Corporation - Core Design RRP œ24.99
               (Mouse-controlled RPG on 2 disks)
            
                    Reviewed By Alan Beer

U.C.C. is the Universal Cybernetics Corporation which is one of the 
fastest growing companies to date. The product which made them so 
successful was the RX series robot. With total domination of the 
robotics market U.C.C. expanded with a number of take-overs and
buy-outs and soon became a household name. It was possible that,
soon, all the products in a home would be U.C.C. products.

But behind the scenes it was a different story, there was a new
product being developed. It was custom-designed life-forms. Genetic 
manipulation of this type is highly illegal under international law.
Somehow one of these creatures has escaped and half-eaten people have 
been discovered outside their London office. The government have now 
become concerned that U.C.C. are breaking international law and have 
ordered an investigation and are sending in 'ZODIAC' the
internationally renowned espionage agency to do the job.

As an agent you will be dropped onto the roof of the factory to
locate the genetics laboratory and collect an embryo of the new
product then take it out at ground level and the evidence will be
made public.

At the start you are given a selection of six agents, two men, two
women and two androids, each with different skills, strengths and so
on. This is mainly a static screen but for a nice 3D image of your
agent's face which swivels in the top left hand corner of the screen.
Pick an a agent and it's on to the next screen which is where you
buy yourself some kit from a selection of armament, medical supplies
and electronics etc.

Now it's time to begin your search.

Movement is controlled by an ingenious and sometimes frustrating
mouse-controlled system which is just under the main screen. With
this are other icons to sleep, crouch or duck, jump or stand up and


an eye icon which allows you to look around anything within your
reach. If there is something it will appear in the bottom right-hand
corner of the screen (which is called the 'look' window). You also
have a hand icon which will manipulate anything you have in the
'look' window. Finally you have a spanner icon which is used to
repair an item (if repairable) you have in the 'look' window.

On each side of the main screen is a figure. The left one displays
the damage sustained during the game. Damage is displayed in small
boxes on each body part that will fill up with the more damage you
get. If the chest or the head boxes fill up, it's over. At the
bottom of this figure is a horizontal bar which represents your
energy level.

The figure on the right-hand side is for your equipment inventory
with boxes representing your pockets. To examine anything you may
have in your pockets, just click on a box and its contents will
appear in the 'look' window. With this will appear a small button
marked with an arrow that cycles through the contents. A down

arrow may also appear if the item can be dropped. The horizontal
bar at the bottom of this figure represents your suit's power level.

The environment in which the game is set is a maze of 3D rooms and 
corridors and is not too dissimilar to 'Infestation' from Psygnosis
but not as colourful. However the robots, guards and other nasties
are colourful and well-animated especially when you blast them
away. Other objects you will come across are intruder security
cameras, infra-red beams (which you can only see when you have your
Vision-Enhancing Visor on). You will also come across some
misleading holograms. If you get in the line of sight of a camera
the alarm bells will go off and you will have more guards to
contend with or you may even be captured in which case you're
thrown in a cell and the only way out is to blow a wall up - that
is if you have a bomb.

Combat can be done 3 ways. You have your grenades which explode
on impact, next you have guns that you point on the main with a
cross-hair and fire. If your gun runs out of power or you're not

holding a gun you will then throw a punch, which is a bit
dangerous as you can only punch at arm's length and it does very
little damage anyway.

The 3D graphics are well done but can get a bit flat and boring at
times but there's often something just around the corner. The
sound effects are a bit sparse and sometimes a little confusing
when you hear something happening out of sight and you don't know
what's caused it.

The control system is a bit unusual and takes a bit of getting
used to. Movement can be a bit slow at times but with practice
you can run, jump, turn on the spot and even walk diagonally while
facing forwards.

One of the things that makes Corporation different from other
games is that you can enrol as a 'ZODIAC' agent by sending a
passport-size photograph and the agent registration card with

details like height, weight, and qualifications and œ1.50. You
will get back a personalised data disk featuring your own
digitized mug-shot to load into the game. Is this a sign of
things to come?

Corporation is a good game and will take some time before you get 
anywhere as it's so easy to get killed, and you will - many times.
But once you get the hang of how it works you'll probably love it.