Abuse

Abuse Me, Abuse Me More!

A Review of Abuse

Mark Woon

The guys at Crack dot Com sure weren’t listening when people said that

side-scrolling action games were dead. And thank god they didn’t.

Their latest game, Abuse, is one of the best action games I’ve ever

played, with the familiar adrenaline pumping,



heart thumping, pulse

racing, mind numbing feeling that you can get when playing a great

shoot-em-up.

The plot behind Abuse is your typical alien invasion conquering earth,

with you being the only one that’s capable of defeating them. You’re

a cyborg trained for covert operations, and it’s your job to

infiltrate their defense systems and destroy them. But when you’re

deep in the middle of a firefight, you really won’t care about the

lack of a story.

Purchasing the regular version of the game won’t get you much in the

way of documentation, but it will get you an Abuse t-shirt and



poster. Fortunately, installation is straightforward (via an

“install” program), and the entire first level is dedicated to getting

you familiar with the keys and interacting with your surroundings.

The interface is extremely intuitive and needs no explanations.

Graphics
Instead of imitating Doom’s 3D graphics engine, Abuse uses a

sophisticated side-scroller with point-source lighting. The first

hint of this is the monitor color calibration process that you have to

go through before you can play the game. What does this all mean?



Great graphics. Gloomy and atmospheric, the lighting in Abuse is one

of its most impressive features. Lights flicker and dim, turn off and

on as your make your way through tunnels and passage ways. Sometimes

you can barely make out shapes, and sometimes you’ll wish you couldn’t

as you’re overwhelmed by another wave of aliens.

Sound
If you’re real big on music in games, be prepared: there is none in

Abuse. Instead, Abuse relies on incidental and atmospheric sound

effects. And to tell the truth, the sound effects in Abuse are

downright scary. From alien shrieks and far-off clanging machinery to

pulsating lasers and your own thumping heartbeat, Abuse becomes a

very, very realistic experience. So turn down the lights, pump up the

volume, and be prepared to be frightened.

Gameplay
As for game control, movement is achieved with the keyboard arrow keys

while you aim your gun with the mouse. This may be a little odd at

first, but you soon get used to it as you barrel down corridors



shooting at the horde of aliens snapping at your heels behind you.

Apart from standard movements, you can also interact with the

environment. There are doors, switches, teleporters, hidden walls,

buttons, activators, and elevators galore to play with.

And there are more than enough “toys” to keep you amused too. Apart

from the standard laser rifle, there are grenade launchers,

heat-seeking rocket launchers, plasma rifles, flame throwers, laser

sabers, and the nefarious Death Frizbees. The are also power-ups

that augment your capabilities. Some allow you to increase your

health limit, move faster, turn invisible, and even fly.

Replayability
If you’ve finished the 18 levels that come with the registered

version, and want more, you can even create your own. Abuse comes

with it’s own full-featured level editor that lets you manipulate

every single aspect of the game. Not just what goes where, but the



AI of every creature in the game. You can create a custom behavior

for a monster, associate a new sound effect with it, anything you can

come up with. For those who want to really make custom levels, a

powerful graphics editor named Satan Paint is also included.

Conclusion
If you’re easily addicted, stay away. Otherwise, it’s a must have.

At it’s simplest, Abuse is all about destruction. Haunting,



beautifully crafted carnage, but carnage nonetheless. Its great

graphics and sound effects and its infinite customizablity add up

to make Abuse one of the best action games ever.

Gamer’s Zone Scorecard

Product:	Abuse
Company:	Crack.dot.com
Cost:	$54

System Requirements:

386/33, 4MB RAM, 10MB disk space, sound card, mouse.

Breakdown:

Fun Factor 4
Interface 4
Replayability 4
Graphics 5
Sound 4

Overall Score: