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This month Core Design release their first game as a bona fide, go it alone, software publisher. With a welter of publicity behind it in the form of news stories, insights and an extensive ad campaign, Corporation looks set to transform the RPG and swell Core’s coffers into the bargain.
Beginning with a tense and well-animated opening sequence, which details the grissly murder outside a huge industrial factory, Corporation thrusts you into a future world of high-tech automations, genetic research and big business. The story is simple, the game much harder. Universal Cybernetic Corporation (UCC) is a multinational conglomerate that makes IBM, Exxon or the Hanson Group look like corner shops. They are big and have built their success on the development of commercial and domestic robotics. Investing in a wide portfolio of companies, UCC have a controlling interest in nearly every area of commerce and industry.

It has been rumoured for some time that they have moved into genetic manipulation and the creation of new life forms with a view to creating the ultimate killing machine. A series of murders outside one of their research factories, due to an escaped ‘experiment’ have stiffened the Government’s resolve to investigate the problem further. However, the operation has to be covert. If UCC pulled out of the country the economic and political repercussions would be enormous. By sending in a Zodiac agent to steal an embryo of the new life form, the Government would be able to exert pressure on UCC and stop its research. It is not going to be easy, however, as the factory where production is thought to be taking is filled to the gills with high tech security systems, robotic guards and a truck load of genetic monsters.

After the introduction, a selection screen lets you choose your agent from four human and two android agents. Each agent has a unique set of skills and abilities and these effect how the game will be played. It is possible to compensate for weaknesses by buying in skills and purchasing specific weapons and sci-fi gadgetry to make life easier. There is a vast array of equipment on offer such as a back pack computer (with in-built factory map), bombs, compass, electronics kit, gas mask, grenades, five guns, jet pack, lock pick, med kit, psi-enhancing drugs and infra-red goggles amongst others. Phew!

Trouble is, you can only take so much equipment before it starts to impede your movement or your wallet. Android and human operatives also have different needs and priorities. For instance, androids do not need the special infra-red goggles to see with or glucose drinks. You will need to plan carefully and only take essential equipment.

Once the selection screen is over, you are put down by helicopter onto the factory’s roof and enter via the elevator. Elevators are the only way to move between the 16 levels. The higher levels are only useful to try out your weapons and get the feel of them. You can experiment with the disrupto pads which scramble a robots innards if they walk over them, or experiment with your psi-powers such as levitation or clairvoyance.

The further into the complex you go the more guards, robots and security devices you will encounter. The building is littered with high tech alarm systems such as video cameras, pressure pads and infra-red beams. Once the security system has been triggered, doors will lock, gas will be pumped into the area and security forces will move in. If captured, you will be put into a secure area, but if you have got the right equipment and skills it is possible to escape. If not, your body will be disposed of in such a way as to leave no evidence of you ever have been there.

The main screen features a 3D view of the surrounding area. Some of the sprites are huge and all the more impressive for it. The corridor walls fade into darkness giving a realistic lighting effect. My only criticism is the choice of colours – the pale greys and blues do not add much to the atmosphere and make each level look more or less the same. A bit more detail would not have gone amiss either, but that was probably ruled out by limited memory space. Another problem, when up close to a wall, is getting your bearings and working out where you are. It is a tad difficult with no visual markings of any distinction to work from.

On each side of the 3D screen are two humanoid diagrams. One indicates damage sustained and the other the equipment you are carrying. The damage chart indicates which parts of the body have sustained injury. Get hit in the legs and you will still be able to move but at a slower rate; a hit in the arms will slow up your dexterity in manipulating equipment. If you are hit badly in the chest or head it is lights out and a new game. It is possible to repair minor injuries through using a medi-kit or energy drink or resting up. By clicking onto the various products of the equipment chart, you can see what each contains and you can then choose whether to manipulate the selected piece of hardware.

Movement is mouse controlled and simple to use. It is possible to move through 360 degrees with ease, run in a curve, jump over obstacles and most other natural environments. It is a much better system than the forward-turn-forward command systems of similar games.

The game is icon controlled. During most of the game there is only one screen which displays all the necessary ino. It is easy to manipulate objects and access is quick and user-friendly. To use a weapon or device simply click on the appropriate pocket, select the object and press the manipulate-button. Easy, eh?

