Forsaken 64 #9 Solar system where Earth used to be

Introduction

An experiment gone wrong ripped away the earth's atmosphere. Bathed in the searching radiation of the sun, the planet has been condemned. You are among the FORSAKEN few who invade the now abandoned settlements to collect what little fortune was left behind.

Forsaken 64 is the Nintendo 64 version of the PC action video game, Forsaken. The gameplay follows bounty hunters in their spacecraft, exploring the now-forsaken solar system where Earth used to be. They fight in a 3D world against robot drones and each other in search of treasure. The game features fast-paced 360-degree exploration - you can go up, down, left, right, everywhere. This system is said to have been taken and improved upon from an earlier PC game, Descent. Forsaken 64 has some elements of vehicular combat because, really, you're all just vehicles in a zero gravity environment shooting each other deathmatch-style.

So how did the solar system become a forsaken area? Through a crazy science experiment gone wrong, of course. Earth gets split in half, all life is killed and our solar system is condemned. No-one ventures back, except for the bravest of bounty hunters in search of treasure, and robot drones. You get to choose from up to eight playable characters.

Weapons

Primary Weapons

Pulsar

This is your weapon by default, so of course it is quite weak at first. At the start of any battle, one player or four, immediately look for other weapons and/or a Power Pod. It shoots green balls of plasma.

Trojax

Probably the best gun to have in the one player mode, almost useless in Multiplayer. It shoots a purplish-blue circle which explodes on impact. This can be made 10 X as possible by charging it up, but it takes to long and if you miss you just wasted your time.

Suss-Gun

This gun has it is own special ammo, so you may want to save it for special occasions. Suss-gun sacrifices accuracy for dozens of machine-gun like bullets spraying everywhere, but it is still an awesome gun to have. Great against multiple opponents, especially in Multiplayer.

Transpulse

A large, red, boomerang shaped object to ejects out of the gun and ricochets off walls, the ground, and other various objects, except ships and items. The bullets also seem to be 'smart', because firing it will make it go toward the nearest threat, which makes it particularly handy for shooting around corners.

Beam Laser

Nice weapon if you can find it, this weapon fires two blue lasers in a straight line. Its effects are instant, no matter how far away, so if you have relatively good aim (i.e. getting the ships inside the cursor...) you should be able to cause a lot of damage with this. Too bad it is so rare. Just be careful not to shoot it too much, or it will overheat and not function properly. You can remedy this by shooting in controlled bursts.

Secondary Weapons

Mug

This is a basic missile, and you start each mission/battle with a few of these. They are fast, and somewhat powerful, but they have no homing capability. In other words, it is accuracy entirely depends on your aim. No suggested to be used against small, quick objects.

Scatter

This purple trail rocket does damage ships, but it is main feature is the fact that when it hits a ship, it will lose all of it is items! Use this to steal items from other players/enemies. It does home in, but if it doesn't 'see' anything in a few seconds it will just go in a straight path.

Multiple Fire Rocket Launcher (MFRL)

This is a great item, but not against small, quick targets. You get about 50 snub-noses missiles (which, according to the manual, is a smaller variant of the Mug Missile with enhanced propulsion) per MFRL, so you can just keep tapping the fire button and watch your nemeses go bye bye. Again, you have to have good aim.

Solaris

A heat-seeking rocket with a large war-head! This one does a really good job of tracking opponents, as it goes around corners, hills, and just about everything else. It only has enough fuel for about 1000 feet, though.

Gravgon

This is a highly unique weapon...upon detonation, a large gravity well opens up. As you may or may not know, the tracks are anti-gravity. This means, anything near it will be sucked in and be sitting ducks for anyone on the outside. And yes, if you are in one, you can shoot outward.

Titan - AKA Nuclear Bomb

The rocket may be slow (slowest in the game), but the resulting explosion will wipe everyone 100 feet near it into the dirt, including you. Very powerful indeed, great for Multiplayer Mode...it kills instantly.

Purge Mine

Just a mine. do not mistake it for a power-up, and it does not do much damage. Can be destroyed when fired at.

Quantum Mine

Basically just a floating Titan :) In Multiplayer Mode, if you are real desperate, set this down and when someone comes, blow it up!

