~Bio Forge
2
BIOFOR1.PCX
BIOFOR2.PCX

BIOFORGE by ORIGIN

Animated Adventure
------------------

Reviewed by Lu Richardson


Marvellous!  Brilliant!  Just watching the intro gives you the 
screaming heebee-jeebies...  The actual game is even worse!

This is a very original product, with most excellent graphics, 
sounds and animation and also tremendous atmosphere.  The thing 
which I expect will grab you, though, is the action.  The plot, too, 
will interest you immensely.

It all starts, as so many games, with you locked up in a cell - and 
you are a very strange character this time.  Plus, locked in with 
you, is a murderous robot.  You have to fight it before you can 
start doing anything at all, and that's when you discover the 
interface.

As in all those wonderful games, such as Alone in the Dark and 
Ecstasia and their like, it's all very well - but can you manage 
your 3-D hero?  They not only stretch your mind, but your fingers 
too (in this game, you press C for combat then CTRL or ALT plus the 
numbers of the keypad).  And the perspective doesn't help at all;
you might rush in to fight for your life only to find that you are 
heartily punching fresh air, while your opponent never, never misses.

However, if in the first scene you manage by mistake to kick the 
robot into touch, you can proceed to explore your environment.  
That's where it starts getting interesting; work out how to get out 
of there and how to find more equipment and more info, if you can 
stay alive long enough.  The problems presented to you are novel, 
to say the least, and enormously satisfying to solve.

Wear an apron while playing this game.  The blood splashes 
everywhere!  Every room you enter presents you with horrendous 
possibilities of sudden death, so you have to be both smart and 
fast.  Doom meets Alone in the Dark, only more so...

As you will have gathered, my only hangup, and this is no criticism 
of the game but rather a measure of my own inadequacy, is the 
difficulty of managing the movements of the character.  Unless you 
can manoeuvre him with great precision, you get very dead in no time 
at all.  I invariably found myself pressing the wrong keys and 
missing the target, and biting the dust within seconds - something 
which rather delays you.  If I won, my poor creature went about 
dragging his limbs rather pitifully, thank goodness you can press D 
and repair the damage!  

Still, if you can make any headway at all you'll find that this is 
an utterly fascinating game which everyone (or almost everyone) will 
enjoy.  Plenty of atmosphere, plenty of action and plenty of 
intractable puzzles to solve - and not a dull moment.  Why, it 
hasn't been out five minutes and people are already screaming for 
help!  Always a good sign, that.  Closet yourself with your computer 
and take up the challenge, you'll love it.


Text Copyright (c) 1995 Eurowave Leisure Ltd.
