Vicarious Visions - Press News - Coming Soon Magazine

Dark Angel goes Gold

Vicarious Visions masters its first action-adventure game

Troy, NY, September 16, 1997 -- Dark Angel, one of the first plot intensive PC side-scrollers since Prince of Persia, was gold mastered yesterday. The game combines elements of the classic shooter and the graphic adventure to give a richer and different gaming experience for today's gamer. Vicarious Visions will launch its direct sales program with Dark Angel, which will be available exclusively from the company in the first month after its release. A shareware version of Dark Angel will be released on September 22, with the full version shipping on September 29. The Vicarious Visions web site is currently taking pre-orders for the title.

Vicarious Visions' approach in introducing Dark Angel is a relatively uncommon one. By distributing its games directly through its web site and by toll free order line in advance of retail distribution, Vicarious Visions makes Dark Angel available to players at the earliest possible date.

"This 'net exclusive first' is an experiment to test the need for speed in bringing a product to gamers and will allow very close contact with end users. Our company is made up exclusively of avid gamers and is relatively young. We have a goal of understanding and conversing with fellow gamers to better develop and support our games. Direct distribution and customer contact is one way to accomplish that," said Producer Karthik Bala.

This game is not a traditional side-scroller: "We wanted to combine the story telling strengths of graphic adventures with the heavy action of classic shooters, so the side-scrolling format was a great choice for Dark Angel. In terms of game design, the non-linear game levels and story oriented gameplay is quite a departure from conventional platform games for the PC," said Bala.

Dark Angel is also one of the first action-adventure side-scrollers to allow full Internet multiplayer support for up to eight simultaneous players. Dark Angel deathmatch is different from other deathmatch games thanks to the side-scrolling engine. Players will need to rethink their tactics to get the upper hand in Dark Angel's third person viewpoint.

Dark Angel uses some technology from Crack dot Com's Abuse, and features its unique 360 degree mouse targeting interface to allow superior accuracy and control. The game consists of twenty-seven interconnected levels in a seamless non-linear game world and eight intense deathmatch arenas.

The entire game is set within the mythical Avalon Cathedral where an ancient saga unfolds:
It is a time of myths and a time of legends. It is a time of unbridled Chaos. The screams of the forsaken echo through Avalon. Creatures of unimaginable horror rise from their nightmares. Apocalypse is a moment away. But in that single moment, a savior comes forth. She rises with a vengeance, destroying all that stands in her path, knowing it will lead her to a final battle against Chaos himself. Her name is Carina. She is the Dark Angel.

A shareware demo of Dark Angel will be available directly from Vicarious Visions' web site and on many gaming sites throughout the Internet on September 22. The demo will contain six interconnected levels of the single player game, and one multiplayer deathmatch arena. Vicarious Visions is also planning Internet Dark Angel Deathmatch tournaments, and is looking for publishers to handle Dark Angel retail distribution worldwide.

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Vicarious Visions is an independent game developer based in Troy, NY. Made up of a small group of gamers, the company has the goals of understanding and responding to fellow gamers in producing original games with cutting edge technology. Development efforts are currently focused on producing next-generation Internet gaming titles.

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