Pine Mine

In Multiplayer Mode, this can be one of your best friends. They are really stationary missile launchers, and will shoot at the enemies, and will ignore whoever set it down. Best way to use them is to get into a room with one entrance and crowd it around the entrance.

Power-Ups

Power Pod

These will make all of your Primary Weapons more powerful, have better fuel supply, and even make it easier to aim with. And it also mixes weapons, so two can be firing at once. You can carry up to two.

Golden Power Pod

This rare pod offers unlimited ammo, an awesome measurement of power, infinite Nitros, and mixes all of the guns currently held for a short time.

Shield Overdrives

This will boost your shields when low.

Nitro

This will make your bike twice as fast, allowing you to speed away from danger and such. There is only enough fuel for about 20 seconds, so use it wisely.

Stealth Mantle

Basically, you cannot be seen or heard.

Orbital Pulsar

Up to four of these can be circling you bike. They boost weapon powers, and also fire their guns at enemies.

Resnic Reanimator

It is a 1-up.

Chaos Shield

The rarest item of all gives you invincibility for about a minute. No known weapon can penetrate it.

Enemies

Turrets

Snub Turret

These floor mounted turrets have a slow tracking rate, but once it spots you and locks on.

Pulse Turret

A red laser which is fired in controlled bursts to avoid overheating. Strongest enemy laser in the game. It even fires when friendly (for them) bots are in the way. Get behind it so it cannot hit you.

Dual Turret

This is a pain...double military laser with 360 degrees of turning. Just take them out as quickly as you possibly can.

Beam Turret

Hard to see because of it is camouflage, these powerful (strength-wise) fire military lasers at you. A little dumb, but still a pain.

Missile Turret

This is, without a doubt, the most powerful turret in the game. It fires homing missiles at you with amazing speed and accuracy and they seem even faster than a Solaris! The only con it has is that it has slow tracking...no, it won't accidentally shoot it is friends.

Ground Enemies

Mek Ton

This is just a tank with a 360 degree axis on it is turret. It fires small, rainbow colored balls of plasma at you. Nothing to worry about.

Legz

Originally designed as a scavenger, it is now a small robot that walks on two legs! It has a small missile turret on it is body, but it can rotate it is body around and shoot you wherever you are.

Snub Bot

An advanced version of the Mek Ton, this one has two Snub Missile launchers. Deadly by themselves, almost impossible when in groups.

Laz Bot

This one is just off of the design boards, there are very few of these...which is a good thing. They have a singly military laser and will relentlessly pulverize you with it.

Flying Enemies

Fodder

These are the goombas of Forsaken, as they are present in every stage, and also travel in groups of three to four. They have a single pulsar gun, but do not have a good aim. Very erratic patterns.

Swarm

Always traveling in groups, these airplane shaped enemies are painfully persistent, and shoot lasers at you. Hard to hit, they are so small.

Shade

A large military laser armed bot, they will follow you to no end while shooting. They may be slow, but are highly maneuverable.

Airmobil

Armed with an infinite amount of Gravgon Missiles, they will shoot you with them and other bots will come in and finish you off.

Suppressor

Nice name, but pretty weak. It has two military laser, but it has awful AI and has poor aim.

Levitank

These floating ships have large amounts of firepower on board, but they are very slow and lack intelligence, so they should not be a threat.

Hunter

The ultimate machines, these are fast, can turn on a dime, highly intelligent, travel in groups, and have a strong military laser. Just give up and let them shoot you

Bosses

Exogen

A large, white, shiny spider robot that drops down from the ceiling and shoots machine gun fire at you. Strafe around the room and shoot missiles and lasers at him at the same time.

Meta Tank

A large, floating battleship that fires many homing missiles at you at the same time. Go in with full health and missiles and pulverize him with everything you got. Those missiles are tough, but do not get caught up trying to shoot them down. Concentrate on the boss. Sometimes he cannot hit you if you go underneath him.

Man Mek

A strange looking, yellow robot that fires electrical beams at you from it is arms. It also has a missile launcher located in a place that would make perverts like me laugh for five minutes straight. When you see it, launch the Titan missile at it and then pound it with every missile, laser, and weapon you have. After seconds of this, Man Mek's energy will almost be to zero, but you can not destroy it at this point in time.

