Deep Core

STORY / GAMEPLAY
The year is 2480 AD. Alien droids landed to Earth and docked into an underwater nuclear research base, located 20.000 feet deep! Contact with the base is now lost and the aliens turned the defense system against the staff of the research base and also, the base's oxygen seems to be depleting! It is Captain Dawnrazor who must go down there and help things running back to normal by destroying all alien forces and rescue the humans. You start with a fairly ordinary weapon but have the opportunity to power it up from a three way blasting gun to even a laser. Captain Dawnrazor will find plenty of items to collect, loads of doors to open, and more importantly, tons of things to shoot! Collecting the items lying around the areas will help you to power up your firepower, replenish oxygen and energy levels while some will also provide access to areas of the complex that were previously unreachable. Some of these elements are the appropriate keys you need to collect to open locked doors that block your way! The enemies you come across, and there are plenty of them, vary in terms of both size and firepower. Your top priority is to find a way to get a more powerful weapon, which is not a walk in the park as certain power ups are scattered in various places, causing an excessive amount of trouble finding them. The game is divided into three different sections and these are then subdivided into three more, so there are actually nine levels to explore. Each section has a different visual style and as you get further into the game new elements are introduced. These include lifts that aid you in exploring higher ore lower platforms! Although the levels look a bit identical, the action is varied enough to keep your interest high for quite a long time. Deep Core is a nice action platform shooter that offers intensive action and playability although it's high difficulty at times.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
Deep Core looks and sounds beautifully. The visuals have some sleek little touches, such as puddles of water at the bottom of the screen reflecting the action, ripples like water etc. The game on the Amiga OCS/ECS chipset has up to 64 colors on-screen (EHB mode) which makes the visuals pretty colorful and a joy to watch, although most of the stages share the same styles and effects. The dark tones of the background and your character give an air of mystery and unforeseeable danger. The sprites vary in sizes and shapes and that helps not to ggget bored by the game. Soundwise, the game is good and the sound of your weapon firing its projectiles turning an alien into a mass of gases, is well done. There are also several sampled sound effects such as explosions, doors opening and more. Unfortunately, apart from the great introductory tune, there is no music during gameplay.