Epic

Title		Epic
Game Type	3D Combat
Company		Ocean/DID
Players		1
Compatibility	Not AGA
Submission	Andy Thomas (andy@adamantium.demon.co.uk)

Review
 Epic promised everything, but delivered very, very little.  Perhaps the
first example of a truly hyped game.  Basically, this was touted as the
ultimate space combat Sim.  What it turned out to be wasn't even close. It
was unplayable without the cheat active and of course that made for no
challenge at all.  In the space battles you had extremely limited pitch
control, (you could only get your ship to steer very slightly in the up
and down dimension) and then you just couldn't go any further.  2D
space battle syndrome.
 In fairness to it, the 3D engine, whilst limited, was pretty nippy.
The actual quality of the graphics themselves wasn't bad either;
weapon fire was suitably OTT and colour coded so that you knew what
you were firing.  Planet attacks involved reasonably detailed terrain
and targets, but again, the cheat mode meant that you could simply
blast away at everything with abandon.  In fact, the ground combat
aspect showed up the inadequacies of the 3D engine far less than the
space combat segments.
 Even the ship designs were derivative.  Battlestar Galactica was the
clear source for many of the ships, and even the launch sequence for your
fighter was ripped off that show.  I think there was also some cruisers
distinctly similar to the old style Klingon battle cruisers seen in the
Motion Picture.  Yes, sure, the 3D graphics were OK but the weapons were
pointlessly extravagant and the way you finished the game was straight out
of Star Wars.  No surprises, no originality, no appeal.  In case you're
wondering, I only bought it when the price had dropped, just to see for
myself if it really deserved the horrific reviews it was getting.  It was
entertaining for me if only for the "spot the ripped off spaceship design"
element, but beyond that, one to avoid.

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