If you thought the scrolling platform game was dead, think again. You remember the arcade games with valiant heroes running along level after level, shooting bad guys, jumping up to the next level and doing it over and over again. The platform game is back with “Abuse” from the “Marathon” series creators, Bungie.
While it suffers from some serious flaws, Abuse is a reasonably fun game and certainly among the best platforms I have seen in a long time. The action is fast, the graphics are very good, and the controls are outstanding—but it falls short in so many areas, that I can not wholeheartedly recommend it.
We’ve Gotta Get Out of This Place
In this whirling dervish of a game, you assume the role of Nick Vrenna, a wrongly imprisoned inmate in a bizarre penitentiary of the future. Somewhere in the prison, Dr. Alan Blake has isolated the gene which causes aggression (code named “Abuse”) which, when administered to humans causes massive mutations and gruesome side-effects. During a prison riot, all the guards and prisoners are infected with Abuse and are transformed into viscous monsters. For some reason, Nick is the only one immune and must, therefore, prevent Abuse from tainting the water supply in the outside world. Donning a suit of battle armor and any weapon he can find, he sets off through the cell blocks to find the central control room of the prison.
Your journey towards saving the world, however, is fraught with danger. Wave after wave of relentless mutants, hulking robots, and sniping airborne guards will do anything to stop you. It’s nothing personal, it’s just the Abuse talking. The turrets and minefields are just in there to make your life even more difficult.
Point-And-Kill
A couple of unique features make your run of this blood soaked gauntlet even more exciting. First, the game is played with one hand controlling the “body” of Nick: the direction he runs and jumps and his use of power-ups (like jet packs or booster-legs). The other hand users the mouse to control the direction Nick shoots. This “point-and-kill” control allows you to run in one direction and shoot in any other easily and is what makes Abuse so much fun.
The other feature of note is that there are no “lives” as we know them. Abuse does away with the nuisance of having to restart the game when you lose “x” lives. Instead, Nick is essentially immortal. He is not, however, invincible. You must stay healthy to make it to the next save terminal by playing smart and collecting “heart” power-ups where you can find them. Gamers have grown accustomed to this structure thanks to Doom and Marathon, so the decision to import it to side-scrollers is a simple but ingenious one.
The levels are well constructed with lots of surprises, puzzles, and hidden bonuses. Many are intricately designed and succeed at being truly disorienting.
The scenery is also like nothing ever seen in traditional arcade side-scrollers. Dark and rich, it has a presence all its own. The eerie ambient sound contributes to the mood with spooky industrial noises and ominous growls. The game looks kind of like Super Mario Brothers on acid.
Abuse Me
Novel controls and good atmosphere, however, do not a good game make. While the action in Abuse is entertaining for about fifteen levels, it does begin to wear thin. The enemy sprites are simply variations on the same theme; most are simply “Alien”-esque creatures with some kind of weapon on their backs and increasing difficulty simply means that there are more of them. I kept waiting for some new beast to come and meet its maker, but it was just the same thing in a different color.
The level editor is, sorry to say, a mess. Left pretty much the same as in the PC version, it is a do-it-yourselfer in the most literal sense. It is inexplicably hidden in the “Display” menu and, once found, is mystifying to use. What’s more, there is no documentation to support it.
Since networking has become the standard equipment of modern gaming, many people will look to Abuse’s unique structure and non-stop action for some head-to-head fun. Most will be disappointed as the games, though very exciting, are limited to LAN connections; no modem-to-modem, IPX, or Internet support is apparent. Six months ago this might have been expected, but today it is unforgivable. Even if the PC version of Abuse does not include these features, it is hardly unheard of for a port to add network features (ask a PC Warcraft II user to connect via IP address and laugh when they say...”I can’t do that.”)
Lastly, the interface is really disappointing. Totally non-Mac savvy (despite what you would expect from Bungie) the port is all too literal. The save system is among the worst I have ever encountered; not only are you not permitted to name your saved games, but you are limited to five. What’s worse, those five are identified only by a picture of you at the save terminal. Many times I was unable to determine which was the last game I saved.
The Bottom Line
Abuse is a game that could have been great. The concept is strong enough, the gameplay is excellent, and the look is perfect. There are just so many holes and shortcomings that the good points are undermined. Originally designed by Crack Dot Com for the PC, Abuse is Bungie’s first attempt at porting. While they obviously have a knack for picking quality titles that fit in with Bungie’ own Mac-native product line, they must improve the quality of their porting and capabilities of multiplayer systems.
Pros
• Fast and exciting gameplay
• Great visuals and sounds
• Clever control system
• Good network games
Cons
• Gets stale quickly thanks to repetitive sprites