With 16 levels played over an area of 1,296,000 feet and hundreds of rooms to explore, Corporation will keep you entertained for many, many hours. I have been playing it for a couple of weeks and still have not managed to snatch the embryo and make my escape but I have been too busy trying out all my weapons and mapping all the floors. Corporation is atmospheric, engrossing, and well thought out. It strikes just the right balance between combat, exploration and problem solving to make it a classic.
John Mather

Title Corporation
Company Core design
Game Type 3D Action
Players 1
Compatibility All
Submission Angus Manwaring Profiled Reviewer

Review
I'm a bit hazy on the plotline, but essentially a large and powerful
corporation has been experimenting with genetic manipulation and there
have been a number of unexplained but grizzly deaths in the proximity of
said corporation's main building. Sounds like a job for you, the player,
to infiltrate the building and find out just what the heck is going on.

Corporation is similar to Doom in that it is a 3D, first person
perspective, action oriented game. Corporation predates Doom though, and
there are a number of signifigant differences. The game appears to promise
quite a lot of depth, with all sorts of objects you can use, weapons,
lockpicks, gas masks and high energy food. You can choose from several
characters who you want to be, and this even extends to being a robot.
Okay, so it has depth you say, but wait, there's more.... besides all the
hardware you can use, if you elect to be a human player you can try and
access the psychic powers that the game also boasts. Things look
promising, I'm sure you'll agree.

Unfortunately, Corporation is let down by firstly, a buggy game engine
that has a habit of crashing just as you access a new piece of equipment
or new level, and secondly the gameplay itself,which atleast for me,
proved to be pretty disconcerting. You start the first level from within a
lift, and make your way from there through a number of corridors and
rooms, in search of another lift which will take you to the next level.
Along the way, you get jumped on by thing similar to the face-huggers in
the Alien films, buffetted about by some rather ferocious R2D2 relatives,
some of which prove to be holograms, filmed by ceiling mounted cameras,
and generally run ragged. Suffice to say, I was continually killed before
I'd made very much progress at all, and on the couple of occassions where I
looked like actually achieving anything, the flipping game crashed. Mind
you, it did that some of the time when I was not doing so well, so atleast
you can say it's fair.

It maybe that I'm just rubbish at playing Corporation, and that with a
little technique and tuition I could avoid the things that make my
computer freeze, and my charcter die horrible deaths. Certainly, the game
is ambitious and possibly it helped bring about the Doom phenomenon. Given
my experiences though, I can't reccommend the game, and can only lament
what could and should have been a proper little corker.

Title Corporation
Company Core design
Game Type 3D Action
Players 1
Compatibility All
Submission Angus Manwaring Profiled Reviewer

Review
I'm a bit hazy on the plotline, but essentially a large and powerful
corporation has been experimenting with genetic manipulation and there
have been a number of unexplained but grizzly deaths in the proximity of
said corporation's main building. Sounds like a job for you, the player,
to infiltrate the building and find out just what the heck is going on.

Corporation is similar to Doom in that it is a 3D, first person
perspective, action oriented game. Corporation predates Doom though, and
there are a number of signifigant differences. The game appears to promise
quite a lot of depth, with all sorts of objects you can use, weapons,
lockpicks, gas masks and high energy food. You can choose from several
characters who you want to be, and this even extends to being a robot.
Okay, so it has depth you say, but wait, there's more.... besides all the
hardware you can use, if you elect to be a human player you can try and
access the psychic powers that the game also boasts. Things look
promising, I'm sure you'll agree.

Unfortunately, Corporation is let down by firstly, a buggy game engine
that has a habit of crashing just as you access a new piece of equipment
or new level, and secondly the gameplay itself,which atleast for me,
proved to be pretty disconcerting. You start the first level from within a
lift, and make your way from there through a number of corridors and
rooms, in search of another lift which will take you to the next level.
Along the way, you get jumped on by thing similar to the face-huggers in
the Alien films, buffetted about by some rather ferocious R2D2 relatives,
some of which prove to be holograms, filmed by ceiling mounted cameras,
and generally run ragged. Suffice to say, I was continually killed before
I'd made very much progress at all, and on the couple of occassions where I
looked like actually achieving anything, the flipping game crashed. Mind
you, it did that some of the time when I was not doing so well, so atleast
you can say it's fair.

It maybe that I'm just rubbish at playing Corporation, and that with a
little technique and tuition I could avoid the things that make my
computer freeze, and my charcter die horrible deaths. Certainly, the game
is ambitious and possibly it helped bring about the Doom phenomenon. Given
my experiences though, I can't reccommend the game, and can only lament
what could and should have been a proper little corker.