-PfYF00Cbj97JLPgSMaHnXrESGXn4p3g3ZnH-DGT2rjJzcFfXq41AF34rFmkVIsDr6dccgyZlTtQqk3coCrU-dKdELydVjU_PzyFMMh3A9hH/s640/Screenshot+%2528213%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There we go</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB6y6s9s9oTdrOtreaK4lfI_wFqG-aNyhnph19WjLdPsW7ojueaLKsBRKHq96vLDadGltr0LFeu51I39ddM5AsGRQ1Ng2nG-1iJk8KcM2lYI_EDRyBx7DgwCMJC-AE3tl52YK9B-85lo9U/s1600/Screenshot+%2528214%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB6y6s9s9oTdrOtreaK4lfI_wFqG-aNyhnph19WjLdPsW7ojueaLKsBRKHq96vLDadGltr0LFeu51I39ddM5AsGRQ1Ng2nG-1iJk8KcM2lYI_EDRyBx7DgwCMJC-AE3tl52YK9B-85lo9U/s640/Screenshot+%2528214%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our mission objective</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The next room has our mission objective. It is a big power conduit or something that we need to destroy using a bomb in our inventory. I assume that when I blow up this thing, the whole refinery is going to explode as well. You can see in the screenshot above that I have the medkits selected in my inventory right now. As a side note, using medkits from your inventory and using the walk-in med stations are the only ways to restore health in the game so far.<br />
<br />
The "O" and "I" keys cycle through your inventory, and "U" uses whatever item is selected. So I'll just cycle to the explosive and use it next to the conduit...<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGrPm1QuHJ9iXM8Ky-iI9mh5LIrkq9UMCJBndQ4AZ_qvBRElxd39WM_FmPLQF1nFsgleNSCCJEU8KRYnONaNp3MZTgvCo1OnsERSpkuZqAvawJuJ0uDegdXBLuiYfxWKJ2Xao-B7-DWXiQ/s1600/Screenshot+%2528216%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGrPm1QuHJ9iXM8Ky-iI9mh5LIrkq9UMCJBndQ4AZ_qvBRElxd39WM_FmPLQF1nFsgleNSCCJEU8KRYnONaNp3MZTgvCo1OnsERSpkuZqAvawJuJ0uDegdXBLuiYfxWKJ2Xao-B7-DWXiQ/s640/Screenshot+%2528216%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boom!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Look how much of a cool cat I am, just standing there while explosions happen all around me. As soon as the explosions finished, a custscene started:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEJ9Bdz657ooY56WaUmPVPkNlaroMS_9_igg0Y__P4-DHON23Tlw7X8KbIY82F2V-Zi3XlEf13YkaZz5_lxmOfilYknyyFUFLKpiLLh-ntDVyxlwE2xj4smBUK4oUHdA71nMzKAeshdTBP/s1600/Screenshot+%2528217%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEJ9Bdz657ooY56WaUmPVPkNlaroMS_9_igg0Y__P4-DHON23Tlw7X8KbIY82F2V-Zi3XlEf13YkaZz5_lxmOfilYknyyFUFLKpiLLh-ntDVyxlwE2xj4smBUK4oUHdA71nMzKAeshdTBP/s640/Screenshot+%2528217%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCKJ97XTE9AUUfPVboMR7YqlCiQmWHIWY0AhGsaKf78VAdRqEJacz7QWb2YBIXmdEtU9-K_LdUdhw_ftMHAdb4i2T1L4qkK2wbcMevvFJ9kKvAj2Die7cl8nWyLGx2-StS-Zjm__l8bbsv/s1600/Screenshot+%2528218%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCKJ97XTE9AUUfPVboMR7YqlCiQmWHIWY0AhGsaKf78VAdRqEJacz7QWb2YBIXmdEtU9-K_LdUdhw_ftMHAdb4i2T1L4qkK2wbcMevvFJ9kKvAj2Die7cl8nWyLGx2-StS-Zjm__l8bbsv/s640/Screenshot+%2528218%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Neeeeeeeeeeerd!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
As is 90s tradition again, here is the young, precocious computer expert/hacker. He tells us there is a teleporter on this level we need to get to ASAP, but there's no timer or anything like that that makes me hurry.<br />
<br />
Going back the way I came from, There is now a new doorway I can take that was blocked off. Going through that door brought me to another big turret in a room filled with laser traps.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBK6_mTZJW3rscY8KtcK3mp6it0-F8yofU5ZEIowg3Rvbd1CgR3FnAlgw1ez8P-ybFyxZW0B9-CxMC7OtfmOuJjLFzk5sE75mH0WrfyyHjx0zc3DEIszk3N5P1xJ9YVoCrD6Z6BIYUssAd/s1600/Screenshot+%2528219%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBK6_mTZJW3rscY8KtcK3mp6it0-F8yofU5ZEIowg3Rvbd1CgR3FnAlgw1ez8P-ybFyxZW0B9-CxMC7OtfmOuJjLFzk5sE75mH0WrfyyHjx0zc3DEIszk3N5P1xJ9YVoCrD6Z6BIYUssAd/s640/Screenshot+%2528219%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This could be trouble</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It actually wasn't too hard, I only died once. There are a series of switches to flip that sequentially shuts off the lasers, and the turret just keeps rotating around in a circle without stopping to track me, so I was able to time it and get by without taking much damage on my second try. Right on the other side of this room is the teleporter, and we are done with the mission!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrGS5Ay02XDHWObxCkxv3m3k-OHUQbTbP8g91VWgk8fOqmZ9ER3V9OTyS15Jwr8lZ3tnmynKak3Ols6itFU66Wu2S-CbKZxplTJe641x5bhRyt4wXluGIjVjeuAiBcncdSWex_mIUZckoF/s1600/Screenshot+%2528220%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrGS5Ay02XDHWObxCkxv3m3k-OHUQbTbP8g91VWgk8fOqmZ9ER3V9OTyS15Jwr8lZ3tnmynKak3Ols6itFU66Wu2S-CbKZxplTJe641x5bhRyt4wXluGIjVjeuAiBcncdSWex_mIUZckoF/s640/Screenshot+%2528220%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Escape teleporter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLXELHOLUkDixVDgJenRUQ8RY4CCX9E4_9Ct61MH0RhfE6OJpV_Jp0s_Ozc5oicvrWmH_Y22MKk8vxPpWRBgzOPzbjFDo0L-Hof3fRl18HVPPOiJpfdjqL0PCd2gFCDSPZOiQSDc8AYXDu/s1600/Screenshot+%2528227%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLXELHOLUkDixVDgJenRUQ8RY4CCX9E4_9Ct61MH0RhfE6OJpV_Jp0s_Ozc5oicvrWmH_Y22MKk8vxPpWRBgzOPzbjFDo0L-Hof3fRl18HVPPOiJpfdjqL0PCd2gFCDSPZOiQSDc8AYXDu/s640/Screenshot+%2528227%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There goes the WEC refinery!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqtdF5QQafDXg7pMNwuFGUnQtQ23h1TQ2TJpjbohiw1LqP9w6EW1xjdg4dg-IjQ2V6q39CJMe-Uz4i3QYzhpvT6_X1SN_seZqNGShGDMeXdXxwrvYeMYfQZKIZj92iFbDC4OdXHefu9rVv/s1600/Screenshot+%2528228%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqtdF5QQafDXg7pMNwuFGUnQtQ23h1TQ2TJpjbohiw1LqP9w6EW1xjdg4dg-IjQ2V6q39CJMe-Uz4i3QYzhpvT6_X1SN_seZqNGShGDMeXdXxwrvYeMYfQZKIZj92iFbDC4OdXHefu9rVv/s640/Screenshot+%2528228%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My new home</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIyhqB54Oq2mTFPaBLg-KnEkyMij3vSKdcbF4Am9eCAFVmJzO9CgraJ-p7D6MN-1OJEwpdycCMBrW9t5oaWk0glGDzGU8Q4d6dT5eme-Frr9wQcXqxUJgvWiX9D8qVfaJ2Tb9RsvDg4l_c/s1600/Screenshot+%2528229%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIyhqB54Oq2mTFPaBLg-KnEkyMij3vSKdcbF4Am9eCAFVmJzO9CgraJ-p7D6MN-1OJEwpdycCMBrW9t5oaWk0glGDzGU8Q4d6dT5eme-Frr9wQcXqxUJgvWiX9D8qVfaJ2Tb9RsvDg4l_c/s640/Screenshot+%2528229%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Well hello there</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As soon as I teleported out, I was treated to a cool cutscene of the refinery blowing up. It then cut to the outside of the Resistance Echo Base (Star wars...?). The game then goes back to the in-game engine to show me teleporting in with someone standing there staring at the teleport pad waiting for me.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE8exAWIXoUEEOgfBbTXAiFvzvO6R6BTXi8wF-3hX3HK0lfiHbcZBdHRAxH6CUeS3j0np6GlhwoOcUOCrtbCAEsT5nAJjYtRCnqqeturna4QvC1sgOg_YbkYeIHPWBgVX08ckUNv3gUxZp/s1600/Screenshot+%2528230%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE8exAWIXoUEEOgfBbTXAiFvzvO6R6BTXi8wF-3hX3HK0lfiHbcZBdHRAxH6CUeS3j0np6GlhwoOcUOCrtbCAEsT5nAJjYtRCnqqeturna4QvC1sgOg_YbkYeIHPWBgVX08ckUNv3gUxZp/s640/Screenshot+%2528230%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How come its called Echo Base and not Ely Base then?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As another 90s tradition, our boss here is a gruff black guy smoking a cigar. He basically says he doesn't trust me yet, so I should watch my step around HIS base. There was a funny bit of censorship here in the subtitles. Col. Ely told me his team "works like fricken clockwork!". But the subtitles said "my team is great". I thought that was funny. I am then dropped back into gameplay at what looks like a bar or cafeteria.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdghlU_5jUUuoO_5BSXciWuju-ydP5Vuu2bRxPrX2IuqdZEt9DCdpNNrMEHOtO1WcHD5VINyCZD4ewfXlAKOk5uCR3YcbPkzjqgVvr7TqYp3oxcqODlibgUyUwU05mCQit7_ME4VbYJcXT/s1600/Screenshot+%2528231%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdghlU_5jUUuoO_5BSXciWuju-ydP5Vuu2bRxPrX2IuqdZEt9DCdpNNrMEHOtO1WcHD5VINyCZD4ewfXlAKOk5uCR3YcbPkzjqgVvr7TqYp3oxcqODlibgUyUwU05mCQit7_ME4VbYJcXT/s640/Screenshot+%2528231%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- Change of Plans - </u></span></h2>
</div>
<div>
I am going to change the format of my posts, at least for now. I'm having a lot of fun playing Crusader: No Remorse, but this post is getting way too long. I now realize there is no way I can play through a large portion of these games while also providing a lot of screenshots and commentary and keeping the posts to a reasonable size. I want to keep each post to a manageable size, both for myself in writing it and for anyone who happens to read it. So my options are to take fewer screenshots and/or write less text or break each game up into multiple posts. I am going to try the latter option and break the games up into multiple posts and see how that goes. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
To continue reading about my playthrough of Crusader: No Remorse, jump to:<br />
<a href="http://rememberpcdosgames.blogspot.com/2018/01/crusader-no-remorse-part-2.html#more">Crusader: No Remorse - Part 2</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://rememberpcdosgames.blogspot.com/2018/01/crusader-no-remorse-part-3.html">Crusader: No Remorse - Part 3</a><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069718226803277447.post-89329557615551852652018-01-12T23:23:00.003-08:002018-01-28T13:48:59.985-08:00Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5pFo4ysheczmvgcHLsTkrdMsitB8EC7nKEpn0dmDrwDun5rs1RwLLrqg0XT9QglN0PjpUIoKrj5WR4UyTuVXKkIJfu1CDF7I_4s_QO-ljbtcl9ZKD2PjFIQaoVxiEjjCnSsppNDSfSrM-/s1600/box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="340" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5pFo4ysheczmvgcHLsTkrdMsitB8EC7nKEpn0dmDrwDun5rs1RwLLrqg0XT9QglN0PjpUIoKrj5WR4UyTuVXKkIJfu1CDF7I_4s_QO-ljbtcl9ZKD2PjFIQaoVxiEjjCnSsppNDSfSrM-/s400/box.jpg" width="340" /></a></div>
<br />
Date: 1998<br />
Developer: 7th Level/Ion Storm<br />
Publisher: Eidos Interactive<br />
<br />
Where to purchase?<br />
<br />
- It's not sold digitally anywhere, so Ebay or Amazon are going to be your best bet. Looks like it can be a little pricey for an older game. I see used jewel case copies going for $20.<br />
<br />
For the second post ever on RPDG, I wanted to find a game that I have never played, was relatively obscure, and one that had an interesting development story. Even though Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 came out in 1998, which makes it close to being too modern to fit with the theme of this site, it fits all the other criteria perfectly. Between my brother and I, one of us bought the game at some point in the early 2000s (hopefully on sale) and the jewel case has been sitting in a drawer with other loose CDs for as long as I can remember. The game does not have a good reputation, so I never really intended to play it. But here we are...maybe it will be great. I don't know much about it so I shouldn't just it ahead of time. I remember seeing print advertisements for it in PCGamer magazine that had mechs fighting against soldiers riding giant bipedal camels. Besides the game probably having giant bipedal camels and mechs, I know nothing else about the gameplay. <br />
<br />
What I DO know is that Dominion was developed at Ion Storm Texas during the infamous John Romero/Daikatana/"Make you his bitch" debacle. That is a story that deserves its own long post, and plenty of people have already written about it, but it should make for a fun development intro for my second post here on RPDG. I am hoping the game is at least half as interesting as the story of its development company...<br />
<br />
Let's find out!<br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<h2>
<u><span style="font-size: large;">- Development -</span></u></h2>
<u><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></u>
RTS games had been around for at least half a decade when Dominion came out in 1998. People will always argue about what was the first type of game in a particular genre, and you can always keep going further and further back until you eventually get to mainframe games of the 60s and 70s. SSI released some games in the 80s that could be considered precursors to modern RTS games, but these were before my time and I have never played them. I found references to Cytron Masters, Utopia, and the Ancient Art of War, among others.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_jCzgnh6GXiwG2LAL3m_14LW7zdB5rY9HoSy8cKg7FhxuTeg2b2O-dS5-nfOlPRjGS2d7NTHhxpwdqzXJ3ncM6NX2rv3IUJFT2dpU11_lgco6i900tlSmID9z53EfaHWsYumsEVwohka/s1600/Cytron-Masters-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="708" height="371" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_jCzgnh6GXiwG2LAL3m_14LW7zdB5rY9HoSy8cKg7FhxuTeg2b2O-dS5-nfOlPRjGS2d7NTHhxpwdqzXJ3ncM6NX2rv3IUJFT2dpU11_lgco6i900tlSmID9z53EfaHWsYumsEVwohka/s640/Cytron-Masters-2.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cytron Masters</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-oNgSpszUV5Mvv2kZ90Y6bpMul2vpAHEMviQkJCs0oOtlRiBXNHEcnQnWvL1SV67tXX0OIqAzu2AKnzprHxPELa-od34y1Gnr1IYowEAfuCiCC2D6Z5lOQiWSthjDyiCbX0pQGomJ6IIe/s1600/the-ancient-art-of-war_5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-oNgSpszUV5Mvv2kZ90Y6bpMul2vpAHEMviQkJCs0oOtlRiBXNHEcnQnWvL1SV67tXX0OIqAzu2AKnzprHxPELa-od34y1Gnr1IYowEAfuCiCC2D6Z5lOQiWSthjDyiCbX0pQGomJ6IIe/s640/the-ancient-art-of-war_5.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ancient Art of War</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq-qG9tSl_zqU9dEcb3ybMTcO7wapMy3LE6qM-i2ZDpi7KDGUv6uh8sSELP4s7mVaa10Wu_E8HGXyNkgZk9pmkZQC2-0tp4tcZq4qXBg9WR0RaU29gsYuUZJhAqvMcfFsN5lc8YfB5y9F0/s1600/utopia.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="782" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq-qG9tSl_zqU9dEcb3ybMTcO7wapMy3LE6qM-i2ZDpi7KDGUv6uh8sSELP4s7mVaa10Wu_E8HGXyNkgZk9pmkZQC2-0tp4tcZq4qXBg9WR0RaU29gsYuUZJhAqvMcfFsN5lc8YfB5y9F0/s640/utopia.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Utopia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'm fairly certain I could really crank up the AA and HDR and shadow quality and easily get at least 35-40fps out of my aging Radeon 7800 on some of those games.<br />
<br />
The first <i>modern </i>RTS game, and the first one I played, was Dune II, by Westwood Studios released in 1992. It has most of the now standard gameplay elements of an RTS game such as moving units around the map with the mouse, building new buildings to gather resources and build new units, and finding and destroying an enemy base. Westwood's Command and Conquer, released in 1995, and Blizzard's Warcraft 2 released around the same time, really solidified what a modern RTS game is and opened the door for many developers to create their own take on the RTS genre. Examples of these are Dark Reign, KKND, Age of Empires, Total Annihilation, Empire Earth, and many others.<br />
<br />
Dominion, being released in 1998, came out after the first wave of RTS games released after Command and Conquer and Warcraft 2. To give some perspective, Age of Empires was released in 1997 and Starcraft in 1998(!). I have a feeling Starcraft coming out the same year as Dominion is not going to make Dominion look good at all...<br />
<br />
Now that we've briefly covered the state of RTS games in the mid 90s, lets talk about the development of Dominion. Before I go any further, here is a link to a very comprehensive news story that covers the rise and fall of Ion Storm in Dallas during the development of Dominion and Daikatana. <a href="http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/stormy-weather-6427649">Dallas Observer - Stormy weather</a> It is really interesting and I highly recommend reading it. A lot of my overview of the development of the game is going to come from that news article. <br />
<br />
Two developers, Todd Porter and Jerry O'Flaherty, began work on Dominion in 1996 while working at 7th Level. Todd and Jerry and had just finished work on a mech game for 7th Level called G-Nome, which was supposed to introduce gamers to the universe that Dominion takes place in and act as a kind of prequel. G-Nome sold poorly however, and Todd and Jerry left soon after its release to be founding members of a new studio in Dallas, Texas called Ion Storm. Other founders were John Romero and Tom Hall, both of id software fame. Ion Storm was kind of like a "supergroup" of software development studios. John Romero and to a lesser extent Tom Hall were as close to rockstar status as software developers could get.<br />
