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 upplies,
supplies! That's where your vocation lies. Unfortunately,
while you're carrying out a routine delivery to a mining
installation on Sirius B, disastrous events occur to
make you wish you hadn't taken this particular job.
The
main part of your ship judders out of Hyperspace on
the approach to Sirius B, but its detachable cargo pod
decides not to follow. Luckily, your on-board CNS (Central
Nervous System) remains calm and manages to thaw you
out -- cryogenics are used extensively in the year 2134
-- and informs you of the situation before shutting
itself down. After a couple of choruses of 'Freeze a
jolly good fellow' you get down to flying half a ship
to your destination. Three arduous days later you arrive
at the Essen mining station on Sirius B. You should
be relieved at having made it, but the distant lack
of life in the complex causes concern; you wonder what
on Sirius B could have happened to the 200 workers stationed
here.
However,
as your main objective is to rebuild your ship and get
back home, you swallow your fear and begin to explore
the complex in the hope of finding the necessary resources
(and preferably nothing else). You need fuel for your
ship, electrical components for your knackered CNS,
and sustenance for yourself . . . but will you survive
long enough to find them?
A
terrific title track full of sampled shouts an' shots
over an oriental(ish) tune is guaranteed to make you
stop and listen before inserting disk B to start play.
When eventually you do, the screen changes from a very
nice graphic of the mining complex to six (equally nice)
display windows. These show your view of surroundings
(the packaging states it's 'Full first person perspective'
. . . I wonder what 'Half first person' would look like),
inventory, status, direction options, special equipment
and items currently carried in each hand.
Locations
update jerkily, but effectively, as you move around,
with distant areas shown in varying depths of shadow
which lighten as you approach -- a very nice touch.
FX
are good, especially the noise made by your magnum (when
you find it), but doors, machinery and so on are equally
enhanced by suitable sounds.
As
you explore deeper into the complex you come across
panels containing clothing, weapons, food, drugs --
to combat radiation, hunger, and headaches -- or computer
terminals. Other objects, such as data disks, are to
be found in hard-to-reach nooks and crannies within
the complex. Some of the items available to you are
explained in the booklet accompanying the game, while
many others are left for you to discover their use.
As
you search and destroy (yes, you do come across the
odd alien who needs a good trashing), keep an eye on
your status window: lack of food and drink logically
affects your health and too large a dose of radiation
has a negative effect on your chances of returning home.
Drugs can help with health problems, but you need to
know codes to access suitable medication -- administering
any old narcotic into your blood stream could be fatal.
The
essence of Xenomorph is mapping: if you don't
like having to chart your surrounding you may not appreciate
this game. But if you get a kick out of plotting, pop
out and purchase Xenomorph and get down to some
Sirius game playing!
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