Tuesday 24 May 2016

Cybercon III - My Faourite Amiga 500 Game

Cybercon III, U.S. Gold Ltd (1991)


A gem of a game in my opinion, nine video game magazines giving review scores between 86 and 93 percent agreed with me, but a few others disagreed saying it was too complicated and too slow.


But I found the speed suited the plot and after a bit of practice those so called complicated controls became second nature and that's when it really drew me in.


I'd turn off the lights and become immersed in a strange new world of shaded polygons that represented my Power Armours (PA) view of the many geographical features within the Cybercon III defence complex.


My mission was to find and destroy the brain stem of the Cybercon III defence complex. I could also complete my mission by dismantling the force wall that shielded the complex from outside attack.


I really got the feeling that I was actually inside the PA and controlling all the turning, walking, shuffling and jumping with my joystick and keyboard around the complex.


The PA had a bunch of systems (Power-Assist, Defence Field, Auto Repair, Sensors and Secondary Weapons) to help you and they all ran off energy banks.


You could turn these systems off-line to save energy and you could also find extra energy banks to insert into your PA. You had to get the balance just right during any situation of what systems to keep on-line and what to turn off-line.


My PA had a Plasma Projector weapon and a slot for another weapon or system. I could use the Energy Transfer Probe (ETP) to drain power from fuel cells and transfer it to my PA energy banks.


I had a sonic key which could play sonic codes to operate devices. It could even be used to interrogate devices in your inventory and also in the local area to obtain the correct codes.


I was able to carry objects, up to 16, in my PA's backpack and I also had the ability to place up to four remote camera's in the complex and monitor them.  


This was my favourite game on my Amiga 500 in the early nineties and I highly recommend you give it a try... with the lights off... in the dark.

A strategy guide to the game can be found here



2 comments:

  1. This game IS a gem. I played it as a teen and beat the pc version for the first time at age 30

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    1. That's great to hear. I never actually completed it, hahaha. If you're into retro gaming you could join my facebook group 'Retro Rekall' and also a huge retro group I'm admin on called 'Retro Games Forver', 14,000+ members. Both get the nostalgia flowing :D

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