Symbiocom/Syn-Factor
Bethesda Softworks
1999 W95/W98/Mouse driven
1st Person Sci-Fi adventure
"Since the invention of the computer, mankind
has struggled to bridge the gap between humanity and technology. No matter
how advanced we become, we still cannot reach a symbiosis with the
computer mind. The hard working minds at SYNSYM, however, have overcome
this. The answer is the symplant. A simple device, painlessly implanted in
the subject's cranium, the symplant functions as a complete VJ9 computer…
Those few who have been implanted have tripled their workload and claim
very few side effects. Contact us for neural compatibility testing today
to see if a symplant is for you. Soon, the symplant will be a factor in
all our lives."
THIS HAS BEEN A PAID ADVERTISEMENT – SYNSYM
And guess who has a symplant? That's right -- you. And you are going to
need all of your reasoning and logical ability to help you solve this
mystery.
You are a crew member aboard the I.S.T. Rident, a premier passenger
transport ship. There seems to be a problem with the ships gravity (and
you were supposed to have fixed it). The captain is on the prowl for you,
and as a safety measure has turned off the ship's worm-drive while the
gravity generator is worked on. This slows down the ship considerably and
is ticking off the passengers who are getting bored. The flight attendant
is trying to keep things from turning ugly, when all of a sudden the ship
shakes violently and alarms start going off all over the place. Seems the
Rident is under attack by two unknown ships. The captain orders an SOS be
sent and hollers to ready the life boats. Soon all the passengers and crew
are evacuated except for the captain and copilot. Then there's only the
copilot left. Then...
You wake up to the sound of your symplant hollering at you. You are aboard
the deserted Rident. Your mission is to find who destroyed the ship and
what happened to the 140+ passengers aboard. Your first task is to find
your way off the crippled transport.
With the help of your symplant, you connect into the ship's computer data
base and figure out how to start the ship's shuttle, how to turn the
worm-drive back on, and where the dog ships went after attacking you. From
there you follow the leads that take you through five different locations
until finally you discover WHY it happened.
The graphics are wonderful - they are all hand drawn by the designer -
Istvan Pely. In fact he was the designer, programmer and did the graphics.
The locations are all different. The "human" colony lobby was beautiful
inside -- it looked like the inside of a very high priced condo complex.
The refueling outpost is all metal, grating and falling down siding. You
visit warehouses, corporate headquarters and research facilities.
The puzzles are inventory and logic types. Most of the information you
will need can be found in the various computer systems throughout the
locations you will visit. There is very little talking. You communicate
with your symplant through text, not the spoken word.
Other than a bot or two, there is no character interaction -- it's just
you and your symplant. Oh you do get to "waste" a bot that's been
programmed to kill you. That was kind of fun. But all this makes for a
very lonely type of feeling.
You also cannot go on to the next episode until you have completed
everything that needs to be done in your current location. So if you're
not moving on -- it's because you've forgotten to do something.
You can die, so I saved often. But if memory serves, the game restores
you to right before you bite the big one so you can do something
different. As to bugs -- I had none whatsoever.
All in all I enjoyed this game and if you love sci-fi games Symbiocom
is one not to be missed.
copyright © 2002
GameBoomers
