PowerSlave
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| PowerSlave | |
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| Developer(s) | Lobotomy Software |
| Publisher(s) | Playmates Interactive Entertainment (US) BMG Interactive (Europe) |
| Designer(s) | Brian McNeely (Game Design / Direction) Ezra Dreisbach (Programmer) |
| Engine | Build (PC) SlaveDriver (console) |
| Platform(s) | Sega Saturn, PlayStation PC |
| Release date | 1996 |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Mature |
| Media | CD-ROM |
PowerSlave (Exhumed in European territories and Seireki 1999: Pharaoh no Fukkatsu in Japan, is a first-person shooter, developed by Lobotomy Software and published by Playmates Interactive Entertainment. It was released in 1996 in the US, for Sega Saturn, PlayStation and the PC.
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[edit] Synopsis
PowerSlave is set in an area around the ancient Egyptian city of Karnak in the late 20th Century. The city has been seized by unknown forces, with a special crack team of hardened soldiers sent to the valley of Karnak, to uncover the source of this trouble. However on the journey there, the player's helicopter is shot down and the player barely escapes. The player is sent in to the valley as the hero to save Karnak and the World. The player finds himself battling hordes of evil creatures including mummies, anubis guardians of the dead, scorpions and evil spirits. The player's course of action is directed by the spirit of King Ramses, whose mummy was exhumed from its tomb by these evil creatures.
[edit] Gameplay
Throughout the game, gameplay follows a standard first-person shooter formula. Familiar elements from the genre, such as collecting keys to open doors in a level, are present.
As the game progresses, the player picks up a number of artifacts which in turn gives himself new abilities. Such abilities include being able to jump higher, levitate, breathe underwater, walk in lava, walk through force fields and jump further to reach previously inaccessible areas of the maps. In a similar fashion, there are a number of key symbols (Power, Time, War and Earth) that can open sealed areas in previously visited maps.
Each map is connected together by a world-overview map in a similar manner to Super Mario World.
It should be noted, however, that this non-linear system only applies to the console versions.
Weapons
- Machete: Standard melee weapon
- Pistol: Standard handgun
- M-60: Machine gun
- Amun Mines: Grenades
- Flamethrower: close combat weapon
- Cobra Staff: Shoots magical homing missiles
- The Ring of Ra: Unleashes deadly red fireballs
- The Sacred Manacle: Shoots homing blue lightning flashes
Artifacts
- Sandals of Inkumpet: Increase jump height
- Sobek mask: Breathe underwater for 50 seconds without damage
- Shawl of Isis: Allows the player to slowly float down after jumping
- Protective anklets: Allows the player to walk on swamp without damage, and lava with little damage
- Kilmaat scepter: Opens green forcefields on contact
- Horus feather: Allows the player to levitate after jumping
[edit] Secrets
Throughout the game, there are eight pieces of a radio transmitter. These must be assembled in order to receive the "good ending", whereby the player become an immortal, rather than being buried with the dead, only to be excavated years later.
Hidden in the games are 23 Team Dolls, each for someone who worked on the game. The rewards are different for each version.
The PlayStation exclusively has Dolphin and Vulture modes. Dolphin mode allows the player to swim faster and jump out of water and is unlocked after 10 dolls. Vulture mode, unlocked after 14 dolls, allows the player to continually jump in midair, thus giving the feel of flying. These effects are visible by hieroglyphs in the top left corner (symbolized by a dolphin and a vulture).
The Sega Saturn rewarded you with Lobo-flight mode for collecting all of the Team Dolls, by restarting the game with the completed save. This allowed the player to fly, very similar to swimming, but in midair. Also, on only the NTSC Sega Saturn version, collecting all 23 dolls in the gives the player access to the hidden game Death Tank.
Owners of Duke Nukem 3D on the Saturn can access the sequel, Death Tank Zwei, if they have a save game of PowerSlave or Quake saved on either the system Backup RAM or a RAM cart.
[edit] Game versions
[edit] Console
The first version of game to be released was on the Sega Saturn, shortly followed by a release on the PlayStation, with tweaked gameplay, added arcitecture, some different levels, and other changes. Both these versions are based on Lobotomy Software's SlaveDriver Engine and feature a true 3D world, similar to Quake. It is worth noting that the same engine was used to power the Sega Saturn versions of Duke Nukem 3D and eventually Quake.
Besides some changes in the levels (extra rooms in one version that's not in another, added architecture on the PlayStation), the levels Amun Mines, Heket Marsh, Set Palace, Cavern of Peril, and Kilmaat Colony are almost completely different between the two versions. There are exclusive powerups on the Sega Saturn such as the All-Seeing Eye, Invisibility and Weapon Boost. Also exclusive to the Sega Saturn is the ability to bomb-boost, which is similar to rocket jumping in other FPS games.
Sprites, however, were represented in 2D, similar to games such as Doom and Duke Nukem 3D. The game features coloured dynamic lighting too, but only in the Saturn version.
Level progression is handled as a "hub system" of levels, in a similar manner to HeXen.
Tweaks in the PlayStation version include more detailed levels (but the game lacks the colored lighting from the Sega Saturn), some completely redesigned levels, more stable platform jumping, reworked puzzles, and better random powerups (making health and ammo more plentiful). The lasers from the Sega Saturn were replaced with blue ball launchers, and the bouncing balls were replaced with merely normal fireballs, however. A weird oddity though, is that on the Sega Saturn, the Protective Anklets make the player completely immune to acid, instead of lowering the damage to the player on the PlayStation.
[edit] PC
The PC version of PowerSlave is quite different compared to the console versions. These differences are noticeable by playing the two versions. Here is a list as follows:
- The PC version is running on the Build engine, licensed from 3D Realms. The version used is a slightly earlier version, written sometime before Duke Nukem 3D.
- The HUD interface is different.
- Players have usable Mana energy that can cast spells once the spell has been acquired (e.g. collecting a torch allows the player to use energy to illuminate dark areas).
- Ammo is not universal. Instead of blue orbs usable for all weapons, separate ammo is needed.
- Some sprites are different (e.g. M60 machine gun).
- Audible words are used for the player compared to grunts in the console versions (most notably, the character shouts, "Son of a bitch!" when attacked.)
- Grenades are used instead of Amun mines.
- Mummies fire a white homing attack that when hit, turns the player into a mummy momentarily, additionally with the most powerful weapon in the game (mummy staff).
- Checkpoints are placed throughout the level by indication of golden scarabs.
- Red crab-like spiders are used instead of blue scorpions (also known as Terranians).
- The light sourcing from the Slavedriver engine is not used; the Build engine's own light sourcing is used instead.
- Levels are conducted in a more linear format rather than the free progression of the console editions.
- The Manacle of Power fires a lighting cloud above the enemy, rather than firing lighting bolts from the player's hands as in the console versions.
- No artifacts are present in the PC version.
[edit] Notes
- Voice narration in the game was performed by Don LaFontaine, aka "The Voice-Over Guy".
- A sequel was planned for the PlayStation, but the company was disbanded before it could be released.
- At one point, the PC version was to be released by 3D Realms as one of their games to show off the power of the Build engine. During this time, the game was known by its working title Ruins: Return of the Gods. Apogee Software released screenshots of the early working version with a slideshow of another of its published titles, Mystic Towers. 3D Realms eventually dropped the title, which was then picked up by Playmates Interactive Entertainment and published as it is known today.
The red crabs (terranians) were present in the Saturn Version as well as the PC version. The blue scorpions only appeared in the Playstation version.
