PC Gamer 2.12/1997-01_Disc_2.12.iso/rexblade/manual.txt

Text File | 1996-10-14 | 18KB | 432 lines

DRAFT 1.0
Oct. 15, 1996

ATTENTION: Some of the functionality described in this manual
           is not yet implemented such as the installation,
           refer to the READ.ME file for game installation.

REX BLADE

Created by Xtreme Games LLC under License of Simon & Schuster Interactive
all Right Reserved.

Table of Contents

I.    Briefing
II.   Installation
III.  Setting up Rex Blade
IV.   Running Rex Blade
V.    Using the Control Panel
VI.   Game Objectives
VII.  Controlling Rex Blade
VIII. Rex Blade's Features
IX.   Playing Rex Blade
X.    Using the Virtual Computers
      Rex++ - readme.file

XI.   Completing a Level- readme.file
XII.  Completing a World-readme.file
XIII. The Cyborgs and the Worlds
XIV.  Rex's Arsenal
XV.   Objects and Wetware
XVI.  Trouble Shooting
XVII. Credits


Briefing

It's sometime in the late 35th century. Mankind has reached a level of
technology that is almost unreal. The first Cyborgs were created in the early
21st century. By 2178, the Constitution was amended and laws were created to
help protect the artificial and synthetic lifeforms that then inhabited Earth.
However, the level of technology increased, so did the tension between the
humans and the machines. Even though, the machines and Cyborgs were the
creations of mortal men, in most cases these beings were far superior to their
human counterparts.

Most people were still mostly human, with perhaps a simple memory augmentation
or physical enhancement such as artificial eyes.  But in most cases the average
person simply couldn't afford to be cybernetically enhanced. This was another
factor that was slowly eroding the peace between humans and the machines.
Finally after nearly 1000 years in the late 30th century in a small outpost it
all began. A small extremist left wing radical group of "pure" humans using
military weapons simply went out into the streets and started mowing down
anything with cybernetic enhancement. It was a real blood bath. Then the MILP
(Military Police) hit the scene.

The police and the small faction battled it out for about 6 hours. Finally, the
MILP sent in a small neutron implosion device and killed the humans instantly.
Needless to say there was a moment of silence and the people of the large city
fixated upon their video monitors realized that the machines that they had once
enslaved had really enslaved them. Within moments all over the map similar
incidents started occurring and the war ensued.

The battle raged on for many years.  But, even with their superior intellect,
speed, and strength the machines couldn't beat the humans. The humans won in the
end. Maybe it was their passion, maybe it was their heart, maybe it was a single
warrior named REX BLADE but the Cyborgs and total synthetics were all finally
stopped. And mankind had taken back the planet on which it had slowly lost it's
grip.

The High Council decided that a mass extermination of over 500,000,000 lifeforms
was ethically barbaric since we had been the ones that had given them life. It
was thus decided that the machines would be sent to another world far from
Earth. Using a new and experimental Transdimensional Teleportation technology
that allowed not only the Time-Space continuum to be bent, but the
Hyperdimensional Fabric itself to be warped, the machines were at once
teleported nearly 2 galaxies away to a Binary star system with a number of M-
Class worlds that could sustain the organics of the Cyborgs.

After the "Exodus," the population of Earth changed and became united for the
first time in history. War, poverty and most problems were eradicated. The Earth
Federation was one of the most powerful in the galaxy, but was powerful not
because of its military, but because of its wisdom. It was  truly a good time
for humanity.

Today at exactly 1400 hours in the year 3597 a Transdimensional Pulse was
detected. The EM spectrum analysis confirmed that the signature is identical to
the original prototype of 500 years ago. The only possible explanation is that
the Cyborgs have constructed a TD teleporter and are probing to find Earth. We
must assume that they are preparing for a military advance against their home
world. However, due to downsizing, our military is 1/10 of what it was 500 years
ago. Even though our technology is considerably superior to the days of the
"War," we haven't used the technology to create weapons. The High Council feels
that we are in danger and must take action.



