ALIEN LOGIC

by

S.S.I.

FORMAT: PC/CD-ROM
DATE: DECEMBER 1994
PRICE: US $59.95

Set in a distant future, Alien Logic from S.S.I. brings you into the strange world of Jorune. Following the development of faster-than-light travels in the 22nd century, probes were launched into outer space to discover new worlds able to support life. After the discovery of Jorune, human colonists were sent to this far-off planet to establish the first settlement away from Earth.

On Jorune, two intelligent races were coexisting peacefully: the Shantas and the Thriddle. None of these races made an opposition to the establishment of the colony, but rather they indicated lands that the humans could occupy. The supply of raw materials were suppose to come from Earth regularly in the beginning, but shortly after the announcement of a devastating war on Earth, all communications between Jorune and Earth were shut down. No supply ships ever came by to what was now the last hope for the human civilization.

Because of this tragedy, the colonists started their expansion outside the borders established by the Shantas who strongly reacted to this aggression. Thousands of human colonists perished during the conflict and only the biological warfare saved them from a certain death. The Shantas race almost disappeared after the humans struck and only thousands remained. Today, 3,500 years later, the humans are the most populous race on Jorune with a few minorities of the Thriddle, Shantas and other species.

When you start the game, you learn that your village was attacked by the Red Shantas four years ago. You avoided being captured and now is the time for you to find out where your friends are being held prisoners and how to free them.

The Isho is an energy that surrounds the world of Jorune and gives the power to spell out Dyshas. They can be offensive or defensive spells and can be learned by humans, and therefore by you. You must find places where you will be taught the new Dyshas in exchange for money and become powerful enough to challenge the Red Shantas.

Alien Logic mixes different genres together as it takes elements of role- playing and adventure games. You will encounter different types of actions such as jumping on platforms in the Shantas ruins and real-time combats with mysterious creatures in various places. Managing your resources is also an important part of the game as you must get enough weaver crystals to learn new Dyshas, and earn gemlinks (the local currency) to buy Bio-Tec devices, etc.

As an adventure game, Alien Logic also offers you dialogues with natives and other humans. Every time you meet characters during your journey, you may talk to them and ask questions. You will travel by foot and use Warps that transport you instantly thousands of miles away. These warps are doors between Jorune and the Warp World, and are known only by a few people. Some Shantas artifacts called Cle-eshtas, located in the Shantas ruins, can provide you with the locations of the Warps. However, it is not always easy to reach them as the ruins are usually guarded by mighty creatures.

Conclusion:

A lot of things interested me in Alien Logic. It is exciting to explore Jorune and find artifacts, crystals, etc. The real-time combats are challenging and innovative with beautiful graphics for the creatures encountered. The story brings a breath of fresh air to the traditional RPG world too, which is often repetitive from one game to another. Alien Logic may represent the first step of a new evolution for RPG games. I hope this is just the beginning!

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

486 DX-33 MHz or better,
Min 8 MB memory,
MS-DOS 5.0 or later,
Hard drive required with 10Mb free disc space,
Single speed CD-ROM drive or faster,
SVGA 256 color graphic card with 1Mb memory and monitor,
Microsoft Mouse or 100% compatible,
Gravis Native mode, Sound Blaster family (except AWE), ProAudio Spectrum
and 100% compatibles.

Ratings and Publishers
                                   Mindscape UK Ltd,
GRAPHICS ------------------ 90%    Priority House, Charles Avenue,
SOUND    ------------------ 85%    Maltings Park, Burgess Hill, 
MUSIC    ------------------ 85%    West Sussex, RH15 9TQ, England.
GAMEPLAY ------------------ 85%    Tel: +44-(0)1444-246333
INTEREST ------------------ 88% 
                                   S.S.I. Inc., 
                                   675 Almanor Avenue,
OVERALL ------------------- 87%    Sunnyvale, CA 94086-2901.
                                   Tel: 408-737-6800