A-Force 1

A large, stationary platform that fires missiles and lasers at you. Even more difficult because of the four lasers in the room. Ignore them and concentrate on A-Force 1, because when you defeat him the mission is over. Go in only when you have high shields and a decent hull, because this one is mean.

Dreadnaught

A small ship. It starts in a docking bay area, and after you destroy the turrets, it will go to a circling corridor and fly around a big circle, laying mines and bombs. I suggest you follow behind him and fire the Transpulse, because they lock on to him and always hit. Like Man Mek, you cannot destroy him in this mission.

S.C.U.

A small yellow bot with small cannons.

Nutta

A yellow hoverbike that flies around, it will shoot lasers and mines at you. Just strafe and shoot.

Sceptre

Like Nutta, except white. Use the same stragedy.

Cebrero

you have the Scatter Missile, use it to get the item right away.

Maldroid

This looks like a suped up legz, with missile launchers and laser beams. Strafe as much as possible, because this one will be firing at you constantly.

Safety Comp

A large mechanical device with an eye that opens up. Shoot it in the eye.

RamQan

A bouncing red robot equipped with scatter missiles. Collect all the weapons you can and get in a corner, now if you get hit with a scatter missile your stuff does not go far. After a few hits it will blow.

Excop

Yet another hoverbike...except this time you have the Titan Missile.

Man Mek

Shoot him with your Titan Missile and other weapons until he starts to run away, follow him to a room with two switches.

Dreadnaught

Shoot him until he starts to retreat and go away. He will go through a large room, and finally pass a switch. Hit the switch, and with some luck, He'll be crushed! If not, try again when he comes back.

RamQan

Use the same tactics as before, but after she is almost dead she will move onto a pedestal in the middle of the room. Go below, avoiding her barrage of shots, and activate the four switches that will lower her into the bath of acid.

Levels

• Nuke
• Easy Levels
  • 1. Knowledge Base
  • 2. Bio-Dome
  • 3. Kill the Head
  • 4. Manmek
  • 5. Four Uneasy Pieces
  • 6. Temple
  • 7. Dreadnought
  • 8. Tube
  • 9. Death to the Invader
• Medium Levels
  • 1. Catch the Orb
  • 2. Alpha
  • 3. Maldroid
  • 4. Ship
  • 5. Power Down
  • 6. Save the Drone
  • 7. Battlebase
  • 8. RamQan
• Hard Levels
  • 1. Defend the Power
  • 2. Refinery
  • 3. Sewer
  • 4. Stabilizers
  • 5. Babalas

Nuke

This one is the first for all sets

There is a powerpod under you, get it, and start shooting. It is really simple. Defeat the number of enemies that appear under your hull(health) barrier. This level is where you choose the difficulty. If you finish it under 2:30 min, you go to the medium levels. If you finish under 1:40, you get sent to the hard levels. If you finish over 2:30, you go to the easy levels. This stage is also good to train until you get used to the gameplay. To finish faster, know the location of all the enemies so you do not run in circles.

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Easy Levels

• 1. Knowledge Base
• 2. Bio-Dome
• 3. Kill the Head
• 4. Manmek
• 5. Four Uneasy Pieces
• 6. Temple
• 7. Dreadnought
• 8. Tube
• 9. Death to the Invader

1. Knowledge Base, Easy Levels

You have to press those blue crystals to open the doors. Be sure to get a titan in the room that is in the other side of that beam-in point(where you start the level), and save it for the boss. Also, know the level and try and kill everything you see. When you get down to the lower floor, in a circle shaped room with a blue line in the walls, is the first boss, Exogenon.

Exogenon

As soon as the door you used to come in locks down, fall back to it, and stay with your back facing the door. The boss will come down, and start shooting, but if you are in the right place, he cannot hit you. Stand still, shooting the titan, trojaxes, and everything else you have until he is defeated.

After beating him, plant the bomb in the room left of the boss room (if you did not find it yet, it is on the halfway through to where you found the titan, search for smaller entrances like holes). Run back to the beam-in point, ignoring enemies, and you finished it.

