Hacker Chronicles 2/HACKER2.BIN/2192.TERRAN.REV

Text File | 1991-09-07 | 5KB | 82 lines

 TERRAN ENVOY

 It's rare to find a game these days that presents an entirely original
concept in a simple, enjoyable, playable form.  TERRAN ENVOY, created by the
designers of FIRE BRIGADE, Tony Oliver and Ben Freasier, is that kind of game.
Who would have thought an Outer Space Gossip Simulator could be so much fun?!
(This review is based on the Amiga version).

 The goal is, ultimately, to prove to the Ubbermenscha that you (and your
human species) are indeed fit to become part of the Galactic Community.
They've set you the task of finding out who the Usurper is; your mission is to
eliminate him (it?) with the Ray of Justice once enough evidence is available
to make a convincing case.

 The way you gather evidence is to flit around the galaxy, chatting with
various amusing species of beings (19 in all). These species will each be glad
to offer you one piece of information for free, but they need to be bartered
with for more.

 To that end, you must also visit various planets and collect different kinds
of crystals, some of which appeal to each of the species. The ship you travel
in has only so much cargo room, cleverly limiting you from spending one half
of the game just loading up on crystals, the other half on trading rumours and
hearsay. Some planets are abundant in certain crystals, some have a little of
a number of different kinds, and some are barren altogether.

 Planets also host the alien species, so some planning must take place in
order to remember who's living where. Time can be wasted running back and
forth aimlessly without an adequate map of crystal and species locations.

 With a proper supply of crystals, you then "gift" a particular species with
the proper crystal, and they tell you nasty things (or nice things) about some
other species. The reliability of their information depends, of course, on
their own relationship with other species. Creatures who are friends are more
likely to be telling the truth about each other than creatures expressing
hostility towards each other. Your task is to sort out hearsay and innuendo
from valuable information, to get to the point where you can ascertain a
likely suspect with some reliability.

 To this end, your ship is fitted out with ARAC, a Xenology study computer and
database. This unit gathers the information you collect as you go along, and
offers likely profiles for each species (clearly, the success of the computer
depends on the extent of your gathered info). Each species for which a profile
is requested will be worked up in terms of likely friends, enemies, and
favorite crystal type. Whether the species is friendly, honest or disloyal is
also indicated by the system.  All these inferences are generated out of the
log of contacts, successes and failures you've made while attempting to get
some straight talk.

 Once you think you've cornered the potential culprit, you must put together
the right combination of crystals in order to fire up the Ray of Justice;
firing the Ray essentially leads to the program's conclusion, where it
indicates whether your identification of the Culprit has proven to be correct
or not. Beware the Ubbermenscha: They are not pleasant when disappointed.

 TERRAN ENVOY is very much a static, window-oriented design. On the Amiga, the
right mouse button calls up a menu bar at the top for entering commands, and
various windows can be controlled by clicking on the appropriate places.
Animations are limited to planet pictures and images of aliens, the latter
especially well done. The engrossing qualities of the game come from the
process of trying to figure out "whodunit" (or who's going to do it) rather
than from the graphics or sound design (there is no sound).

 One of the more interesting aspects of the game design is that the location
of species, crystals, and the nature of the relationships between creatures
are ever-changing; no two games seem to come out exactly the same. This makes
for good replayability, and sustains the mystery from session to session.

 TERRAN ENVOY comes on one copyable floppy for the Amiga, and requires only
512K of RAM to play. It will run on the A1000, A2000, and A500 machines. The
game is easy to install on a hard drive, and will make use of an external
floppy for saved-game purposes, if desired. Either mouse or keyboard can be
used for input.

 Comparable in some ways to MPS Labs' LIGHTSPEED, but without the potentially
annoying flight sequences, TERRAN ENVOY can prove to be a fascinating little
puzzler. Expect nothing here but plenty of fun.

 TERRAN ENVOY is published and distributed by Stratagem Games.