Scourge of Armageddon
by Al Giovetti, 02/13/97
Price: $29.95.
Genre: Doom add on pack (will not run without full game)
Release: February, 1997
Developer: Hipnotic Interactive, www.hipnotic.com.
Programmer:
Music:
Art:
Producer:
Publisher: id software and Activision
Phone: 310-473-9200,
Website: http://www.activision.com, www.idsoftware.com. Requirements: QUAKE Mission Pack #1: Scourge of Armagon requires a Pentium computer running QUAKE, DOS 5.0 (or higher) or Windows 95, CD-ROM Drive, 16MB RAM, and 40 MB Hard Disk space. QUAKE Mission Pack #1 supports VGA and SVGA graphics, SoundBlaster and 100% compatible sounds cards.

Company line: Just when you thought you had annihilated the last Shambler in id Software's blockbuster computer game, QUAKE, chaos breaks out and it's time to blast your way through QUAKE's minions, find the source of evil and shut it down.

Hipnotic Interactive, along with id Software, has opened the portals of hell with their QUAKE Mission Pack #1: Scourge of Armagon for use with id's QUAKE. Continuing the carnage in QUAKE, QUAKE Mission Pack #1 contains three abhorrent episodes festering with monsters and teeming with evil: Fortress of the Dead, Dominion of Darkness and The Rift. A deathmatch level, Edge of Oblivion, lets QUAKEheads prove their prowess. Published by Activision Inc., the title is expected to be available for the PC in February.

"Hipnotic did an outrageous job with QUAKE Mission Pack #1: Scourge of Armagon," said Todd Hollenshead, chief executive officer at id Software. "Hipnotic has terrific talent and their Mission Pack pushes the QUAKE engine to incredible new heights."

History: The newest badboys of the gaming industry, Hipnotic Interactive, founded in August 1996, develops hyper-immersive computer games. Based in Dallas, TX, Hipnotic's talented team has created some of the industry's most successful games including Duke Nukem 3D and Rise of the Triad. Hipnotic' s first title, developed in conjunction with id Software, is the QUAKE Mission Pack #1: Scourge of Armagon.

id Software, founded in 1991, is a software development company located in Mesquite, Texas. id's team of talented developers continue to make gaming history by creating and publishing one sensational action game after another. Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, DOOM II, Heretic, HEXEN and QUAKE have created a frenzied demand worldwide and have managed to consistently break shareware and retail sales records at home and abroadActivision, Inc. is a publicly held developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software for Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS compatible, Macintosh and other computers, as well as Nintendo, Sega and Sony PlayStation game systems. Headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in London, Tokyo and Sydney, the company sells and markets products under the Activision and Infocom trade names.

Plot:

Game play: "The QUAKE tech is a blast to design with, especially when it's coupled with the twisted minds here at Hipnotic," said Harry Miller, Hipnotic's biz guy. "We've added a lot more interactivity, real-world physics and intense new monsters, weapons and power-ups."

QUAKE Mission Pack #1 has vicious new monsters and brutal weapons. Clashing and combining high-tech and dark medieval worlds, players enter a dynamic environment where one misstep on the fall-away floors plunges them into an abyss. Exploding walls are scattered around the treacherous architecture. Levels littered with spike mines and lightning traps only inflict a portion of the pain found within the halls of the game.

New Monsters: Monsters include Gremlins, Centroids, and Armagon Scurrying like scavengers, hordes of gremlins drop from the shadowed ceilings and overhangs to maul gamers. Hideous and vicious in nature, and baring treacherous teeth and claws, these little buggers go straight for the neck. By gorging on dead bodies, these gremlins rapidly reproduce and attack like a swarm of bees. Armor-plated centroids with a voracious appetite for body parts also prove to be a deadly force against players' heroic ways. These huge pissed-off scorpion creatures have dual nail guns for claws and motion detectors to track players down.

After escaping execution by gremlins and centroids, players face the greatest wrath by challenging Armagon, a half-biological, half-machine creature hailing from both the medieval and technology realms. This malevolent war machine makes mincemeat out of his enemies with missile launchers for arms and a laser cannon mounted in his huge mechanical base. The deafening sound of his stomping feet is enough to make any mortal run and hide.

Power Ups: QUAKE Mission Pack #1's power-ups include the Horn of Conjuring which spawns a creature to defend players against their enemies and the empathy shield which splits pain and damage between the player and the attacker. A special wet suit provides immunity against all lightning attacks and provides players with better underwater propulsion and the ability to fire electrical weapons underwater without damaging themselves.

Weapons you weild: The Mjolnir delivers a deadly blow by striking the Thor's war hammer to the ground and sending out an emasculating electrical force that spreads from enemy to enemy--opponents will get a real charge out of it. A laser cannon emitting a blinding beam slices through everyone in its path or bounces off inanimate objects for a brutal volley of pain. Gameplayers must dodge Proximity Mines--motion sensitive mines that give a warning beep before doing their damage.

Graphics:

Animation:

Voice actors:

Music score:

Sound effects:

Utilities:

Documentation:

Multi-player:

Future plans:

References:
*