Subject: REVIEW: The Chaos Engine, CD32 version
From: [email-masked] (Steve Cutting)
Date: 14 Apr 1994 21:30:29 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

PRODUCT NAME

	The Chaos Engine, CD32 version

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

	1 or 2 player run-around shoot'em up game with a top-down view and
8-way scrolling.

AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

	Name:		Bitmap Brothers/Renegade
	Address:	C1 Metropolitan Wharf,
			Wapping Wall, London
			U.K. E1 9SS

LIST PRICE

	I don't know the list price, but I paid 19.99 U.K. pounds for it
from a mail-order company.

HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

	CD32 (PAL or NTSC)
	Television or monitor
	1 or 2 control pads (or Amiga joysticks)

COPY PROTECTION

	None that's noticeable to the user.

REVIEW

	The plot behind this game is basically the same as every other
shoot'em up ever released.  There's a big nasty doing big nasty things and
it's your job to stop them.  In this case, the "nasty" in question is the
Chaos Engine, a powerful machine that's gone haywire and is generally
causing a nuisance to everyone.  When you boot up the game, you get a short
animated intro explaining all this, and it's backed up by a full CD
soundtrack with narration.  Very nice indeed.  Now on to the game itself....

	When you start the game, you can select between 1 or 2 player modes.
In the 1 player mode, the second character is controlled by the computer, so
you always play this game as a team even if no humans want to play with you.
:-) At this point, you can restore an old game by entering a password, or
start a new game.  I'll talk about the password system a bit later.  When
you start a new game, you are presented with a character hiring screen.  You
start off with a certain amount of money and must hire a character to use.
There are 6 characters in all, each having individual strengths and
weaknesses (strength, speed, etc.) and special abilities.  With that done,
it's off to take on the nasties.

	The game is split into 4 worlds, each with 4 levels.  The action is
viewed from above and at an angle which lets you see the front of the
characters and nasties.  Your job is to kill as many nasties as possible and
find your way to the exit of each level.  Before you can get out, though, you
must activate "nodes" that are scattered around the levels.  These are
tower-like things, and you activate them by just shooting them.  Once you've
activated all the nodes, the exit (or exits) will open.  On most levels,
there's actually more than one exit, and each one will cause you to start
from a different place on the next level.

	When you shoot a nasty, it'll leave behind a coin which you can pick
up and add to your bank balance.  There are also coins laying around on the
ground to be picked up.  Other things you can pick up include:  weapon
power-ups, keys that open doors and secret passages, food (for restoring
energy), extra lives, etc. etc.  There's more than one way of finishing most
levels; in fact, there are often alternate routes which lead you to heaps of
bonuses (and usually a swarm of nasties as well)! :-(

	At the end of every 2 levels, you are taken to the Shop screen.  Here
you can buy all sorts of goodies to improve your characters' performance.
Things you can buy include: health, speed, weapon power-ups, lives, special
weapons, and more.

	The end of the last level takes you to a showdown with the Chaos
Engine. (Surprise, surprise. :-))

	When your game ends, you are given a password which allows you to
restart at the beginning of the world that you were up to.  The way this
password works is bit different from other games, and it is great.  When you
restart with a password, you start at the shop screen with the total amount
of money that you had collected during the last game.  You can then re-buy
all your weapons etc. or choose to buy something else instead.  This is
great because you can try different tactics:  for instance, starting with
heaps of lives, or starting with MEGA guns. :-)

DOCUMENTATION

	The CD sleeve contains a brief introduction to the game.  Full
instructions are provided on the CD in English, French, German and Italian.
They are very nicely presented as a series of pages which you flip through
with the controller.

LIKES

	Superb gameplay.  This game just feels great!  This is a game which
has been thoroughly play-tested, I simply cannot fault it in terms of
playability.

	The password system is the best I've ever seen.

	The 2 players' characters can walk through one another.  While this
isn't exactly realistic, it does make the game more playable.

	The background graphics are excellent.  They have enough detail to
make them interesting, but not enough to make it difficult to see what's
going on.  The sprites are nice and colourful. The 6 player sprites look
great, they're really well drawn and each have their unique character.
Also, the introduction animation is quite good (although short).

	The CD music tracks on the title and between-level screens are
fabulous.  Also, the CD sound effects during the game are very well done and
add lot of atmosphere.  Music in the game itself is Amiga-based, but is
still very atmospheric because it changes depending on where you are in the
level.  For instance, as you approach the exit the music builds up to make
it a bit more tense.  Sound effects are also excellent.  The nasties have
all sorts of weird (but appropriate) noises, and there's a bit of speech
too.

	Basically, the overall look and feel of this game is superb.

DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS

	The action does slow down noticeably when there are a lot of objects
on screen.  This suggests to me that the programmers have just added the new
AGA graphics to the code from the Amiga version, instead of re-writing it
for 68020/AGA.  I expect that adding some Fast RAM would help, as would
running the game on the A4000 CD32 add-on.  As neither of these exist right
now, I can't try them, but I assume the game will make use of extra speed
because the Amiga version did.

	The game doesn't use the full PAL screen.  PAL users can force it
into NTSC using the boot-menu though, and it then fills the screen.

BUGS

	The game occasionally freezes for an instant.  I think it might be
when it's changing CD tracks.  This does not affect gameplay at all though:
it's hardly noticeable.

VENDOR SUPPORT

	An address is provided for support, but unfortunately not a phone
number.  I have not needed to contact them as yet.

WARRANTY

	Unknown.

CONCLUSIONS

	In my opinion, this is one of the CD32's best games to date.  I
already had the Amiga version, but for me the CD32 version was still a
must-have, even though it has no extra levels.  If you're a CD32 owner who
hasn't played the original Amiga version, then get this game!  If you had the
original Amiga version, then get this game anyway!  A lot of people whinge
about CD32 games which are ports of Amiga titles, but I'm not complaining
when the games are this good.  The Bitmap Brothers have taken a classic
Amiga game, enhanced the graphics/sound, and produced a classic CD32 game.

	I'd give it about 90%, and a bit more if it didn't slow down.

This review is freely distributable.  Just leave my name in :-)
10/4/1994 Steve Cutting     e-mail: [email-masked]

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