REX BLADE was the most violent creature of war ever created by man. He fought
for the humans, but was feared by all. Designed in old Silicon City as an
experimental prototype, he was never meant to see action. Instead, he was to be
used to test out new theories and the results were to be used to improve the
other Cyborg designs. In any case, when the "Great War" broke out it was REX
BLADE that literally decimated the Cyborgs. And now he is going to do it again.

REX BLADE's mission:
1. Teleport to the Cyborg star system.
2. Nullify all lifeforms.
3. Destroy the teleporter.

System Requirements

Pentium 75 (but a 100 is recommended)
16 mb of RAM
15 meg free hard disk space
Optional: a sound blaster (for sound)
VGA graphics
Optional: Joysticks are supported

Installation:

REX BLADE is completely uncompressed, so installation is as easy as copying the
files to your hard drive and running the setup.

To Install using Windows 95:

Insert the REX BLADE CD ROM into your CD ROM drive. Once the computer has
acknowledged the disk then navigate into the CD ROM and double click the CD ROM
icon. When the CD ROM window opens up you should see the main REXBLADE directory
along with the installation program named INSTALL.EXE. Simply double click
INSTALL.EXE and follow the installation menus. REXBLADE will be installed on
your hard drive.

OR,

Insert the REX BLADE CD ROM into your CD ROM drive. Once the computer has
acknowledged the disk then click the Windows 95 START menu icon and then select
the RUN menu item. Once the RUN menu dialog appears, click the BROWSE button and
navigate into the CD ROM that the REX BLADE CD is loaded into. Then the program
INSTALL.EXE should appear. Then simply click the OK button and the installation
program will be launched. Follow the menus and install REX BLADE.

To Install Using DOS:

Insert the REX BLADE CD ROM into your CD ROM drive. Once the computer has
acknowledged the disk then navigate into the CD ROM by changing drives. For
example, if your CD ROM drive is drive F: then you would type at the DOS command
prompt:

C:\> F: press "ENTER"
F:\>

Launch the installation program by typing INSTALL.EXE

F:\> INSTALL.EXE "ENTER" then press "ENTER"

The installation program will start and the menus will guide you through the
installation.


Setting Up REX BLADE

The only setup that is necessary for REX BLADE is the sound system. REX BLADE
uses the Miles Sound System from RAD Software, so virtually every sound card on
Earth (and some other planets) are supported. To start the sound setup program
you must be in DOS, so if you are DOS then read on, but if you are in Windows 95
then open the MS-DOS program from the Programs Menu. Once you have a DOS command
prompt then navigate into the directory that you installed REX BLADE into. For
example, if you installed REX BLADE into C:\REXBLADE then you would do the
following from the root:

C:\>CD REXBLADE and then press "ENTER"

C:\REXBLADE\>SETSOUND.EXE and press "ENTER"

The Miles Sound System installation program will be launched, simply follow the
menus and select both Digital and MIDI devices. If you do not have either then
simply enter NONE for the selections. When you are satisfied will your
selections then exit the installation program and SETSOUND.EXE will write the
necessary files to your disk. Note: the music for REX BLADE was sequenced with
both FM Synthesis and Wave Table Synthesis in mind, however, the Wave Table
versions sound better!

TO RUN REX BLADE:  See readme.file

REX BLADE can be ran from either a Virtual DOS under Windows 95 or from pure
DOS.


Using the Control Panel

The control panel is the main interface to the game. At any time during the game
you can access it by pressing the <ESC> key. Once you have the menu up, you can
start a new game, load or save a game or change the game play options such as
the sound volume or the difficulty level. To return to the game from the control
panel simply press ESC again and you will be placed  where you left the game.

Menu Options

NEW GAME
LOAD GAME
SAVE GAME
OPTIONS
QUIT


Game Objectives

Your objectives are two fold. Your prime directive is to kill everything and we
know that you don't have a problem with that. However, your secondary directive
is to learn as much about the Cyborgs and their evolution as possible. This can
be done by accessing various computer terminals located around the complexes on
each world and hacking into the terminals system software. This will take a bit
of brains, but your 2000 I.Q. and 500 Tera Quads or RAM should suffice. Learn
the Cyborg's science, history, and mathematics -- it might be useful to us and
to you. This can be done by accessing their educational software and information
logs.

