Cyber Virus
Yet another restored game Lynxers can show off!
By Gregory D. GeorgeFebruary 23, 2002
With
the Lynx being replaced as the most powerful, exclusively
portable machine, it was only fitting that we should be reminded
of how far in advance this unit was back in 1990.
Songbird Productions has
managed, once again, to secure the code for another game that
was never released. Prior examples of this wonderfulness have
been seen with the Jaguar game Protector, and will
(hopefully) shine again with Ultravore. But first
things first: It's time for Cyber Virus!
"In the near future, the military has developed a new breed of intelligent
cybernetic soldiers -- cybots for short. Enemies of the state inject the
central BRAINCORE computer with the Sir.vive.X virus which sends the
cybots on a deadly rampage.
"The virus spreads rapidly, wreaking havoc around the country. The
BRAINCORE monitors all significant troop movements and threatens to
launch nuclear warheads if the military engages the cybots.
"Your objective is to eliminate the cybot threat in the southwest region of
the USA. Your superiors hope that if they send a lone commando on
search and destroy missions, the cybots won't identify you as a significant
threat.
"Good luck, soldier. America is counting on you."
As this game uses the BattleWheels engine, the
graphics are superb. The enemies scale in and out as you move,
the terrain is nicely shaded giving it a bit of detail, and
there are plenty of special effects like explosions, and flashes
of lightning in certain levels. The enemy animation is adequate
and they appear to be made up of about six or so frames. (Big
deal. Even Doom
didn't have all that many frames of animation.) The in-between
game graphics are nicely detailed and the cartoon scenes are a
nice touch.
Sound effects are not something I typically pay much mind to.
They're usually cut and pasted from other games and Cyber
Virus is no exception. I have heard a few BattleWheels
sound effects such as the explosions, "walking," and
other sound effects. But these were excellently done in BattleWheels,
so they carry over to Cyber Virus as well. In addition, Cyber
Virus has some new sound effects which are very nicely done.
Some of the music can become annoying fast, but I've most definitely
heard worse from the Lynx.
The gameplay and powerups in Cyber Virus are nicely
balanced. You will often find yourself blowing everything up
with only a few munitions to spare, usually lasers. So, it's
very important to conserve your ammo as much as possible. This
precludes that Cyber Virus is more of a "hide and
destroy" type of game and you not get very far with the
"rush-in" method. (Trust me, you will face death
more often if you play it Rambo-style!) Your best bet is to
blast all of the enemies first and then take out the targets
with no opposition. You have to be a bit more thoughtful with Cyber
Virus than with other first-person perspective games.
Control is excellent and is much improved over BattleWheels.
In that game you could only walk (slowly) forward or backwards
and turn left or right. Cyber Virus' controls have been
tweaked to allow the player to run and sidestep as desired. Both
of these moves are virtually required to get through the
missions and these are very welcome improvements indeed.
One thing I truly like about Cyber Virus is the huge
variety! There are a total of 16 missions
which will keep even the most adept gamer busy for awhile.
There are several terrains, sprites, explosions, bombs, enemies,
power ups, and other graphical treats in store. In addition, the
radar is very useful both on the main screen and in the special
screen.
My primary knock against Cyber Virus, is the
moderate to high difficulty. This is not a game where you
will sit down and breeze right through your first time and that
may cause novice gamers shy away. (But then, who
are we kidding? Novice Lynx gamers? C'mon!) Another
negative to Cyber Virus is the lack of items on the radar
screen. You might be asked to find object X, but without a
target on the radar, you will have to hunt for it the hard way.
Even with these few negatives, Cyber Virus is a
definite must-own game for the Lynx. The graphics are superb,
the sound is nice, and the gameplay is satisfying. If you can
look past the difficulty level you will most definitely want a
copy of Cyber Virus!
More Images
Game Data |
Scores
|
| Title |
Cyber Virus |
Graphics |
90% |
| Publisher |
Songbird |
Sound/Music |
80% |
| Genre |
Action |
Gameplay |
80% |
| System |
Lynx |
Control |
85% |
|
|
Overall |
85% |
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