REX NEBULAR & THE COSMIC GENDER BENDER - MicroProse RRP œ49.99
               (PC HD Only graphic adventure)

                   Reviewed by Dave Stone

MicroProse's first Graphic Adventure (1992) and the Black Sheep of
the family, is really rather good, and still plays well despite
some minor technical flaws. So why did it flop, and why did it so
embarrass Microprose that it has never been released on Budget?
Could it be the marginally Adult theme?  Are lusty amazonian women
with a sex change machine a fit subject for a family game?  Is Rex
worth buying second hand & would it sell on Budget? (YES!!!!)

Surprisingly its all done in the best possible taste, is genuinely
funny, well animated and illustrated and contains logical puzzles
with rewarding solutions.  Many of the ideas were implemented less
well in the similar 'Innocent until Caught'. (The game does
contain some squashed animals, dead bodies and severed limbs -
perhaps MicroProse were afraid of animal rights groups)?

Rex is a space pilot for hire, flying a splendidly decrepit coal
powered spaceship.  His adventures start undersea as he escapes
from the wreckage of his shot down ship.  Later escapades include
capture by the ruling women, a sex change which allows 'Rexanne'
to explore the women only sections of the underground city and the
large but sadly deserted city of the Men.

Throughout the plotting is logical and the interface can be user
defined. On the 'EASY' setting the game comes up with logical
options for travel and object use.

Two minor grumbles. Hard disk access was quite slow - presumably as
a result of Disk Compression which packs a big game into 12MB of
Disk space. Secondly the mouse produced screen glitches
occasionally as the cursor painted across the screen.  However even
the final credits were well produced and quite amusing, and were
followed by an option to view an extended series of quotes by the
development team. If you can get hold of a cheap copy - BUY IT!.

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