Once you have turned each of the inhabitants of a level into a burnt bloody pile
of flesh and metal then try to find the way out. You might be able to teleport
with one of the terminals to the next level or you might be able to find an
Automatic Teleportation Zone. Your guess is as good as ours. But just make sure
to complete all levels of each world. When you have done this you will win the
game.

Controlling REX BLADE

REX BLADE has a fairly simple control interface augmented by multiple Heads Up
Displays that show various game and tactical information. The basic controls
are:

<ESC>               - Display Control Panel
<LEFT ARROW>        - Rotate Left
<RIGHT ARROW>       - Rotate Right
<UP ARROW>          - Move Forward.
<DOWN ARROW>        - Move Backward.
<ALT>               - Enable Strafing.
<SPACE BAR>         - Inspect/Use Object.
<CTRL>              - Fire Weapon.
<X>                 - Jump Up.
<C>                 - Crouch Down.
<LEFT BRACKET>      - Select Previous Weapon in Arsenal.
<RIGHT BRACKET>     - Select Next Weapon in Arsenal.
<F1>                - Toggle System HUD.
<F2>                - Toggle Bio-Stats HUD.
<F3>                - Toggle WETWARE HUD.
<F4>                - Toggle Weapon Display HUD.
<F5>                - Toggle Ammunition stores HUD.
<F6>                - Toggle all HUDS.
<SEMI COLON>        - Scroll Down on WETWARE Menu HUD.
<APOSTROPHE>        - Scroll Up on WETWARE Menu HUD.
<ENTER KEY>         - Toggle current WETWARE item On/Off.

Of course as REX obtains more WETWARE items there will be other keys that
control various added features, but you will have to figure them out for
yourself.

REX BLADE'S Features

As REX BLADE you have all the latest technology. You can carry about 10 tons,
run like the wind, jump higher than Spud and you pack enough fire power to blow
up a small city. However, the price of all this cool stuff is a lot of hardware
and software that must be taken care of. There are 4 different areas that you
need to keep an eye on and keep up to date and find replacement and repair parts
for. They are:

The Main On-Board Computer and Electrical Systems.
The Organics System and Exo Skeleton.
The Ammo Stores.
The Wetware Interface.

Your on-board computer has a certain amount of CPU power and RAM Memory. You can
increase these by finding RAM and CPU modules lying around in the worlds. Also,
REX uses a lot of power, so make sure to pick up any power modules you find
while exploring. CPU power and memory will help you better understand and use
the computer terminals found around the Cyborgs worlds.

You are both man and machine, so you need to keep up your organics. This is done
by ingesting a NANITE GEL that regenerates your organics. Once the gel is used
up then your organic systems will sustain damage and not automatically repair
themselves. NANITE BIO-GEL can be found lying around the worlds, just bump into
it and you will ingest it.

The Cyborgs and other evil enemies are packing a lot of fire power and when you
are hit, you're hit hard, so you have been fitted with a Shape Memory Metal
Armor Exo-Skelaton. This Exo-Skelaton is your protection from both mass-based
projectiles and energy-based weapons such as lasers and plasma pulses. As long
as you have more that 1 ml of  ARMOR REGENERATION GEL you can sustain anything,
but the second you run out you are definitely going to feel it! ARMOR REGEN GEL
like everything else can be found in the world at various places. Just bump into
it and it will be interfaced.

The next area of interest is your AMMO Stores. You can use, fire, and wield just
about any weapon in existence since your reflexes are lightening fast and your
BIO-Interfaces can connect to any kind of hardware. But you can only hold so
much AMMO. Your AMMO Stores hold APRS (Armor Piercing Re-configurable Shells)
for your standard mass weapons, Plasma for your plasma weapons, mortars for your
mortar launcher, and re-configurable rockets for any kind of rocket, missile or
mass projectile launcher. If you see anything that looks like AMMO pick it up!

