TITLE		: The Chaos Engine
REVIEWER	: Mantis & Spirit
DATE		: 15/03/93
TYPE		: Shoot `em Up

	The Bitmap Brothers return with the longly awaited Chaos Engine, 
scheduled for release sometime in January it makes it's debut in March!!!
Although arguably it's been worth the wait.......
	The Chaos Engine is a scrolling shoot-em-up affair in which you and 
your pal must walk around the landscape blasting various creatures, sound 
familiar??? Yes, it has been done before in games like Warzone and Ikari 
Warriors but this game is really quite good. Upon loading you are greeted 
with an atmospheric setting intro with some good still graphics. I must say 
The Chaos Engine gets much better as you get into it, and the difficulty 
level is well set at a standard that it's not too hard but it's not easy 
either!!!! The game is set over a number of levels, during each of which you
must shoot and destroy a variety of beasts and objects to gain access to 
different areas. On each of the levels you will find energy towers which are 
hidden behind, rocks in various places, these must be shot to activate them.
Once you have shot the correct number of energy towers, the exit to the next
level will open up so that you can continue in the next zone.
Some of the baddies in The Chaos Engine are right mothers!, particuly the
deadly leaping Frogs who (without hesitation!) will leap at your player,
thus causing major damage. There are lot's of special items to pick up, such
as, Keys to open secret doors, power-ups, food, money and other special 
items. After you complete 2 of the zones you and your partner are transported
to the shop, where upon arrivial you can purchase various items. Once in the
shop you can buy, extra health, speed, weapons, lives, power-ups plus a few 
other not so important things like wisdom!. When you first load up The Chaos 
Engine, you tend to look around at the rather excellent scenario!, there is 
sploshing mud, hidden passageways leading to bounty rooms and a whole array 
of spot on details. When you play in the team mode with a pal, it's usually 
a big rush to see who is going to shoot the baddies, and who is going to 
collect all the money. In my personal opinion this is hard to ignore!, in my 
case I was having a blast at it with Spirit, I did all the shooting and he 
stole all the money!. When we got to the shop, I had about 300 credits and 
he had about a 1000! (what a bast!, he bought an extra life, and increased 
all his characters abilities!), and so this is a bit of a down-fall!. Mind 
you though it's just the same in the 1 player mode, you do all the shooting 
and the computer goes and gets all the money!. So believe me, you have got 
to be fast to collect the bonuses!. The sound in The Chaos Engine is also 
very good indeed. there are lot`s of spot effects, such as birds tweeting in 
the trees, mud bubbling in the rivers and the usual shooting and gun effects.
The sound all adds to the games atmosphere, and supplies depth and feeling 
to the game. The music is also very good, there is a nice little rave type 
piece which has some real good effects in it.

	Well then on the whole The Chaos Engine is a absoulte blinder of a 
game, it's taken the Bipmap Brothers, over 2 years to get it into the shops,
but it's been well worth the wait!. If you break down the game into 
individual parts, you probably would'nt find ANY original sections, basicaly
it's a fully tonned version of what games like, warzone should have been.
It's fast, furious, great fun to watch and play, and above all it's a winner!
To say that The Chaos Engine is an excellent game is a major understatment,
you would definately have to go a long, long way to find a game of this
quality. So what are you waiting for stop reading this and go out and buy it!
  
Summary

Another fine game from the dwellings of the Bipmap Brothers, it's slicker
than an Itailians hairdo, faster than a ferrari and looks as good as Kathy
Lloyd! Buy it today!


 
Graphics       - 95% 
Sound          - 90%
Playability    - 98%
Lastability    - 98%

Overall        - 96%