The first cataclysm that Earth experienced in 2020, irremediably changed the way things were in the past. Billions of humans and animals died, and the few that survived only did because they stayed underground, protected by the Earth's surface. When the mankind finally went back to the daylight hundreds of years later, what they discovered was unbelievable. The world had changed as if a billion years passed, with new species resulting from evolution. The most surprising, besides the mutant species, were the dinosaurs that were had been extinct since prehistory, and now in the middle of the third millennia they are back.
This thriving civilization is however ignoring the great danger that will soon threaten them again. Some don't respect the "Machinato Vitae -- The machinery of Life", and instead of preserving the fragile balance among Earth and its creatures, they are wasting it for profit and power. Jack Tenrec and Hannah Dundee believe that the first cataclysm was the result of this lack of respect towards nature, and were for this reason chosen by the Grith to save the world. The Grith are a highly evolved race that can communicate telepathically, and they live in the subterranean world, far from the humans.
Jack and Hannah must discover the hidden base where Governor Scharnhorst is using machines from the time before the first cataclysm. Through nine levels, they will have to find their way out in the jungle and other places, to stop her and her gang of poachers.
The game starts with Jack and Hannah in a classic red '53 Cadillac on a small trail in the jungle. You control both characters at the same time, with Jack driving and Hannah shooting at targets in front of the car. The goal is to avoid obstacles on the trail, especially the living creatures. If you hurt one, the time you have left to accomplish your mission will decrease.
On the screen, what you will see is the time left, car damages, number of lives and your score. You can steer the car to the left and right and move the cross-hair sight with the keyboard, mouse or a joystick. You can even use two different controls simultaneously such as the keyboard for steering and the mouse for shooting, but it is not as easy as it first appears. Holding the fire button down will increase the power when you release it. This is very useful for large objects like stumps and rocks, but in most cases, a single shot will be enough to get rid of the obstacles. The glowing life crystals you collect on the road will partially restore your car when it is damaged by rocks and creatures, but you will lose a life when you bump into large obstacles. There are many ways you can die in "Cadillacs & Dinosaurs", and each time you are killed, a superb animation will show you how it happened.
As you progress in the game, there will be new types of obstacles and creatures to avoid, such as dinosaurs, mutant snails, giant centipedes and pteranodons. The game features nine levels with six based in the jungle and three in underground tunnels on railways. Like "Loadstar" where you could change tracks, the trail branches out forcing you to quickly decide in which direction you want to go.
The graphics of "Cadillac & Dinosaurs" are unlike anything you have seen in a computer game. Nowadays, we are getting use to cinematic sequences using the latest in computer rendering animation, but in this game, it looks like all the graphics faithfully follow the original style of the author. The introduction has several layers and the view is slowly zooming in and out, while layers are moving which has a very good movie-like effect. During the game you move in a 3D-like environment such as in Rebel Assault, but instead of computer rendered images, you will see a cartoon-like animation.
Throughout the jungle, you will often hear Hannah shouting "Watch out!" to warn you about danger, dinosaurs walking and other animal sounds, but it will be mainly hear the sound of your gun.
386 DX-33 MHz or higher,
Min 4Mb memory,
MS-DOS 3.3 or later,
Hard drive required,
Double speed CD-ROM drive or faster,
VGA video graphic card (VESA local bus recommended),
Microsoft mouse and 100% compatibles.
Most popular sound cards supported.
Joysticks supported.
Web site: www.rocketsci.com
In USA:
Sega of America Inc.,
255 Shoreline Drive,
2nd floor,
Redwood City, CA 94065.
Web site: www.segaoa.com
In Canada:
Sega of Canada,
45 Sims Crescent,
Richmond Hill, Ont. L4B 1C9.
Rest of the World:
In UK:
BMG Interactive Entertainment,
Bedford House 69-79,
Fulham High Street,
London SW6 3JW.
In Belgium:
BMG Interactive Entertainment,
Square Francois Riga 30, Bte 8,
1030 Brussels.
| Graphics: | 85% |
| Sound: | 90% |
| Music: | 80% |
| Gameplay: | 70% |
| Interest: | 50% |
| Overall: | 73% |
Click here for screen shots.