<br />
This was all happening right at the peak of the dotcom boom, so Ion Storm was able to secure quite a bit of initial cash and immediately went to work blowing it all on parties, a fancy penthouse top floor office, and other things of that nature. They signed an agreement to Eidos to release 6 games, and their initial plan was to grab the rights to almost finished games, finish them, and push them out the door for some easy positive cash flow that they could use to have more parties, decorate their penthouse top floor office, and do further things of that nature. They also planned to use some of that revenue to work on John Romero's upcoming revolutionary blockbuster FPS game DAIKATANA.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZveH0W0PkrkcRTWE32hBbbn6DLIyrKGwbMqNKZ5_omWHogSt3MNPtyQmFmLB6K-zA_kOsjsQnTsbQQef4bL4j3efCW81zZhBJivuHFazvTB1eLNysBtVmwKhruZ1rA8jtSZ2UcjKlhFd0/s1600/ad.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="269" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZveH0W0PkrkcRTWE32hBbbn6DLIyrKGwbMqNKZ5_omWHogSt3MNPtyQmFmLB6K-zA_kOsjsQnTsbQQef4bL4j3efCW81zZhBJivuHFazvTB1eLNysBtVmwKhruZ1rA8jtSZ2UcjKlhFd0/s640/ad.png" width="464" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I couldn't help it</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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</div>
One of the games that Ion Storm decided to pick up was the still unfinished Dominion from 7th Level. Todd Porter lobbied hard for this since it was his game and it sounds like he really did have faith in it. 7th Level sold the game to Ion Storm in 1997, but instead of pushing it out the door to make some quick cash, Todd Porter wanted to put some real work into the game and make it into an actual, legit great game. According to the news story linked above, Porter told the rest of the Ion Storm team he could have the game ready in 3 months and that it would sell 500,000 copies.<br />
<br />
One year later, after going millions of dollars over budget, the game released to bad reviews and total sales of around 24,000. During that year and the years immediately afterwards, Ion Storm seemed to check all the boxes of how to fail spectacularly as a company. John Romero took out his infamous Bitch ad above, the founders of the company all seemed to buy fancy sports cars, people sued each other and counter sued each other, even more money was spent on their fancy office, there were accusation of corporate espionage and press leaks, employees threatened to quit en mass, and press started circling like sharks to chart the inevitable implosion of Ion Storm.<br />
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Ion Storm Dallas (there was a slightly more successful Austin office headed by Warren Spector - another game developer superstar) did eventually close in 2001 after releasing the great RPG Anachronox and the not-so-great FPS Daikatana. Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 faded away into obscurity and bottom drawer full of loose jewel cases.<br />
<br />
There does seem to be a semi-official community page still up at <a href="http://stormovergift3.blogspot.com/">Storm Over Gift 3 site</a><br />
On the official forum at that link, it looks like there is a few posts per year. So technically it is still active! At least you can find patches at that site.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- The Game -</u> </span></h2>
<br />
Starting with the installation, I am immediately impressed that I was able to install the game. Since there isn't really any community to turn to for help (no offense to those 2 or 3 posters at the semi-official Storm Over Gift 3 site), I was worried I would be stuck at the installation. Especially after writing that long Ion Storm intro. I have Windows 10 and I ran the setup executable off the first CD in XP SP3 compatibility mode and it worked like a charm. The only hiccup I ran into was when the installation program became worried that I might have my Netscape Navigator open. Thanks for the warning!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd-pMEwRl6rFYVZJEcB5vFgMjW9RyHfHHM0ebSIUbWuudJpbv-EbahpVqdhYIkTYUDi22lK5GnQgFu-U14Jhvd65B2gGc6S0Q_tjqqeAIIMXTOEYApmQcO665CTnhFgOLGqstKJOY_zQJK/s1600/netscape.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="1034" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd-pMEwRl6rFYVZJEcB5vFgMjW9RyHfHHM0ebSIUbWuudJpbv-EbahpVqdhYIkTYUDi22lK5GnQgFu-U14Jhvd65B2gGc6S0Q_tjqqeAIIMXTOEYApmQcO665CTnhFgOLGqstKJOY_zQJK/s640/netscape.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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After installation I am presented with the CD main menu. The options are<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<ul>
<li>Play Dominion</li>
<li>Install Dominion (greyed out now)</li>
<li>Uninstall, DIRECTX (greyed out)</li>
<li>View Readme </li>
<li>System Info </li>
<li>Register Online</li>
<li>Check Updates</li>
<li>Daikatana Demo</li>
<li>www.eidosgames.com website</li>
<li>MPlayer.com</li>
</ul>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8cqMK1puOfUC4cJggfsuQsB4f5SQJNc3oYvIKJW1zTyxI0l4HjrfMNL0X-Nx4uyCAtX1bR7XA8UqSdk_cfhQiULZa-P5cWG4USCmBAnhTsKAG8dPQl4vfn_2nVAYnmWAybYPU3OGuiwNy/s1600/menus.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="611" data-original-width="756" height="516" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8cqMK1puOfUC4cJggfsuQsB4f5SQJNc3oYvIKJW1zTyxI0l4HjrfMNL0X-Nx4uyCAtX1bR7XA8UqSdk_cfhQiULZa-P5cWG4USCmBAnhTsKAG8dPQl4vfn_2nVAYnmWAybYPU3OGuiwNy/s640/menus.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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The intro cinematic begins with a strange probe orbiting a distant planet. A human looking space craft approaches the probe and scans it and in return gets a huge info dump uploaded to it from the probe.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig50-N4J1XBSW1agxZZufkjLb5NSfp3JXQmtqhwIwd4JkiovEGUtHuUveLK-lp1i_zZZWYTQ9cC_asm0TIlu1_qhwWKhyphenhyphenyiSgC3AXfVc21vN48AUfBCMem0fcTFTqR1trphyphenhyphenYKDWK7c6nK/s1600/Screenshot+%252886%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig50-N4J1XBSW1agxZZufkjLb5NSfp3JXQmtqhwIwd4JkiovEGUtHuUveLK-lp1i_zZZWYTQ9cC_asm0TIlu1_qhwWKhyphenhyphenyiSgC3AXfVc21vN48AUfBCMem0fcTFTqR1trphyphenhyphenYKDWK7c6nK/s640/Screenshot+%252886%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The strange probe</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu63v82LXyK3kuSmSjdCiZOU6SFGk_Rv8N-PJZLjSH4-o-dz0SWUvEFH1TB8-RlP76pvgh6mLoqM86GdwGsVsdIvUH_zajzviGaGIfg8bGALM6JfCPhdrFtxBkXy8luL4j9ILgU36Aa998/s1600/Screenshot+%252885%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu63v82LXyK3kuSmSjdCiZOU6SFGk_Rv8N-PJZLjSH4-o-dz0SWUvEFH1TB8-RlP76pvgh6mLoqM86GdwGsVsdIvUH_zajzviGaGIfg8bGALM6JfCPhdrFtxBkXy8luL4j9ILgU36Aa998/s640/Screenshot+%252885%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scanning the probe</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Next we are presented with a breaking news segment showing ambassadors from the 4 playable races (Humans, Scorps, Mercs, and Darkens) sitting around a table arguing about what to do about the new planet and probe:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2yNFKsYpBqjoYF8XsJfK0PSH5SoRbpDcyt_zhoplF4nEohZSwXNDunvykfFBK_gp45TsvYSwLLTdSSeyLRu364HuiqvYZNNn_0VoJiqXFFyPV9kiBVvDfGGl7IrbCE4FHsLA0sqr2lgKX/s1600/Screenshot+%252889%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2yNFKsYpBqjoYF8XsJfK0PSH5SoRbpDcyt_zhoplF4nEohZSwXNDunvykfFBK_gp45TsvYSwLLTdSSeyLRu364HuiqvYZNNn_0VoJiqXFFyPV9kiBVvDfGGl7IrbCE4FHsLA0sqr2lgKX/s640/Screenshot+%252889%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRQX4ssLG8YojbnOoQvitLz1wy0-q4UP4i3cC2LZmzkF5UACHbDb8sYNrWREHDo6syzL8JAkVq0qy5YfedSNOKEFXifL98BFQVsDht8FipVmGowtkv2jvh0zUzjGz5SS3m7wenHiBYxJkf/s1600/Screenshot+%252890%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRQX4ssLG8YojbnOoQvitLz1wy0-q4UP4i3cC2LZmzkF5UACHbDb8sYNrWREHDo6syzL8JAkVq0qy5YfedSNOKEFXifL98BFQVsDht8FipVmGowtkv2jvh0zUzjGz5SS3m7wenHiBYxJkf/s640/Screenshot+%252890%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Humans</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ttZoKa3lpFqsA3E73bZRUIhJ9ROXCqdRt2N3gJc8NQ4AddzP6L8sef4K13Kw-iQ39k1lzexa_H58WZyqqB2z__CNNLClXPH4C_A3K8LoFdlVnjDiCKHsysa6qPYhZim7ymPOIBAwy6Iq/s1600/Screenshot+%252891%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ttZoKa3lpFqsA3E73bZRUIhJ9ROXCqdRt2N3gJc8NQ4AddzP6L8sef4K13Kw-iQ39k1lzexa_H58WZyqqB2z__CNNLClXPH4C_A3K8LoFdlVnjDiCKHsysa6qPYhZim7ymPOIBAwy6Iq/s640/Screenshot+%252891%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Um...Scorps?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwBfl5CefrO-mLImL3ORlwDfETZv96HsD5Pb_qDTrKqPxAjdxdry0nW5JIB8ssXObcoZBZMX_dJFM2AwYtchDVEHPvv0N-1n-x0t0Dy_ykBfjIhlPDvyqNv3XgCNK3Tpn9BgLtXYM03InF/s1600/Screenshot+%252893%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwBfl5CefrO-mLImL3ORlwDfETZv96HsD5Pb_qDTrKqPxAjdxdry0nW5JIB8ssXObcoZBZMX_dJFM2AwYtchDVEHPvv0N-1n-x0t0Dy_ykBfjIhlPDvyqNv3XgCNK3Tpn9BgLtXYM03InF/s640/Screenshot+%252893%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I don't know...Darken?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvSKos4Np9fewupqyWcZOFh51Uj8gg1KmZILbeQE1rVKl9OkqMWsBUf4_xbicgdXp8mtg6LQqV4JoVgBlMi8jjVTcPWrMih3qhkTg4UjJMgk2-06Nf4Z1vnLQ1C0HEAOV6uvlAGVrHXz5I/s1600/Screenshot+%252894%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvSKos4Np9fewupqyWcZOFh51Uj8gg1KmZILbeQE1rVKl9OkqMWsBUf4_xbicgdXp8mtg6LQqV4JoVgBlMi8jjVTcPWrMih3qhkTg4UjJMgk2-06Nf4Z1vnLQ1C0HEAOV6uvlAGVrHXz5I/s640/Screenshot+%252894%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think I heard the cutscene say these guys were the Mercs</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Something about the Scorps makes me not want to trust them. It might because they are obviously monsters.<br />
<br />
According to the probe, there is technology down on the planet (now known as Gift 3 since it's the 3rd planet in the Gift system) that is all powerful and messiah-like. The 4 races can't agree on a messiah-sharing plan and so as is tradition when religion and politics mixes, they decide the easiest solution is war.<br />
<br />
And then begins a really cool second intro cinematic with pumping music and fun, futuristic battle scenes. It really is a fun cinematic, I recommend taking a look: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3Pp1850q14">Dominion Intro Cinematic</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQxKRoZmzmnA8cd73KJnCGkgRim2MEu49jAvFTEiwJB1Rw2MqbvKIF-vL5Cy7_iI2YZnVfoiZ9wdOJiXdbRP9SAL9IKxMHQgNYh1FhVZd9VyE0lJ-weeQsomCpfMSGXhu8b0y76MO13PzD/s1600/Screenshot+%252896%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQxKRoZmzmnA8cd73KJnCGkgRim2MEu49jAvFTEiwJB1Rw2MqbvKIF-vL5Cy7_iI2YZnVfoiZ9wdOJiXdbRP9SAL9IKxMHQgNYh1FhVZd9VyE0lJ-weeQsomCpfMSGXhu8b0y76MO13PzD/s640/Screenshot+%252896%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDvrI3hiMPYPfBfB8zIszCjkN4QPJOATfv1KdzHrhbp3BU-yojT3JY-64GetU1qYBzHWgiZ7BpjA0zux0DTrp-C6_jIxZ5_h2dYhnEbeFZU-BwYGnQoV-tk6_GxWhga4W7PX7hlfFzFkD8/s1600/Screenshot+%252898%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDvrI3hiMPYPfBfB8zIszCjkN4QPJOATfv1KdzHrhbp3BU-yojT3JY-64GetU1qYBzHWgiZ7BpjA0zux0DTrp-C6_jIxZ5_h2dYhnEbeFZU-BwYGnQoV-tk6_GxWhga4W7PX7hlfFzFkD8/s640/Screenshot+%252898%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6FaE6N2l99WsIHJ-LLcMHuC_LJ7XJDBhLruHsZcy9kXuJaW0Vjj6Fj8ZNZn54tQgnO8DGKQ6mzZ8q_aYQOqlRAnw0ypY8mQt8yWWNk6cs8fsftPLJOb95rulW8d3duBIW8JlDneHmnIyQ/s1600/Screenshot+%252899%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6FaE6N2l99WsIHJ-LLcMHuC_LJ7XJDBhLruHsZcy9kXuJaW0Vjj6Fj8ZNZn54tQgnO8DGKQ6mzZ8q_aYQOqlRAnw0ypY8mQt8yWWNk6cs8fsftPLJOb95rulW8d3duBIW8JlDneHmnIyQ/s640/Screenshot+%252899%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There's Todd Porter - Remember him?</td></tr>
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<div>
And after everyone got done shooting each other, we get to the main menu:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjayW4kN9GBo2dS-UPn17TXO6O_K9UabLzQnjk3x2YHLdcbMbC6hTQAjIJsowmnl7lUIw3UD4J_pQ1xT2g3mijvOTTFqTb8-M8lpPNp4uyiOSWCKaEuVNezej6oB9sWFAIjuyCgHyRSVT8b/s1600/Screenshot+%2528100%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjayW4kN9GBo2dS-UPn17TXO6O_K9UabLzQnjk3x2YHLdcbMbC6hTQAjIJsowmnl7lUIw3UD4J_pQ1xT2g3mijvOTTFqTb8-M8lpPNp4uyiOSWCKaEuVNezej6oB9sWFAIjuyCgHyRSVT8b/s640/Screenshot+%2528100%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div>
...which is just like any other main menu for a 90s RTS game.<br />
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You can start a new singleplayer campaign as any of the 4 races. I'm going to choose the Darken for no particular reason. I'm pretty sure they are the brown guys that look a little like catfish with a big mustache-whisker. I did not see any difficulty options, so lets just jump right into it then!<br />
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The campaign starts with another cutscene that is specific to my race, which is cool. I like when games have stories and cinematics specific to whichever side the player chooses.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ydck-HudTaE_JKPcI6yNigJUO72Br624eMpkR53XqqeXH0pfji5wjFOjFq28YURM69SC5_8xTNQ1z7kdqOn2CAXQjjEi05ZEvUp-bzgATKxr0-NKz6htrRoRqzBs_a7bfHRZP5_zNdxZ/s1600/Screenshot+%2528112%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ydck-HudTaE_JKPcI6yNigJUO72Br624eMpkR53XqqeXH0pfji5wjFOjFq28YURM69SC5_8xTNQ1z7kdqOn2CAXQjjEi05ZEvUp-bzgATKxr0-NKz6htrRoRqzBs_a7bfHRZP5_zNdxZ/s640/Screenshot+%2528112%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This guys with the cigar must be a commander</td></tr>
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My troops and I (I assume I am the commander with the cigar) are in a drop ship coming down to land from orbit. The guy with the cigar gets a briefing on an ipad that says we should expect the enemies to be Mercs. Our mission is to establish a base and clear out any Merc presence. In a nice surprise, the briefing showed which troop types will be available to me and which enemy troop types I can expect. At least I think it did. It may have been a generic set of animations, but I hope it is different and specific for each mission.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiz_nmLEEakRJN5OjpzCgqhDkw6wdrRU2UoJjIJeyviDoZhKCvWsKimJmDbKLF0awAG8zNbH71sg_aODp7T9B-IdJkVRR18hl-UGDj6j8IUEEI7GHLN7hgMvCxYf2IJ6BxkNrMZWEqEWob/s1600/DOMI0000.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiz_nmLEEakRJN5OjpzCgqhDkw6wdrRU2UoJjIJeyviDoZhKCvWsKimJmDbKLF0awAG8zNbH71sg_aODp7T9B-IdJkVRR18hl-UGDj6j8IUEEI7GHLN7hgMvCxYf2IJ6BxkNrMZWEqEWob/s640/DOMI0000.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting area</td></tr>
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<span id="goog_265350181"></span><span id="goog_265350182"></span>I started in an area of brown rock with about 10 soldiers and no buildings. The interface is different than what I'm used to in RTS games like Command and Conquer. The build options are on the upper left of the bottom interface bar. You can see the 4 categories in the screenshot above. Clicking on one of the 4 build options shows you the different choices you have to build below it. In the screenshot above, I selected the first building category icon from the left, and then I clicked on the 3rd building option in from the left below it, which started building that building (refinery) and covered up the other 2 building options while the refinery building is in process. If you hover the mouse cursor over an icon, you get a description at the bottom of the screen, which is really helpful.<br />
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So far I've built a main base (middle), colony (left), and power plant (right). You build units just like you build buildings, and they come out of the main base. So far I'm only able to build a single kind of soldier called a Guard. I'm not sure what the colony does yet, I think it either allows me to build new units or increases my unit cap. Building new units and buildings decreases the numbers on the right side of the interface, so those must be resources.<br />
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As I was fumbling around trying to figure out the interface, I was attacked by a Merc scouting vehicle and then Merc soldiers and then a damn mech! They were firing rockets and killing my machine-gun firing Guards just as fast as I could build them. They destroyed my base pretty quickly so I had to start over.<br />
