Here's my prediction for next year: computer game genres will dissolve. Why shouldn't they? We've already seen the beginning of the end . . . "action/adventure" games . . . "adventure/RPGs". If you're a software developer, why not aim to satisfy a larger audience by creating a game with a little of everything? Purists who still want their Flight Simulator 4.0 and Tetris can still play them. Me, I'm eagerly anticipating the mass exodus toward the "unigame" . . . nearly everything on the market now bores me to death.
SSI's Alien Logic is the kind of game I hope to see more of. It's not quite what I want, but it shows me that what I want isn't too far away. It's a hybrid of arcade, adventure, and roleplaying games, and it's very fun to play, even if you don't understand it, which I really didn't.
Set in the unique RPG realm of Jorune, Alien Logic stars you as a free human on the planet. To find and rescue your friends, you must learn to control Isho, the powerful and mysterious force which suffuses Jorune. Makes sense, right? This game needs its own dictionary. Right from the get-go, you're thrust into a world of "dyshas" (Isho combat powers), "shanthas" (an ancient blind humanoid race of Isho-weavers), and "incupods" (hairy watermelon-like-things used to create organic robots called "recos"). Don't bother looking in the manual . . . the definitions are there, but the fun way to approach Alien Logic is to just play it. If you've gotten this far into this article, you should have no problem doing that.
Jorune is a big place, and unlike many games which boast large worlds but few actual important locations, Alien Logic lets you go everywhere and do a lot of stuff wherever you are. Depending on how far you plan to travel, there are four (that's right . . . FOUR) different movement systems to choose from. Remember Accolade's Star Control games? Alien Logic's exploration system bears a heavy resemblance. For movement on a grand scale, you have WarpWorld, which lets you zip between Jorune's SkyRealm continents in hyperspace-like fashion. Underneath that is Tracker Mode, which gives you a birds-eye view of the area you're in and lets you move around at a very high speed. In this mode, important areas (those containing creatures, energy, civilizations, and the like) are represented by small icons, and can be explored by moving over them. Once this is done, you enter Zoom Map mode where you can identify individual creatures and landmarks in an area roughly an acre in size. The last, and most important method of travel takes place in Side-View mode, which you enter upon approaching a creature or landmark in Zoom Map mode. Hostile creatures will enter combat with you, which, in this game, is a good thing. Fighting is real-time and very arcade-ish in nature, requiring you to select Isho weapons ("dyshas") and fire them by pointing and clicking with the mouse. You begin with two simple dyshas, one offensive and one defensive. You can learn new ones by using yet ANOTHER interface called WeavingWorld, which is difficult and expensive to enter. By spending Isho crystals collected during your travels, you can (boy, this just keeps getting weirder) "lure" new dyshas to your mind. Want more outer-worldly things to do? Try "Bio-Tec," a cross between farming and robotics. You can actually create lifeforms and have them perform basic tasks, such as digging and helping you breathe underwater. Nobody (and especially not me) said this game was easy.
Presumably, Alien Logic ends when you rescue your party from the Red Shantha, but I haven't gotten nearly that far. I don't want to. Heck, there are probably things you can do that I haven't even mentioned here because I haven't learned how to do them yet. I suggest you buy this game, and as a supplement, try your hand at the SkyRealms of Jorune pen-and-paper roleplaying game as well. It's been out for many years and hopefully will gain a lot of popularity with the inevitable success of Alien Logic. It's true . . . you can't get enough of a good thing.