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2. Bio-Dome, Easy Levels

Not much to this mission, you have to kill all the enemies. And since it is pretty linear, go through the tunnels without leaving anything left.

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3. Kill the Head, Easy Levels

You have to go on pressing those purple, retangular switches to open the doors. If you cannot seem to find your way, try going through a corridor with blue light.

Metatank

Go to the sides of the room and destroy the turrets/flying enemies/tank. To beat the boss, get under him using the C button to move while facing the him and start shooting. If you are properly under him, he cannot hit you. After the fight, get back to the beam-in point and another mission.

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4. Manmek, Easy Levels

Pick up all items and destroy all enemies, find a hole in the ceiling, destroy the turrets there and pick up the titan. Go down through the tunnel to open that door and face Manmek.

Manmek

Go up to where you find the titan and wait until he is in the middle of the room. Then aim from the hole, and shoot the titan. Gt behind him. He will try to turn, but keep getting behind him and shooting. He cannot reach you with a single missile or laser. When he is near-death, a message saying "beacon activated" will appear. Stop attacking him and go through the tunnel where he came from. Get the red item there and enemies will appear. you need to survive for one minute. Not very hard, just keep strafing in that room and shooting the enemies.

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5. Four Uneasy Pieces, Easy Levels

Imagine this stage as a tower that goes down, and to get down through the floors, you just need to destroy all the enemies on that floor you are on. Doing that will also make the Black Hole gun piece to appear.

A-Force-1

Not as easy as the others, but not hard too. Destroy the turrets that are around, then stay with your back facing the wall. Shoot down the missiles and the A-Force. It will not be hard if you have high weapon energy, but a pain if you do not. After the battle pick the last piece.

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6. Temple, Easy Levels

Another destroy them all level. Less space to strafe may be a problem.

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7. Dreadnought, Easy Levels

Grab the items to left and right of you. Then strafe and destroy the turrets in that structure protecting Dreadnought. After they are destroyed, the enemy will start running through a tunnel. You have to chase him in a circular place. Leaving bombs behind him, run in his side and behind, so you can go on shooting transpulses until it says "beacon activated." Then get the red item, and keep running around and shooting until the level ends.

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8. Tube, Easy Levels

Speed slows down dramatically when underwater. Take care since most of that level will be in the water. Other than that just destroy all the enemies, and do not waste ammo. After there are 4 enemies left, find a small hole in the wall of a tunnel.

S.C.U.

Enter the room, call his attention, and get back to the small hole entrance. Stay in the middle of that small tunnel and when it appears with its minions shoot the heck out of it.

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9. Death to the Invader, Easy Levels

68 enemies, and you have to protect the Matrix, those four red eyes among that circular section of the stage. Go up and get the items, then get down again, and start running through the four red eyes, destroying any enemy that appears. Only when there are about 46 enemies left, start going further into the stage, but always paying attention to the matrix energy, so you get back if it loses any. Do not worry if one red eye get destroyed because you complete the mission even if there is only one left. With 4 enemies left, another hull barrier will appear, and you will get to fight a new boss.

Nutta

Destroy the three remaining enemies before bothering with Nutta. Strafe around and shoot, since it is another biker simply take it like you are fighting yourself.

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Medium Levels

• 1. Catch the Orb
• 2. Alpha
• 3. Maldroid
• 4. Ship
• 5. Power Down
• 6. Save the Drone
• 7. Battlebase
• 8. RamQan

1. Catch the Orb, Medium Levels

The battle started with Metatank. After beating him and getting to the room with the golden orb, Cerbero, will steal it and run away. Defeat the enemies and follow Cerbero. When the restart point is activated, you will fight the first boss of the stage.

Sceptre

Caution with scatter missiles that will take out all your items, just another biker, so strafe, shoot, avoid mines, collect weaponry, shoot more.

Keep going on you will find the golden orb. That golden orb is a decoy. Keep going. After that room, you will have to fight two bikers together, Cerbero and HKS.

Cerbero and HKS

Normal shooting with your suss-gun/trojax/pulsar at HKS and beat him first. Shoot Cerbero with the titan.