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This time I discovered I can upgrade my colony and it allows me to build Heavy Guards. I also built a refinery on that puddle of green goo which let me harvest resources and have an income. So now its time to build some Heavy Guards and be prepared for the Mercs!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9eqmToK6xPcOmdw8WJ_pqofQ62EDKROBbj1MZcCyXDTXuDKisworodjJDE_LORPYbcufyY_eeAbnLXiitfN3BjHPD6j9Bf3a5m2T4hq-Wv5s17UGZWE-4VJZhBMMS-KmMCsHjf4MgLeZg/s1600/DOMI0001.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9eqmToK6xPcOmdw8WJ_pqofQ62EDKROBbj1MZcCyXDTXuDKisworodjJDE_LORPYbcufyY_eeAbnLXiitfN3BjHPD6j9Bf3a5m2T4hq-Wv5s17UGZWE-4VJZhBMMS-KmMCsHjf4MgLeZg/s640/DOMI0001.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I also built an umbilical...I don't know what it does yet though</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAm3tPpGHL63TLoqj6JxEcAguEfpk05ppmk6KvvyefUvunfuR2T81p2n0MAWoUTxmcGawjTSk-VVKyOuQvsaVcZ-EQpROJxteazOsrGV6VDmR2FT5aF1fOSWlbS3CMgoYHHSvqe5p2iuAx/s1600/DOMI0002.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAm3tPpGHL63TLoqj6JxEcAguEfpk05ppmk6KvvyefUvunfuR2T81p2n0MAWoUTxmcGawjTSk-VVKyOuQvsaVcZ-EQpROJxteazOsrGV6VDmR2FT5aF1fOSWlbS3CMgoYHHSvqe5p2iuAx/s640/DOMI0002.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This time I am ready for those Mercs</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2RiyA5iehHgThbcPN7EcO_npJl5nqmHk0qtluzN7Yua_nv9fBlI78B24xMcwn0qZs3OW0Lk79t6ici8rR1Nm9B7kiTNgomMyRFv_g0QneUQwvTRxjcfzFm8MdL9FlsyeuQO7sMMyA7pOQ/s1600/DOMI0004.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2RiyA5iehHgThbcPN7EcO_npJl5nqmHk0qtluzN7Yua_nv9fBlI78B24xMcwn0qZs3OW0Lk79t6ici8rR1Nm9B7kiTNgomMyRFv_g0QneUQwvTRxjcfzFm8MdL9FlsyeuQO7sMMyA7pOQ/s640/DOMI0004.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marking quick work of more Merc soldiers</td></tr>
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Now that I have a good number of soldiers and I've exhausted my build options, it's time to explore the map and find the enemy Merc base. My plan is to leave some soldiers back at the base (since there is not defensive build options yet) and send out a recon-in-force group to scout out the enemy.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-sRFqmJBfBYqfhjBVBc9MJey2xSLmxMEhDtViYNqhSuH1BmVN7-hhB40EWoQ-EvxsHgE5Q88ecDC9oQs2tqfX2uFke6mY4CwNpkSYm_AJpbWqaXs4Roj0PaHAHADSvKnuGAmNzjH3SXul/s1600/DOMI0007.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-sRFqmJBfBYqfhjBVBc9MJey2xSLmxMEhDtViYNqhSuH1BmVN7-hhB40EWoQ-EvxsHgE5Q88ecDC9oQs2tqfX2uFke6mY4CwNpkSYm_AJpbWqaXs4Roj0PaHAHADSvKnuGAmNzjH3SXul/s640/DOMI0007.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Base defense group at the top, scouting group at the bottom</td></tr>
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I've lost all my initial starting soldiers except one, and he is different than the normal Guard or Heavy Guard. He seems to be a cyborg or something. He shoots a laser weapon that does a ton of damage, but he is SO SLOW and there is something wrong with his pathfinding software...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv3x6Hdd96MLR8lLRj_jvKq1dVUCp7nGMi91vtAB-244BxLyPQ3RQ0v0OV4WzzIaUn-0sPNx0RQeg-yYcW1iWsN98LzkVj-n7YmEm0qQ5BwlGa2Iq4SyW8PpHsAZ6ZoVuIPXc2M5vXk3_z/s1600/DOMI0008.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv3x6Hdd96MLR8lLRj_jvKq1dVUCp7nGMi91vtAB-244BxLyPQ3RQ0v0OV4WzzIaUn-0sPNx0RQeg-yYcW1iWsN98LzkVj-n7YmEm0qQ5BwlGa2Iq4SyW8PpHsAZ6ZoVuIPXc2M5vXk3_z/s640/DOMI0008.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cyborg trying his best to follow the rest of the group</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The map is small and I'm running into small enemy groups of 1 or 2 guys. So far it is pretty standard RTS gameplay. Left click to select things (or drag select), left click to move them or attack, right click to deselect. The map is 2D tilesets like Command and Conquer or any other RTS of this era. I can't tell if terrain height or line of sight plays a role in accuracy, but I would doubt it. Pathfinding seems good enough, my group of soldiers go around obstacles and take the quickest path to get where they are going. Or at least most of them do...Mr. Cyborg is really struggling still, I may have to leave him behind.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtmaPC3JYCjrnwmvp-b1pC21ZJQrphAH5JbGOuWlOgUnA-Sm-ZBsJBSVTf-ZwE81c-E1l-g4PI2ieVMjtFsEhR2RzAoC3ceMLcXnlh6m-Jhs8xFs3dBuUlrJ5uz0-i1nkyJh7f0pw1bNCJ/s1600/DOMI0010.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtmaPC3JYCjrnwmvp-b1pC21ZJQrphAH5JbGOuWlOgUnA-Sm-ZBsJBSVTf-ZwE81c-E1l-g4PI2ieVMjtFsEhR2RzAoC3ceMLcXnlh6m-Jhs8xFs3dBuUlrJ5uz0-i1nkyJh7f0pw1bNCJ/s640/DOMI0010.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Come on cyborg! How did you even get up there??</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3gTE5ghTxne2KbpNXS24vT4P5ouMxing-zzqMuzwuXVyoaEMmXLiinNPiyTl1EQ4gVNFTQphnzJnMRoA9WvavFOgxMkxdbsHG1sr-R4oukIqWmMOCmqEHTfyM52hNLofXms1aNesMn8Bb/s1600/DOMI0011.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3gTE5ghTxne2KbpNXS24vT4P5ouMxing-zzqMuzwuXVyoaEMmXLiinNPiyTl1EQ4gVNFTQphnzJnMRoA9WvavFOgxMkxdbsHG1sr-R4oukIqWmMOCmqEHTfyM52hNLofXms1aNesMn8Bb/s640/DOMI0011.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I've decided to just leave him here for now, bye cyborg.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfE78qcRlfXkkCUCE7qLFvT9UMEisycgy2HTJWXbw-xueRhZ2Ou6qCyp6y12pJu07WcEnh51bYYN3RPpHEWs95YtcT7KLhYV6AdP8skp3q5vmCHeAFWjA7j0mZNZwI21ZjxBp3firBFhCJ/s1600/DOMI0012.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfE78qcRlfXkkCUCE7qLFvT9UMEisycgy2HTJWXbw-xueRhZ2Ou6qCyp6y12pJu07WcEnh51bYYN3RPpHEWs95YtcT7KLhYV6AdP8skp3q5vmCHeAFWjA7j0mZNZwI21ZjxBp3firBFhCJ/s640/DOMI0012.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I found the enemy base!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLLImoz-mNBW9WozRnYJdMo8Lya4x6RVuCCiML_cGi0g5Y2oJKrW-Y_rDCwcg9doOdD7rlFINVL1-508ChWlqRhDX4ZWLT2uoLk8njOygJ9ia2xNy53_F0RVElEtnKcSyUA2mliuleVQNZ/s1600/DOMI0015.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLLImoz-mNBW9WozRnYJdMo8Lya4x6RVuCCiML_cGi0g5Y2oJKrW-Y_rDCwcg9doOdD7rlFINVL1-508ChWlqRhDX4ZWLT2uoLk8njOygJ9ia2xNy53_F0RVElEtnKcSyUA2mliuleVQNZ/s640/DOMI0015.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dammit</td></tr>
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Those puddles of blood are what is left over of my army. I learned some key lessons just now when attacking the base: 1.) The rockets fired by my Heavy Guard soldiers do a lot of friendly fire damage, and 2.) The AI will not fire back if they are fired upon if they are already attacking a structure. The battle lasted about 10 seconds. I had my army all bunched together and I set them to attack the main base building (middle of the screen above). My Guard soldiers grouped together and ran up close to the building to shoot it with their machine guns. As new enemies were built and exited the base, they exited right into my group of Guard soldiers. When I directed all my soldiers to target the enemy soldiers, my Heavy Guards proceeded to fire their rockets right into the dense mish mash of friendly and enemy soldiers. They enacted a heavy toll. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUpCT_DJ2DefffpUaAdwviQOE1yRNwytC2mcHc1MkLjJwFme0yaGiPlNP9TzgqrcK9oNEMcqwCSEmrYMVDzYYMPvhQ3mXzZYHwdtuTf4aKvt8PC1jG6t5qOLm6bO5_FMKFI9w6hoh-fo8W/s1600/DOMI0016.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUpCT_DJ2DefffpUaAdwviQOE1yRNwytC2mcHc1MkLjJwFme0yaGiPlNP9TzgqrcK9oNEMcqwCSEmrYMVDzYYMPvhQ3mXzZYHwdtuTf4aKvt8PC1jG6t5qOLm6bO5_FMKFI9w6hoh-fo8W/s640/DOMI0016.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cyborg still hanging out by himself</td></tr>
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Time to recruit another army and try that again.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhETSjJD8H6nGcfDliKx16cG0tyXTWv0_HluMGMf0BaS6IzjTBn2Z1UlqIB4uPaUin7uQO7dSylBLClGugmPa8pj9tARbeZjX3r3ir8hDQs1qL94TTL4XV3h36tYTb9NrfF6FU2I1VxxtRq/s1600/DOMI0017.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhETSjJD8H6nGcfDliKx16cG0tyXTWv0_HluMGMf0BaS6IzjTBn2Z1UlqIB4uPaUin7uQO7dSylBLClGugmPa8pj9tARbeZjX3r3ir8hDQs1qL94TTL4XV3h36tYTb9NrfF6FU2I1VxxtRq/s640/DOMI0017.bmp" width="640" /></a></div>
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Before I try attacking the base again, I think I'll explore the rest of the map since it's not very big. I'm also running out of resources from building all of these new units, so hopefully I can find another green puddle to build a refinery on.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ZufZDk6ktfN5fbf5X3wePJN5-ALc5fFtQI-yhLNaOwm17ZINUgyHQ0QLA98-LiC1cJFTQqUNKSYdmNcgr7Yt-V6v1O8lmC-ORhPj4R7GWN3sfOkaFRBOdWcx5qOJcmuv1LV53UEmiEII/s1600/DOMI0021.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ZufZDk6ktfN5fbf5X3wePJN5-ALc5fFtQI-yhLNaOwm17ZINUgyHQ0QLA98-LiC1cJFTQqUNKSYdmNcgr7Yt-V6v1O8lmC-ORhPj4R7GWN3sfOkaFRBOdWcx5qOJcmuv1LV53UEmiEII/s640/DOMI0021.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ah ha! Success!</td></tr>
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I found this enemy refinery just to the southwest of my starting area. I destroyed it but I couldn't build my own refinery in its place because I would out of energy range. Maybe that is what the umbilicals are for? Let's try building a chain of those and see if I can build a refinery then.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFPkCBwjGMVPIB6Bo8IhHrc2Uh8ApXr_4KCVRkkGFnFJwBgZUR7P_zakofJME4hT95TznNpnXdSQDBRLErTWIbKcMeCrO_xla0C5t3YclXb8wje7aU9V3Bs0st0-SKZ8EwCsfLKxkNxaz_/s1600/DOMI0024.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFPkCBwjGMVPIB6Bo8IhHrc2Uh8ApXr_4KCVRkkGFnFJwBgZUR7P_zakofJME4hT95TznNpnXdSQDBRLErTWIbKcMeCrO_xla0C5t3YclXb8wje7aU9V3Bs0st0-SKZ8EwCsfLKxkNxaz_/s640/DOMI0024.bmp" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT9wrGYOWSCaCdbXPyfOZxtA85H9svBv3U9c0YCBHZR0Qv_05AAXIkRnSJRm4acZoA7FdNARcGdRxH-3mViFzQXM-EmCCnsIgBkvpci4s3KtAisI_5M5sfJthon4i0QTblv5ri4M6pjzqM/s1600/DOMI0025.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT9wrGYOWSCaCdbXPyfOZxtA85H9svBv3U9c0YCBHZR0Qv_05AAXIkRnSJRm4acZoA7FdNARcGdRxH-3mViFzQXM-EmCCnsIgBkvpci4s3KtAisI_5M5sfJthon4i0QTblv5ri4M6pjzqM/s640/DOMI0025.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Success again!</td></tr>
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But my resource counter in the bottom right doesn't seem to be going up any faster so I don't know how adding this refinery made any difference. If I hover my mouse over it, it says it is at "60%", but my original is at "40%". Is that how much green goo is left to be harvested? They aren't damaged at all so it isn't damage. Hopefully I'll figure out what that number means later.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLpGQAJi4nGazuQzSaslltqygbPRpOtWLdnBMDLJKgLqZp39n8yo_GuFloCzlUEpPDebaUeWVd-EqFDiE4cQEFBEGs5mj7lqoLNxzMxgiXu9qb5FI3xIgFBQnd557XFUYIXYAD9eDRDvS8/s1600/DOMI0027.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLpGQAJi4nGazuQzSaslltqygbPRpOtWLdnBMDLJKgLqZp39n8yo_GuFloCzlUEpPDebaUeWVd-EqFDiE4cQEFBEGs5mj7lqoLNxzMxgiXu9qb5FI3xIgFBQnd557XFUYIXYAD9eDRDvS8/s640/DOMI0027.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My new army - notice the perfect square</td></tr>
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I have now raised a new army and I am ready to take the fight back to the enemy Mercs again. I like how my soldiers formed a perfect square when I had them move somewhere. I don't know if it happened on accident or what, but it looks cool. Makes me feel like I trained them well. Cyborg is no where to be found. I think he wandered off somewhere on his own. If that is what he wants to do, then I won't stand in his way. I wish him the best in all his future endeavors.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK_b_RDL3HP6KZWU8We2xXAzlMLKY0kwtg0FL2GsR417eOUv0oLfCyA0tpSfv2bDz9zcLYo_OEAYieKeP5j1S5TPB_jhnF2mxmoQCN1xKaM_kLOYrG66Df3wmw87a4RY7ijMhiznhsjJCZ/s1600/DOMI0031.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK_b_RDL3HP6KZWU8We2xXAzlMLKY0kwtg0FL2GsR417eOUv0oLfCyA0tpSfv2bDz9zcLYo_OEAYieKeP5j1S5TPB_jhnF2mxmoQCN1xKaM_kLOYrG66Df3wmw87a4RY7ijMhiznhsjJCZ/s640/DOMI0031.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Attacking the enemy base again</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYq4O0TgTAfMvjFBK4TCpx-akNhLYr7IVRsSK0r0pUdUP3tmJEujiz3EkQ6At4pVGUr_vVcfcLMFD95-pEsltrkEjBtAFg1Z3UpLQMHQCvSW5Tyn1P3Wzdv8dN_WfDFFTh-0kNwn11HcK5/s1600/DOMI0032.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYq4O0TgTAfMvjFBK4TCpx-akNhLYr7IVRsSK0r0pUdUP3tmJEujiz3EkQ6At4pVGUr_vVcfcLMFD95-pEsltrkEjBtAFg1Z3UpLQMHQCvSW5Tyn1P3Wzdv8dN_WfDFFTh-0kNwn11HcK5/s640/DOMI0032.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boom goes the enemy main building</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKlfmE8eqwMtYF6WSnbNVwAEmbS730_mgkvGiSE0R40M9JbzrMSfU5kReBKbmvTwLYHIJgVMMrv2RPMgduz_aSZR9zl9m52JldKFiLtv-VWbGVK1nPWMHJFutAsRhsdZDXIGmx9LAIlr1S/s1600/Screenshot+%2528114%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKlfmE8eqwMtYF6WSnbNVwAEmbS730_mgkvGiSE0R40M9JbzrMSfU5kReBKbmvTwLYHIJgVMMrv2RPMgduz_aSZR9zl9m52JldKFiLtv-VWbGVK1nPWMHJFutAsRhsdZDXIGmx9LAIlr1S/s640/Screenshot+%2528114%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mission summary screen - I want some huge mechs like that </td></tr>
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<u>Darken - Mission 2</u><br />
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The second mission opens with a cinematic again. Unfortunately, I alt-tabbed out of the game which results in the screen looking like this when I went back into it:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTqoUfUtDbgfCL5BEmXMqg0zXdKk7G9MKq8j71lq-6gVyaNUWBxtTneJWxGCWxmcMADR8JVY7YQ2e6fvpbKy8X02-VFa-v2SHjbvkiSwmZzI4oNmdIPOyMV_q9b5pfzaiSLz-DVsv6NuTA/s1600/Screenshot+%2528115%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTqoUfUtDbgfCL5BEmXMqg0zXdKk7G9MKq8j71lq-6gVyaNUWBxtTneJWxGCWxmcMADR8JVY7YQ2e6fvpbKy8X02-VFa-v2SHjbvkiSwmZzI4oNmdIPOyMV_q9b5pfzaiSLz-DVsv6NuTA/s640/Screenshot+%2528115%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKxH4VB4vwxy1JQ_dTizRJiv6nlCQnjdZjSFv_T5NtjPcU824zSqzq4mOPbip-Lj8gZ7RhBPFG0lfEhEkcPi_3a8AXJQ7JUVqvTBKu0HPo5G_B4SJlTPjowwtM-EkEZv1SyO5Q2vLqrJkW/s1600/Screenshot+%2528116%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKxH4VB4vwxy1JQ_dTizRJiv6nlCQnjdZjSFv_T5NtjPcU824zSqzq4mOPbip-Lj8gZ7RhBPFG0lfEhEkcPi_3a8AXJQ7JUVqvTBKu0HPo5G_B4SJlTPjowwtM-EkEZv1SyO5Q2vLqrJkW/s640/Screenshot+%2528116%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUZ1r9hxwo85cMz78VXb7uz1jwCf8nHBaQzcvE500WF27NZn-zbl03PWQZ8zW5PzRlnu8fKb04LJVNVe4eWOeygsyD1A7k3kgpT5hJTdrejS-P_ff76NkQhb8b_3kT52cTOXrftQQFIWUT/s1600/Screenshot+%2528117%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUZ1r9hxwo85cMz78VXb7uz1jwCf8nHBaQzcvE500WF27NZn-zbl03PWQZ8zW5PzRlnu8fKb04LJVNVe4eWOeygsyD1A7k3kgpT5hJTdrejS-P_ff76NkQhb8b_3kT52cTOXrftQQFIWUT/s640/Screenshot+%2528117%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ipad briefing</td></tr>
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I'll have to make sure not alt-tab out anymore. The mission again begins with an orbital drop and our cigar-smoking player getting his briefing on his ipad. For this mission, we need to find and rescue someone from the Mercs.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOmqt__ZDvfY2va0iLhbV_9EKDI5MEq1MTq9PDgC-7lA7sFp8cIv7tFvio3AHLTpByM7uuJVOBsPKrOB7w04zusCt8o-Z10rf5J4ECe1JAxvgw6V86FiwdxYKcsrpnpQHMoZLe8R_FYdNV/s1600/DOMI0010.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOmqt__ZDvfY2va0iLhbV_9EKDI5MEq1MTq9PDgC-7lA7sFp8cIv7tFvio3AHLTpByM7uuJVOBsPKrOB7w04zusCt8o-Z10rf5J4ECe1JAxvgw6V86FiwdxYKcsrpnpQHMoZLe8R_FYdNV/s640/DOMI0010.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting area</td></tr>
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Again I start with some troops and no buildings, but this time we are in a grassy environment. Now that I know what to do, let's start building up our base.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJMxRSZcYbS7L66StZEUcPYhVCtVqahG6eGSloU5VMGWwwFDQRULVBmJun-Kpb4iYCSBuuBS-_l0numWZjANVn7VcvL3iDC9pBNxcUQwEqHoO0pDgZOLPP_xWAiIIqgWPj3h-s1ArZ28HM/s1600/Screenshot+%2528123%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJMxRSZcYbS7L66StZEUcPYhVCtVqahG6eGSloU5VMGWwwFDQRULVBmJun-Kpb4iYCSBuuBS-_l0numWZjANVn7VcvL3iDC9pBNxcUQwEqHoO0pDgZOLPP_xWAiIIqgWPj3h-s1ArZ28HM/s640/Screenshot+%2528123%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The finished base</td></tr>
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Here is our finished base after building all the buildings available. The headquarters building on the upper left is new this mission, which let me build a vehicle called the sentinel. I am also able to upgrade the colony building and main base so I can now produce Armored Guards, which are the cyborg I had so much trouble with the last mission.<br />
