Xenomorph


Title		Xenomorph
Game Type	RPG
Players		1
Publisher	Pandora
Compatibility	All (with Patch)
HD Installable  Yes (using WHDLoad Patch)
Submission	Joachim Andersson (dalek@home.se)

Review
Xenomorph is one of those games that (I assume) followed in the wake of
Dungeon Master's huge success. As I never heard much of the game at that
time it couldn't have sold very well. That's sad, since this is really an
excellent game.

If you've played Dungeon Master or any of the similar games (Eye of the
Beholder, Captive, etc etc) you know the drill. You are faced with a 3D
first person view, where you move about from one "square" to another in
steps. When you turn you turn a full 90 degrees. Everything is in
realtime, including inventory management and combat.

The plot is great. You're a space traveller who wakes up from cryogenic
sleep by your ship's computer, which tells you that the ship has been
damaged by meteorites or similar, and that you need to repair and refuel
the ship as soon as possible. The only place you can do this at is a
research colony at some nearby planet. Ok, so far so good. You try to
contact the colony but get no reply, so you decide to land anyway. Not
like you really have a choice. And as soon as you land, you realize that
something has happened. No humans are in sight and the colony's security
droids seems to have gone hostile. As you delve deeper into the complex
you encounter creatures of non-human origin, who are all out to kill you.
And there seems to be something even more evil lurking about.

The game starts with you standing in your ship and the rest is really up
to you to discover for yourself. You find disks with information along the
way that reveals the plot a bit at a time. If you are an H.P. Lovecraft
fan, you will love this...

The thing that this game does especially well is the level design. There
are at least 10 different types of level; all of them with different and
exceptionally great graphics. There's maintenance shafts, computer
complexes, caves, etc etc. You really have to see it for yourself. The
graphics for the enemies are good as well, with several different designs:
Insect creatures, things that burrow under the ground down in the caves,
several types of security droids, large green blobs that turn into a pile
of crystals when killed.

Bad stuff? Well, yes. The sound is very sparse. All you hear are the
sounds from your weapons and the sound of the creatures attacking you (and
that sound is just some noisy blip. They dont growl or make any sounds
whatsoever. Nothing more. Some ambient sounds would have been great.

In short: Xenemorph is a great scifi/horror rpg with superb graphics,
great gameplay and a nice, dark story. It can get rather sweaty as you
progress deeper and deeper into the alien-infested tunnels. Imagine Aliens
with a dash of Lovecraft thrown in. Then you get: Xenomorph.






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