Get back to the beam-in point destroying the enemies in the way. Or you can also get further in the stage to find JO, another biker. You can unlock him at battle mode.

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2. Alpha, Medium Levels

Very simple, nothing besides fighting 23 enemies in a small stage so take care of your health.

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3. Maldroid, Medium Levels

Follow the tunnel behind you for a powerpod. Destroy the turrets and follow on. Defeat all enemies you see until the boss appear.

Maldroid

Go through the holes in the wall before the boss's room, and before he gets to the other room. Collect the golden powerpod in a tunnel there, and fire everything you have on him. When beacon is activated, collect the red item, go into the place where you got the golden powerpod, and stay shooting anything that comes.

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4. Ship, Medium Levels

Another destroy them all level.

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5. Power Down, Medium Levels

Activate those timers by shooting them or touching them, and then run to the doors they will open before the time runs out and you have to try again. The worst thing is not knowing where to go, and this place is cracked up with enemies, so you should really know the level.

when activating timers, avoid enemies and go directly to the door, as they will only make you lose time and have to restart. Press the pink buttons to open doors too. When you finally get to the Computer, another boss battle.

Safety Comp

There are pink switches, but do not you press them, they will send you to another stage instead of the medium path where you should be. But if you do not press the switches, that computer's shield will not drop and you will not be able to shoot the red eye that is in front of it. You need to place yourself in an angle in which your shoots can reach the space between the shield and a small hole that the computer have, shooting inside that hole will cause massive damage, and the computer is finished.

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6. Save the Drone, Medium Levels

Protect that drone, so stay next to it shooting any nearby enemies. Pressing the switches to change the drone's direction. The only important thing is to NOT press the third switch you see, as it will get the drone stuck in an iron block.

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7. Battlebase, Medium Levels

You will already be getting attacked by Turrets, so be fast. You need to defeat all enemies, so you can open the door in the center and find your objective. After entering the room with the crystal, get the golden powerpod and destroy the turrets. After that, grab the red item, and strafe

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8. RamQan, Medium Levels

A little taste of the last boss. Get all items in that upper room and get ready. Make sure you also get all the titans and golden power pods in the other rooms too. Now, his attacks are firing tons of red lasers at you, among with scatter and solaris missiles. Strafe and recover everything you can from the scatter shots. when beacon is activated, get the red item and keep surviving for one more minute.

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Hard Levels

• 1. Defend the Power
• 2. Refinery
• 3. Sewer
• 4. Stabilizers
• 5. Babalas

1. Defend the Power, Hard Levels

Your base belongs to the enemie and you need to protect the green cores when they are exposed.

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2. Refinery, Hard Levels

Another destroy them all level.

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3. Sewer, Hard Levels

There is a number of enemies you will destry in order to proceed.

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4. Stabilizers, Hard Levels

Golden powerpod, titan, shields and powerpods in the door behind you. You need to locate five crystals and place them one by one in the lower area of the stage. Since some doors will only open after you have 1, 2, 3, or 4 crystals. When you enter the room with the 4th crystal, you will fight Excop, another biker.

Excop

Fire the titan.

You have two choices. Go get the 5th crystal and finish the level. That will not let you in the last mission. Or, go to the third floor (after the floor that's after the stabilizer), then find a hole there, and go through until you find the real boss of the stage.

A-Force-1

Time for comeback. Just the same as in mission 6, except he is faster.

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5. Babalas, Hard Levels

Fight some bosses again before the final clash.

Manmek

When his health is low, he runs away to the room where you got the beacon. Follow him. Press the two switches (or press one and shoot the another).

Maldroid

He can be destroyed by normal means unlike the other bosses of this stage.

Dreadnought

When he runs to another room, there will finally be a switch for you to press and smash him.

RamQan

Get his health down to near-death, he will go lower in a room full of acid. Avoid his barrage of lasers, go down in the acid, and press the four switches there to finish him.

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IGN Review

Acclaim's Iguana UK team has done an awesome job bringing the PC shooter to the N64.