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Alright, time to start building an army. I think I'm going to stick with Heavy Guards and regular Guards for right now since I don't have a lot of faith my cyborg Armored Guards will be able to keep up with the rest of my army. I've built some Sentinels as well, they look like enclosed motorcycles with side cars. You can right click on any unit in the game to bring up an action menu that has actions such as kneel, crawl, attack, move, and guard. The Armored Guard has unit specific actions like Detonate and Detonate at Target, which makes him a kind of suicide bomber I guess. I'm surprised the game has these options, I can't think of any other RTS game that had options like this. Having options like kneel and crawl and the unit specific actions adds a tactical or RPG layer that could have really made the combat a lot more interesting. But so far I haven't figured out any good use for any of these options. Kneel and crawl just made my soldiers slower, and I couldn't get my Armored Guard to actually blow up near a target. I could only get him to blow himself up on command with the Detonate action. Still, I am impressed the game had these options this early.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjh812Il5iiEv8ylJubzOd4vQQ-TbuXP9EkG4IwzE2CwHzAvnDWhyVPJYNvVjsrmdz6VLpd6lHCMoiyh6G1XkHogvmH7q6_w731pXGwEReoTeh-F2fbx1PvpU7CB8m3IPBZKumCSeWAQ_S/s1600/jumping.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="382" data-original-width="492" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjh812Il5iiEv8ylJubzOd4vQQ-TbuXP9EkG4IwzE2CwHzAvnDWhyVPJYNvVjsrmdz6VLpd6lHCMoiyh6G1XkHogvmH7q6_w731pXGwEReoTeh-F2fbx1PvpU7CB8m3IPBZKumCSeWAQ_S/s640/jumping.gif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wait...what is this...?</td></tr>
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They are doing jumping jacks! If I let them sit idle for a while, they start doing jumping jacks. That is great, I love little extra details like that. Notice my one cyborg that is idle is NOT doing jumping jacks. They are not really "team players". Now that my team is warmed up and in shape, time to go rescue my target.</div>
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The enemy just built these two energy beacons after I moved my troops past this area and started attacking their base. The energy beacons form an impassible barrier between them, and no matter how much I shoot them, they repair faster than I can damage them. </div>
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But I found an umbilical hiding in the trees (the purple smudge in the screenshot above) that is providing the beacons power. After destroying the umbilical, the barrier between the beacons went down. I have to say, that is pretty tricky for a 90s RTS game, especially for the 2nd level.<br />
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I found the rest of the Merc base a bit to the west of the energy beacon barrier. I am guessing this guy trapped in a square of energy barriers is the guy I am supposed to rescue.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCPViaOfrGAcCRWQWzUgV6blyw3QXDXVEaBDzcQFBoS8O7uYUdgZDfo-tWGKtMjZftVfbuJCe8xIl2nJILd4S28ygVuvvPSB1nh6YlaM77xDQA-Gm1TqaOb_HyvyIjFdnvhyphenhyphenjj7MycTP8g/s1600/DOMI0003.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCPViaOfrGAcCRWQWzUgV6blyw3QXDXVEaBDzcQFBoS8O7uYUdgZDfo-tWGKtMjZftVfbuJCe8xIl2nJILd4S28ygVuvvPSB1nh6YlaM77xDQA-Gm1TqaOb_HyvyIjFdnvhyphenhyphenjj7MycTP8g/s640/DOMI0003.bmp" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZQQ6bRtxdwpf0qlu-n0iL9axtRIpWG4yRP_Y5PSFTIhYotg-1b9KLrPzoH7BncQ4smoE6tGrUr57WemjkLnOIi-KEX5RxV-QItStyZN4NSXAqq0ZJjQ18EeFlVgzhNObNaIu71p2mcftc/s1600/DOMI0004.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZQQ6bRtxdwpf0qlu-n0iL9axtRIpWG4yRP_Y5PSFTIhYotg-1b9KLrPzoH7BncQ4smoE6tGrUr57WemjkLnOIi-KEX5RxV-QItStyZN4NSXAqq0ZJjQ18EeFlVgzhNObNaIu71p2mcftc/s640/DOMI0004.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He's our Guard Leader, so let's rescue him</td></tr>
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The only problem is, just like the first energy beacons, I can't seem to destroy the beacons holding our leader captive. Nor can I destroy the main building. Here is my trying to do just that. Notice the building's health is not dropping at all:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiqkPMX2cDtOWceIagS7f9RMaYRztM5vMMyvV_p42EMruaCoqAan_-HhbmoOVuoTK1aywiiUB-iDSFcS0DR2CC8R2dtt-8KHRioJEStdcxUBGNw-2iDHTEF7vDMTICQYs2nWP5vcGmrlSH/s1600/attack.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1022" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiqkPMX2cDtOWceIagS7f9RMaYRztM5vMMyvV_p42EMruaCoqAan_-HhbmoOVuoTK1aywiiUB-iDSFcS0DR2CC8R2dtt-8KHRioJEStdcxUBGNw-2iDHTEF7vDMTICQYs2nWP5vcGmrlSH/s640/attack.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
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So instead I'm going to try destroying the power plants.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0fGVGUGPLER5IBFqAQFoWiTELM6O5gNgLurahjVSnvRxy7zBF7bnWCT4r6YkVR-qj6qZfDNCz-4Nep2Yf2TRAi2Tr7GL1ED8-eq08z3UuugDHG8PNrIzleabL_8PpPxZueJCMzVBqHEdc/s1600/DOMI0008.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0fGVGUGPLER5IBFqAQFoWiTELM6O5gNgLurahjVSnvRxy7zBF7bnWCT4r6YkVR-qj6qZfDNCz-4Nep2Yf2TRAi2Tr7GL1ED8-eq08z3UuugDHG8PNrIzleabL_8PpPxZueJCMzVBqHEdc/s640/DOMI0008.bmp" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWL_UFrV9GkrCA6Q6s1_5AMkCFODiDmi71S2WoYASIHaD_IFwgnbGt1MmbwboEEtELI5k7vJLsTsaFqVvj5tyrLpz9BhYWCz3zSSJsfmRG0gi9Oz_BVmLaHeDaPZI6c0de-V-G8N35D3Gt/s1600/DOMI0009.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWL_UFrV9GkrCA6Q6s1_5AMkCFODiDmi71S2WoYASIHaD_IFwgnbGt1MmbwboEEtELI5k7vJLsTsaFqVvj5tyrLpz9BhYWCz3zSSJsfmRG0gi9Oz_BVmLaHeDaPZI6c0de-V-G8N35D3Gt/s640/DOMI0009.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Success, the energy barrier is down!</td></tr>
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I could not figure out how to get the Sentinels to attack anything, and since this is the first mission I was able to build them, I thought maybe they could act as APCs or transports. But nope, I could not get Guard Leader to enter a Sentinel, so instead I just had him run all the back to my base. I still don't know what to do with Sentinels though. Right clicking on them doesn't give me any options besides normal ones like guard, patrol, attack, etc. Maybe it is built only for scouting? <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLR8Xucm2_338Hlm4iYpOfMvV9CsOADx5quJ08uSxdBGrRMXioNVaoOx3_3ExdqNw6LDKkPrCFCg6XaByCESKWZZWKsIvgCCgz-knbyVMOMoaprWFkOrgERnYeRFsDD0P0n_atSVHZkXx_/s1600/Screenshot+%2528118%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLR8Xucm2_338Hlm4iYpOfMvV9CsOADx5quJ08uSxdBGrRMXioNVaoOx3_3ExdqNw6LDKkPrCFCg6XaByCESKWZZWKsIvgCCgz-knbyVMOMoaprWFkOrgERnYeRFsDD0P0n_atSVHZkXx_/s640/Screenshot+%2528118%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6K4z_LBXlNiq_zULfSHUslQmxzmjodQdDNvdSfmgtKFkoxaZqfGMLNN4O2hSZAHi1N6VI0qVLS3-qv6kGZFkpJNMQVDn6ZyFdi2Qi2-PZDJIW9C1o3KG6AazsS6-tCkqLODKURhboUuKv/s1600/Screenshot+%2528119%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6K4z_LBXlNiq_zULfSHUslQmxzmjodQdDNvdSfmgtKFkoxaZqfGMLNN4O2hSZAHi1N6VI0qVLS3-qv6kGZFkpJNMQVDn6ZyFdi2Qi2-PZDJIW9C1o3KG6AazsS6-tCkqLODKURhboUuKv/s640/Screenshot+%2528119%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div>
<u>Darken - Mission 3</u></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7wi2HfjV7xVM4o4LtfC4XTcqb9eA3wO9McSEPJL6Xv8nukpUCRSmAFfiA0OdDpoi7UwEyzuqCIUA8yAFpzOyAgj6M43oBUXThfiW0CjlqevSvUDznmPjn77dmlCrxN0gZl7zQ0xdCIUo3/s1600/Screenshot+%2528120%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7wi2HfjV7xVM4o4LtfC4XTcqb9eA3wO9McSEPJL6Xv8nukpUCRSmAFfiA0OdDpoi7UwEyzuqCIUA8yAFpzOyAgj6M43oBUXThfiW0CjlqevSvUDznmPjn77dmlCrxN0gZl7zQ0xdCIUo3/s640/Screenshot+%2528120%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFN1GdQFi4Tl-Cf9Z3suEUDtN8qTp8YR85QTCmBe5Nf_0obRHEqhgEaFUA3s6D5VayXgIjwhMFasdeYk6UTl9aoiu1eP8Y15M6psZCu6kyGILP_JF4i8h9EM9ZR-Xp47Jy0c8rg0_5QugF/s1600/Screenshot+%2528121%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFN1GdQFi4Tl-Cf9Z3suEUDtN8qTp8YR85QTCmBe5Nf_0obRHEqhgEaFUA3s6D5VayXgIjwhMFasdeYk6UTl9aoiu1eP8Y15M6psZCu6kyGILP_JF4i8h9EM9ZR-Xp47Jy0c8rg0_5QugF/s640/Screenshot+%2528121%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqOCDLcdrHAWsXfFbLzIesznAF8hT4Zvs1CE_7qNdyC2R_AF3cwabzXZLQ1MyL6BlVcWI9F34vpJmMPHtyLjhXlaFJRFPyY8alA4CelHGXo-3SFGJcAMqLBGjt10bLOEPN8nnhfiUv5N6c/s1600/Screenshot+%2528122%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqOCDLcdrHAWsXfFbLzIesznAF8hT4Zvs1CE_7qNdyC2R_AF3cwabzXZLQ1MyL6BlVcWI9F34vpJmMPHtyLjhXlaFJRFPyY8alA4CelHGXo-3SFGJcAMqLBGjt10bLOEPN8nnhfiUv5N6c/s640/Screenshot+%2528122%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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I realize now the mission intro cinematics are all the same animation until it gets to the ipad briefing segment. Then it does indeed present you with a custom mission briefing and it does tell you which new enemies you'll be going against and which new units you'll have at your disposal. So that is pretty neat. Not as good as Command and Conquer or Warcraft 2's storyline cinematics, but Dominion also lets you play as 4 different races. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrIEkHsnHWyjsUgUtpMUvpseKoD8ZII9BHoYqiK_zNpuZSTSE6ZLD0nrYE1TcBo3f-CbLVZr6ZcG5rA2c_MBahmeeqDj67N0JcDM3Y2hfzzm_wxhavXVMEjcRNi4aZNmNxUaZf49kJWbel/s1600/DOMI0000.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrIEkHsnHWyjsUgUtpMUvpseKoD8ZII9BHoYqiK_zNpuZSTSE6ZLD0nrYE1TcBo3f-CbLVZr6ZcG5rA2c_MBahmeeqDj67N0JcDM3Y2hfzzm_wxhavXVMEjcRNi4aZNmNxUaZf49kJWbel/s640/DOMI0000.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mission 3 starting area</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyDzR_2kBh_ioDJ67IgyGBtKfyFS6PLEeJ4oKoHRJApRwGXqD8BA9XBhYFt2PxLV4i8_a3jUA77jLThKEzJZbFNFxEmkAbjcT1FHJhv3QlLS6cueh_bR_MkWDZpBz1RJT51GygeHw6R-hx/s1600/Screenshot+%2528124%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyDzR_2kBh_ioDJ67IgyGBtKfyFS6PLEeJ4oKoHRJApRwGXqD8BA9XBhYFt2PxLV4i8_a3jUA77jLThKEzJZbFNFxEmkAbjcT1FHJhv3QlLS6cueh_bR_MkWDZpBz1RJT51GygeHw6R-hx/s640/Screenshot+%2528124%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Mission 3 objectives - we need to capture the enemy HQ</td></tr>
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OK first up is to establish our base. As I build buildings, I'm going to set my Sentinel to recon, which is a handy feature. My goal is to find the enemy base or find another pool of green goo so I can double my resource collection.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKCRvAwmJ3Liad-aBdSXODpuBUPev8BD-yQG6jh4tmmOWR1dSVSXS6lOI3iQGSkCSiN71HtpnFpDV4RxK1nBhTKFa8PYxnSwFuVtuAPIQbNMfpTu01GxTFjkPTMe9lK80EwKCHphy_uEiC/s1600/DOMI0001.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKCRvAwmJ3Liad-aBdSXODpuBUPev8BD-yQG6jh4tmmOWR1dSVSXS6lOI3iQGSkCSiN71HtpnFpDV4RxK1nBhTKFa8PYxnSwFuVtuAPIQbNMfpTu01GxTFjkPTMe9lK80EwKCHphy_uEiC/s640/DOMI0001.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Passing the enemy recon vehicle - "Hello sir, don't mind me..."</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSeFEBktg_LpTeJHT2mD_PKfNTEZibj-Jix_52UU-NXF8ZlyOtSKjp8Y4EA4nH0qagDJsb2mrCUk242ae9C8NKXsHeDidEFHY0kfR5rpFjWXQl_SKXfqnyFSXy8XdN3s4GF9DyNSWkgNgI/s1600/DOMI0002.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSeFEBktg_LpTeJHT2mD_PKfNTEZibj-Jix_52UU-NXF8ZlyOtSKjp8Y4EA4nH0qagDJsb2mrCUk242ae9C8NKXsHeDidEFHY0kfR5rpFjWXQl_SKXfqnyFSXy8XdN3s4GF9DyNSWkgNgI/s640/DOMI0002.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I found that tower and it killed my Sentinel</td></tr>
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<div>
Wow, whatever that tower is in the upper left of the above screenshot, it wasted my Sentinel in about one second. It has a rapid-fire machine gun, its obviously some kind of defensive tower. I think I'll avoid that area if at all possible for right now and focus instead on building up my forces. I've got a good start on my base and an army of Guards and Heavy Guards. I have a new building called a Weapons Plant that will let me build tanks, but right now the tanks are too expensive. I'll see if I can do this with only infantry right now. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheNixL72HVP5cyogrHySwQ07Oz1JbcesHUsV-fiijtW3utF3ANPpdkczkNkAU82ofXmmIVNd8PPKaNd4kTFwOOv-4dkFMZef2gQExi6uts4WnImjgYQv7ttILeA0Pl0nkAZwyP5amwNit2/s1600/DOMI0004.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheNixL72HVP5cyogrHySwQ07Oz1JbcesHUsV-fiijtW3utF3ANPpdkczkNkAU82ofXmmIVNd8PPKaNd4kTFwOOv-4dkFMZef2gQExi6uts4WnImjgYQv7ttILeA0Pl0nkAZwyP5amwNit2/s640/DOMI0004.bmp" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioApFfD6qFIzqp8g_Qg6sADMRaWcxTuvEkAlkWh47c7uk3kY_R5v9Wv3QfzBTjZjHLnX2tWGQyZ1EzW-xEDbs1qEEkMYNuySjXxGfU3WBWRoDjv6jGYUi40S6bQJWKh6Avspylzf7z9CsO/s1600/DOMI0005.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioApFfD6qFIzqp8g_Qg6sADMRaWcxTuvEkAlkWh47c7uk3kY_R5v9Wv3QfzBTjZjHLnX2tWGQyZ1EzW-xEDbs1qEEkMYNuySjXxGfU3WBWRoDjv6jGYUi40S6bQJWKh6Avspylzf7z9CsO/s640/DOMI0005.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uh oh...</td></tr>
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I can see enemy units coming from where I explored earlier with my Sentinel, and it doesn't look good. At least the plateau my base is on has a narrow entrance, so it should make defending it a little easier. Here comes that Mech. They do a lot of damage and are hard to kill, so this could be close...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHX95dGPLHCrbe2ZfbGJLwrM2ogKZrYm7GuamWYlq5w8x0qsEsrh_wbv3pgmvHjhPZBL4niOb4WoC49T9LqhTq9rpbBcksLgCgFOJ3cYMhhcwMiRrzsuixfhAY5TaOKJRFEHrAoChhKP9f/s1600/DOMI0006.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHX95dGPLHCrbe2ZfbGJLwrM2ogKZrYm7GuamWYlq5w8x0qsEsrh_wbv3pgmvHjhPZBL4niOb4WoC49T9LqhTq9rpbBcksLgCgFOJ3cYMhhcwMiRrzsuixfhAY5TaOKJRFEHrAoChhKP9f/s640/DOMI0006.bmp" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx49sFcVXSc5nseObGcCS82psyAA7Rg2wN9a0VvDxAWB4kqaiO_sECLmrINSTFKTM_oKHHA6kBmyIF9Zc4G0dsyYE0Kn56zfYvukSRSiJeUY_C5F4SaBkR_xIGF359gr44hxxC49peFwW4/s1600/DOMI0007.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx49sFcVXSc5nseObGcCS82psyAA7Rg2wN9a0VvDxAWB4kqaiO_sECLmrINSTFKTM_oKHHA6kBmyIF9Zc4G0dsyYE0Kn56zfYvukSRSiJeUY_C5F4SaBkR_xIGF359gr44hxxC49peFwW4/s640/DOMI0007.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Destroyed the Mech with minimal casualties</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Now that I killed their Mech, I'm going to advance up into the area where the enemy came from to see if there base is up there. It is the same area with the machine gun tower that killed my Sentinel, so I need to be careful to avoid that.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXn7TN7R_vZ83SNSJAGqzf4E1w9p5_VxGrm0SyjmVOE_cMl8-UwjpYZODQjtwgag6HSE7QFDDAk7eV7rvihGWvELK40w2S6gxnaRyXkcenm4XXqjhqMknrWbKb3zWtaeq5CcdzoAkiRvK7/s1600/DOMI0008.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXn7TN7R_vZ83SNSJAGqzf4E1w9p5_VxGrm0SyjmVOE_cMl8-UwjpYZODQjtwgag6HSE7QFDDAk7eV7rvihGWvELK40w2S6gxnaRyXkcenm4XXqjhqMknrWbKb3zWtaeq5CcdzoAkiRvK7/s640/DOMI0008.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Advancing - Notice my Powered Guard (cyborg) lost as usual on the right</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJqslue3Pix3bCsXKCyN8NkyUGsS4CADwXlSPsnc_t-_MQh-ekcz03WPVaffPfte3h1cW3PVbzlUQqneU8dpVE8Ndk2hA6sG0XBTC8uCA8bfjUcHx_QlNgR9vLrRVMpdr88JCNTau13uEe/s1600/DOMI0009.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJqslue3Pix3bCsXKCyN8NkyUGsS4CADwXlSPsnc_t-_MQh-ekcz03WPVaffPfte3h1cW3PVbzlUQqneU8dpVE8Ndk2hA6sG0XBTC8uCA8bfjUcHx_QlNgR9vLrRVMpdr88JCNTau13uEe/s640/DOMI0009.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What? Another mech?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As I advance, I run into ANOTHER enemy mech. Come on game, all I have is unarmored guards and you are throwing mechs as me! <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgss4oMQQ3bXoqzL1Oosda3hbhTzYTGk_5y5oVmPanRmiZUCQJW7OIWiIWDqMLpqe2Ns7Rcx-mOB1x0b8qNb3P1SCTjOxRfOXS1QNy6JSTRUw8OzvE1uD9Iw_XBV97xAb4K3Dnii2Up4NGZ/s1600/DOMI0011.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgss4oMQQ3bXoqzL1Oosda3hbhTzYTGk_5y5oVmPanRmiZUCQJW7OIWiIWDqMLpqe2Ns7Rcx-mOB1x0b8qNb3P1SCTjOxRfOXS1QNy6JSTRUw8OzvE1uD9Iw_XBV97xAb4K3Dnii2Up4NGZ/s640/DOMI0011.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Well...damn</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A well placed rocket from the mech hit in the middle of a group of my guys and blew up about 8 of them at one. Nice. At least I've got a few regular Guard troops left...