MacSoft Power Macintosh 6100/66 Prime Target Reviewed by: Jon Ostenson You, an ex-Secret Service agent, are called one night by a close friend, Cathryn Mayfield, a U.S. Senator. She tells you about some mysterious goings-on in her office building and asks you to come. When you arrive, you find her brutally murdered, and the building where she worked crawling with suspicious and hostile men. Finding her murderers and exposing their vile plan will thrust you headlong into a world of political intrigue, backstabbing, and mystery. Gameplay & Interface While Prime Target employs Bungie's Marathon engine to provide a 3D first-person shoot-em-up, this game has evolved into something different. Prime Target is meant to be as much a murder mystery as it is a kill fest (although there's enough killing in this game to satisfy anybody). While, as in other games of this like, you will gather new weapons and ammo along the way, you'll also pick up clues (mainly in the form of emails and memos) that truly will guide you through your exploration and will ultimately lead you to the game's resolution. I felt this to be an interesting twist to this genre, and liked it quite a bit. MacSoft has created a pretty interesting plot that seems disturbingly similar to many thrown at us from the page's of today's newspapers, but if you're not interested in it you can still complete the game using simple, brute force. Prime Target takes place in Washington, D.C., and MacSoft has done a wonderful job of working popular historical buildings into the game. You'll fight through the Senate office buildings, the Capitol, various National Musems, and even the subways and tunnels between buildings. Because of MacSoft's attention to realism and detail in designing the maps to accurately portray these famous buildings, you won't find the same types of puzzles in this game as you would in a Marathon or Doom game; there are no rising platforms or hidden switches here (in fact, you won't even have to find any secret doors to solve this game, even though they do exist). To compensate for this, Prime Target has the mystery and clues already mentioned, but that alone wouldn't be enough to replace challenging puzzles--there's much more to this game. The level layout is such that you really feel a realistic sense of place, and that adds a lot more than you might think. In addition, MacSoft has cunningly placed enemies so that ambushes are a constant threat. There are also some very wide-open areas in these buildings that can make you just as nervous and wary as the crowded exhibition halls of a musem; it's hard to find a place to hide from hostile fire when you standing in the middle of a rotunda. Prime Target also features a non-linear game play; just because you finish scouring the Senate office buildings, for example, doesn't mean you'll come back for more later. In fact, in order to complete the game you'll have to traverse a few levels more than once. Progression from level to levle (or building to building) takes place via an old standby--access cards. You'll usually need at least two access cards to move on to the next level, and there's plenty of badguys to slaughter along the way. On at least one occasion, though, I thought for sure that the level designers had made a critical mistake in placing these access cards that was preventing me from finishing the game. All I needed, though, was a bit of creative thinking (you'll understand what I mean when you get there). The interface is almost exactly like Bungie's, except that you are allowed to crouch and jump in Prime Target. The on-screen stats are also different and take a bit of getting used to (I was never sure which figure represented my health and which my armor), but it isn't difficult. Difficulty & Replayability I played Prime Target all the way through on the "Fish in a Barrel" difficulty level (the easiest--yeah, I know, but I had to finish it quickly!). Prime Target, like the Marathon games, offers various levels of difficulty, and easiest isn't necessarily all that easy. There are some pretty tough thugs in this game, and it'll take a lot of time and experimentation to figure out how to go about eliminating the worst of them. For the most part, the levels were pretty straightforward and not difficult to solve. There are a few areas, though, where you're required to use some ingenuity to move beyond what appears to be a stopping point. It didn't take me as long to finish Prime Target as it did the first Marathon game, but I was just as addicted and obsessed with finishing it. Prime Target allows for network play and includes some network maps (an Ethernet network is recommended). MacSoft even has a net-only version of the game that's freely downloadable from their web site. All you need is one registered, full-version CD to gather a network game. But those of you without access to an Ethernet network are pretty much out of luck. And, unfortunately, there's no map editor or anything like that available for Prime Target, so there won't be any other solo levels out there to play. And as far as replaying the game on different skill levels goes, I'm not sure that it would hold that much for the player that's already been through the gauntlet of levels. Graphics & Sound Prime Target's graphics are very nice. The textures used to depict the building's are realistic and believable. It's a pretty neat feeling to step into the room where the House meets and slaughter a few badguys, then push the congressmen's chairs all over the place. Even the museums include realistic textures that, although they do repeat themselves, add a lot to the feel of the game. Usually I turn the soundtrack off on games, since it becomes annoying after a while. Prime Target was the exception, though; this soundtrack sounds straight off a movie, and playing it while your cruising through the tunnels linking buildings makes you feel like you really are in a movie. Bugs This was a dissapointing area of the game for me. First of all, if you play Prime Target, make sure you've updated the game to version 1.2 (updaters are available from MacSoft's web site); you won't get far at all in the game without this update. Even so, there were a few areas where textures were not completely erased, and my movements left ugly trails that usually then crashed my machine (there's one area like this right towards the very end of the game!). There was also one point in particular where, no matter what I tried, I couldn't go in a certain direction without crashing. I've emailed MacSoft's techinical support about these bugs but have received no answer. Nonetheless, the game can still be completed despite these bugs, although it does detract a bit from gameplay. Conclusion All things considered, Prime Target is an excellent game. MacSoft has made some much-needed improvements to Bungie's engine that make this an enjoyable game to play. The attention to detail and realism evident in the game is also wonderful, and truly adds a lot to gameplay. Unfortunately, once you play the game I think you'll find that's about all there is to it. That one play, though, is definitely worth it.