Ooze

Get ready to be scared stiff!!

I'm often a little sceptical of so-called horror games because they're never really gonna be that scary. In fact, the only game that has ever made me jump was the Jaguar's Alien vs Predator - it was late at night and I jumped out of my skin when an alien shrieked. Terrifying at 3am!! Anyhow, enough of my scooby-doo adventures.

I actually bought this game years ago so figured it was about time I dusted it off and booted it up. This is an adventure developed by H. J. Braendle and Guido Henkel of Dragonware Games back in 1988. My box is quite battered with floppy disks that no longer work! But at least I have the manual which is, for a number of reasons, most helpful.

Helpful because I'm not a massive fan of text adventures if I'm brutally honest. Though I have enjoyed a few over the years on both my ZX Spectrum and Atari ST. And, more recently, I bought a couple of crackers - Hibernated 1 and The Curse of Rabenstein so I felt confident with Ooze to see what kind of horrific journey might be on offer.

Okay, let's begin with a screenshot from the beginning of our adventure, at Carfax Abbey...

We begin standing outside and looking at our inheritance. Oh, how I wish this was real life!!

I love cheeseburgers!

We play a character called Ham Burger and have inherited Carfax Abbey from our late uncle, Cheez Burger (these names are killing me). Yep, this sounds like a horrifying comedy? Anyhow, it appears he died under mysterious circumstances. So, rather than enjoying our wealthy new lifestyle we instead, investigate what's happened. Typical...!

From the start, the game dictates the expected creepy atmosphere. Upon arriving, we cautiously check out our new home. Thunder is rumbling and an old signpost details the address, 666 Rue Morgue. Nervously walking up, we see the porch and an old rocking chair but this ain't an ordinary chair because it's haunted. That's right! In fact, almost every room is haunted by something, so it's a good idea to take it slow and ponder the environment carefully. Very carefully.

Ooze has a good sense of humour. Wait too long and a panicky message appears asking if you're still there. Don't leave me here alone, it whimpers lol. Just try sitting on the porch chair for an eye-opening experience that I did not expect. The characters are excellent and I laughed when rescuing Marie: "Marie EnToilet"!! However, Murx is an oddity which made me chuckle and scratch my head. Oh, and when you die, the game pranks you - by banning you from the RAM!!

Oh yes, there are lots of silly pranks and fun places to explore so let's see some more screenshots...

I cannot spoil what happened but you can still get a glimpse of the humour!

You might not see it but the text can be very vivid to portray the scene nicely.

More humour after a wrong decision. But look at those weird trophies. Nice graphics!

I'm rich and also haunted!

The world of Carfax Abbey is small but feels bigger because of the time spent at each location. It's tempting to rush off and explore but that means you will miss everything important (as expected) and probably die. So be warned! Getting around is done using the expected compass directions (N/S/E/W) plus U/D for up/down. It's possible to 'sit down' or 'run south' to hastily exit. A handy command called 'exits' will inform you of all possible routes from your location.

Each area has a vivid description that is extremely longwinded so it's possible to overlook something blatant, like the lance - which was totally infuriating. I know, I know, all adventures require that you read the room's description but it's apparent that Ooze takes this to the extreme thanks to the amount of detail mixed with subtle hints. Thankfully, that feature can be changed by using the 'brief' command, which I did from the moment I entered the Abbey!

The parser is good but I fear something was lost in translation (German roots). Simple commands are often confused by a pedantic requirement for correct input. Try unlocking a door, searching a trunk or switching on the lights. Well, light... Irritating!! Level 9 quality this is not. Whatever you read in the description, examine that said object fully because nothing is obvious. Find the chalk if you can (agony that). Or suss out what you're supposed to do with the Parlor rope.

Surely you're interested to see more? I thought so, so let's view some more screenshots...

We're starting to get somewhere now but then this happened... but then a "plopp". Hmm...

Some areas really do offer nothing valuable other than a lovely walk to the next room.

Oh my, things are hotting up in the bedroom!

An adventure with an atmosphere?

Visually, I loved how Ooze combined the two resolutions for great effect. Low is obviously used to display a range of gorgeous images whilst the clarity of Medium is put to great use to read the text. This is superb and works well. Weirdly, not every room you visit appears to have its own separate image which I found a little confusing at first.

Those with a crisp monochrome monitor will be happy to know Ooze works in high resolution. The text looks wonderful but the images... hmm... not so much. It's as if the low-res images have simply been converted on the fly, rather than drawn specifically for this particular display mode. Which is a shame.

The audio is superb with lots of samples for eerie creaks, footsteps, ghoulish screams and so on. However, the atmosphere is spoilt by the ST's keyboard clicks, which I didn't see any way to disable. It's no big deal but I'd have preferred to disable them because they are a lot louder than the sampled sound effects. (and no, xcontrol did not work)

Looks great, sounds great. That can only mean one thing, more screenshots...

