@~This issue's 'Something Different ...' is:

            Inner Space - Software Dynamics Inc.

             Reviewed by James Judge on a 486sx

Imagine flying through your computer in a laser spitting,
electronic duck which ejects narcotic doughnuts from its derriere.
Imagine flying this aforementioned bird through an indefinite
number of levels picking up all of the programs on your HDD to
save them from eating your system resources and restoring your
computer to normality. Imagine being a member of a team called the
Fuzzy Ones (which includes a variety of ducks, bears, mongooses
and the like) and making and breaking relationships with other
teams, from Renegades through to Pirates and Enforcers. Imagine
racing your duck against other vehicles in a number of race
tracks.  Finally, imagine facing your Inner Demon and defeating
it, to be returned from Inner Space.

If all of that strikes a chord with you, then you'll love this
game.  Basically what it does is install itself (all 1.5megs of
it!) onto your HDD and run through Windows. When you first load
it you can pick your ship (from the silly ones like ducks and
mongoose through to definite speed demons like the Pocket Rocket),
Depending on the ship you've picked, you'll be assigned to a team
(from a possible eight) and then be thrown into the main screen of
the game where you're faced with the directory tree of your HDD.

Yes, that's right. You know the little directory tree you get to
see of your HDD when you enter the File Manager? Well, that's what
you get to see (along with a few other directories which I'll talk
about later on...). What you do is select a directory, the
computer then tells you how many programs are in that directory
(and how many icons are attached to that directory) and you can
choose to enter it.

Upon entrance you're given a summation of what the level will be
like, a description of all the hazards you'll come across and a
brief description of any ships (including your own) that will make
an appearance. You're then ejected into 'Inner Space'.  This is
where all the gameplay takes place, from collecting the icons to
duelling with opponents, running from the police and helping
allies, along with killing viruses, avoiding hazards and being
sucked into limbo by your Inner Demon.

You view all the action from above. You know, like in Micro
Machines and other boring 'racing' games. You control your duck
(or whatever) using the arrows and have two weapons (to begin
with) at your fingertips. You then fly around a set area (which
looks like a starfield) collecting all of the icons connected with
that directory. Collecting the icons gives you resource points
which you can then spend upgrading your duck in the hospital,
which is only a finger press away.

And that, really, is the game. You fly around all the directories
on your HDD, collecting the icons, fighting enemies, helping
friends and upgrading your ship. Finally, once all the icons have
been retrieved, you go on to face your inner demon (which takes
some beating) and you finish the game.

It doesn't sound a lot, but once you get in there this truly is a
magnificent game. It has that elusive 'just one more go' quality
and the way in which you can make an enemy, fail to kill him and
then all of his friends come along with him to beat the hell out
of you really does take some topping.

The graphics are top notch, the game runs at a blistering speed
(especially for a Windows game) and the sounds are top notch -
especially if you've a stereo sound card. Lightning really does
sound like lightning and all of the well-done messages from your
onboard computer sound good too.

Apart from flying around all of these levels (did I tell you that
all the hazards etc. found in a directory are randomly generated,
so no matter how hard the HDD you'll never face the same set of
hazards twice) there are also a few other special directories.
Three of them are race tracks where you can pit your ship against
three others of differing quality (adjustable by you) on the best
lap, five laps or ten laps. The other directory is the duel
directory where you choose to fight against up to three other
ships. The only difference here to other levels where you can
fight is that there are no rules (on other levels if you break the
Inner Space rules you'll be carted away to the cop-shop) and there
is no hospital. Oh, and there's no way of exiting the level
without being the only survivor.

If you mix Asteroids with an addictive (yet amusing) arcade game
you're half way there to imagining this game. There's also a
strategy element running through the entire game and, if you don't
like using your fingers to control the ship as it does the
collecting, you can sit back and become a commander - issuing
ships to do your bidding, instead of creating an agenda for your
own particular ship.

To run the game you need Windows (of course) and a 386 or above
(but I have got a friend running it on a nifty 286), but the speed
and detail levels are all configurable. A soundcard really will
add a lot to this game (especially a stereo one) but a little

hint, to get a nice speed increase remove the MIDI soundtracks -
they can get annoying anyway.

The registration fee for this little gem is $29.95 (+$4 shipping)
and for that you get an upgrade disk, the ability to design your
own ship (adding your own graphics and sound), more weapons etc.
and a printed manual.

Try this game out - I know you'll like it. And once you've dealt
with your own annoying computer you'll be able to take your ship
to a friend's and sort their Pentium out...

Quack.






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