Talk:The Chaos Engine

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Sega Genesis Version

I only played this version, so I can't comment on the others, but it sucked. I played the whole thing out of sheer spite. it actually was a lot of fun until the end. Then it turned out you could only win as one character (Navvy) and if you lost against the boss you had to start over from scratch as there was no save. And the boss was ridiculously hard.

Sure you can - just not by full frontal assault. :) -- 194.89.2.210 21:39, 18 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The Amiga Versions

I adore this game; it is one of my all-time favourites and I still return to play it occasionally. I have played all three Amiga versions: the A500 version was the first one I bought, and it came in a lavish box with six identity cards for each of the six characters, with a picture on the front and a brief bio on the back. I hope to upload the information to Wikipedia. The six pictures were amalgamated together into the group shot of the characters which is common to all formats.

The gameplay is identical in all versions. IMHO, the A500 version (with its limited colour range) is actually the best. The palette was limited to muted dusty browns and metallic blues and greys, which contrasted perfectly with the golden keys and activated nodes. All the characters' coats were more or less the same colour, and the overall effect was a bit like watching an old sepia movie, which is quite in keeping with the tone of the game.

The A1200 version added more bright colour to the characters, which I found made them less appealing. In other respects, the game was fine. The CD32 version was identical in colouring to the A1200 version, although it had the animated, voice-over introduction which is brilliant. In addition, the sound on the character selection screens was played from the CD, which gave a slightly better-produced version of the same music, and each world had a background sound-effects track (from the CD) playing behind the soundtrack (tweeting birds on the early levels; menacing clanks and grinding in the later levels). The actual level music could not be played from the CD since (in all versions) the pace of the music changed and became more frantic and dramatic as the level progressed.

As with all games since their earliest work (Cadaver is the earliest game I have seen), the Bitmap Brothers have a wonderful and distinctive graphic style, which is chunky, purposeful and evocative. In addition, there are loads of lovely details which bring out the flavour of the game perfectly. Worthy of special mention are the animations and sounds of the boiling mud, and the different stance adopted by the Thug as he waits around (the other characters stand straight, with their guns pointing out in front; the Thug holds his on his hip and points it out to the side at 45 degrees). I love that the computer character always watches your back, whichever way you stand.

I have not completed the game without cheat codes. Disappointingly, these differ for each version of the game! With a huge number of lives and all powerups it is possible to complete the game with any character. Although he starts off as the weakest character and is physically vulnerable, the Preacher is the quickest-moving of the six characters, and can upgrade his weapon to either equal to the Navvie or one point behind, giving him the strongest (or second-strongest) gun in the game. For preference, I choose the Preacher and let the computer take the Navvie; I find the computer AI can keep the Navvie on my tail quite nicely, and he is tremendously strong. I also like the Preacher and Navvie's guns firing straight ahead: the spraying of bullets by the Mercenary and the Thug means that you can't nail a target coming right at you as too many bullets travel wide (especially with advanced powerups).

In some versions of the game, the Preacher has been defrocked and is called the Scientist. To me, this robs the game of its best character (after whom I chose my own web name!). I assume someone went all squeamish on the Brothers and they were forced to change it so as not to offend tender sensibilities. If they absolutely had to change it, why not rename him "the Boffin", which at least is a decent name in keeping with the style of the others?

The sequel was utterly dire, from the unpleasant box-cover art to the dreadful music. And the Preacher is not in it! (Neither, IIRC, is the Thug). Worst of all was the gameplay: each character had only six bullets before running out and having to collect more! What a waste! Another four levels of the same sort of game as the first would have been perfect for me, perhaps in a different time zone or with a couple of new player-characters. (although perhaps, the Chaos Engine's moment had already passed by then).

I want to see Frank Miller do a graphic novel describing the adventures of the Chaos Engine gang: I think it would be brilliant to explore their characters and allow them to develop, as well as watch them gang up on some other adversary (like that huge steam-powered spider in Wild Wild West?). Or what about a blockbuster movie of the game?

I leave this discussion with the voice of the Baron ringing in my ears: "The Chaos is ended! You will be remembered..." Preacherdoc 00:03, 16 May 2006 (UTC)Preacherdoc.[reply]