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- Path: sparky!uunet!pipex!unipalm!uknet!bilpin!jim
- From: jim@bilpin.co.uk (JimG)
- Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games
- Subject: Re: Anyone heard of REX NEBULAR?
- Message-ID: <1992Nov21.114804.22769@bilpin.co.uk>
- Date: 21 Nov 92 11:48:04 GMT
- Organization: SRL Data
- Lines: 100
-
-
- IN ARTICLE <1e9clmINNdvu@morrow.stanford.edu>,
- news@morrow.stanford.edu WRITES:
-
- > Has anyone heard of the game "Rex Nebular"?
- > I'm thinking of buying it but I don't know if it's worth it.
- > Can anybody give me some opinions on it?
-
- Some extracts from a review by Gordon Houghton in PC Review (comments in [] are my own). The game was rated at 8/10.
-
- REX NEBULAR AND THE COSMIC GENDER BENDER
- (published by Microprose)
-
- [...] The company famous for its planes, trains and automobiles has finally
- dipped its toes in the adventure game market. The result is an 'adult' mixture
- of sex [no more than the occasional innuendo and risque picture], violence and
- detective work all taking place on the remote, women-only planet of Androgyne
- at the far end of the Universe. [...]
- [... The] main aim is to recover a rare green vase for a client, but there
- are plenty of distractions along the way, including multiple liaisons with the
- indigenous inhabitants of Androgyne. If you think this sounds like an excuse
- for some cheap thrills, you're mistaken. For one thing, the game has a whopping
- great price tag [#45 (= $70) in the UK, although buying it mail order you can
- get it for about 30% less than that], and for another, the sex is pretty
- harmless. [...]
- [... MPS Labs] claims to have created many ground-breaking techniques, and
- the superficial results are certainly impressive, if not entirely original. For
- example, sprite scaling is used widely to show a character 'disappearing' into
- the distance, and good use is made of special effects, such as increasing
- volume when you approach an object which is making a lot of noise. Generally,
- MADS takes on board many of the excellent ideas developed by Lucasfilm and
- Sierra [sic - I'm not a fan of Sierra games - in fact in general I find them
- intensely irritating and unsatisfying to play] over the years, and then gives
- them an extra twist. For example, you have a collection of standard single word
- commands at your disposal [...] and by combining them with objects in your
- inventory you can create sentences [...]. In addition, however, each object has
- a small, unique list of special commands [...] which add to the scope of your
- abilities and increase the game's depth.
- Mouse [...] and/or keys are available for interacting with your environment.
- A combination of both works best. [...] As you move the mouse around the cursor
- passes over 'hot spots', and the most obvious action you can perform is
- revealed in a message at the foot of the screen [...]. If you want to use one
- of the other commands, just roll the mouse over to the command box and click on
- the verb of your choice. [...]
- Rex Nebular's puzzles are neatly structured. Because of the three difficulty
- levels (novice, advanced and expert), you can tailor the game to match your
- skills. [...] The action is similar whatever level you're playing, but the
- quality of the puzzles really does change.
- [...] Your reward for completing a puzzle successfully can be anything from
- access to a new location [...], a new object which comes in useful later on, or
- a further revelation of the plot. MPS Labs has gone to a lot of effort,
- particularly over the text messages, creating a dry sense of humour to match
- anything that Monkey Island has to offer.
- As soon as you start making significant progress in the game the natives make
- their appearance. This doesn't happen early enough; you spend a good deal of
- time at the beginning trying to avoid getting killed by fairly innocuous traps,
- or wandering around looking for objects. However, once you do find someone to
- talk to there's a chance to practice your chat-up lines. Here again the humour
- is fairly consistent, partly because of the wide variety of characters. Once
- you've decided to talk a list of potential questions and answers is open to
- you, chosen with the mouse. Unfortunately, if you don't select the right
- speeches straight off, you're forced to repeat yourself until you get the
- desired result - this can be tiresome.
- Technically, Rex is well up to scratch. The graphics are excellent almost
- without exception, with particularly smooth character animation - though some
- of the cut-scenes can be a little rough. There's also plenty of on-screen
- background animation and, if you have the memory, you can access special
- effects such as a slick fade between locations, spinning items in your
- inventory, or animation in the text window. [...]
- The sound effects and music are well suited to the bizarre plot, but if you
- disagree you can always turn them off. If you have the right kit, you can also
- enjoy digitised speech. The graphics are less cartoon-ish than the Lucasfilm
- and Sierra games, and more akin to a 1950s comic book, Coupled with the unusual
- sound and music, it creates a compelling atmosphere. This is reinforced by the
- manual. While it's minimal with the game instructions [...] it's well endowed
- with technical advice and a logbook. [...] The excellent logbook, written by
- Steve Meretzky of Leather Goddesses of Phobos fame, introduces Rex in far
- greater detail than the game can hope to manage, and is particularly well
- written.
- [...] There are still a few faults to be ironed out, both with the MADS
- interface and the balance of the design. More key commands would have made the
- controls even more helpful, and there are too many annoying ways of dying or
- being delayed and not quite as much interaction with characters as I would have
- liked. [...] Rex Nebular is an excellent first effort with accomplished
- graphics and sound and plenty of neat little technical touches. [...]
-
- [Above extracts from a review by Gordon Houghton in PC Review issue 14]
-
- HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
-
- Supplied on HD floppy
- Must be installed onto hard disk, and requires 13mb free space
- VGA graphics only
- Ad Lib, Roland, Sound Blaster supported
- Keyboard or mouse control
- Optimum speed 20mhz, minimum 16mhz
- Minimum memory 640k; minimum free RAM 575k
- 625k free RAM required for spinning inventory and animated text window
- --
- Another Fine Product from <jim@bilpin.co.uk> {JimG : Hatfield, England}
-