Deadlands

Dead or alive?

Nial Grimes dons the tin hat and enters a world where Cannon Fodder aficionados fear to tread. "Oi put that light out!"...

Megalomania forms a very important part of most gaming genres. From SubStation through Sim City to games such as Populous players just love being in a life and death control situation. Lemmings and, more recently, Cannon Fodder, have refined the formula, adding more direct control and a touch of humour to the proceedings.

The interface is fairly easy to use, and the icons are quite well drawn, but the manual doesn't go into enough detail on playing the game

Deadland has clearly taken a leaf (no, make that a whole chapter) from Cannon Fodder's book in blending arcade action with an element of strategy. Your mission is set on a deep space planet known as Ursula Minor, and the object is to evacuate as many of your small crew as possible. This involves building a new ship and you've only got thirty-one days to get the job done.

Anybody who has played Cannon Fodder will be immediately at home with Deadland's presentation. The action takes place through a large view screen, inhabited by a band of grizzled, gun-toting astros (true, they may be small, but you can tell they are grizzled by the way they walk). Enemy soldiers maraud the planet surface, guarding any useful objects, and mud-holes bubble here and there, threatening to swallow innocent crew members.

There's little point in getting anything built when enemy installations are nearby

Movement is handled via the mouse - just press the mouse button and the whole team obediently march to the pointer. You can explore the planet beyond the boundaries of the screen by clicking on the edges of the window and you needn't worry too much about the guys in the meantime - they automatically deal with any enemy soldiers that stray too close.

If you're having trouble getting somewhere, build a cab!

Having familiarised yourself with these basics (and probably been killed a few times in the process) you can actually begin to play. The key here lies in building, and the crew are remarkably adept at throwing together pieces of equipment - they can whip you up anything from a concrete slab to a hovercraft in a matter of seconds. The number of objects available keeps the gameplay fresh - vehicles are useful for getting around quickly, whereas gun towers are handy for protecting important installations. Your resourceful team can even put together expendable droids that can be sent on missions.

Aha these will come in handy!

As you've probably gathered, Deadland has no rigid mission structure - you can almost make it up as you go along. "Almost" in that although the overall aim is to set up a shop to construct a new ship, you still need to approach the problem logically. For instance, there's no point in setting up installations if they are going to be instantly destroyed by enemy missile launchers. A far better idea is to send a team out to deal with any local resistance before you start.

To be honest, much of this information has been gathered purely through trial and error - the manual does an almost passable job of describing which button does what, and the role of each buildable object, but it doesn't tell you what each object looks like on screen and would also benefit hugely from some sort of walk-through.

Despite this problem, Deadland is a solid shareware game. You might miss the overt humour proffered by Lemmings and Cannon Fodder, but the free-reign "missions" and new challenges go a long way towards making up for deficiencies in other areas; the price closes the deal. In fact, once you've got a good grip on the controls it's a lot of fun, and that's what this game thang is supposed to be about, innit?

Product name: Deadland

Publisher: Loftsoft
Contact: 51 Vicarage Road, Sutton, Surrey. SM1 1QN
Price: £5.00 Registration
Requirements: Any ST (Falcon compatible)
Pros: Cannon Fodder-style gameplay, free-reign missions and price
Cons: Naff manual and humourless graphics

Score: 70%


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