Iron Helix review
Russell Webb
from several days ago still hasn't been approved. I'm not quite sure
Iron Helix is an adventure game, but this is where I've seen most of
the comments on it.]
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Here's a review of Iron Helix, a new sci-fi CD-ROM game from Drew
Picture/Spectrum Holobyte.
I hope that the review is objective and solid enough to be of use;
I wrote up this review for Game Bytes mainly because I've seen very
little on the net other than a post saying "It sucks!". Because of
the recent release of GB 14, I'm posting this to c.s.i.p.g.announce
because I imagine there might not be GB coverage on Iron Helix for
another month or so.
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IRON HELIX from Drew Pictures/Spectrum Holobyte
Reviewed by Russell Webb (rw...@panix.com)
Computer Graphics Memory Disk Space
Minimum 386 640x480x256 4 MB 16 MB + CD-ROM
Max/Rec. 2X CD-ROM
Control: Mouse (recommended), keyboard
Sound: Sound Blaster-compatible Windows drivers
Notes: 150+kb/s CD-ROM supported; 300+kb/s CD recommended
MS-Windows 3.1 required
Reviewed version 1.0x on: 486DX2/50, 16MB RAM, SB Pro, MS-Win 3.1
4MB CD cache
Reviewer recommends: 2x CD-ROM drive (beneficial but not critical)
The year is 2348. In the cold vacuum of space, two Earth war cruisers
converge toward their target planet during wargame testing of a top-
secret viral weapon. Suddenly, a computer glitch in one of the warships,
the Jerimiah Obrian, causes its computers to re-lock its target on the
peaceful Thanosian planet Calliope, many sectors away. The ship quickly
accelerates away, soon out of range of all Earth military ships that
might be able to stop it before it reaches its accidental target.
So begins the setting of IRON HELIX, a sci-fi CD-ROM game from Drew
Pictures (and Spectrum Holobyte), newly ported from the Macintosh to a
Windows 3.1 interface. Your perspective is of a scientist on an Earth
research ship that receives an emergency broadcast concerning the Obrian.
You are the last chance to stop the ship 90 minutes before it reaches
Calliope, where it would launch an attack elevating the existing Earth-
Thanosian cold war to a bloody confrontation resulting in millions of
deaths.
You acquire additional briefing materials in the game manual such as crew
profiles, schematics of the Obrian, and information on the Defender
security robots that guard the Cerebus-class warships from intruders.
You learn that the entire crew was unsuccessful in their attempts to
divert the warship from its course due to the experimental viral weapon
on board. Due to some mishap, the crew began to be affected by the virus.
Their DNA mutated to the point that they could not pass the ship computer
DNA validation; eventually they became targets of the ship's own security
system and were killed.
Because of the lethal virus, your only method of stopping the Obrian is
to send out up to three of your ship's Darwin 5 probes: sluggish,
hovering, remote-controlled robots each with an extensible arm and
bio-organic sensors. Following the introductory game screens, your sole
view throughout the game is a Darwin remote control panel, which you use
to maneuver the robot through the ship to find crew pre-mutation DNA
samples that your probe can scan and use as keys to access the ship's
video logs and high-security areas.
The grimy, dirt-encrusted view of the control panel is divided into
several panels for motion control, DNA sensor sweeps, live video of the
probe's current position, ship computer control or crew video logs, and
schematic views of the current probe and Defender positions. This
interface works adequately, well-integrated into the setting of the
game with all game functions on a single screen. This screen occupies
most of a 640x480 MS-Windows display, bordered by a thick black band.
The game is divided into four phases: finding high-ranking DNA samples,
discovering the proper crew video logs in data ports that reveal ship
computer bypass codes, disabling the ship's Defender robot, and destroying
the ship itself. Unfortunately, these phases are all too clearly
indicated in the game manual as well as the game itself, leaving the game
sequence entirely unveiled. I feel that this is a major weakness in the
game, as it leads the player through without any option to let the player
deduce the game process for him or herself.
