Cream of the Crop 22/Cream of the Crop 22.iso/games/csmag51.zip/INSTALL.DAT/2OEDREV.TXT

Text File | 1996-07-14 | 7KB | 116 lines

PO'ed (Playstation)

Review, obtained off the Internet.


I thought I would post an article about PO'd since there are so many
varying opinions about this game from 'sucks' to 'the best 1st
person'. The game is published by Acolade and Any Channel and is in
the 1st person, Doom shoot 'em up category.  I'm assuming by now
that everyone has at least attempted a game of this genre.

I was a bit leary about playing this game hearing so many of the
negative reviews posted in r.g.v.s but I thought I should at least
try for myself and make my own decisions on the game.  Another thing
is that this type of game isn't my cup of tea.  I very often suffer
from the 'seasickness' associated with these types of games (though
I do well with descent?). So, I was a bit hesitant about playing.
Also (and this is a HUGE part of it) I thought that I should at
least give ANY Channel a chance seeing as how they've stood by
gamers on the net time and time again and seem to genuinely care
about their products and how much gamers like them. Imagine that? a
company that actually WANTS to hear feedback and make themselves
easily accessable to IMPROVE their games as well?  Well, it's hard
to believe but there is at least one good company thats out to do
more than make a buck in the gaming industry and i'm ALL for that!!

I'll start off with the interface.  The interface seemed very bare
bones to me.  The layout was somwhat complicated but you get used to
it fairly quick.  The intro contains no fancy full motion video
which seems to be the PSX standard although it does NOTHING for the
game play.  You beginby hitting any button and then choosing a
difficulty level EVERY time you play!  I really wish this would
havve been fixed.  It's very annoying to have to look at the
difficulty every time, it's easy once you know which button
represents the dificulty level, ie. "X" = medium.  It's probably
less annoying than I make it sound.  Another thing was the pause
menu which made you select a button to either return, save, or exit
and NONE of them are the start button, this was a twinge annoying as
well.  I really liked the key layout, it was very similar to Alien
trilogies and was easy to get used to, if you've played any 1st
person on the PS.  I got the control almost immediately, a good note
for the layout.  I loved the 3d map as well (aka Descent) which
allows you to view yourself at any angle and almost any zoom level.
A BIG step up from the traditional 2D map of other games.

Now the levels, there are many posts that state this is the downfall
of the game well, in a way it is.  For the 1st like 2 levels but
that's it. It seems that those 2 levels are there to familiarize the
user with the interface, controls, movement, etc. and they do a good
job at that. Though they are a bit boring.  I would think the game
would greatly benefit from taking those two levels out.  Anyway
there are like 25 levels anyway so who'll miss the first 2?  The
other level designs however are exquisite.  They are very well
thought out and many are very large and complex.  I trully enjoyed
several of the levels especially with THE JETPACK.  The jetpack is
essential tothe game it allows you to fly around the levels and adds
a whole new dimension to the game.  Heck, it's fun just to fly
around the game with the jetpack.  And much like the controls it's
very easy to get used to.  I enjoyed the level design of the game
Kudos to the programmers for the later levels especially.

The weapons a big part of any 1st person are unique and very fun to
use. I won't spoil the weapons by giving a description but you must
use these with a dolby surround system with heavy bass and crank it
up you're neibors will hit the deck I promise.  The missile cam is
the most original, and most FUN weapon I've seen in a 1st person
game.  THIS WEAPON MUST NOT BE IGNORED!! you really have to see and
use it before passing judgment on this game.  I hate to say any game
is worth it just for 1 aspect but the Missile cam is great!  A
friend and I spent almost an hour in one large room just shooting
the Missile cam and guiding it to it's poor victims.  WhaaaBoom!!!
Great fun!!

The sound was good when it was implemented and it was very sparce.
There was no background music and I think that's one of the things
missing from the game.  The monsters and their death screams are
about the extent of the audio aside from your Booming weapons and
one other thing, and I loved this, when you get close to a new
weapon you hear this little harp-ish "lets see what's behind door
number 2!" music.  It was fantastic and it's a very minimal part of
the game but It really cracked me up.  Which brings me to


The graphics were a little sub standard to PS lineups especially in
the texture mapping of the walls and rooms.  They seemed to warp
when getting close to them which was very disorienting.  They were
however, very colorful and many very original but the warping was a
bit annoying.  Also, the some of the level's walls were just flat
textureless poly's namely the ceiling and floors, I didn't like this
at all.  The monsters vairied in graphic quality close up some were
very pixilated while others (in the later levels it seemed) were not
bad at all close up.

The fun factor of the game.  Unlike Doom and the like this game was
actually FUN to play.  It had some genuinely funny aspects to the
game. It was entertaining to watch many of the enemies (which there
are plenty of and they are all VERY different, no Big mutations of a
little one or a pink one then a green one, they're all DIFFERENT)
are just funny to watch.  This really adds to a game like this.
Doom and the like get boring really fast because they get
monotonous, and it's my opinion that with some humor the game takes
on a whole new level of fun.

Overall I would say this is a very fun game that everyone (that
likes the 1st person adventure anyway) should try at least once and
give it a chance.  I think that if one can get past the first couple
of levels they would realize what a fun and original game.   I think
if people would actually give this game a chance they would find out
what genuine fun the game has to offer.  I also think everyone
should support ANY Channel which after this good first effort can
really offer some FUN games in the future.  Keep up the good work
ANY Channel.


(Jeremy)