Review: S.C.OUT
Reviewed by Reginald B. Milton

Type:
Arcade/Puzzle
Publisher: InLine Design
Retail Price: $59.95
Mail Order:
$37.00
Requires:
Mac with 256-color display, 3 MB RAM, System 6.0.5. or greater.
Protection:
None
IMG Rating:
√√√

Your Mission. InLine Design, the company that created 3 in Three, Tesserae, and Darwin’s Dilemma, has done it again. S.C.OUT places you as the unfortunate pilot sent out in space to the Deimos colony base where an alien race has taken control. It is your mission to clean out the aliens before an Earth ship arrives to colonize Deimos. You arrive at the base in your very weapon-limited spaceship with little to no idea what to expect. There are about a hundred levels and you must go through each and kill the invading aliens. On each level you will have to figure out several things: first, where is the alien; second, where is the weapon that will be needed to destroy the alien; and third, how the heck do you get around on each level? The manual, what there is of it, will be of little help. You progress from level to level as your mission becomes more complicated. You encounter new obstacles and creatures to overcome. This is a game where fast wrist-action will not save you, but a sharp mind might.

As you play S.C.OUT you might be amazed at how quickly you understand what is needed to win. As you solve each puzzling encounter you gain confidence, but be forewarned: don’t let that confidence lull you into a sense of security, or you may be catching the next taxi back to Earth.

Look at S.C.OUT as a puzzle, because the key to this game is to figure out how to use the objects on each level to accomplish your goal. Since this is the case, there are very few hints that I could give here that wouldn’t be considered “spoiler” material. This also justifies the very short manual, so I  don’t want to count that against InLine.

The Basics. You are given a ship that can carry only one device at a time. You pick up one, you have to drop the other. All weapons will be found at the base on each level. The weapon needed to destroy the alien is a photon grenade. When you find it you must then search out the alien and place the grenade beside him. Then by firing a missile or cannon you detonate the grenade destroying the alien. You are then transported to the next level. Sounds easy, huh? Well, it’s not. As you move from level to level the rooms become larger and larger. Moving around becomes more difficult due to dangerous creatures you encounter such as the Worm and the Slime, and endless barriers appear that you must circumvent to accomplish your objective. Of course, it is not all an uphill battle, and there are devices that will make your task somewhat easier. You will find Railway Systems for traveling around faster. There are Safe Zones that can make you invincible. Also, there are Teleporters that can take you safely from one point in the maze to another.

The Grand Finale. The drawbacks are few, but there are some. The 12-inch screen size is not resizeable, so there is no bonus for the big screen user. As I said before, the music is upbeat, but in a game where concentration plays such a large role, you may find yourself using the mute button a lot. This game says that it needs 3 MB of RAM, and believe them! This is a RAM-eater.

The smooth flow of this game will amaze you. The 3-D graphics of the moving Worms are great. The rich 256-color display is awesome. There is a very upbeat music score. This is what Macs were made for, because what else are computers good for besides playing games? ;-) Moving and firing is done by keyboard controls, and InLine Design was smart in giving you the option of selecting the keys you prefer using. The game uses a password device instead of a game-save option. As you progress from level to level you are given a new password, and whenever you wish to return to that level, all you have to do is type in that password. This is a great space-saving device for your hard drive. Good choice, InLine! 

S.C.OUT is very enjoyable and lots of fun to play. The graphics are rich and very well done. Overall, I really like it.

Pros.
• Hours of super fun
• Dazzling graphics and sound
• No copy protection

Cons.
• Nonresizable screen