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHhV14mouDDCND4LgytqRa24LBZtSl5_0TsGL9cLT26pBTaAhCzXvSME-wve7Pszt_8opyaCHFOkb9bpefidBnQV_kWkwr6uJEC3-bM3aTMZ9GkrikdJycI74Oz-GnMzEZvfUnqhdghqjd/s1600/DOMI0012.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHhV14mouDDCND4LgytqRa24LBZtSl5_0TsGL9cLT26pBTaAhCzXvSME-wve7Pszt_8opyaCHFOkb9bpefidBnQV_kWkwr6uJEC3-bM3aTMZ9GkrikdJycI74Oz-GnMzEZvfUnqhdghqjd/s640/DOMI0012.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And now there are battle tanks.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUmHr-DWgcgkftuujC27U61Pwt2gHdDtHEJg-NV7cYqtm79CWoR26WVICDCgVKPmJu4UaeE7u_Ji_Ro6whUiU0_aw-w1avOnI8yV2LIPyEkQiYrch-PaUmNhs-NOcScDzy9XhWkW2V2Jed/s1600/DOMI0013.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUmHr-DWgcgkftuujC27U61Pwt2gHdDtHEJg-NV7cYqtm79CWoR26WVICDCgVKPmJu4UaeE7u_Ji_Ro6whUiU0_aw-w1avOnI8yV2LIPyEkQiYrch-PaUmNhs-NOcScDzy9XhWkW2V2Jed/s640/DOMI0013.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All that's left of my troops again - bloody smears</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDmskF-FDlaVeiknxfun-nz6iIT-cWMMYqx_7Fp9I9Q0OsVtRLp2Mts0SO1lVVYJcXchXyzo-gYJT9_ikbTcIhX-utf_kJd3EFc4C3zMlnS7WAJDQFPF3oYRjPfFqM6cgmYS41IVkyo1At/s1600/DOMI0014.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDmskF-FDlaVeiknxfun-nz6iIT-cWMMYqx_7Fp9I9Q0OsVtRLp2Mts0SO1lVVYJcXchXyzo-gYJT9_ikbTcIhX-utf_kJd3EFc4C3zMlnS7WAJDQFPF3oYRjPfFqM6cgmYS41IVkyo1At/s640/DOMI0014.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">wat.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My "army" just got steamrolled by the Mercs. I don't know how I am supposed to fight against battle tanks and mechs with my soldiers. Even if I would have had the money to build a tank from my Weapons Plant building, this huge enemy attack would have arrived too early. I barely have time to build anything besides some buildings and some infantry.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkyBM7PhG4HWUrnkcy6jhJ2tfkltnRj_8IsTD0vKgk4W557DwKSd8CtiT9VMb90l2FHvKj3Y3iXzyjKtVheS8TUtKhb3kGXH6QZ-ALgTXCealeb_HR1qu81pswGd81tijTuCpJnNkQ7I9p/s1600/Screenshot+%2528125%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkyBM7PhG4HWUrnkcy6jhJ2tfkltnRj_8IsTD0vKgk4W557DwKSd8CtiT9VMb90l2FHvKj3Y3iXzyjKtVheS8TUtKhb3kGXH6QZ-ALgTXCealeb_HR1qu81pswGd81tijTuCpJnNkQ7I9p/s640/Screenshot+%2528125%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Right, I'm going to rethink this and try again. I think I need to get my Weapons Plant up right away so I can make tanks. Then I'll have something to counter the enemy mechs and tanks. So let's try that.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhunJ9jIDkDxmWi8M33bhyphenhyphenR0qncxvRyPKuf7m8TqXZvmx3f994jk_ZDRgJImCsPLxDVTD6aTmiybgE9JgzzbFr7sIkk5V2gI6eR63PbmRjE0IdPPxtgLVtcShyRTCbbJosm4Xc6CUm1W3V2/s1600/Screenshot+%2528126%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhunJ9jIDkDxmWi8M33bhyphenhyphenR0qncxvRyPKuf7m8TqXZvmx3f994jk_ZDRgJImCsPLxDVTD6aTmiybgE9JgzzbFr7sIkk5V2gI6eR63PbmRjE0IdPPxtgLVtcShyRTCbbJosm4Xc6CUm1W3V2/s640/Screenshot+%2528126%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nope</td></tr>
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<div>
Right, that was not the answer. I still got absolutely dominated. I'm going to look on the internet and perhaps turn down the difficulty and see what I can come up with.<br />
<br />
<A little while later> The only thing I could find online was someone playing through the first part of this mission. They made use of energy barriers to block the entrance to the base and they build another refinery to the north. I'll try out this strategy and see if it works. This mission is getting kind of annoying, I'm tempted to turn off Dominion and move on to the next game, but I'll stick with it and at least see this mission through.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4-jRmRH0r5gYtZoMqe5kp8HQYvFQlQtnhgwJN5Z62058hirjwg3GLbvCblRra3mJLUD1A1Q1oMXVISih7hPsLJ5NWSU9_ubTUbp7eJAFoVYeU80m9nEixk7P_gQvBU9An4OVpNd-MM8_B/s1600/DOMI0013.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4-jRmRH0r5gYtZoMqe5kp8HQYvFQlQtnhgwJN5Z62058hirjwg3GLbvCblRra3mJLUD1A1Q1oMXVISih7hPsLJ5NWSU9_ubTUbp7eJAFoVYeU80m9nEixk7P_gQvBU9An4OVpNd-MM8_B/s640/DOMI0013.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My norther refinery (main base in center of minimap)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I've been saving screenshots using Dominion's built in screenshot capture, but I somehow lost my shots from earlier in my re-attempt at this level. I built some rocket towers on the western edge of my base over-looking the area the enemy has to pass through to get to my base, and then took care of protecting my base. Then I built a big force of tanks and soldiers and just rushed the two machine gun towers the enemy has. I could not figure out a better way to get past them. It also took me a few reloads because I kept getting all my soldiers killed. This is a hard mission.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqIUIwshRXmL7E4lmiMODtnsCXz7d-TBmzZYmLyiXZMPKvLYq0FnrIlVNZSWLaCIqrBKVv0KnSJTrDgg0JNTotHlhbZ7tJDSPRM9OHQdZJu2VzZrILhWS4YmGE-cKdUpai_S_SyTu0t-Z/s1600/DOMI0000.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqIUIwshRXmL7E4lmiMODtnsCXz7d-TBmzZYmLyiXZMPKvLYq0FnrIlVNZSWLaCIqrBKVv0KnSJTrDgg0JNTotHlhbZ7tJDSPRM9OHQdZJu2VzZrILhWS4YmGE-cKdUpai_S_SyTu0t-Z/s640/DOMI0000.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Attacking the enemy towers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After blowing up those two towers, I moved up into the enemy base area and found their refinery.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL6T38nmnseolX0m6mvy0Z2WDGlHcyQ_XeY-Fml1gdd4EFRSx2LdatRvklJUphnylJMM-ULziQvHPmrvJm47Fckz6kGfuwU0eydnZgRPA6wWhJfMloA5Jv6s3kioEzcCe-visnXjKD3mQa/s1600/DOMI0003.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL6T38nmnseolX0m6mvy0Z2WDGlHcyQ_XeY-Fml1gdd4EFRSx2LdatRvklJUphnylJMM-ULziQvHPmrvJm47Fckz6kGfuwU0eydnZgRPA6wWhJfMloA5Jv6s3kioEzcCe-visnXjKD3mQa/s640/DOMI0003.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The enemy refinery</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWaGKFPVKW-8uaSLXTg3fOrPC8kEJfj_HgaC1rLXxbkzEB5Us2BMLd0OELP5wtfKwCNPtnb4JwSXNBXp4I1XFDDKhSEbHsRrzkZXXf88PRZ8XoPUwZlEB1bmrir2TclT6V-iaZRmwYGbV0/s1600/DOMI0007.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWaGKFPVKW-8uaSLXTg3fOrPC8kEJfj_HgaC1rLXxbkzEB5Us2BMLd0OELP5wtfKwCNPtnb4JwSXNBXp4I1XFDDKhSEbHsRrzkZXXf88PRZ8XoPUwZlEB1bmrir2TclT6V-iaZRmwYGbV0/s640/DOMI0007.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I blew it up and built my own refinery on its spot</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-8ZPJ9_uO31Z_ZCXk20DtbN-OqlVMhXjCher98cvtPP7a9QdTfQeFwKlp5ocaUmMtkbLynktXe-zszt2L_m738PuwI8zTEDL8Ptr2BSJ1h0wJuXe-cUvubPDUM6gB1YoBTNiRMJVgr4XS/s1600/DOMI0011.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-8ZPJ9_uO31Z_ZCXk20DtbN-OqlVMhXjCher98cvtPP7a9QdTfQeFwKlp5ocaUmMtkbLynktXe-zszt2L_m738PuwI8zTEDL8Ptr2BSJ1h0wJuXe-cUvubPDUM6gB1YoBTNiRMJVgr4XS/s640/DOMI0011.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enemy base with HQ about to be captured by my technoid</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Thank God I finally found the enemy HQ and killed all the enemy units to give my technoid a clear shot at capturing it.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigMnvjIx2CLavSpBjeHgIk3hcyuoBZjM9_B4v8WMMFV3o-4rrwS2MvqQ5N3v2BvkKejllw5v5VnEVHbF6tunncL7S3gj3YeVXk0tuxHAf369bacR7mB35BwbKOV0ArULMfwpz3cvLHexDd/s1600/Screenshot+%2528127%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigMnvjIx2CLavSpBjeHgIk3hcyuoBZjM9_B4v8WMMFV3o-4rrwS2MvqQ5N3v2BvkKejllw5v5VnEVHbF6tunncL7S3gj3YeVXk0tuxHAf369bacR7mB35BwbKOV0ArULMfwpz3cvLHexDd/s640/Screenshot+%2528127%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was not a fun mission</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Finally. I bet I reloaded or failed this mission 10 times. I'll give the developers credit for creating missions that are not just straight forward tank rush/kill the enemy base cookie-cutter levels, but this one was just miserable. A big part of why I didn't have fun may have had to do with the fact that I am still learning the mechanics of the game. It took me until this mission to learn that in order for your refineries to produce at 100%, you need to have 100% power from power plants. So that helped me with my income.<br />
<br />
But with that said, the mission is still really unforgiving. I had to do trial and error to find out where the enemies were because there were many instance where a mech or tank would be revealed by the fog of war and kill half my guys before I could even react. I routinely had all my units wiped out and then had to rebuild them from scratch. Normally that kind of thing doesn't bother me in RTS games, but in Dominion it seems to happen so fast that it feels like you are fighting the game engine instead of the enemy at times. It was particularly bad in this mission because you start with infantry and the enemy starts with mechs and tanks.<br />
<br />
<u>Draken - Mission 4</u><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My new unit for this mission - a mech!</td></tr>
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Mission 4 has me eliminating the Merc presence on Gift 3, I assume the rest of the game would have me fighting the remaining 2 races until I can claim Gift 3 for the Draken. I won't find out first hand because this is my last mission of Dominion. I've been playing for a few hours now and its time to move on to another game. But I am curious to try out my new mech unit, so I'll wipe the filthy Mercs from the face of Gift 3 so I can at least finish the campaign against them.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Erase their presence" i.e. blow all of them up</td></tr>
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This is a sandy environment and my starting area sits in a nice depression with the only entrances between the surrounding cliffs being to the north and west. Right away after getting my base started, I took a page from the previous level and built some energy barriers in the northern entrance, and then flanked my barrier with 2 rocket towers. That should deter any invaders.<br />
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Here comes some enemy tanks, lets see how they do against my rockets towers:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rocket towers are good</td></tr>
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My rocket towers make quick work of the tanks coming from the north, and soon after that they stop a tank attack coming from the west. Jeez these things are really powerful, I feel like I could just leave defense of entire base to 2 or 3 rocket towers. In fact, that is what I'm going to do.<br />
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My next move is to set my Sentinel to recon and send it on its way. After a few minutes, he found some artillery units farther to my north. I sent some tanks up to destroy them, and I found another green goo puddle (Matter well). After laying some umbilicals, I am able to build another refinery to pump up my economy numbers.<br />
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I also built a rocket tower to guard that refinery. If you look at the minimap on the lower left of the screen, you'll notice some red dots on the northwestern corner of the map. My recon Sentinel ran into a bunch of enemy units and defensive towers, so I'm guessing I can expect an attack from that direction as well. Hopefully rocket tower will take care of that.<br />
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I'm going to take a chance and see if I can rush the enemy base early on. I'll gather an assault force and attack those units to the northwest and see if I can break through their defenses.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The assault force moves out</td></tr>
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This attack did not go well. My entire force was destroyed by the enemy defenses, and then the game crashed. Now the save is corrupted, and I can't load my save for this level. I'm really tempted to call it quits right now, but I said I would finish this last level so I'm going to restart the level and try again.<br />
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I'm not going to post screenshots of me re-doing the beginning of the mission again. I did essentially the same thing except I'm going to explore and not attack those units in the northwest. I'm going to fastfoward to when I finally found the enemy base. Annoyingly, the map is laid out almost like a maze. A series of cliffs and plateaus and ridges form branching paths you can take, many of which end in dead ends. It took me a while to find a narrow spot that looks blocked by trees but you can squeeze through a small section of the spot between the trees and cliffs.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Traffic jam </td></tr>
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This narrow passage spot was really annoying. You can see the trees that make up the barrier on the left of the screenshot above. The only way through the trees is a narrow gap at the top between them and the cliff. Since only one unit can fit through the trees at a time, the AI pathfinding has an awful time trying to find their way through this section. I had to micromanage 2-3 units at a time to get them through, otherwise they would turn around and drive the other direction, or just stop and refuse to move.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enemy unit patiently waiting its turn</td></tr>
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Hilariously, the enemy AI also didn't quite know what to do with this section either. They did not attack me when we crossed paths here. In fact, the enemy units patiently waited their turn to pass through this section, then continued on without firing a shot at me. How polite...<br />
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OK, I've built a big assault force on the other side of the trees, so let's go find their base and finish this!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My new assault force</td></tr>
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I found an energy barrier, so that is a good indicator that I am close to their base.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Found it</td></tr>
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Now that I've found the enemy base, it should be a straighforward process of mopping up any remaining units and destroying the rest of the buildings.<br />
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I'm running into a problem I had with the previous mission: the Mercs can repair their main base building faster than I can damage it. I think this is a mechanism put in place to prevent players from making a bee-line straight to the enemy main building and destroying it and ending the mission early. But this seems like a cheap way of doing it, the building is basically invulnerable.<br />
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I don't like the look of these artillery pieces coming down to defend their base, or that mech coming up from the south!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKNafOO8j64LF7IdXKubi3P0b7Ahg5tTW4SCZNDwhRV8wmOX2rTrX4HB0Qusu-pcfzczfauCXDNwW-xrh4a_L0ykr07tLprUh22g7GMJ19rqUKj_9n4p2u6lVajaDP5lVWrk0R2GzSt4n5/s1600/DOMI0011.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKNafOO8j64LF7IdXKubi3P0b7Ahg5tTW4SCZNDwhRV8wmOX2rTrX4HB0Qusu-pcfzczfauCXDNwW-xrh4a_L0ykr07tLprUh22g7GMJ19rqUKj_9n4p2u6lVajaDP5lVWrk0R2GzSt4n5/s640/DOMI0011.bmp" width="640" /></a></div>
