Obliterator

1988The family chronicle of the macho men continues. In the first instalment we got to know the founding father of the cutthroats, a barbarian named Hegor. We have Hegor's powerfully developed urge to carry on the family line to thank for the fact that we now run into his descendant Drak, Hegor himself having been pushing up daisies for a few thousand years already.

We are living in the days of Judge Dredd. Drak's pocket modem sounds the alarm and tells him that the Senile Council has sent an interstellar express shuttle to pick him up for a talking-to. Rumour has it that the space fleet of the Planetary Federation has vanished at a stroke, after spending several days on full alert beforehand. The brass hats at Federation headquarters are in a headless panic and apparently intend to reveal to Drak what the score is. The situation must be pretty desperate if there is call to fall back on the last obliterator.

In the Clone Wars the obliterators made up the Rambo squad that was sent off to do impossible jobs in impossible conditions. Ordinary fighters would not have been up to such feats, which go against all reason and the instinct of self-preservation. The obliterators had been picked for their task at the very moment of birth, and their intensive training had begun in early childhood, just like athletes'. On top of that, their genes had been tinkered with in order to produce individuals with faster reflexes, sharper senses and more brute strength than the legendary Huik Hogan.

The Senile Council sheds light on the situation from its own point of view as follows: for centuries the Federation has been the dominant power in the galaxy, spreading its rule ever wider in accordance with lofty imperialist principles. The old cultures at the centre of the Milky Way have not always understood the benefits of integration, but have instead taken a sniffy attitude to the rightful demands of the master race. Being technically more advanced, they have ganged up together and built a mammoth spaceship to destroy the planet Earth.

Drak would now get to test-drive a prototype matter transmitter in order to phase himself aboard the enemy ship and render it defenceless. An irresistibly worded offer for a suicide candidate. So then: Drak, strip and reassemble. If not quite back into the original, then somewhere in that general direction anyway. And then off to collect the bits essential to the ship's operation and to shoot everything that moves, or at least could have moved if it hadn't gone and got itself destroyed.

Knowing Drak's background, you can well understand that he cannot be left to throw his weight around the corridors of the enemy ship all on his own. For this reason several methods have been developed for directing Drak's actions. The most recommendable of them is the icon strip running along the bottom of the screen, which lets you program Drak's behaviour some way ahead. Drak's basically paranoid attitude makes the controlling job somewhat harder, because when things get tight Drak may make his own decisions regardless of the controls. The joystick is a recommendable option only when moving in a vacuum.

Put simply, the game consists of running along the corridors of the enemy ship and searching for five objects vital to the ship's operation. There is an endless string of opponents to be eliminated. Enough weapons and ammunition for the job can be found along the way. Once all the objects have been picked up and the ship put out of action, time starts running backwards and it is time to start running back towards the escape craft. This offers Drak one last chance to leave this wicked world and be destroyed along with the alien ship.

Playing the game is like following an interactive animation. The graphics are dazzling and varied enough to keep your interest alive. The aliens look imaginative and believable at the same time. The ship's architecture and its equipment are better executed than in any previous computer game. The game's music tunes you into just the right, unreal mood, and the electric sound effects earn their place in the strange surroundings.

Obliterator is a relatively easy game, and Drak will get his mission done in a few sittings. Trick Number Three, which let you stop the characters colliding in the previous part of the epic, does not work in Obliterator. The makers of the game have, however, taken on board C=lehti's recommendation of a save-game option, so meaningful play is possible even by the most honest of means.

Obliterator lives up to the expectations that have been placed on the Amiga as a games machine. The machine's capabilities have been exploited in a way that makes playing a visual treat. Once you have played the game you feel you have got your money's worth, and you will gladly toss the floppy over to a mate. This is the best game in its genre released for the Amiga.