CHAOS IN ANDROMEDA

 What? They make computer games in Denmark? I guess so; for the most part, 
Denmark has been more famous for the rampant piracy of _other_ peoples' games 
than for the production of its own. I'm not sure CHAOS IN ANDROMEDA is 
adequate compensation, though; a potentially interesting fiction is marred 
here by a CRPG system we've all seen many times before. (This review is based 
on the Amiga version)

 The fiction is that the player has been summoned from people in the future in 
need of abilities from the past. The problem with the fiction is that the 
_entire_ manual is organized around it. For instance, the designers don't seem 
to have it in their hearts to call a floppy disk a floppy disk; in CHAOS IN 
ANDROMEDA it's a "micro data storage unit," MDSU for short.

 It only gets worse from there; the first half hour (at least) of coming to 
terms with the game is a very frustrating, and quite needless, process of 
translating the "futuristic" jargon back into plain terms so that figuring out 
how to actually play the game is more likely to occur. The very end of the 
manual provides an actual 3-page command reference "card," which is all the 
actual game really needs.

 And it's that 3-page card that gives the whole lot away. There's just not 
much to CHAOS IN ANDROMEDA. Configure the main character with the appropriate 
levels of stats, send him off into the gameworld, Talk, Get, Buy, Fight, etc., 
etc., etc. Little in the way of story is included in the actual game. A 
CAPTIVE-like feature provides for some amusement; your character can remote-
control some droids at different locations in order to manipulate and prepare 
objects for your use when you arrive. But that's about it. In order to claim 
non-violence, everything is translated into the metaphor of "psionics," but it 
makes little difference; the player mind-blasts enemies and, well, they just 
wipe out as badly as they would if they were struck with a Halberd+3.

 Perhaps I have become jaded by seeing one too many CRPGs that set up a 
marvelous premise, with all sorts of neat names, descriptions of locations, 
inhabitants, journeys and goals, only to find that actual gameplay consists of 
an endlessly repetitive series of limited point-and-click actions, which move 
a limited character animation into and out of a series of endlessly repetitive 
gray (or heck, even colorful) "rooms," or boxes, all for the sake of finding 
the Ultimate Box with the Ultimate Object being withheld by the Ultimate Bad 
Guy. I can stand this kind of assembly-line activity for only so long even 
when it is ensconced in even the most thoughtful of game designs. When it is 
encountered in a game which substitutes an over-complex, obtuse story in the 
manual for an explanation of actual gameplay; and which attempts to provide 
the illusion of depth by trying to get the player to imagine everything having 
to do with his computer as being part of the gameworld; and which finally 
provides an interface and game process that don't even begin to live up to the 
premises, well, my interest fails entirely.

 CHAOS IN ANDROMEDA comes on two copyable disks, and will run off of one 
floppy drive in 512K of RAM on Amiga 1000s, 2000s, and 500s. A mouse is used 
for interface; no hard-disk support is included. Graphics and sound are both 
adequate for the game.

 Perhaps for veteran CRPG players, with patience and much time on their hands, 
CHAOS IN ANDROMEDA could prove worthy of consideration. At least there were 
no significant bug problems I could discern during play. And this _does_ seem 
to be a first design by a young team attempting to break into the world of 
game design; as such, it's perfectly professional in programming execution. 
But beyond that, I can't feel particularly excited about CHAOS. Better luck 
next time!

 CHAOS IN ANDROMEDA is published and distributed by On-Line Entertainment, 
Ltd.