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No! No no no...<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFozMrPxV-BYf8mcOHsr3_i49JjUmGB2pssko89p-dGUofBwMy6UGIzMzhzgb5Nu3qKqA7wIg27AwXnh15XDV1u1e73U4EGD_GOsZ8fEJaEEEjNwVhtUfoSHUEDJkGaUSVrRWGAOtjHsQI/s1600/DOMI0014.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFozMrPxV-BYf8mcOHsr3_i49JjUmGB2pssko89p-dGUofBwMy6UGIzMzhzgb5Nu3qKqA7wIg27AwXnh15XDV1u1e73U4EGD_GOsZ8fEJaEEEjNwVhtUfoSHUEDJkGaUSVrRWGAOtjHsQI/s640/DOMI0014.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3lOrSye9JrmzhD4J-hQcZkKvxIF79zXv1nQEt65sEXYrzyDRPrv08WBxRMe8yryLLxva00TCmKMOk1zhq4uYqaYFWw1KP_aKdNegJqjMxu3XaJqWPHutsRa8DOBWwwPU9jqh8X_Z3b_zM/s1600/DOMI0015.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3lOrSye9JrmzhD4J-hQcZkKvxIF79zXv1nQEt65sEXYrzyDRPrv08WBxRMe8yryLLxva00TCmKMOk1zhq4uYqaYFWw1KP_aKdNegJqjMxu3XaJqWPHutsRa8DOBWwwPU9jqh8X_Z3b_zM/s640/DOMI0015.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No! Dammit</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I thought I was basically done with the mission. Instead they wiped out my whole army. Time to raise another army and try this again. At least most of their defenses are down and most of the enemy units are dead. I'll try something different and try taking over the main building with a technoid. I was able to take over the enemy HQ building with a technoid in the last mission, so I'll try it out on the main building in this mission.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLmn52mOLTTJCmuqhhl_Zf9dlSUSPeANk-ke8UVJkVlJSqKNygeEX5QyGsR9ZnQGdH29-uLZFRUk5f98FP81y7iN2W9xvqseEz9wmj8zqsxt72Jrs_KFQxhNkNUxSgRRqApXJfNz9I3DW1/s1600/DOMI0017.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLmn52mOLTTJCmuqhhl_Zf9dlSUSPeANk-ke8UVJkVlJSqKNygeEX5QyGsR9ZnQGdH29-uLZFRUk5f98FP81y7iN2W9xvqseEz9wmj8zqsxt72Jrs_KFQxhNkNUxSgRRqApXJfNz9I3DW1/s640/DOMI0017.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My technoid</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQfjyMGlhVFy27R8czqL2b2UXPvCWM7ci80jW9p3cYCOuFlQpB-o5p56aKY2RRPAgdxmR3svtqfpD8abUssItWX8AogNi9KwRtyeJEJLmlQk9swRilhnqVLDff1DH6SCRqiKUV7DE_FkyR/s1600/DOMI0018.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQfjyMGlhVFy27R8czqL2b2UXPvCWM7ci80jW9p3cYCOuFlQpB-o5p56aKY2RRPAgdxmR3svtqfpD8abUssItWX8AogNi9KwRtyeJEJLmlQk9swRilhnqVLDff1DH6SCRqiKUV7DE_FkyR/s640/DOMI0018.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Technoid about to capture the enemy main building...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3cWilR-lC2pG1aedteuDAux4uEeXJCgYLVQACf3KnJhfYCg5zr-QT1clyfLNWIEyiwcwkT65zcBOsfbLEb3jM38QwLTRTMGqZ-KSgUnpEN3Qc3toGAZ9phb4KHsl1mxzJruIwPpYzVdzJ/s1600/DOMI0019.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3cWilR-lC2pG1aedteuDAux4uEeXJCgYLVQACf3KnJhfYCg5zr-QT1clyfLNWIEyiwcwkT65zcBOsfbLEb3jM38QwLTRTMGqZ-KSgUnpEN3Qc3toGAZ9phb4KHsl1mxzJruIwPpYzVdzJ/s640/DOMI0019.bmp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nothing happened</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Nothing happened when I tried to take it over with my technoid. The cursor became a bomb-looking icon when I clicked on the building, and the technoid went in and disappeared. Now there is a flashing bomb-looking icon over the building but nothing else happened. Time to go back to the brute-force option:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLfMG7PAS1SQrxw6HnJ80HFLkHh_OlnITaO2_-oatS-Q5c0gmeUyg6tEWV7nb0fp6FoHAqoqYaqvQbWK-ayJwhRlYWeQHQbOgziaU44rPxJiqDcT1nj5zaldsipDAkoLaAH5EPmJQrT414/s1600/DOMI0020.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLfMG7PAS1SQrxw6HnJ80HFLkHh_OlnITaO2_-oatS-Q5c0gmeUyg6tEWV7nb0fp6FoHAqoqYaqvQbWK-ayJwhRlYWeQHQbOgziaU44rPxJiqDcT1nj5zaldsipDAkoLaAH5EPmJQrT414/s640/DOMI0020.bmp" width="640" /></a></div>
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I cleared out all the rest of the enemies and buildings on the map, and now I can damage the building without it being repaired. As I am firing on the main building, the enemy started building things like that power plant to the upper left, but its too late for that. It's game over for the Mercs.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_rj3cdpfPQ9gr-mPjE7J7_xKxjXlvCrbTgyKh0MEp3eGzVkuINaxKxbSSTjBlbPvl_1xPEnQ78sfCSxdHLFC8pFTGOrCUYzWlB1hGIxnuV0o6TOLMgfkpo15jxzKCyMk6Z_H0rSf3xJs_/s1600/Screenshot+%2528132%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_rj3cdpfPQ9gr-mPjE7J7_xKxjXlvCrbTgyKh0MEp3eGzVkuINaxKxbSSTjBlbPvl_1xPEnQ78sfCSxdHLFC8pFTGOrCUYzWlB1hGIxnuV0o6TOLMgfkpo15jxzKCyMk6Z_H0rSf3xJs_/s640/Screenshot+%2528132%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Some final notes about this mission:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The only other way into the enemy base was through those defensive towers and units to the northwest that I originally ran into before my game crashed. I'm not even sure if the path through the trees was meant to exist or if it was a map oversight. I'm assuming it was supposed to exist as a shortcut instead of the main way to the enemy base.</li>
<li>There was a neat part of the map where I could build an umbilical to transfer power over a river, and resume building umbilicals/other structures on the other side of the river. Nice touch.</li>
</ul>
<br />
I've eliminated the Mercs from Gift 3 and that's good enough for me when it comes to Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3. I guess for me it was more of a Dominion: Passing Rain Shower Over Gift 3. Just enough to eliminate 1/3 of my enemies.<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- Review -</u></span></h2>
<br />
Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 is an unfortunate game. Underneath the poor control, bad pathfinding and AI, uneven game balance, and tedious missions, there are some really great ideas. I appreciate that there are 4 different playable races, each with their own units. I like the heavy use of umbilicals to extend your base out to resource collection nodes. And I wish they would have done something with the right-click action menus for the units. Including options like "kneel" and "crawl" and "patrol" for units was pretty innovative for the time, but I never found a use for any of the various commands besides "Recon" for the Sentinels. It was a wasted potential that really serves no purpose in the game. That is how Dominion feels to me: wasted potential. All of the ingredients are there for a great RTS game, but the implementation is just not there.<br />
<br />
The game feels like it was released before it was ready, especially given the problems with the AI and the unevenness of the gameplay balance. The result is a game that is just not fun to play. In the last mission I played, I spent most of my time micromanaging the movement of my tanks from my base to the enemy's base because I couldn't trust the pathfinding to get them there on its own. And I only built tanks, because by then I had realized that there was no point in building any other unit.<br />
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When this game was originally released, I think it received average to poor reviews, so it wasn't well-regarded even in its own time. Dominion came out two years after Command and Conquer and Warcraft 2, and its graphics are not much better than those games. It also plays much worse than these predecessors. Based on what I read about Ion Storm, it really reflected poorly on the studio and only served to draw more attention to the studio's woes leading up to the release of Daikatana. If Dominion is an unfortunate game, it definitely came from an unfortunate studio. The whole situation is unfortunate. <br />
<br />
Which really is too bad. This could have been a great game if it was just smoother to play. I'm giving it 2.5 Mission Accomplished's out of 5. It may be worth playing today if you really like RTS games from the 90s and want to experience a decidedly average example of one, or if you are just curious about the game as a historical tidbit regarding Ion Storm. Otherwise, I recommend games like Starcraft, Age of Empires, Total Annihilation, or Command and Conquer Tiberium Sun.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpZzERycyTSOVES5SIZMKh0r1B8TugVZ8jAYDOqFc8vph6477QYcTWVDv1BzzaeO3EKo14-HJpo1wpHrvTnG6NnorJT17Go_BQ11Du82sKOcsWJVwIRDMVdzEK8VEVSH3kTQWSRFQGjk8b/s1600/domreview.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="263" data-original-width="394" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpZzERycyTSOVES5SIZMKh0r1B8TugVZ8jAYDOqFc8vph6477QYcTWVDv1BzzaeO3EKo14-HJpo1wpHrvTnG6NnorJT17Go_BQ11Du82sKOcsWJVwIRDMVdzEK8VEVSH3kTQWSRFQGjk8b/s640/domreview.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Did anyone else out there play and enjoy this game? Is it worth continuing on in the campaign? Let me know in the comments!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069718226803277447.post-32264023000500496162018-01-05T18:27:00.001-08:002018-01-28T13:47:48.536-08:00Blood <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcB3QRv3_643kG6v6FbkPTJxh9_QO2b4I7ZBkquHeO5AEWeTbSsx4jb6vNeZ4U7I8riXyB4xbWcFdfqES5xdLfWiJPm3T039J9y9HDeMCsu7Uz8tIOcnTGjqxo9MG-4xml12X2hglfbUAj/s1600/bloodcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="767" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcB3QRv3_643kG6v6FbkPTJxh9_QO2b4I7ZBkquHeO5AEWeTbSsx4jb6vNeZ4U7I8riXyB4xbWcFdfqES5xdLfWiJPm3T039J9y9HDeMCsu7Uz8tIOcnTGjqxo9MG-4xml12X2hglfbUAj/s400/bloodcover.jpg" width="333" /></a></div>
Date: 1997<br />
Developer: Monolith<br />
Publish: GT Interactive<br />
<br />
Where to purchase?<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.gog.com/game/one_unit_whole_blood">GOG.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/299030/Blood_One_Unit_Whole_Blood/">Steam</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
The first post here on RPDG is one of the original Build engine games, Blood. I have always been a fan of FPS games, but I never got into the Build engine games. I played through the shareware episodes of Duke Nukem 3D and the first few levels of Shadow Warrior, but I never made it much past the first rooms of the Blood demo that came on a PC Gamer demo disk. So this will be a brand new playthrough experience for me. I'll be playing the version from GOG.com that includes the base game plus the two addon packs: Plasma Pak and Cryptic Passage.<br />
<br />
As this is the first post, I'm not sure what the best format will be going forward for posts in the future. I enjoy reading about the development stories behind these old games, so I will try starting with the development story, delving into my own playthrough, and then end with my brief review. I have no experience in game development or professional writing, so please don't judge me too harshly. But do leave comments, even if they are just to judge me! On with the Blood-ing!<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2>
<u><span style="font-size: large;">- Development -</span></u></h2>
<u><br /></u>
Blood came out after what I would consider the end of the first generation of PC FPS games. This first generation consisted largely of 2d, sprite based games that were revolutionary for their time. Beginning with Wolfenstein 3D by Id Software in 1992, and exemplified by Doom in 1993, these early FPS games were blockbusters for the nascent computer gaming scene. After the release of Doom, there was flurry of "Doom clones" that were developed and released in short order. While it does a disservice to these games to just label them as "clones", they were for the most part all 2d, sprite based FPS games that retained many of the gameplay characteristics of Doom. These characteristics included a bare-bones story, levels requiring a lot of key hunting, isolated and self-contained levels, around 10 weapons increasing in power as the game progressed, a main menu overlaid over a rolling game demo, excessive gore/violence, etc.<br />
<br />
Some of these "Doom clones" were built using Id Software's Doom engine (Id tech 1), and others were built using proprietary engines. One of these proprietary engines, the Build Engine, the engine used by Blood, was developed by Ken Silverman around the same time Doom was released. His first commercial game created using the Build Engine was Ken's Labyrinth for Epic Megagames in 1993. Using his Build Engine, he later went on to help develop the hugely successful Duke Nukem 3D for 3D Realms in 1996. Some of the other games developed on the Build Engine include Witchaven, Shadow Warrior, William Shatner's TekWar (I really want to play this one for this blog), and Redneck Rampage. <br />
<br />
Blood began initial development as early as 1994. Developer Nick Newhard, working at Edmark Corp, seems to be the originator and force behind the game. He began work on his own, but was soon joined by Peter Freese and they obtained funding and a development agreement with Apogee Software. At some point, their Apogee association lead to the formation of a new company called QStudios that focused primarily on Blood. In early 1996, a leak occurred from a local computer repair shop that resulted in an early Blood Alpha finding its way to the community. You can find videos of this alpha on youtube:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm_wXazKRYFIPWc-aQKjlYQQVkrEQdoRe-SQdgHchr5tX7e1h50WIJ4aSL9VYi1LRTeoNDjYKQ87m6qN23rtpxCMqG12Io6y0FAEn9e4TJfwEP6FiJMuU89G8P4gAHaI4FmchyphenhyphenJtoiYVt8/s1600/GIF1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="178" data-original-width="307" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm_wXazKRYFIPWc-aQKjlYQQVkrEQdoRe-SQdgHchr5tX7e1h50WIJ4aSL9VYi1LRTeoNDjYKQ87m6qN23rtpxCMqG12Io6y0FAEn9e4TJfwEP6FiJMuU89G8P4gAHaI4FmchyphenhyphenJtoiYVt8/s400/GIF1.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3rd person fighting in the leaked Blood alpha</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Later in 1996, QStudios merged with Jason Hall's Monolith studios and this new duo split from Apogee/3DRealms to form a publishing agreement with GT Interactive. I'm not sure if the split was amicable or not, but regardless the shareware version was released in March 1997 and the full commercial release went gold in April.<br />
<br />
My recollection of the game's reviews were that it got above average to good scores. I think the main issue holding it back from true greatness was its technology. By 1997 we had great full 3D FPS games like Quake and Jedi Knight hitting the market (and others like Chasm: The Rift...). These games made Blood look a little primitive. But by this time developers were able to squeak every bit out of the Build engine, so Blood had things like Voxel tech, room-over-room maps, and highly destructible environments. It also weirdly enough had 3dFx Glide support added in a patch.<br />
<br />
Two expansion packs were released: Cryptic Passage by Sunstorm Interactive and Plasma Pak by Monolith.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQAluKr1j8VcTYMjnrgJAftmcruPnOHgfOW-M70uC9bJkuGabet_GYym5yoHVXywrVupO07DDb7eyOVCXP1LhZSJRX1ohAQ4Aoh-e2CZU1qkO01_CoMR_Qv-VFtaHxCfT0JmSZyFT2YSkw/s1600/plaspak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="764" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQAluKr1j8VcTYMjnrgJAftmcruPnOHgfOW-M70uC9bJkuGabet_GYym5yoHVXywrVupO07DDb7eyOVCXP1LhZSJRX1ohAQ4Aoh-e2CZU1qkO01_CoMR_Qv-VFtaHxCfT0JmSZyFT2YSkw/s320/plaspak.jpg" width="267" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHGbD97Lb7dYMQwr5Dyb6X43jV7hQ0mr_9tVrkIE2p7lDdr9y7yptXyQf3xq5qplW12DG9JgP_6HiUAd25WdPUJKv13Z6eh5I7X79cu-ONGpHpWyMnO8jOekUz14hMfyiD6eXuPxg0mBnd/s1600/cryppass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="980" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHGbD97Lb7dYMQwr5Dyb6X43jV7hQ0mr_9tVrkIE2p7lDdr9y7yptXyQf3xq5qplW12DG9JgP_6HiUAd25WdPUJKv13Z6eh5I7X79cu-ONGpHpWyMnO8jOekUz14hMfyiD6eXuPxg0mBnd/s320/cryppass.jpg" width="260" /></a><br />
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</div>
<br />
<h2>
<u><span style="font-size: large;">- The Game -</span></u></h2>
<u><br /></u>
The game starts with your typical 90s FPS menu over the top of a streaming game demo. I watched the first few seconds of the demo to learn where to find dynamite right at the beginning of the first level. That seems like a nice, powerful weapon to have at the start!<br />
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I selected New Game, chose the first Episode, and chose the easiest difficulty (I guess I'm a big wussy, Big whoop wanna fight about it?). The game has a short cutscene where an ominous voice tells 4 standing in a grimy crypt-like room that he is going to kill them. Then spiders or demons come down from the ceiling and seem to steal away a woman that might be the main character's love interest...? Anyway, it is implied everyone dies.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf7ZPRwCeK3u5D1RlP7dD4X83FYe2XiYFFIwWml-Hd9HRXf1L-MYADXIRd0hiGo84USyAt4UMKUzA9bONwcvJJ6apujeyWkVTAHpPZsXjDmpRK2mqQf0VZTmE1I2iHNnSjHXsgw_pGlEve/s1600/Screenshot+%25285%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf7ZPRwCeK3u5D1RlP7dD4X83FYe2XiYFFIwWml-Hd9HRXf1L-MYADXIRd0hiGo84USyAt4UMKUzA9bONwcvJJ6apujeyWkVTAHpPZsXjDmpRK2mqQf0VZTmE1I2iHNnSjHXsgw_pGlEve/s640/Screenshot+%25285%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Early CGI cutscenes...this guy is not happy</td></tr>
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Reading the backstory in an included README.TXT, our character is named Caleb and he was an infamous gunfighter in the old west. Caleb was the leader of a cult called the Cabal that worships a god called Tchernobog (voiced by Monolith CEO Jason Hall!) In that opening cutscene, Tchernobogy kills the leaders of the Cabal (including Caleb). Caleb then rises from the grave to enact vengence upon Tchernobog and the rest of the cult. Clear as day.<br />
