$9fa|1-REVIEWS




$9ff                          by kenco of carnage

Righty then, some Playstation reviews...


BLAM! Machinehead.
-----------------

The disc boots up with a very good intro, all raytraced an stuff.  Well,
I  was  impressed  anyway  :)  It sets the scene, and the plot is rather
unusual  to  say  the least.  Basically, you are strapped into a machine
(unwillingly)  and  have to wipe out the Machinehead, which controls the
mutated landscapes which you skim over in your Vorpal Blade.

Control of the Vorpal Blade is tricky at first, but is learnt quickly.

       L12           R12
      /   \_________/   \         |   Directional Buttons : Movement
     |  |             T  |       - -
     | - -   -  >    S C |        |
     |  |  _________  X  |
     |    /         \    |         T  Cycle up second weapon
     |   /           \   |         C  Cycle down second weapon
      ==               ==          S  Move Forwards
                                   X  Move Backwards
                                  R1  Fire second weapon
                                  L1  Fire machine gun
                                   -  Ingame map

The  object  of  the  game is to complete the objectives for each level.
The  first  level introduces the steep difficulty curve, but once you've
got  the  controls  sussed  it  becomes  second nature.  The first level
objectives  are  to shoot the green pods on the electricity pylons, some
pylons  are  easy  to  find..   using  the  ingame map is very handy for
locating  er..things.   The  second  objective is to bring the landscape
back  to  reality.  This is acheived via reality keys and reality gates.
Each  are  labelled  and  have to be matched.  So key one has to be used
with  gate  one.   When  a  gate  has  been activated, apart from a nice
lensflare effect, it alters the landscape in your favour, this is needed
in  the  second objective for the first level as a train has to be freed
and  to do this, a chasm has to be bridged, which is done via activating
the reality gates...  and so on....

The  graphics create an alternative, beleivable reality.  The landscapes
are  interactive, allowing you to journey almost anywhere.  Vehicles and
barrels  litter  the  landscapes,  both  of which can be blown up :) The
enemies  are  well  defined,  although there could be more...  the basic
baddies  are  zombies,  spiders  and  cannons.  The explosions are nice,
things  blow  up with a satisfying "woomph" and a nice lensflare effect.
The  ingame  map shows where the reality keys, unreality keys, unreality
gates  and  other  things  important  to  the  level (level two involves
directing a train through a level).

The  music  is  apt  and  goes  well  with  the  action.   It's  sort of
ambient-techno...   urm...   :)  The  sound  effects  are brilliant, the
screeching of the spiders, the "help me!" of the spacesuited people.

The  game  comes  together very well.  It's a very satisfying blast, but
you also have to use strategy, otherwise you'll die.  Quickly.

I've  got  up  to  the  last  level on the first stage.  This involves a
little  bit  of  running back and forth, activating reality gates.  Once
all  the  gates are activated, a lift can be opened which takes you down
to  a  room  with  a  reactor,  a  big robotic chicken thing and a small
robotic chicken thing.  And it's bloody hard!

Some ratings, methinks:

   Graphics : More than functional, nice lens-flares!

      Sound : Brill! Cool music and scary sound effects.

Playability : Hard at first, but it gets better and better..

Lastability : This is going to last for ages!

kenco.carnage



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