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- REVIEW
- COMMANDER BLOOD from MINDSCAPE
- FORMAT: PC/CD
- DATE: DECEMBER
- PRICE: N/A
-
- From the makers of "Dragon Lore" and "Megarace" comes a space adventure
- called "Commander Blood". It is not an adventure game like the "Space Quest"
- series, for example, which features a control panel containing the common
- icons such as talk, get, look, etc... But instead, the game is more closely
- oriented to dialogues, puzzles and action. Using the CD-ROM format, Cryo
- the developer managed to pack the game with 256 colors of impressive
- animations, that rival those which were used in "Dragon Lore" and
- "Megarace", and includes great original sound tracks.
-
- When you start the game, you are captain of the Ark, Commander Blood,
- and your mission will be to travel back through space and time to the Big
- Bang so that Bob Morlock can see the awesome spectacle.
-
- Bob Morlock is the oldest being in the universe aged over 800,000 years old,
- and he wants answers to questions he has always asked himself during his
- very long life. Where do I come from? Why am I living? And where am I
- going? These are the questions that he wants to solve, and maybe traveling
- through black holes to ultimately reach the famous Big Bang will help him in
- his long-life quest.
-
- However, being so old is quite unnatural and Bob spends most of his time in a
- cryobox where he sleeps. His company, Kanary Corporation, spends a fortune
- to keep him alive in this bunker. This journey would be impossible
- for Bob without your help, and you will be his guide through the universe.
-
- Helped by Honk, the on board computer, you will travel from planet to planet
- in the galaxies and discover several species. In the beginning, only two
- planets will be available on the map. Fortunately, when speaking with
- people wisely, you will be able to obtain some coordinates of other planets.
- On each planet you will be faced with new puzzles to solve, discover new
- species, and gather information about other species, special locations and
- peoples' history.
-
- On the arrival to a new planet, the surface will be displayed with splendid
- animations before landing to talk with the inhabitants. Dialogues use an
- easy interface that lets you choose what you want to talk about. Do not
- forget to click more than once on the same subject to see if the alien has
- something more to say about it... it may surprise you by revealing new
- coordinates! Rotoscoped video imaging was used for all the characters in
- the game and they really come alive on the screen.
-
- The game also features a television with six channels, each with programming
- from different species. As some are scrambled, you will need a decoder to
- view them all.
-
- When the telephone rings and you answer it, a small video image will appear
- on a monitor. It probably will be one of the following: messages from
- aggressive species, coded messages or even an advertisement. Sometimes you
- will even receive modem calls from a pirate in the galaxy who will help you
- by providing you with some hints.
-
- The cyberspace is a three-dimensional place where you will have to go if
- you want to complete your quest. In there you will find something very
- valuable that you will need to take. In this section of the game, you will
- find yourself immersed in a virtual world made of real-time 3D rendered
- graphics, and you will have a lot of fun surfing in the net.
-
- ──────────┐
- Conclusion│
- ──────────┘
-
- "Commander Blood" is another great looking game but when I played the game at
- first, I started to lose interest. Fortunately, I kept playing and after
- three hours, I found myself being amused by the characters and their sense of
- humor, the great music and the amazing animations.
- ─────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
- SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: │
- ─────────────────────┘
- 486 DX-33 MHz or better,
- Min 4 MB memory,
- MS-DOS 5.0 or later,
- Hard drive required with 6MB free,
- Single speed CD-ROM drive (150 Kb/s) or faster,
- VGA 256 color graphic card and monitor,
- Microsoft Mouse or 100% compatible,
- Sound Blaster and compatibles.
- ───────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────
- ┌────────┐ ┌─────┐ │Mindscape,
- │GRAPHICS├─────────────────┤ 91% │ │Priority House, Charles Avenue,
- │SOUND ├─────────────────┤ 85% │ │Maltings Park, Burgess Hill,
- │MUSIC ├─────────────────┤ 91% │ │West Sussex RH15 9PQ, England.
- │GAMEPLAY├─────────────────┤ 78% │ │Tel: +44-(0)444-246-333
- │INTEREST├─────────────────┤ 78% │ │
- └────────┘ └─────┘ │Mindscape,
- ┌────────┐ ┌─────┐ │60 Leveroni Court,
- │OVERALL ├─────────────────┤ 84% │ │Novato, CA 94949.
- └────────┘ └─────┘ │Tel: 415-883-3000
- │
- ───────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────
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