CAPTAIN BLOOD 

 Welcome to the galaxy created by CAPTAIN BLOOD. It contains an
incalculable number of stars, nearly 33,000 planets, 14 distinct
alien races, and, unfortunately, CAPTAIN BLOOD. The "Captain" is not
really a captain. And "Blood" is quite misleading because he's very
nearly out of that precious fluid. This admittedly confusing set of
facts comes together in the unique and intriguing role-playing
game, CAPTAIN BLOOD. (This review is based on the Amiga version.) 

 Blood's galaxy came into existence on his personal computer: Blood
is a programmer and the author of computer games. For one such
game, he created a galaxy and named it "Hydra." In addition to the
features listed above, he gave each alien species distinct
language, customs, and disposition. Some of these populations were
at peace, while others were at war with one of the other races. He
devised an inter-species, icon-based communication system called
"upcom," and other technological nifties. He then capped the whole
thing off with a hero -- a protagonist for the drama -- whose role
would be that of the person playing the game. 

 Along the lines (I suppose) of Lord British, who enjoys placing his
own identity within his ULTIMA masterpieces, Blood named his hero
"Captain Blood." Obviously Blood was a far better programmer than he
was a debugger, for when he ran his program, he found it
sucked...sucked him right into the Hydra Galaxy! Blood is now flying
the spaceship he designed among the stars and worlds he programmed. 
But Blood is not exactly himself: The program, for reasons unknown, 
created five additional Bloods, each copy taking some of the real
Captain Blood's vital fluids. 

 The five clones are scattered throughout Hydra, and Blood needs to
find them to regain his juices within several real-time hours. In
order to locate the five copies, he must use his own "upcom" 
communication system to converse with the 14 races he created. As
the clock ticks down, Blood's ship's computer is gradually replacing
body parts with bionic bits. If this is allowed to continue, Blood
will lose control over his body, and, ultimately, his humanity. 

 This game is simply fantastic! Learning to use the upcom is a real
challenge requiring many hours of linguistic exercise before
progress can be made. Once there is communication, Blood will have
to bargain and deal in Hydra's political jungle. A pencil and paper
for taking notes during exchanges with the aliens is recommended. 
Some aliens will require your services before they give you
information. You may need to rescue, kidnap, or destroy in order to
satisfy the creatures. Your ship is capable of annihilating an
entire planet, so you're not exactly without clout in Hydra. Your
goal here is to learn the coordinates of each of the planets on
which the clones are hiding. Each time a clone is recovered, your
available time is increased. Once the clones are found and Blood is
no longer in danger of becoming mechanized, there is still the
problem of returning home. 

 The sound and graphics are terrific. The interior of Blood's ship
is made up of strange, techno-organic mechanisms: that is, 
everything is either a living mechanism or a mechanized organism. 
These are rich in detail, and are colored in deep shades of blue. At
the controls you see Blood's arm; as time runs out, it slowly
mutates into a less easily controllable robotic arm. On the ship's
view screen, planets and stars shine with an unnatural light. While
moving through hyperspace between the stars, the screen explodes
into brilliant rainbow displays (which may be skipped over once you
decide you've seen them often enough). 

 The aliens Blood meets also abound in detail and imagination. He
communicates with them using an "Oorxx." The Oorxx are creatures who
make their eyes and ears available to Blood. They enable him to
carry on his conversations with aliens as though he were down on the
planet, even though he remains in his ship. However, the Oorxx must
be guided to the planet's surface. This involves a brief arcade
sequence in which you maneuver them through canyons on the planet's
surface. The technique for doing this takes some practice, but it
soon becomes effortless; the flight through the canyons is hypnotic
and almost dream-like. 

 Sound effects in the game are everywhere and are of the same high
quality as the graphics. The ship's engines sound as if they're
about to disintegrate during hyperspace travel. The Oorxx, as well
as the aliens on the planets, make species-distinct noises when they
speak or yell. Most impressive is the game's title-screen music, 
programmed by noted electronic composer Jean-Michel Jarre. (Atari
owners may recall that Jarre composed the music for his albums on
the ST.) 

 There are so many reasons for recommending CAPTAIN BLOOD, I doubt
I've covered them all. It is indeed rare for a game so rich in
graphics to be such a winner when it comes to game play. This is a
twist on the "Emperor's New Clothes" syndrome that applies to so
many programs on the market: This time, the Emperor really does
dress royally. 

 CAPTAIN BLOOD requires 512K on the Amiga and is played almost
entirely with the mouse. It uses only one disk on the Amiga, but
other versions are distributed on two disks. A formatted diskette is
required to save games. 

 CAPTAIN BLOOD is published by Infogrames and distributed by
Mindscape. 

*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253