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Once the game starts, I am immediately greeted by my character saying "I live...again!" and standing in a grave with a pitchfork. The first thing I noticed was the key bindings are those of the 90s era FPS games. So first things first it is off to the Options menu:<br />
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Thank God all these old games had configurable controls. Otherwise I would be stuck using the arrow keys for movement and "," for strafing...we truly lived like savages back then. Speaking of savages, do you see that glowing heart to the left of my pitchfork in the above screenshot? That is a health pickup from a slain enemy. I guess Caleb eats the hearts of his enemies to regain health. I like that. Simple, straightforward.<br />
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This first level of this first episode so far is taking place in a series of cemeteries. The sound effects are mostly frogs chirping, which I kind of like. Sets the mood of being in a swamp or otherwise outside at night. The first enemies I've come across have been zombies that take 2-3 hits from my pitchfork to take down. Sometimes I hit them and they go down, only to get back up again. Also sometimes I after I kill them, I can kick their heads around like a soccer ball! I like that. I also came across a new enemy (cultist) in a brown robe who shoots a machine gun. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJng7xyOlQaKadsCejBSoLhuImYXDKke_ng5yZ_X_L2_LJlsjqi2ydXA4uwuq__0Ch-60exkJBkbN7KSPjDHivGhlOvItMcmZVguz_F88Y99NVUY3VL1BvuRvzg9VDTp1KTBBvG_RE6D6/s1600/blood2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1190" data-original-width="1600" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJng7xyOlQaKadsCejBSoLhuImYXDKke_ng5yZ_X_L2_LJlsjqi2ydXA4uwuq__0Ch-60exkJBkbN7KSPjDHivGhlOvItMcmZVguz_F88Y99NVUY3VL1BvuRvzg9VDTp1KTBBvG_RE6D6/s640/blood2.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pitchforking a zombie</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zombie on the left, cultist on the right</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here is an example of Voxels in use (rotating key)</td></tr>
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I hate to say it, but I'm glad I set the difficulty to easy. I'm getting killed quite a bit early on in this game. This might be because I'm so used to modern FPS games, which are pretty damn easy with their regenerating health. Besides the Wolfenstein games and the new Doom game, it's been a while since I've playing an FPS game that relied on health pick ups. I like it. It reminds what it used to be like playing a challenging game, instead of just being shunted from one cutscene to the next like in a lot of modern games. Why back in my day, when old Kaiser Bill was running his shenanigans all across Europe and the Lindy Hop was the newest fad, we could get a cheese burger for a nickel and a brand new stick of RAM for a dime....<br />
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Anyway, my point is the game is pretty difficult so far.<br />
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I found the initial cemetery area to fairly generic for a FPS game, but things got quite a bit more interesting after that. Level 3 or 4 took place on a moving train, which is clever and pretty impressive for a Build engine game. At the beginning of the level, the train was running over enemies, which is funny. The train mission has you starting at the engine and running all the way back to the caboose to get a key, then running back to the engine to enter the conductor's cabin to set the engine to full speed and crash the train off the tracks. Included in the train cars are sleeping quarters, a kitchen car, and some dining cars. You can even look out the windows and see moving terrain and at one point you can blow off the side of a car and expose the inside to the outside scenery. Pretty impressive.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVuWgoS0bZIjNLjYfmYlVM7fb8ktU4NwjdNQDId6DlH0VcZCflUSWnRvMH39Fn3PMqj2gRPJxGczjgxAfUH8OvusQLED1NUUuJB9rcZqe_mnkAHg9joy5ATO263byDVnuHItOTCg1Zm0OW/s1600/GIF3.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="788" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVuWgoS0bZIjNLjYfmYlVM7fb8ktU4NwjdNQDId6DlH0VcZCflUSWnRvMH39Fn3PMqj2gRPJxGczjgxAfUH8OvusQLED1NUUuJB9rcZqe_mnkAHg9joy5ATO263byDVnuHItOTCg1Zm0OW/s640/GIF3.gif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kicking a bucket around the room</td></tr>
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Speaking of destruction, like a lot of Build engine games this game has a lot of environment destruction. You can pretty much destroy any piece of furniture or decoration in the game, along with dead enemies. The added interactivity really makes the levels and gameplay more fun I think. And I'll never get tired of running through a pile of corpses I just killed and kicking all their heads out in front of me.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNAuuhFK3A_Gu_0bnZhWfu6Ta3sTHvlilQP1aoL4oaetVnXPhC2gxVbczkJNqu0kwXRq8wVJ472oQ0GZZvVIewjZj_t7c0r4yb4QAGVJ_1QkVmKDCsqIgtkDb8GSo0qvSYgJ_7iLZTrMbD/s1600/Screenshot+%252815%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNAuuhFK3A_Gu_0bnZhWfu6Ta3sTHvlilQP1aoL4oaetVnXPhC2gxVbczkJNqu0kwXRq8wVJ472oQ0GZZvVIewjZj_t7c0r4yb4QAGVJ_1QkVmKDCsqIgtkDb8GSo0qvSYgJ_7iLZTrMbD/s640/Screenshot+%252815%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Start of the train level</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPbNsYCsnnMXUK83D22b19u4lJ9dp2F6G9Ah58BcWVYAkDYNaPawvgFRRyDyaIBv4mnakqgNDsUaU1f9qWEBsqud65zOcjVSOvUh3VXEeRqiXjFDZJ3FByER1Utihva5-9n_kdqVvQmq4R/s1600/Screenshot+%252816%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPbNsYCsnnMXUK83D22b19u4lJ9dp2F6G9Ah58BcWVYAkDYNaPawvgFRRyDyaIBv4mnakqgNDsUaU1f9qWEBsqud65zOcjVSOvUh3VXEeRqiXjFDZJ3FByER1Utihva5-9n_kdqVvQmq4R/s640/Screenshot+%252816%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside a train car - notice the window and scenery outside</td></tr>
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In this screenshot below, I interrupted a dinner party of cultists and zombies. This is after I shot them all with my shotgun and stabbed them all with my pitchfork. See all their unfinished drinks on the tables?<br />
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I found a mirror so I can finally get a look at Caleb. He's wearing a black trench coat and jeans and white T-shirt and black hat. And he has red eyes. Also, his reflection seems to show him dual wielding pistols or something, but I clearly have my pitchfork equipped. I'm just going to pretend he is dual wielding pitchforks because akimbo pitchforks sounds stupid and fun to me. That blue thing next to him is some pick-up that I could not get because I must have been full of whatever it wanted to give me. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicLZwnK_RMgbfnGAa7neTcI2f428YSPIlI9iNc0nDChcDpb3L-pEFZAQ_rPPt2TDwap1SKFRG03OjkwcJVXDv_ivLy4UJ26brhHvHm-hbLrFR6rZ_p6P4qvPgXwFtMzCp5dqYZ-OOXKWen/s1600/Screenshot+%252818%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicLZwnK_RMgbfnGAa7neTcI2f428YSPIlI9iNc0nDChcDpb3L-pEFZAQ_rPPt2TDwap1SKFRG03OjkwcJVXDv_ivLy4UJ26brhHvHm-hbLrFR6rZ_p6P4qvPgXwFtMzCp5dqYZ-OOXKWen/s640/Screenshot+%252818%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Below you can see the train engine. The levers on the sides let me overload the engine to cause the train to crash. The first time I tried it, I overloaded the engine and then just stood there. Then the engine blew up and I died. The next time, I went outside the cabin to a safe distance.<br />
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After the train level, I came to a carnival level.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpb9_YIThjVS8U6uzYjYnivU2YlABSxGDPJlNc2orCNHTwRgEnZat0lTOXChI9_dEOpMbEviR7A-Yyy8lrhEWMarXOpxVHaYtgXmAu24EGJSRO8kq2UYO8gd5YUydYOsk3YhDZHIoUJvLo/s1600/Screenshot+%252822%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpb9_YIThjVS8U6uzYjYnivU2YlABSxGDPJlNc2orCNHTwRgEnZat0lTOXChI9_dEOpMbEviR7A-Yyy8lrhEWMarXOpxVHaYtgXmAu24EGJSRO8kq2UYO8gd5YUydYOsk3YhDZHIoUJvLo/s640/Screenshot+%252822%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I bet this isn't like my local county fair...</td></tr>
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The carnival level was a lot of fun, you can tell the developers had a good time coming up with creepy versions of typical carnival games. There were things like shooting galleries and even a game where you had to kick the heads of zombies through a target. Also there were mimes!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mimes!</td></tr>
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The enemies are still just zombies and cultists, but this level added a grey-clad cultist that carries a machine gun and is a bit tougher and does a bit more damage. Actually, there is a new enemy that drives me crazy and has actually killed me once now: Mice:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2cWi6NyUcQUlLsRWB1U1EKuqvpvRxjARrPfZ39ZjHSfzDG1Yr9A6QOq1vLtqKwtf8wgbj-R8bH9BnPYBqNw7cRos_jX4QlB6CGHsCet7ewTuWhCwE8uTyN-_YDxd6h5YDZCk26Wf-WBAn/s1600/enemies.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2cWi6NyUcQUlLsRWB1U1EKuqvpvRxjARrPfZ39ZjHSfzDG1Yr9A6QOq1vLtqKwtf8wgbj-R8bH9BnPYBqNw7cRos_jX4QlB6CGHsCet7ewTuWhCwE8uTyN-_YDxd6h5YDZCk26Wf-WBAn/s640/enemies.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mice!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Look at the evil little bastards. They only do a tiny bit of damage, but they travel in groups and you have to crouch down to hit them. They have this faint little squeak that sometimes I can barely hear, so I don't know they are around until it is too late. Filthy, disgusting little monsters. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'm tempted to post too many screenshots from the carnival level since a lot of the carnival games are pretty clever. I even had to walk a tight rope to get a key from the top of a pylon. But I'll just post one more from that level. This is the game where you can kick the zombie heads through the mouth target:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuOikeBtSwAwWEtPjV9pAaIO6qMdSe6YWtPiCAjFNAQ1Lm0pFkVjyBl8YkLRrKmBobAp2oStLVx71bAf0z4Ik7UlBNsoDnt5fD7BifZCFC7PBq8GjzOPrcpUOk4VYXDJi3iAKSPMipNeH5/s1600/Screenshot+%252825%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuOikeBtSwAwWEtPjV9pAaIO6qMdSe6YWtPiCAjFNAQ1Lm0pFkVjyBl8YkLRrKmBobAp2oStLVx71bAf0z4Ik7UlBNsoDnt5fD7BifZCFC7PBq8GjzOPrcpUOk4VYXDJi3iAKSPMipNeH5/s640/Screenshot+%252825%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I got stuck for a bit on this level. There is an automap in the game, and I couldn't find any unused doors or areas I had not discovered. I was pretty sure I had all the keys as well, and the level isn't that big so I couldn't figure out what I was missing. I eventually found a wall that is actually a door on the ride called the "Happy-Go-Pukey", and that door was opened by one of my keys:</div>
<div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBBq8zdP9TpOKSITRVtsIyL8HifuHEWUQZgb-F4vX_IDX5GvOdQRa2nbqq1XCsBL96YjHjuvjKbFQaWr0R4fsGJ-5s4wIQV8r5NmmyInEHS2Gc3R_FxWm_0aThN1ollktLlKZDIEk65Dcr/s1600/Screenshot+%252828%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBBq8zdP9TpOKSITRVtsIyL8HifuHEWUQZgb-F4vX_IDX5GvOdQRa2nbqq1XCsBL96YjHjuvjKbFQaWr0R4fsGJ-5s4wIQV8r5NmmyInEHS2Gc3R_FxWm_0aThN1ollktLlKZDIEk65Dcr/s640/Screenshot+%252828%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
After going through the "Happy-Go-Pukey", I had a fight a gargoyle that actually wasn't that difficult. It only took a few shotgun blasts, and the damage it did was not that great. I may have to increase the difficulty now that I am getting the hang of the game. After fighting the gargoyle, there was a brief underwater section, and then the end of the level.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiowLeRDIYuykdjh14lJ6gOnFMaPHHUgRrpOngybANtpiVNH9lUF_f0Lf1THeUzkPNgS__-EuBvkguTq_nNxUXOyV16c2py55kx4_rzTXeV6Asv13H5MSojKFw7beQc5ytZfZkfl9NJSrD_/s1600/gorgoyle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiowLeRDIYuykdjh14lJ6gOnFMaPHHUgRrpOngybANtpiVNH9lUF_f0Lf1THeUzkPNgS__-EuBvkguTq_nNxUXOyV16c2py55kx4_rzTXeV6Asv13H5MSojKFw7beQc5ytZfZkfl9NJSrD_/s640/gorgoyle.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fighting Mr. Gargoyle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_XE8TYIRiKmywoncZbLZwOh3KTjvDKKt0fybYcRZhxTKwrfjs0HB_pM1w2znLVoEFgvs59wbEJQxgI4_fylpQJLORsPdGAm5zLfi54OQJb8VaJlU5IhUT8hoqqaQ90jmwWc76SJUoD-bL/s1600/Screenshot+%252830%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_XE8TYIRiKmywoncZbLZwOh3KTjvDKKt0fybYcRZhxTKwrfjs0HB_pM1w2znLVoEFgvs59wbEJQxgI4_fylpQJLORsPdGAm5zLfi54OQJb8VaJlU5IhUT8hoqqaQ90jmwWc76SJUoD-bL/s640/Screenshot+%252830%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ouch, 1 of 12 secrets</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Next level is E1M5 - Hallowed Grounds. This level starts out with a series of generic gothic corridors and hallways. Not much really stands out to me except there were a few gargoyles to fight and quite a bit more cultists. There were also some underwater portions that involved fighting through some nasty little biting fish. The level involved some backtracking as well, which I am not really a fan of. At one point, you need to push a button that seemingly does nothing at the time. Only later do you realize it opened a door necessary to progress in the level. While I don't mind key hunting in these older FPS games, these ambiguous button/door combinations are annoying. I would at least like an indication of what that button did I just pressed, instead of having to guess that it opens one of the multiple locked doors found throughout the level.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicNtiY4cOuxOMM-RrJ9mslrA7uNlHk4qAmwDnyHs2JnPCMHKQG_MaTmWxdSFdGYIjiZfa2WYC2PGPYM20zYr6lVRZBLXB1VSlGb2_rqlAg-FQwgXcj_xhOHDGa_PlMFwWlq5kgrQPTYUWp/s1600/GIF.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="797" height="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicNtiY4cOuxOMM-RrJ9mslrA7uNlHk4qAmwDnyHs2JnPCMHKQG_MaTmWxdSFdGYIjiZfa2WYC2PGPYM20zYr6lVRZBLXB1VSlGb2_rqlAg-FQwgXcj_xhOHDGa_PlMFwWlq5kgrQPTYUWp/s640/GIF.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