The final system that you need to concern yourself with is the WETWARE
interface. This is an engineering feat to say the least. The WETWARE interface
will allow you to pick up objects on the world and use them as if they has been
designed from Earth. This is accomplished by a Neural Nanite Interconnection
Matrix that interfaces to the device and figures out the Transfer Functions for
the device. Anyway, if you see something floating or on the ground, try and pick
it up and interface to it. If your are successful then you should be able to
access it in your WETWARE menu and toggle it on and off by selecting the WETWARE
and pressing ENTER.

Playing REX BLADE

Simply navigate REX around and destroy all of the Cyborgs. The environments are
full of objects, keys, ammo, alien weapons, old computer parts, etc. You should
try to collect as many objects as possible since your BIO-Organic META interface
can probably use just about anything you find.

Also, we believe that the Cyborgs use DNA sequences in a lot of their
technology. We think that many of the locking systems and computer systems may
have DNA-encoded locks, so if you see anything that looks like a key, pick it up
-- you might need it to open a door.


Using the Virtual Computers

Virtual Computer terminals are located around the Cyborg installations and are
all linked into their central computer core, so theoretically you should be able
to do a lot with them once you figure them out. We assume that the standard
tricks such as locks, passwords etc. will stand between you and the internal
programs, but you shouldn't have too much trouble getting things to work. We
have calculated that there should be log files, library files and Rex++ on these
computer terminals among other things. To use the computer terminals get close
and click on the space bar, type in:  "dir" to get a directory of available
programs.  To use the Rex++ program see the readme.file.

Completing a Level:  see readme.file


Completing a World:  see readme.file

REX's Arsenal

You can hold many weapons, but we can only put one on you during teleport, so we
will be giving you only a "State of the Art" Tech-Flesh-Shredder. We will try to
teleport a few weapons to your coordinates, but this kind of teleportation is
only accurate within about 2 kilometers, so you might be looking around for your
other weapons. Sorry for sending you in with so little on-board.

To pick up a weapon simply bump into it. To change weapons, move through the
weapons list via the <LEFT BRACKET> and <RIGHT BRACKET> keys. If you run out of
ammo for a particular weapon type then be sure to switch weapons or find some
more ammo.

Objects and WETWARE

The final discussion we need to have concerns your new experimental WETWARE
interface. You can think of it as a Universal Hardware Translator. If you see
something that looks useful then pick it up.  If it interfaces into your WETWARE
then you will be able to use it. We are sending you with a INFOCOMPASS. This
Infocompass will indicate your current position, trajectory and messages from
central computer will be displayed on it.  We have also teleported a targeting
computer and hand scanner into the area, so look for them.  To acquire one of
the wetware items, press the ";:" key  select your wetware and press "ENTER."

Trouble Shooting REX BLADE

REX BLADE is a 32 Bit DOS Protected Mode game. It functions using Standard VGA
graphics. It doesn't need any extra software or hardware to run other than the
computer and a sound card. If you find that REX BLADE doesn't operate correctly
in DOS, then try to remove all TSR's and make sure that you don't have any
memory managers on. If REX BLADE has trouble in Windows 95, then try running it
in pure DOS. If your sound doesn't work, you may have selected the wrong sound
card during installation.  Make sure that the card you select for Digital Sound
and MIDI is correct.



Simon & Schuster Interactive Team

VP/Creative Director
Jeff Siegel

Producer
Amanda Thornton

Director of Marketing
Amy Nobles

Marketing Manager
Melissa Helmke-Alcruz

Publicity Coordinator
Marni Friedman

Marketing Coordinator
Cathrine Wayland



The XTREME GAMES TEAM

3D Engine and Game Design..........Andre' LaMothe

Level Editor Tool..................Richard Benson

2D Games and Virtual Computers.....Jarrod Davis

3D Modeling........................Mark Bell & AAron Sheridan

Level Design.......................AAron Sheridan & Mark Bell

Virtual Libraries..................Joel Slatis

2D Artwork.........................Robin Parkinson

Additional Artwork.................Long Vo

Music and Composition..............Dean Hudson

Voice Talent.......................Ted Tatman

Musical Patch Libraries............The "FAT MAN"