Welcome to the alien world of the Sentinel. Where a stratigic battle for the essence of life rages. Where claustrophobia and vertigo push you to the limits. Where your next attack could be your last!

650 progressive levels of absolute addiction. Absorbing gameplay stretches your strategy and arcade skills to the limit. Atmospheric 3D environments convey that "being there" feeling. Stunning visuals and animations give Sentinel Returns an eerie graphic style all of its own. Multi-player options allow up to 4 players to join the action. Featuring the music of John Carpenter. Based on an original concept by Geoff Crammond.

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PSYGNOSIS REVISITS A MASTERPIECE: SENTINEL RETURNS

Sequel To Classic Strategy Game Features Addictive, Chilling Gameplay with Advanced Graphic Redesign and Musical Score by John Carpenter

ATLANTA, GA - May 28, 1998 - Sentinel’, a 1980s strategy game by Geoff Crammond became an instant classic, with an elegantly simple design, sparse yet chilling landscape, and the slow tension of a psychological thriller. Now, Psygnosis unveils Sentinel Returns’, the sequel to this first true virtual reality game that combines the same intensely compelling gameplay with stunning visual and sound enhancements including a score by master of terror, John Carpenter, who directed and wrote the soundtrack for horror movie, Halloween. Sentinel Returns will be available for both PC and PlayStation® game console in August, for an estimated retail price of $49.95.

Produced by No Name Games, and developed by Hookstone, a UK production studio, Sentinel Returns takes advantage of over ten years of technical improvements to produce a graphic theme that is both distinctive and haunting. The stunning 3D graphic redesign uses advanced texturing, animation and lighting techniques to create four eerie themed play environments, Earth, Air, Fire and Water, as well as a final, most terrifying level called the Void.

Adding to the atmospheric sense of the game is a chilling score by John Carpenter, a musician and director knows as the master of superb pacing and unrelenting terror. Carpenter's many credits include Halloween, Assault on Precinct 13, the Fog and Escape from New York, among others. Sentinel Returns also features stunning audio with Q-Sound technology that adds to the player's feeling of being surrounded and trapped.

As in the original title, the gameplay in Sentinel Returns is unnervingly abstract. Rather than being an object in the game universe, the player is a presence that moves through the landscapes by transferring to different bodies. Alternately absorbing and expending energy, the player seeks to gain control of each level by rising to its highest point in an effort to reach to the final, ultimate battle against the nightmare that is the Sentinel. At each level, the player must also avoid the invisible yet deadly, energy-draining beams of the opposition.

Sentinel Returns also features a unique sense of claustrophobia and panic, which comes from both the unearthly, atmospheric environment, and the players limited ability to survey the landscape. Scrolling is slow and deliberate, engendering a sense of sweating paranoia as players, feeling their energy being drained, struggle to look around in order to escape the deadly beams.

Other refinements that enhance Sentinel Returns include a more gradual learning curve that lures the gamer in, then becomes progressively more addictive and challenging. Sentinel Returns also features more than 600 crafted levels, all of which must be sequentially attained and conquered. Another major enhancement is a PC network play option, which adds an entirely new dimension to the game by allowing multiple players on a single playfield, racing against each other to finish each level.

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Press Release

SENTINEL returns

SENTINEL - DER MYTHOS

Kein Titel der Computerspiel-Geschichte ist so legendär wie Geoff Crammonds "Sentinel". Über 500.000 Spielefreaks schlug der Strategieepos Mitte der 80er Jahre in seinen Bann. Zu ihnen zählte John Cook, heute Produzent und Leiter des Entwicklungsteams von "Sentinel Returns". Und damals wie heute bringt John das, was er einmal in die Hand genommen hat, auch zu Ende: Aberhunderte von Levels ließ er nicht locker, bis der letzte Sentinel absorbiert war. geschafft aber glücklich freute er sich auf den verdienten Abspann, doch was war das - statt monumentaler Graikergüsse à la 1985 fing das Spiel einfach wieder von vorne an. Erregt griff John zum Telefonhörer und schaffte es tatsächlich, Geoff Crammond ans andere Ende zu bekommen. Seine Antwort war ebenso kurz wie ehrlich: "Was?!! Du hast es durchgespielt! Ich dachte nicht, daß jemand so verrückt sein würde."

Bringt "Sentinel Returns" endlich das ersehnte Happy End? Was erwartet den erschöpften Spieler nach 666 Levels aufopferungsvoller Echtzeit-Strategie? Und was in aller Welt hat "Die Klapperschlange"-Regisseur John Carpenter dazu bewegt den Soundtrack für Sentinel Returns zu komponieren? Das und vieles, vieles mehr erfahren sie ab 17. Juli auf Ihrem heimischen PC oder PlayStation.

SENTINEL - SO GEHT'S

Willkommen in der lebensfeindlichen Welt des Sentinels. Wo strategisches Können Leben rettet. Wo Angst und Gefahr Ihre Wegbegleiter sind. Wo die nächste Attacke Ihre letzte sein kann.

OK, und so geht's: Wenn der Sentinel die geringste Chance wittert, wird er Sie zerstören. Der Sentinel thront auf dem Berggipfel und beobachtet jeden Ihrer Schritte. Sobald er Sie entdeckt absorbiert er gnadenlos Ihre gesamte Energie, meiden Sie also seinen Blick und bleiben Sie in Bewegung. Ergänzen Sie Ihre Energie-Reserven indem Sie Bäume anzapfen (ja, Bäume!). Ebnen sie sich so den weg nach oben, bis der Sentinel unter Ihnen steht. Jetzt absorbieren Sie ihn, nehmen seinen Platz ein und beamen sich in den nächsten Level.

Klingt doch ganz einfach,oder? Tja, anfangs vielleicht... Lassen Sie sich aber nicht entmutigen - Sie sind doch sicher intelligenter als ein dahergelaufenes außerirdisches Bergwesen...

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Print advertisement - PC Player 08/1998