That is a good example of the chaotic method in which I fight enemies and try to take video and screenshots. But I survived with 14 health. The shotgun can do two rapid shots in quick succession before having to reload, so that makes for some nice damage output against tougher enemies. At some point near the end of Hallowed Grounds I think, I found an invisibility pick-up which allowed me to sneak up on enemies.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAFlFKXVW0I2eS2byzLwsurkftop2E674L7vFmw8goEpagdD7HkXPwA-2XbR8gvFlaHaFJUKIaa1nMcwIi39p3_TpVZDJXlg3958OdzehmL03OMpTtHHpuQc1Aj3yRqRh7Gycm0lAA0dri/s1600/Screenshot+%252833%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAFlFKXVW0I2eS2byzLwsurkftop2E674L7vFmw8goEpagdD7HkXPwA-2XbR8gvFlaHaFJUKIaa1nMcwIi39p3_TpVZDJXlg3958OdzehmL03OMpTtHHpuQc1Aj3yRqRh7Gycm0lAA0dri/s640/Screenshot+%252833%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He'll never suspect a thing...(invisible)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIPBm22ExlvoMOfOk79rdp-erjtTxYODUFvN1gxx8cfgi4V0mqauyPF45mEiH0jgJLD5YJwn2oR4KNEZMNEf8yo_kEY045aGgWkp6UKEdG9LYJ7-ef_MjlDEWi8RN4MBM-BycRIoNZ1goB/s1600/inv.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIPBm22ExlvoMOfOk79rdp-erjtTxYODUFvN1gxx8cfgi4V0mqauyPF45mEiH0jgJLD5YJwn2oR4KNEZMNEf8yo_kEY045aGgWkp6UKEdG9LYJ7-ef_MjlDEWi8RN4MBM-BycRIoNZ1goB/s640/inv.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He didn't suspect a thing...(invisible)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Next level is E1M6 - The Great Temple. As soon as I walked around the first corner, the wall behind me blew up and out came some hidden zombies.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqHS20HaLsI_AQ9GUMhb_olVB-fDECiLWtAWjAiZ2-GWKg_7vs5YGU3nu82AtLXmotixiZIo98BAfKJbh2QZ9XS7UquH1GsvyEUIAZrQxOP3Vb5M3j9C-unntPwXYKqn9WNiSAwh4AtcZm/s1600/Screenshot+%252834%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqHS20HaLsI_AQ9GUMhb_olVB-fDECiLWtAWjAiZ2-GWKg_7vs5YGU3nu82AtLXmotixiZIo98BAfKJbh2QZ9XS7UquH1GsvyEUIAZrQxOP3Vb5M3j9C-unntPwXYKqn9WNiSAwh4AtcZm/s640/Screenshot+%252834%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hidden zombie closet</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So its going to be one of those kinds of levels. Further on this hallway opens into a room where the only place to go is into some water. Once in the water, I encountered more of those biting fish. I died a few times trying to take a good screenshot of them along with a swimming cultist. I didn't get any good ones, but here is the best I could find:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikov1SPhIGLo0X-RF_tQ8vUyCED47X93yM2K4UpkzIF92betDRTIp7arVsGtFbFh3fK4ZUdGRiXNANfEUod7i_lhOopDXxZxLJA54d5h343nzJiYp_scERozO-n7ls2jQ3iwr-ZwFt_3H_/s1600/Screenshot+%252835%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikov1SPhIGLo0X-RF_tQ8vUyCED47X93yM2K4UpkzIF92betDRTIp7arVsGtFbFh3fK4ZUdGRiXNANfEUod7i_lhOopDXxZxLJA54d5h343nzJiYp_scERozO-n7ls2jQ3iwr-ZwFt_3H_/s640/Screenshot+%252835%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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After coming up out of the water, there was a series of open rooms with a lot of enemies. There are a lot more enemies and a lot more shooting in this level. But there also seems to be a lot of power-ups. I found this akimbo pick-up:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaJBhrcPGemkyy5Scy4fG1D5Dvmvn__7i11G1FAxEkg6DRm5gesMnmy2Ov16qSN_zkfVThIYMCaIN01iq7COEz_6lcsJMWCAPgD-31ms0km-iy45Q7fO8nyCs8iVwc6kFXr4hT1l_HRAEA/s1600/Screenshot+%252841%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaJBhrcPGemkyy5Scy4fG1D5Dvmvn__7i11G1FAxEkg6DRm5gesMnmy2Ov16qSN_zkfVThIYMCaIN01iq7COEz_6lcsJMWCAPgD-31ms0km-iy45Q7fO8nyCs8iVwc6kFXr4hT1l_HRAEA/s640/Screenshot+%252841%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hooray!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But when I picked it up, the frowning face across the room shot me with a rocket. Notice my health went from 100 to 47. Thanks face.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiebiWYcx_AJ4g8AhuCN9hyGEv6FkCBzpSytZIKt74YdZoRmn3oJJMq5M6FNC5OzDQF84NhtvqfAM-odovhqrbSckh2kB72b0QJme1Rw3bD9_mIR6pmdmw1vY1nVNTs_Q-Y_zCBobv_Mc3e/s1600/Screenshot+%252842%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiebiWYcx_AJ4g8AhuCN9hyGEv6FkCBzpSytZIKt74YdZoRmn3oJJMq5M6FNC5OzDQF84NhtvqfAM-odovhqrbSckh2kB72b0QJme1Rw3bD9_mIR6pmdmw1vY1nVNTs_Q-Y_zCBobv_Mc3e/s640/Screenshot+%252842%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stupid face.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After getting my akimbo machine guns and using all my bullets on zombies, I followed a staircase down and got attacked by bats. I'm OK with zombies and cultists and gargoyles and even mice, but flying enemies like bats in these old Build engine games are annoying. Without a smooth mouse-look to look up and down, I mostly just spray my shotgun or machine guns wildly hoping the autoaim will shoot them down.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN8MSrwefcfGEol-YmkEaNC6HIEYwCbP93UTtF1MLbXMHfaXa7IqhvBKPQ8CYIkP3Qw28PysIW69Vpfj2X6O37BMUJ41R8NP9D0iilZp99bWbU7f6Qr-ziq81kMaPiW4cWJmyb__EJ2tuG/s1600/Screenshot+%252840%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN8MSrwefcfGEol-YmkEaNC6HIEYwCbP93UTtF1MLbXMHfaXa7IqhvBKPQ8CYIkP3Qw28PysIW69Vpfj2X6O37BMUJ41R8NP9D0iilZp99bWbU7f6Qr-ziq81kMaPiW4cWJmyb__EJ2tuG/s640/Screenshot+%252840%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bats</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After dealing with the bats, I found a room that is a staple in early FPS games. It is the big empty room with a button at the opposite end of the entrance. I can remember these rooms in almost every old FPS game I played. Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Dark Forces, Heretic, they all had them. Once you press the button, the walls come down and monsters come pouring out. Many times there will be power-ups and ammo spread around as well, which is another obvious indicator of what is about to happen. So I entered the room and pressed the button:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5R7kPooxtNvgNHyGRh380oxKAvHIKN5qadR2XZLm-rE2f6Pf2k5f6BGrm-KzUNwmdCrmD-DxXp2UWKLXRcl8EqGmxj7pKhyK2Z5cJsxhVA1HxP8BFFMtwrOiZ-DStUwHKTZwasLVtQNyL/s1600/Screenshot+%252844%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5R7kPooxtNvgNHyGRh380oxKAvHIKN5qadR2XZLm-rE2f6Pf2k5f6BGrm-KzUNwmdCrmD-DxXp2UWKLXRcl8EqGmxj7pKhyK2Z5cJsxhVA1HxP8BFFMtwrOiZ-DStUwHKTZwasLVtQNyL/s640/Screenshot+%252844%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zombie swarm</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And I died:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw5spHZqYRVIfHJed5m-0SoDx2N5AwsLDgJG3PW2K3lSMQDW8zjmWXfdXCwZl3q1cN3Lk6zKVK4-rf7056iHey255Qs5NgTkjmZiKF4zc2SlG00sy0KoeND8X4tq-pQ14Iz7WdWLrqXaw3/s1600/Screenshot+%252843%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw5spHZqYRVIfHJed5m-0SoDx2N5AwsLDgJG3PW2K3lSMQDW8zjmWXfdXCwZl3q1cN3Lk6zKVK4-rf7056iHey255Qs5NgTkjmZiKF4zc2SlG00sy0KoeND8X4tq-pQ14Iz7WdWLrqXaw3/s640/Screenshot+%252843%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The zombie on the right looks...perplexed</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After a few reloads, I finished them all off using an akimbo shotgun power-up that was hidden in one of their waiting rooms.<br />
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Next up after the zombie swarm room were some hallways with traps. First up was a hallway with rockets firing across it.<br />
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And these were serious business rockets. Even on the easiest setting, one or two glancing shots were enough to instantly kill me. After the rocket hallway, I had to travel down some flamethrower hallways that were a lot more forgiving. Simply ducking and timing your running was enough to get by unscathed. I know a lot of people will find these kinds of traps annoying, but I don't mind this kind of thing. It really reminds of old FPS games (as it should, this is an old FPS game). On the spectrum of annoying features of old FPS games, I put these kinds of traps low on the scale. <br />
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I found a balcony overlooking a cliff above the clouds, and the balcony had no railing. That seems dangerous.<br />
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To my left were some doors that zombies popped out of. I'm assuming the goal was to frighten me and cause me to back over the balcony and fall to my death. But I outsmarted the mindless zombies by shooting them with my shotgun. Speaking of outsmarting, I came across some cultists that seemed to be stuck walking into a lit lamp. I shot one of them with my flare gun.<br />
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The level ends with a teleporter taking me to a very ominous looking room that is very obviously going to be the site of another ambush. The hallway leading into the room is stocked with ammo, and in the middle of the room is another akimbo power-up.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbWToIOPYBFroOEOpW4NfJkF2j4a5RdrU2PHOCmufFYlWOvozdD6hcalyGWVX5s0Ma51luhdtE-edG3QF2WMi_ExSw_u0G75vTr8I3DnbmxxN3o5ODG5oEWgKnUg-VF2p5FifVbDYGulcM/s1600/Screenshot+%252853%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbWToIOPYBFroOEOpW4NfJkF2j4a5RdrU2PHOCmufFYlWOvozdD6hcalyGWVX5s0Ma51luhdtE-edG3QF2WMi_ExSw_u0G75vTr8I3DnbmxxN3o5ODG5oEWgKnUg-VF2p5FifVbDYGulcM/s640/Screenshot+%252853%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That wasn't very difficult</td></tr>
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And...that was too easy. It was a few zombies, a few cultists, and a gargoyle. Again I think this is a function of my playing on Easy mode. But whatever, I mostly would like to get through this first episode so I can post this first entry on my new blog! Alright, on to mission 7!<br />
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Next is E1M7 - Alter of Stone. Judging by the size and layout of this level, I'm guessing this is the last level of the first episode and also a boss level.<br />
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Coming into this level, my list of weapons are: pitchfork, shotgun, machine gun, dynamite, and napalm launcher. For inventory items, I have a full med kit that can be used at any time, and beast vision (which I haven't used yet). So I am feeling pretty confident for this fight. The level consists of stairs going up either side of the starting area and leading to a central platform accessible only by a small wooden bridge. Approaching the central platform reveals a woman crucified on an alter type thing. Pretty gruesome. Caleb cries out that this is Ophelia, the woman from the intro and his love interest.<br />
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As soon as I walked up to Ophelia, there were explosions behind me, and wall blew up to reveal a big grey gargoyle. The first boss right of the game!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE4v4xHBc2wyZYP12_LHsAiPuMhcmh8lAn0MGDgvbNh-cG1FP0YWvsExviQw1h84BppBVVS288K30hYlNFHsejGhzEPIMdfM9hxUnHB6BzWGnikwNp0fIH2uN1soVdd6PwN1D4ZRLPcMjh/s1600/Screenshot+%252859%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE4v4xHBc2wyZYP12_LHsAiPuMhcmh8lAn0MGDgvbNh-cG1FP0YWvsExviQw1h84BppBVVS288K30hYlNFHsejGhzEPIMdfM9hxUnHB6BzWGnikwNp0fIH2uN1soVdd6PwN1D4ZRLPcMjh/s640/Screenshot+%252859%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnyY8Lc3hhUgP54qY6Fb2-8T5IpK92kK9WcaWYAj5Q_MllM66CkbReVMxVkIzh4ap43YaEw6xEFd4kdy6dkjLKkk3LXVtVtGDgHgsFSEydqku7tQO2jj-Bei6iekCk4KHLrkhP7c6kBQl9/s1600/boss.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnyY8Lc3hhUgP54qY6Fb2-8T5IpK92kK9WcaWYAj5Q_MllM66CkbReVMxVkIzh4ap43YaEw6xEFd4kdy6dkjLKkk3LXVtVtGDgHgsFSEydqku7tQO2jj-Bei6iekCk4KHLrkhP7c6kBQl9/s640/boss.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Missing with the napalm launcher</td></tr>
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I died once or twice on this fight. The hardest part is finding an area with enough distance between me and the gargoyle where I could safely fire my napalm launcher. He moves quickly and tends to end up right behind me if I try to run around the outside staircase areas. So I ended up staying on the central platform area and just running from one side to the other and getting a shot off with the napalm launcher from each end. It took about maybe 10-12 shots with the napalm launcher to kill him, which is pretty good for a boss character on Easy mode.<br />
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After killing the gargoyle, an ending cutscene played.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjweMj0URdiM1F6eNve9YZO3pvy3ZI6P9phDKLp-jRkeiWE6bFNVhuc-m3u-_W9Pj6980CO9nJ74Sjm5IpGma523VyjLDz2uW-TDWyakU7OSQMPbUUNAdpV2HouHD-5etGj8yZ5vHV93iY0/s1600/Screenshot+%252860%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjweMj0URdiM1F6eNve9YZO3pvy3ZI6P9phDKLp-jRkeiWE6bFNVhuc-m3u-_W9Pj6980CO9nJ74Sjm5IpGma523VyjLDz2uW-TDWyakU7OSQMPbUUNAdpV2HouHD-5etGj8yZ5vHV93iY0/s640/Screenshot+%252860%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Caleb is laying Ophelia to rest</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguNesqzKQZlr8aBGs4JoRpJ1LpWt4V6iHCQYCbfdFqYcfOQZ_Dkrh9rOevUHSP94WTvrDfPoiTxbVDA2afKXhyzCZPN_BrLsSiJCNNctrxEAWGL9IUx5e5lb2WFQkF4mpHLRs2pZfJX0zv/s1600/Screenshot+%252861%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguNesqzKQZlr8aBGs4JoRpJ1LpWt4V6iHCQYCbfdFqYcfOQZ_Dkrh9rOevUHSP94WTvrDfPoiTxbVDA2afKXhyzCZPN_BrLsSiJCNNctrxEAWGL9IUx5e5lb2WFQkF4mpHLRs2pZfJX0zv/s640/Screenshot+%252861%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What pretty eyes...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixJK1iR8R9RE1n3htq090-_KDqXUDdAckgMV82MvV6S7ZLkDJaeWlScMlRHfUFW7Q5cMUqtJAUFsg4nLwyy5aSaS8rIwmIPU12gHzC0LeIHVef30pSscCpulDbkkjPtsGFxIWKMAFyWCFy/s1600/Screenshot+%252863%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixJK1iR8R9RE1n3htq090-_KDqXUDdAckgMV82MvV6S7ZLkDJaeWlScMlRHfUFW7Q5cMUqtJAUFsg4nLwyy5aSaS8rIwmIPU12gHzC0LeIHVef30pSscCpulDbkkjPtsGFxIWKMAFyWCFy/s640/Screenshot+%252863%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Caleb decides to burn her body...bummer</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPz3wTm4fx5wmAsCAqmhUmxIDSMe5OApIqwRYV7u9AlgQrO8Gz5UxQTbF7M1lEpQkrDHtQmSysdRr8X8doT4NCl5age5OwzLxi1SRtA6bTDLmwESv6BZ86vfG8be_pVPeoUP5ewhJUfe-e/s1600/Screenshot+%252864%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPz3wTm4fx5wmAsCAqmhUmxIDSMe5OApIqwRYV7u9AlgQrO8Gz5UxQTbF7M1lEpQkrDHtQmSysdRr8X8doT4NCl5age5OwzLxi1SRtA6bTDLmwESv6BZ86vfG8be_pVPeoUP5ewhJUfe-e/s640/Screenshot+%252864%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ending credits</td></tr>
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And that is the end of the first episode. It only took me around 2 hours to complete this first episode, but this was on the easiest difficulty and without looking for any secrets or exploring the levels much. I would say if I turned up the difficulty and explored more, I could easily double my playing time. I'm going to end my playthrough of Blood for now. Since this is the first post on my site, I'm anxious to get it up and move on to my next game so I can start to fill out my site. I may come back to it later on if I have time. I am curious to try out the new weapons found in later episodes and see some new enemies. Then there is also both of the expansion packs, so there is definitely a lot of gaming left in Blood.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>- Review -</u></span></h2>
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Going back and playing DOS-era FPS games is always tough. On the one hand, these are the kinds of games that gave me some of my best gaming memories as a kid. On the other hand, a lot of these games do not hold up well when compared to their modern counterparts. DOS-era strategy games, RPGs, and even some action games tend to fare better and be more playable today than a lot of the old FPS games. A big part of that has to do with the progress that has been made in gameplay and graphics in new FPS games. Simple quality of life changes like vertical axis mouse-look, inventories, iron sights, enemy AI, etc. in new games really make it noticable how relatively primitive Build engine FPS games are. The same goes for any of the older FPS games, including the Doom-engine games. Another part of the problem is how fundamentally gameplay has changed in modern FPS games. We are no longer content to simply run from the beginning of a level to the end while blasting all the enemies that get in our way. Now we are used to having involving stories, multiple NPCs, multiple objectives, seamless open worlds instead of individual levels, and even being able to drive vehicles. Whereas strategy games and RPGs have changed a lot as well, their basic gameplay remains rooted more closely to their original ancestors. I would say Civilization 6 is closer in gameplay terms to Civilization 2 than Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus is to Blood. And this therefore makes its easier and less jarring to go back and play Civilization 2 than it is to play Blood.<br />
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Despite all that, the important question is did I have fun playing Blood and did it bring back those old nostalgia feelings from playing FPS games from the 90s? And my answer to that is a resounding...kind of! I will admit that I was not having fun during the first 2 levels as I struggled to come to terms with the old fashioned gameplay. Being constantly short of ammo and having to run around key hunting while struggling with enemies that seem to be able to hit-scan shoot me got a little frustrating. But the train level really opened things up for me. Once I got a good amount of ammo for the shotgun and picked up the machine gun, things became much more fun. And the game became progressively better the further I went. The carnival level was great and clever, and the Great Temple level reminded me of Doom and Doom 2 with its huge number of enemies and ambush rooms. Like a lot of other old FPS games, I think the game is at its best when you have plenty of ammo, plenty of health, and a whole room of enemies to shoot away at. I liked mowing down zombies and cultists with my machine gun and lobbing dynamite into groups of them!<br />
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I guess I did have fun after all, but it was in specific circumstances. It was not fun running around searching for keys and unopened doors after I had already killed all the enemies in the level. And fighting bats, mice, and biting fish pissed me off to no end. I haven't thought of a good grading scale yet for my reviews. So for right now I think I'll do a 0-5 scale where 0 is the worst and 5 is the best. Overall, I had more and more fun playing Blood the further along I progressed, and I'm actually curious to see how the rest of the episodes play. So based on that, I give it 4 burning cultists out of 5.<br />
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