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 VAXINE

 First, they did HARMONY. Now VAXINE. Taking some of the elements of the first 
game, VAXINE recombines them into an utterly Mutant design that almost defies 
description. It's beautiful, bizarre, nerve-wracking, attention-absorbing, and 
should appeal to anyone eager for an arcade strategy game. I said a while ago 
that HARMONY should get as much attention as TETRIS did; and I feel the same 
about VAXINE -- it's a sui generis concept that deserves to become a classic. 
(This review is based on the Amiga version)

 The metaphor you're operating within suggests that you're on a kind of 
Fantastic Voyage inside the human body, in a first-person perspective, out to 
help destroy a series of invading viruses. It works nicely as a shell for the 
game, which is played in an ARCHIPELAGOS-like three-dimensional space that
allows you to move in any direction you'd like. The significant difference 
between ARCHIPELAGOS and VAXINE, however, is first that the scrolling movement 
is _much_ more fluid, and secondly that the animation is much more elemental; 
this gives the game an intense, abstract feel, like chess, which allows for 
complete focus on gameplay without distraction.

 The screens in each of the infinite number of levels consist of a chessboard-
like floor, a circle of stars rotating just above eye-level near the beginning 
of the level (the Star Tree), a series of mounds on the floor, a few slab-like 
monoliths, and lots of round, bouncing balls, moving in all directions at once 
through the three-dimensional gamespace. Imagine yourself as one of the pieces 
on the board flying in a hovercraft, chasing balls floating lazily above the 
board's surface, and you'll get the general idea.

 VAXINE is played with either a mouse or a joystick in the Amiga version; the 
mouse is most effective. Movement is significantly reminiscent of Dan Gorlin's 
TYPHOON THOMPSON, with the same speed and flexibility. There's something 
exhilarating about this kind of arcade animation design; you experience a 
sense of speed and motion that feels more like a joyride than anything else in 
computer gaming, and unlike most arcade games, movement is completely 
unrestricted during play.

 Upon boot-up, you're given three options for configuration. The Mode option 
allows for selection between Demo, Practice, Normal, and Advanced play. 
Practice leaves you all your bases, thus removing the time pressure element 
from play. If all you want is to wander around and knock down balls without 
worrying about being interrupted by a Game Over message, this is the ideal 
mode to play in. Practice definitely makes perfect in VAXINE; I wouldn't 
recommend moving on to the Normal game until you've learned how to handle 
hitting the balls without alot of wasteful aiming and maneuvering. Like 
tennis, your "serve" is all-important, and developing it involves real skill.

 Normal mode is where the game really begins. In this mode, you start a level 
with a given number of bases (the mounds mentioned above), which are under 
attack from the balls. Whatever the level, the balls eventually begin to link 
together with rubber-band strings (how Assembly Line models the physics of 
such movements and relationships is beyond me); in Normal and Advanced modes, 
they also ultimately attach to a base and eventually destroy it...unless you 
can get there first and knock 'em back apart from each other. Once all your 
bases are destroyed, that's the end of the game (there's a 10-second countdown 
during which press of the fire button restarts you at the same level).

 Finally, Advanced mode places you approximately ten levels up in the game, 
thus allowing initial play with a significantly tougher challenge. The game 
begins with more balls already out there, and more balls connected to each 
other.

 There's an option at the start to select Mouse or Joystick for play, and 
finally, an option which turns inertia on and off. If you play with inertia 
on, the movement of the craft will impart extra motion to shots in the 
direction you're moving when firing.

 Once you're all configured, pressing fire starts the game. You normally begin 
near a monolith and the Star Tree, and there's a timed countdown before the 
balls start to generate on-screen. During the countdown, shooting balls at the 
circle of rotating stars provides points and extra ammo for later play. All 
objects except the monolith come in three primary colors, and selecting 
matching colors before firing at the Star Tree improves point score and the 
amount of ammo accumulated with a hit.

 The monoliths provide an interesting "freeze" function; passing through one 
stops all action on the screen for a timed period, during which you can more 
easily wipe out attacking balls. However, there's a penalty for making use of 
the monoliths; the balls become more aggressive once the countdown ends, 
essentially moving the difficulty level up a few notches.

 The main action during play involves shooting (well, more like _launching_) 
your own balls so they'll hit enemy balls. The appearance of both is the same, 
except that your balls dissipate quickly after being fired. Hit an enemy 
ball with a like-colored ball, and it explodes into a bunch of smaller balls, 
which then disappear. Hit with a different-colored ball, and the enemy ball is 
turned into a star, which can then be fired upon to gain extra points and 
ammo. You can make your own strings of balls as well, which serve like 
wandering land-mines; enemy balls are always on the look-out for same-color 
balls to join up with, and they'll approach your string to join up, only to be 
blown up instead.

 Enemy balls link up with each other, and then go after a mound base; once 
attached to same, they eventually destroy it. Hitting the balls while they're 
attached to and bouncing around a base is one of the most difficult aspects of 
the game, and absolutely crucial to staying in play.

 The game is spread out over a very wide field; the chessboard analogy breaks 
down a bit here, as this board has no edges. Scrolling in one direction 
eventually gets you full circle, but there aren't any sign-posts to indicate 
exactly where you are. Psychic Radar serves a kind of on-screen map/hint 
function, however; stop movement for a second or two, and a word appears on 
the board to indicate which direction to move in to find the nearest 
enemy balls.

 Thrown into this already challenging mix, the Hatchers and Spitters make your 
life more complicated. Hatchers consist of three different-colored balls 
strung together; firing on them causes them to burst into a plague of new 
single enemy balls. _Not_ firing upon them won't help; they explode on their 
own, producing even more balls than they would if fired upon. Spitters are 
less ingenious, but no less dangerous. Looking like red blood cells, they 
travel close to the board and periodically produce new enemy balls. Though not 
as prodigious as the Hatchers, the Spitters can only be eradicated by tossing 
a ball so that it will land right on top of them, no mean feat.

 Gameplay is marvelous; like HARMONY, VAXINE is just tough enough; nowhere 
near so difficult it proves frustrating to play, yet replete with sufficient 
challenge to last as long as your interest in the game. Control is precise and 
detailed with the mouse; movement feels completely "analog," with just enough 
inertia to provide a sense of realism. Realism in a completely surreal 
environment? Hard to imagine, but true.

 The graphics and sound in the Amiga version of VAXINE are fabulous; both the 
board and the sky fade continuously towards the horizon -- none of that step-
like design typical of IBM VGA designs attempting to provide such shadings. 
The balls and stars are both ray-traced and shadowed, giving them a thoroughly 
three-dimensional look (though the game appears three-dimensional, all 
graphics are bit-mapped for speed and detail).  The opening soundtrack is 
funky and driving, and sound effects during play are all designed to be 
indicators of things happening outside the field of view (no music during 
play, fortunately).

 VAXINE comes on one copyable disk, and is hard-drive installable. It will run 
on all 68000-based Amigas, including the A1000, A500, and A2000. Copy 
protection consists of a black codewheel, which is reasonably inoffensive, 
though no real improvement on those brownish-purple sheets. Either a mouse or 
joystick are required for play. The game uses just 512K of RAM. Once the game 
is loaded, no further disk accesses take place. There are no save options 
available in the design (making it ideal for cartridge conversion).

 Simple, elegant, yet endlessly fascinating, VAXINE provides an almost-perfect 
balance between graphics design and gameplay. If you liked HARMONY, this is a 
must have. I hope The Assembly Line continues to develop games in this style; 
it seems even more amenable than TETRIS to significant variations on a common 
theme.

 VAXINE is published by U.S. Gold and distributed by Accolade.