By Peer Schneider
Updated: 11 Mar 2020 5:18 pm
Posted: 3 Jun 1998 6:00 pm

Remember Descent? I am sorry, but there is just no other way to start a review of Acclaim's Forsaken than to mention the PC 3D shooting classic. Forsaken's developer, Probe, seems to have played the crap out Descent and decided "We want a game with the same feel, just with better graphics." Well, they have done it.

Like Descent, Forsaken pits players in 360 degree 3D world where exploration is emphasized; up, down, and all around. Although the N64 version of the game does not succeed very well in telling a story, Forsaken actually does have a simple plot: A science accident in the year 2113 sends a devastating shockwave throughout the solar system, ripping Earth in half and killing all life. The solar system is considered "condemned" (Condemned was actually the original working title for Forsaken) by the rest of the universe. Only bounty-hunters and glory-seekers dare enter it, and only the bravest souls return to Earth to do battle with robot drones and one-another in search of lost treasures.

What this story conveniently sets up is a world where things do not quite look real, installations governed by computer-controlled drones and, of course, non-stop shooting action.

Gameplay

Forsaken's gameplay offers a good mixture of action and exploration. Imagine it like a Descent meets Quake. Players navigate their craft through tunnels and hallways, destroying enemies, triggering switches, opening doors and fulfilling certain mission objectives — both above and underwater. For example, one level has you protect a drone on rails, help it traverse the stage and keep it from being destroyed. Another requires you to set a detonator or take out a giant boss vehicle. Others just require you to find and kill all enemies — unfortunately, that's where the game can get a little repetitive. Since Forsaken completely lacks any radar or map screens, finding that last annoying drone can take quite a while. Sure, even with radar screens, orientation in full-3D games can be a problem, but at least a pointer into the right direction would have helped. Luckily, the levels are not all that large, but a radar would still have added to the gameplay, both in single and multiplayer modes.

The configurable controls work surprisingly well in the N64 version. Fly backwards and forwards with A and B, turn with the analog stick, strafe into all directions with the C-Buttons, fire missiles and mines with R, and shoot with Z. Like in most first-person shooters, you switch weapons with the D-Pad (better develop that nimble N64 thumb).

All in all, Forsaken's one-player game is an impressive, pulse-pounding example of what a developer can achieve by mixing new technology with an old idea. Unfortunately, like the lack of a radar screen, there are a few oversights that keep the game from greatness. For example, although some missiles do lock on to their targets, it would have been nice to have visual cues for the lock-ons. There is just nothing cooler than hearing a "blip" and seeing a cursor locking on to a target before blasting them away. This would have also helped separating enemies from environments and weapons powerups (of which there are plenty) — since everything is held in similar colors, it's often though to tell who's who and what is what.

The Facts

25 Destructive weapons, including:

• Pulsar: Standard weapon
• Transpulse Cannon: Fires Pulsar in horizontal wave pattern — covering more field
• Pyrolite Rifle: High tech incendiary device, shooting plasma gas and petrol gel
• Beam Laser: Three separate pulses which fuse into a single beam
• Trojax Weapon: Rain gun barrels which, upon activation, shoot two plasma spheres
• Suss-gun: Shoots "Smart" tipped projectiles
• MUG Missile: Rockets that are fast with a powerful punch
• Assassin: Targeted missiles
• Scatter Missile: Deprives enemies of their weapons
• Gravgon Missile: Distorts gravity, drawing any free-floating matter to the point of the blast
• Spider Mine: Bouncing mines
• Pine Mine: A spherical missile launcher
• Eight playable characters, including: Beard, Lokasenna, Foetoid, Nim Soo Sin, L.A. Jay, Clark Culver, Earl Slick and Rex Hardy — each with their own unique strengths and weaknesses.
• Powerful polygonal 3D engine
• Four-player multiplayer mode (split-screen) with almost no slowdown
• Real-time light-sourcing
• A plethora of varying levels
• A "hidden" Battle Mode