The majority of the game action is spend moving the sluggish Darwin probe
through the ship while evading the Defender robot, which blasts the Darwin
with its lasers when given a clear line of sight. Unfortunately, this is
the essence of the game. The primary strategy involves remembering which
areas of each of the ship's 6 levels have been scanned for DNA traces or
video logs while moving though rooms and corridors toward ladders or
elevators to duck to a different level while the Defender is in pursuit.
In the higher difficulty settings of the game (out of three settings),
this becomes more critical and strategic, but is typically just
continually moving toward the nearest exit from a level until the Defender
is a (safer) few levels away. This happens in real-time, so there is an
element of tension involved as you escape from the Defender--if you are
too slow or linger too long collecting clues one of your probes will be
destroyed. However, moving about the ship is still a sluggish process,
too slow to make the game interesting as a fast-paced action game, I
feel. (Note that this review is based on a 150kb/s drive. A 300+kb/s
CD-ROM would make the game animation much faster, but the game doesn't
seem to orient itself as an action game, since paths through the
ship need to be careful and deliberate anyhow.)
The video logs left by the dead crew are well-done, functioning quite
well even on a 150kb/s CD. These logs are small, occupying a corner of
the control panel, but don't exhibit pauses or loading lag times on slow
CD players. The game bills itself as having '0-load time', which is
fairly accurate. The designers mention that they put faster response
time above larger animation windows in the design of the game, to good
effect. The game sound is generally well done as well, the sounds of
ship doors swooshing open and closed, the mechanized sounds of the Darwin
arm moving back and forth, and the laser blasts of the Defender as it
destroys the probe all add to the immersiveness of the game.
The ray-traced view of the ship interior as your probe moves about looks
realistic (if a bit dithered), but is secondary to the schematic view
of the current ship level. The interior view does help draw the player
into the atmosphere of wandering through the deserted warship; however,
I found myself almost ignoring this view in favor of the schematic,
which was of critical importance in deciding which way to move through
the level to scan for DNA or video logs or run from the Defender.
Aside from looking around your current position to see the data ports
into which you lock the probe arm to view logs or access the ship
computer, this interior view is almost functionally redundant, glossy
animation on top of the rest of the interface. The perspective of the
ship interior view is tile-based, much like the animation in THE 7TH
GUEST or LANDS OF LORE--not a free-floating viewpoint, but still
smoothly animated as you turn at 90 degree angles or move through
passageways.
Each replay of the game differs in the random DNA and video log placement
necessary to find the clues and computer bypass codes necessary to stop
the Defender and destroy the ship. Unfortunately, this didn't hold much
replay value for me, since the basic game sequence is still the same.
The game interface and play was initially quite impressive, but after
several repetitions of the 90 minute game at different difficulty
settings, it did not seem to have anything new to offer. In fairness,
perhaps the game offers more variety after more replays, but I did not
see this in the few days that I played it before returning it to a retail
store. The retail price is in the $65-$75 range, with mail order prices
currently around $60, much too high for a game product if it will have
only short-term interest.
(Endgame SPOILER Alert!)
The losing endgame sequence results if all of your three probes are
destroyed or if 90 minutes pass and the ship reaches its target.
Strangely, you see the ship launch its viral weapon towards the planet
Calliope, which quickly explodes into a firey ball--that must be one
powerful virus! In print magazine previews of the Macintosh Iron Helix
months ago, this was one minor criticism of the game which would allegedly
be rectified in the final release. Disappointingly, this inconsistant
ending remains in the MS-Windows version.
(end of SPOILER)
In summary, I'm afraid I'd find it difficult to recommend Iron Helix to
any particular sort of gameplayer. The real-time action in the game is
too sluggish to be of much interest to action game fans, the game-playing
strategy isn't particularly involved, and the spoon-fed game phases would
probably tend to alienate adventure game or puzzle-oriented players on
the first run through the game. The graphics and interface are very good,
even functioning quite well even on a 150kb/s CD drive, but the game may
lack the depth necessary to be significantly appealing to players who
won't be satisfied by the flashy graphics and sound alone, or who want a
good measure of replayability. Despite Iron Helix's shortcomings, the
core of the game is very promising. I look forward to Drew Pictures'
next effort and hope that it will be more involved, with deeper strategy
and variety.
This review is Copyright 1993 by Russell Webb for Game Bytes Magazine.
All rights reserved.