Sometimes the player can be too daft for his own good...

Think before you act but, whilst you're here, check out this artwork!

Sometimes the descriptions don't match the visuals which is a tad annoying.

The CryptO'pinion?

Ooze is a great adventure and will undoubtedly appeal to those looking for something of a horror nature rather than a predictable fantasy theme. Sadly, I found the room descriptions overly longwinded and, at times, poorly translated into English. Also, basic exploration can sometimes be finicky - right from the moment you enter the Abbey (walking upstairs is quite the event). If ever there was an adventure that demanded you make a map, this is definitely it.

I found it impossible to explore upstairs otherwise. There ends my one and only hint!

This isn't something you can easily pick up, not without spending a lot of time. But, if you fancy a break from those fancy Magnetic Scrolls, then I am sure you will love this game which is worth the effort. Ooze offers a sarcastic twist on the horror genre with neat puzzles. Plus it has a fantastic sense of humour: give Marie a juicy kiss! Go on, do it... Brilliant!!

- Download the floppy disks -

A preview image from another game that was never released. What happened I wonder?

Recovery

The Atari ST cannot scroll

Don't be too eager to assume that's right!! This is Recovery, a shooter by New Deal Productions, not something I heard of until recently. It takes us on a *Fantastic Voyage* through the lower parts of some poor soul in need of medical assistance. I presume we're trying to help him recover from something nasty as we begin at the bottom, working our way up through the liver (I think), and then onto the heart before finally smashing through the old grey matter.

Recovery is much in the vein of something like Menace or R-Type but runs at a far slicker pace with many of the patient's body parts whizzing around the screen. Think of Anarchy - and it's just as tough - almost nigh on impossible when trying to dodge everything. But our ship is spritely and we're armed with a laser so shoot first and never ask dumb questions.

I love finding something 'new' to play and this is an exciting game so let's see a screenshot...

I got AGT vibes from this screenshot which pleased and depressed me equally.

It's a shooter so, shoot!

Each body part is a separate stage, and incredibly long, almost to the point where you think it will never end! However, they all feel much the same with a vast array of "aliens" to avoid or kill. These use a variety of attack patterns but touching any reduces energy levels, so bad pilots ultimately end up losing yet another life. Strangely, there is no end-of-level boss. A beastly tumour would have been nice to destroy - now there's a sentence I thought I would never say!

The joystick controls are excellent - very swift and responsive without any sluggishness. Our main weapon is a laser beam and quite effective too - pressing and holding fire shoots this laser and kills anything in front of you. Sadly, there are no other types of upgrades or special weapons so all we have is one laser and nothing more.

Thankfully, our sleeping patient appears to have popped many pills, which you'll see floating through his body just waiting to be collected. These can boost your weapon's rate of fire, energy and shields which are all displayed in the status bar. I never figured out what "LIGH" is for - I hit every key but nothing, nada, zip. Does anyone know?

Okay, let's take a break from the boring reading and view another lovely screenshot...

A menacing screenshot with the colour scheme. This game is fast, so shoot and move quick!

Aesthetics?

Visually, this is a mixed-body bag that isn't quite as healthy as you would hope. Don't get me wrong, a scrolling shooter needs to scroll. And this game scrolls smoothly with parallax layers. Sadly, the backgrounds are sometimes bare-bones. Although, there are tons of funky sprites zooming around the screen at impressively speedy rates!

Hitting F4 flips between 50/60Hz which speeds things up even more - if you can handle it?

Sonically, this is going to appeal to lovers of chip music. To be blunt, it's simply fantastic and foot-tappingly awesome - makes you realise just how cool your ST is. However, any insane people might wish to turn it off for the sound effects. No problem, just hit F2/F3 but why would you ever wanna do that? I know, because you're stupid.

Okay, you've guessed it - stop reading and enjoy another gorgeous screenshot...

Come on, you cannot deny the style of this game? It looks the business with a style I love.

The CryptO'pinion?

Recovery is technically impressive and a damn good shoot 'em up. It slaps the faces of those lazy programmers who said the ST cannot scroll. However, the gameplay could be better, each stage feels overly long with zillions of frantic 'aliens' constantly buzzing about. This static style doesn't progress so it gets samey after a while. Also, our weapons cannot be upgraded which is a massive disappointment but not as much as having no bosses to fight.

I'm sure you can tell that this isn't the greatest shoot 'em up but it's far from the worst. I've enjoyed blasting through some fella's intimate body parts all in the name of science fiction. Recovery is definitely worth booting up for a quick game or two - especially to see who can survive the longest!! Good luck with that because you will deffinetly need it.

Check out my screenshots before deciding whether to download for hard disk or floppy...