Graphics

Wheeeee, this game is fast. Iguana UK, the company that ported the Probe game, has done an awesome job keeping up a high framerate while dazzling the eye with multi-colored real-time lighting effects. Like Turok and NFL Quarterback Club '98, Forsaken again sets new standards of what is technically possible on the N64. Iguana UK manages to squeeze real-time lighting effects out of the SGI innards that cast eerie halos and multi-colored glows around both friendly and enemy fire. For example, if you shoot a torpedo down a dark hallway, the projectile will illuminate the way and bathe the walls with colored light. Sweet. Forsaken's fisheye graphics range from trippy to plain plain cool (although there are a couple nasty textures here and there), whirl you around and move at such fast speeds, you will definitely want to have some Dramamine handy. The only downfall are the simplistic, flat looking ships and enemy drones, the so-so explosions, and the bare look of the worlds. The low detail of the environments must have been imperative to keep things running quickly. Even the four-player mode, which sports all the lighting and graphics effects still runs smoothly most of the time. No matter what you

Sound

The surround weapons effects are great and never fail to wake up my neighbors when the Forsaken urge grabs me late at night (heheheheh). Sadly, the techno tunes in the game are boring, lack any stereo separation whatsoever and get annoying very quickly. Although there is an option to change tunes in mid-game, you might just want to turn it down a bit and concentrate on the effects. The occasionaly voice narration is definitely on the hokey side, though.

Multiplayer

If you primarily play against friends (or enemies), Forsaken is a must-have game. Offering extremely playable split-screen death-matches for up to four players, Forsaken blasts the competition with optional computer-bots and two different modes, Max Frags and Last Man. The nasty little mines and scatter missiles make for hours of fun, especially with four players (or two players, two bots). Good job, Acclaim.

Options

You can adjust volumes, the number of lives, and customize your controls. An optional third-person view and smaller crosshairs are also available in the single player mode. I am not sure why, but the cool auto-align/off function of the PC version was taken out (or is hidden as a code). The game automatically saves to a memory pak every four missions or so. Rumble Pak supported.

Verdict

If you enjoyed Descent then you are going to love Forsaken — it is really that simple. Although it might get boring after a while, the game is interesting enough in the single player mode. But plug in a few more controllers and you get one of the most gripping shooters of the year. Rarely is there such a good combination between technology and action-packed gameplay. While the N64 version outperforms the PSX Forsaken in almost every respect, it does not have as much personality as the PC original.

Cheat Codes

When "Press Start" appears on the opening screen, or while the game is paused, press the buttions for the specific cheat.

LEVEL SELECT

A, R, Z, Up(2), C-Up, C-Down(2). If you entered the code correctly, the phrase "Missions Open" will appear. Then, any level and battle mode may now be selected.

INVULNERABILITY

A, Z(2), Up, Left, Left-C(2), Down-C

INFINITE MAIN WEAPON

A, R, Z, Right, C-Up, C-Right, C-Down(2)

INFINITE SECONDARY WEAPON

B(2), Z, Left(2), C-Up, C-Left, C-Right

INFINITE SOLARIS MISSILES

B, L(2), Z, Up, Down, C-Up(2)

INFINITE TITAN MISSILES

A, B, L, Up(2), C-Up(2), C-Right

INFINITE WEAPON ENERGY

L, Z, Left, Right, Down(2), C-Down(2)

INFINITE STEALTH MANTLE

Up(4), Right, Down, C-Left(2)

ONE HIT KILLS

B(3), L, R, Left, Down(2)

FREEZE ENEMIES

R, Z, Right(2), C-Up, C-Left, C-Right, C-Down

PSYCHEDELIC MODE

A, R, Left, Right, Down, C-Up, C-Left, C-Down

WIRE-FRAME MODE

L(2), R, Z, Left, Right, C-Up, C-Right

TURBO CRAZY MODE

B(2), R, Up, Left, Down, C-Up, C-Left. If you entered the code correctly, the phrase "Got it" will be spoken and a message will appear.

GORE MODE

Z, Down, C-Up, C-Left(4), C-Down. If you entered the code correctly, the phrase "Gore mode" will be spoken and you will hear a sound.

DEBUG MODE

B, Z, C-Up, C-Left, C-Left, C-Right, C-Right, C-Right

INFINITE LIVES

A, B, Z, Z, C-Up, C-Right, C-Right, C-Down

TRIP MODE

A, Right button, Left, Right, Down, Up C, Left C, Down C

UNLIMITED NITRO

B, B, Right button, Up, Left, Down, Up C, Left C