James Cameron’s “The Abyss,” a film that was largely forgotten until more recent Cameron productions, is a masterpiece of cinema whose visual effects stand the test of time despite being from 1989. It is one of the writer’s favorite films, but not one they watch as much as others due to some extensive special editions.
So what happens after the credits roll in The Abyss? Sound Source Interactive released The Abyss: Incident at Europa computer game in October 1998, and it’s definitely a game.
The attention-grabbing storyline is set six years after Deepcore’s interaction with an alien life form. The NTIs are back, and they aren’t pleased. After receiving a distress call from them about a virus they brought back from one of Jupiter’s moons, humans and non-humans team up to fight the new enemy on the ocean floor.
The foreman of the Deepcore Corporation, Bud Brigman, is rescued by two friends named Lindsey and Zander after his escort is incapacitated. The military mobilizes to help them get their colleague up to the base which leads to an introductory cinematic.
This leaves Bud and Lindsey, thousands of miles below the ocean’s surface, on a seemingly abandoned research station. Emphasis on seemingly.
The end result of playing the new Doom is a game reminiscent of an earlier era, yet with modern amenities that ensure that all will enjoy killing.
Word has it management wanted their game playable on the widest variety of systems possible, which resulted in low system requirements for reduced compatibility. Besides reduced compatibility, glitches like no 3D effects stand out because games hadn’t done 3D effects until the Nintendo 64’s release. This makes your game one of the first to include foreground lined art design making it even more revolutionary.
The Abyss: Incident At Europa released a year after Quake II, a title so famous that anyone who self-respects themselves was using a PC better than a 486DX 66MHz. However, this is not to say that upper-echelon types fail to understand changing tides\ because The Abyss: Incident At Europa could be seen as a strength in this area.
The game’s not as terrible as many people make it out to be, but it’s far from being any sort of idolized ideal in the gaming community. Graphically it looks like a Doom II mod, with repetitive textures, flat sprites, and unimaginative enemy design.
Through an FPS with an inventive new arsenal such as the stungun, Bud and Lindsey can defend themselves through difficult levels without needing any upgrades. Killing an attacker takes only a single shot and some enemies will remain incapacitated for longer.
Incident at Europa by Coma Soft will have you dodging your way around zombies. You’ll have little difficulty copying the keyboard only controls with the lack of long range attacks.
The audio from this game is excellent. You are able to create your own character–pick Bud or Lindsey–when you start a new game and whoever is not picked, serves as your radio liaison during the mission.
One of the greatest things about Dishonored 2 is how intelligent and talkative the other characters in the game are—Tallboys feels like a totally different experience from all your typical modern shooters.
However, bear in mind that the game’s developers didn’t have production budget to hire Ed Harris or Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.
Playing with objects has many limitations. You’ll hold onto your items by running into them or while over them, but figuring out what you can do with other objects is often a frustrating experience.
In gaming, a pixel hunt is when the player has to search for randomly-placed items, such as in an adventure or horror games. The pixel hunt becomes tedious and frustrating in FPS environments that have no enemy kills.
Safe early and save often, because hitting a dead end in this game usually means backtracking and that means taking a bunch of extra damage, wasting ammo, or both looking for the locker you failed to open, or the keycard you thought you swiped from the table but were too far away to actually grab.
Incident At Europa hit shelves in 1998, a decade before James Cameron’s film. It is not only a bad tie-in to earn it some recognition, but even worse since the target audience doesn’t know Timecop from Old Spice.
Michael Brookes describes his experience with the FPS, The Abyss: Incident At Europa.
It’s clear the game was aiming for a certain feel, but there are definite negatives to be considered. The keyboard-only controls, low-as-the-’08-stock-market system requirements, and well-past-its-prime release date make it suitable for determined gamers only–everyone else, leave this one down in the trenches, save yourself some headaches, and watch the movie instead.
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