Microcosm

This may as well be the best game version of the movie Fantastic Voyage. Amazing graphics accompany your journey into the body of Cybertech's chief executive. Save his life by shooting evil germs and invasive probes. A wild ride with a stunning CD soundtrack.

Detta måste vara ett av de mest omskrivna Psygnosis-spel i år. Amiga CD32 versionen ser helt suverän ut, och för första gången får vi se ett spel som tillfullo utnyttjar 32:ans imponerande egenskaper.

Eén van de eerste videogames met computerbeelden die niet onderdoen voor filmbeelden. Denk de oogstrelende graphics echter weg en wat er overblijft is een heel simpel schietspel. Vooral goed om indruk te maken op je vrienden met je nieuwe Amiga CD-32.

Microcosm ei siis ole liialla vuorovaikutteisuudella pilattu. Vaikka maisemat näyttävät hyviltä ja verisuonet realistisilta, ne eivät kuitenkaan riitä pitkäaikaiseen pelinautintoon. Pelin puolesta on sanottava, että intro on pitkä ja tehokas. CD-levyllä onkin yli 500 megatavua tavaraa. Peli vaatii toimiakseen 4 megatavua RAM-muistia ja 12 megatavua kiintolevytilaa.

If you're looking for a shoot 'em-up with a difference, you've come to the right place. There's no blasting away at a seemingly endless stream of aliens in Microcosm. There's no trying to put an end to a screen full of cutsey little lovable wotsits. Your journey takes you into the very heart of the human body, right through all the squidgy bits and out the other side again. How many games do you know with levels called the Cephalic Vein? How many games take you right to the femur bone, let you play about in the superior vena cava, positively encourage you to split the carotid artery, and dare you to venture into the human brain and chuck lots of things at it? None. Bit of a shame, then, that this one's so basic.

Det är bara att pumpa in och skjuta på allt som rör si. Det håller ganska länge, men inte tillräckligt. Man njuter i fulla drag av grafik, ljud och rörelser, men en sak är helt klar. Det finns mycket roligare sätt att vara inne i en annan människa. Och det kostar oftast inte femhundra spänn...

A not-so-hot shooter set inside the body of the president of the Cybertech company. Graphics look good, but everything follows preset paths and your own ship gets in the way more often than not.

Nice try! As Psygnosis bones up on it's process for creating rendered game and game systems get more muscle, games like Microcosm will be the life blood for the industry. For the time being, though, it's an experiment that misses by a neck.

Das Spiel gewinnt insgesamt keinen Originalitätspreis. Würde man die Blutbahn-Hintergrundgrafik weglassen, wäre die olle Ballerei auch problemlos auf ein paar Disketten unterzubringen. Besonderen Spaß macht das wirre Rumgefliege sowieso nicht, denn der Schwierigkeitsgrad ist zu hoch und die Bewegungen der meisten Gegner sind noch nicht mal fließend. Alles in allem eine sehr enttäuschende Leistung.

A moins de ne jurer que par les jeux de tirs, Microcosm n'a pas beaucoup d'autres atouts que sa grande beauté.

While this is a definite improvement over the Sega CD version in terms of color and animation, Microcosm is still not all that fun to play. The gameplay leaves much to be desired and the number of instant hits is almost nerve-wracking. The computer-rendered animation cinemas are really neat, but they don't make a game. I'm sorry, but Microcosm didn't seem like fun to me. It need more to it, I guess.

The idea isn't a terrible one, and the execution is somewhat sound, but it still feels like something is missing. I'm not talking about the features seemingly present in the PC but not here. The controls are a part of this - a pretty big part, and work against having the game be fun on its shooter merits alone. If you can struggle through it your first couple of tries (which is possible, considering the length) then you might enjoy the ride. Otherwise, certainly not worth any frustration in playing it, or in finding it.