Just Another Pretty Face

Stylish, attractive, built around an ever so slightly different story twist, “D/Generation” from Software Toolworks and Mindscape shows plenty of promise on the design front. But on the game front, where it really matters, this tale of a courier dead set on finishing his rounds is not much to write about.

The game features some nifty 3-D graphics--a multiple level excursion through a “Blade Runner”-style bio-tech lab--that lift it above your average aim-and-shoot action-adventure. Still, there’s not much behind the pretty face.

Here’s the plot: Sometime in the future, you must deliver a package to the head scientist, Derrida, at the famed Singapore-based Genoq Biolabs. You jetpack your way across Eurasia to the 80th floor of the firm’s headquarters.

From there, neither rain nor sleet nor plasma barrier nor Neogen bio-engineered cybermutants will stay your from your appointed task. (Does UPS know about this guy?) You encounter some passive restraints such as electrified floors and revolving trackers that fire on anything human.

You also meet up with four generations of intelligent obstacles A, B, C or, the ultimate, D generation genetically engineered organisms that have taken over the building. In case you aren’t yet clear on the concept, the bad guys grow worse as you progress through the alphabet. Your job, since you’ve accepted it, is to get the package to Derrida before the bad guys get you.

That’s pretty much it. You acquire weapons and encounter other people along the way, but, at its heart, “D/Generation” is only about how to get from Point A to Point D without getting creamed.

Like we said, the pictures are nice.

D/Generation

Rating: **

IBM and compatibles; 512K RAM required; joystick highly recommended. List: $49.95.

Computer games are rated on a five-star system, from one star for poor to five for excellent.