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Project Eden

Is Core Design Tomb Raider? Not really, if this new title has anything to do with public perception. Project Eden remains within the third person action-adventure genre. But combines strategy, puzzle-solving and adventure. And instead of highlighting a single character (like Lara Croft in 'Raider), the gamer controls multiple characters each with special tactics that fit their different skills sets.

The game is part-inspired by the movies. And is modelled around Judge Dredd's Mega City 1. And as usual with the genre, the environment is a bleak post-apocalyptic one. Rapid population growth has forced people to build towering vertical structures that rise into the sky; much like any Indian city. (Is there a lesson for us here?). These building are interconnected by transportation arteries. As always the rich live at the top (penthouses) where they get lots of natural light and breathe clean air. At the bottom, but naturally, live the less privileged amid the smog and garbage. And where criminals rage unchecked. The stage is set.

The Real Meat Factory apparently has to content with malfunctioning equipment. And nothing gets fixed because all the technicians end up disappearing. So an Urban Protection Agency team (controlled by you) is despatched to investigate the mystery. And rescue the missing men. As you investigate, you are dragged down into the netherworld.

Your team of four investigators combine different skills. Carter is team leader and gets information and activates UPA doors. Andre is the engineer who fixes broken machines. Minoko is nerd who accesses download terminals and hacks into systems. Amber is a robot who has the greatest amount of firepower.

Going off into combat with just one character can be dangerous. Because you need the backup of the others. And to successfully complete your mission, you need an intact team. Suppose you "accidentally" allow one of the team to be zapped, you can bring the dead back to life at a cost to the health of the remaining members. .

The control interface is quite straight forward. And you can switch between characters by left clicking them. Alternatively, right clicking brings up portraits of the team and you click on one to select. These portraits also display the health and ammunition status of each member. It's quite simple to get the rest of the team to follow you regardless of who you are controlling. That because you can operate doors and switches just by clicking the left mouse button. The Character control permits either a first- or third-person viewpoint. The cursor keys control movement. The mouse perspective.

The final version will have quite an armoury to keep your enemies in death. There's the default laser pulse gun, plus is a disc launcher that can also bounce energy off walls. Plus mini-rocket launchers, pipe bombs, mines. And even time shock weapons that slow down targets. Some munitions allow you to shoot around corners or obstacles.

There will be 11 levels; each with a range of sub-missions. The story line is linear, but the designers allow you some latitude in the order of completing individual sub-missions. You will move rapidly from depressing dirty areas to clean bright ones. The atmosphere is be futuristic and avant garde.

Project Eden's puzzles promise not to be deductive brain teasers, but situational dilemmas. For example you may need to use a recon rover (a small laser-gun equipped remote-control car), fly cam (a flying scout recon camera) or a sentry turret (a locatable gun placement) to deal with inaccessible settings. The game also plans to support cooperative and death match multi player action.

All in all, Project Eden offers a compelling game play experience. Watch out for a release date. The game requires at least a PIII 300 with 128 RAM running Win 95/98/ME and you need a 3D graphics accelerator card installed. Right now there is no demo, but you can download .AVIs and screenshots from: http://www.eidosinteractive.co.uk/downloads/search.html?gmid=84

G Menon
[email protected]

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