| Terracon Platforming and shooting with an alien�. What�s an alien to you? Is it a creature from another planet in a UFO or is it just a person from another country. The guys who brought this great title portray aliens as the ones from other planets. The ones with shiny big heads and laser weaponry and cool spaceships. Normal alien then? Nope this little alien guy is far from the common alien portrayal in looks yes but in his manners no. His name is Xed and his mission is to stop the forces of the Terracon a huge monster type thing. The Terracon was originally created to help Xeds race the grey, to make it possible to live on some planets. When they have finished with the Terracon they try to shut him down but it goes wrong and the creature escapes killing his creator in its wake and Xed only just escaping un scratched. So off goes Xed on a mission to destroy the big guy. But it�s not just a normal platformer come shooter. Xed has to regenerate objects such as bridges and ledges to be able to walk on them using his weapon to make them solid again. But that�s not all there is to it either. Different colour bridges etc require the same colour laser power picked up over the levels. Here�s an example Xed wants to cross a bridge but when he try�s he just falls into the water underneath. Time to fire your laser at the bridge to make it a solid object, but when you try it won�t become solid, simply because you haven�t got the right amount of colour coordinated Genergy (the laser power in the weapon). Now search the level for the right coloured Genergy and the right amount. There you go now it�s possible to regenerate the coloured wire frame bridge. The 32 levels are over different planets such as Venus and the Moon. They require missions to be completed collecting launch cartridge codes and protecting a missile silo and a lot more. The levels are filled with Terracon forces, which must be eliminated to have any chance of survival. The enemies range from big mechanical spiders to helicopters and planes. Be warned these forces are no push over, the spiders have infa red sight and they hardly miss, requiring you to jump around the levels. Luckily you can switch to a view to target enemies in the distance, so you don�t always have to get into fire-fights. Sadly this is hard to use as it�s difficult to target your enemy. The gunfights are mayhem with nice explosions all around and superb multi coloured lighting with the lasers. Helpful stuff can also be bought after levels with genergy you received during that level. Sometimes at the start or the end of a level the Terracon creator will give you advice. He gets killed at the start but luckily he was programmed into Xeds spaceship. They talk to each other using their own language with subtitles on the screen. The acting is good. How may you ask when they are speaking in an alien language, simply because the sound of their voices sound like humans real emotions and tones of voices. It�s certainly the best platformer on the console next to Crash bandicoot 3. Originality at its best. Chris Wigham 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 |