Bloodnet

Title           Bloodnet
Game Type       Adventure
Players         1
Company		Catfish & Microprose
HD Installable  Yes
Compatibility   All Amigas
Submission      Richard Byrne

Review
 A strange (in a good way) point and click game. Future New York again, in
a Syndicate cross Neuromancer type setting. You play the part of Ransom
Stark, a man who has recently had the misfortune to be a vampire victim.
The story is that an old implant prevented him from becoming a vampire
right away, and you must battle against time and a tendency to bite people
to cure yourself.

 In the future however, you are not the only one with big problems- all
information is controled in the virtual realm of cyberspace by TransTech
(your ex-employers) and people of the city are not happy. Murder, drugs,
poverty and a recent plague of vampires are all high on the daily agenda.

 Most of the game is spent around the decaying mass of the city attempting
to solve puzzles; some difficult and some easy, usually based around
someone needs X and in return will either offer to work for you/ pay you/
give you an item. Unlike most point and clicks though you can make
progress by shooting the less helpful people and simply taking their
stuff, although this will usually make progress more difficult later on,
because most of the game is non-linear. The characters are handled in a
RPG fasion with hit points and all, but thankfully the fights are not,
instead being done by placing the party members on the regular screen and
giving orders like give X an open-plan head using a shotgun.

 Also a little flavour is added by the ability to enter cyberspace and use
the inhabitants and data within to help accomplish your tasks. For
example: in the first few times you use your deck, you will meet with a
chap by the name of Elvis. Elvis's essence was trapped in the net when his
body died, and if you build him a new body from cyborg parts you can
filch, then he will work for you. This is good for several reasons,
cyborgs are strong and tough, Elvis is smart and a great decker - you end
up with an excellent all rounder who you can't kill by biting (this
happens automatically when your blood lust gets too high).

 The graphics are gorgeous especially the movements, but a good machine is
needed to keep the action going, the dialogue is nice too,  reading like
real speech as oposed to window dressing for instructions. In-game music
is a so-so affair, varying from quite listenable to absolute crap - best
turn it off - and there are no other sound FX that I can remember.
Unfortunately there are some holes in the logic, a good example being if
you blow both arms off a person, they can still shoot back.

 The worst bits - crappy inventory & object controls
                  saves which occasionally forget what you've done
                  useless conversation recall
                  some really cryptic puzzles
                  needs a monitor and a hard disk to be playable.

 The best bits -  you don't have to walk to someone/thing to talk/pickup.
                  great plot, graphics and atmosphere.
                  you can kill people that annoy AND get away with it.
                  non-linear plot.
                  seems to work well on 'exotic' machines, no bugs found.

In conclusion: despite it's faults, I love this game. My antidote to Monkey Island.

Alphabetical list.