file_id.diz
"Destroy the Madness, Embrace Peace"
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The problem was the drug. The problem was always going to be the drug. If Synerlabs had only realised sooner the destruction their product was going to cause, things might have been different. Nice maybe.
The idea had seemed like a good one. Senators and politicians the world over had applauded the pacifying effects of Ashkra. 'Ashkra' - even the name had sounded nice, if only they could have known..
Developed specifically to genetically alter the criminally insane and remove unwanted DNA from the gene-pool permanently. Governments the world over began to inject prisoners. They thought they were cleansing their little part of humanity.
Governments began to think. Why cleanse only the dirty. Why not purify the clean? New products slowly spread across on the shelves. Why worry about the ethics of genetic alteration, when the tranquillity of humankind was within reach.
The world seemed cleaner now. A fresh breeze had passed over the cluttered and debris strewn landscape of life, and brought with it new hopes of peace and harmony. AshkraWare, the answer to everyone's dreams had arrived. Society revelled in this new messiah.
"Destroy the Madness, Embrace Peace". That's what the advertising had said.
....
Only a few survive, and those who do live a pitiful life of misery in small, overcrowded population camps called Ashkrani. The buildings that mask out the horizon no longer belong to the old AshkraWare conglomeration. The tranquillity that was, is no longer. Terror is the force that makes the world turn.
No one had expected it. How could they? Everybody was so tied-up with their idyllic lives that the threat of alien android invasion had seemed negligible. Even when K-Ru1 had appeared on communications sets across the globe, people had dismissed it as an evil primeval flashback to the days before Ashkra.
Slowly, reality had sunk well and truly in. K-Ru1's minions had taken the world by storm. Peace loving humankind was tossed aside like crumpled wrapping paper at an 18th birthday party. Homes were ruined and families slaughtered or thrown out into the desolate wastelands.
Millions were slaughtered, maimed and abused by K-Ru1's ruthless forces. Ashkra was not helping people forget and live peacefully anymore. Ashkra was the reason they were in this mess. Maybe if they hadn't been so high they would have been able to stop this mechanical devastation. Mankind was now annoyed, it had seen enough. A burning sensation that humans had been deprived of for generations, it felt good and they felt strong.
Small resistance groups had set up across the globe. Ashkrani everywhere had been converted from litter strewn hovels into makeshift battle headquarters. Beaten plastic screens glow dimly with the faint light of resistance. Carefully drawn up plans for unattainable retribution scroll wildly into the darkness. Humankind was not a futile race that could be pushed aside easily. The only question that remained to be answered was how to topple the seemingly insurmountable K-Ru1 from his reeking metallic throne.
Ken Myers thought he had the answer.
....
So, it is now that in an isolated battle centre, a hushed crowd gathers in anticipation to await his instruction.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, as you are probably aware, several months ago scavengers brought this damaged Z-2 unit back from the wastelands. We assume it was heavily damaged by sniper fire, and left to rust.
For those of you who do not know of the Z-2. It is a highly specified assassination android used primarily in intelligence operations by K-Ru1."
Ken pauses momentarily to wipe the sweat from his brow. The crowd remains silent...
"We can take great pride in announcing that our Z-2 system is now fully operational again. We have also taken the liberty of adding an intelligent alien artifact TRANSLATE module. This will enable it to self-modify its weapon and shield systems to accommodate new alien technology as it is encountered. The plan is simple. So simple that it may work. As you are aware, humans cannot enter the palace of K-Ru1. The bio-detection alarm system will be activated before we get within 3 miles of the place. Therefore, it is our intention for the Ashkrani resistance network to place this modified Z-2 droid into K-Ru1's palace and assassinate its previous master for us."
The crowd remains silent...
"That's it. Does anyone have any questions ?"
"Yeah, Ken, what happens if the Z-2 is destroyed ?"
"I've spent many hours pondering over this one myself. I think the only thing that can be guaranteed is the total and utter annihilation of the human race. But what choice do we have my friend ? We can suffer in these, our Ashkrani hell-holes for only so long.."
Murmurs of discontent rustle throughout the crowded room, but no one dares to oppose their only plan.
And so it is that as the Z-2 drifts slowly undetected through the entrance to K-Ru1's palace, Ken finds himself praying that the last minute soldering he did to the power unit stays intact...
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Z2 Preview by Mobius Codeworks (Sig1LL)
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Thanks for downloading the Preview of Z2. I guess we should tell you how to
play our little 'ol game!!!
Well, the idea of the game is to battle your way through the levels to the
final level!! Simple eh?
Gameplay
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You play the part of Z2, a small battle droid, with laser, missile, and
grappling abilities.
The game has two sections to it. First the 3d world (the main view you will
see when you first start the game) and a grappling subgame.
You have a set amount of energy that is depleated by enegy fire and lost
'grapples'. Extra energy can be obtained by grappling with an enemy bot
and stealing it's power supply.
Control
-------
You can control Z2 via the Direction pad on the controller, pushing the pad
forwards will move the Z2 bot forward, pulling it back will reverse. Left
and Right will rotate the bot in the appropriate direction. Z2 can also
slide left and right with the left and right shoulder buttons (L2 and R2).
X can also be used to propell Z2 forwards
Square will swap Z2s current weapon between missle and laser (in this
preview we've given you an unlimited supply of missiles, we're nice like
that!)
Things to Kill
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Effectively EVERYTHING on the 3D view is an enemy and will try to take you
out. You have a choice of destroying enemy bots and bosses with your
weapons or, you can grapple with the enemy to attempt to take some of it's
abilities (missles, powerups etc)
Grappling
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Once you are close to an enemy (actually touching it) press the Circle
button. This will grapple the other bot. You will enter the subgame...
Head to Head Grappling
----------------------
A screen will appear showing a circuit board. You and the enemy bot both
have a number of 'tokens'. Each token allows you to change the colour of
one circuit line on the board. The objective of the game is to change as
many circuit lines to your colour as possible.
The tokens change the control on a circuit line for only a short time.
If your token and an enemy token are attached to the same circuit line,
the last token still 'working' will control the line.
Circuits change from subgame to subgame, some lines split into two lines,
firing down the single line will change both the resulting lines to a colour.
Some lines merge into a single line. To control this line both initial lines
must be fired down. Other lines have a 'booster' token in them, this appears
as a small token halfway down the circuit line. This doubles the time that a
token can 'work' on a circuit line.
The battle is played against the clock and different bots have better
grappling abilities, and hence have more tokens in the game. The subgame
can end in either a Deadlock, a win, or a lose. If a deadlock happens (no
one has control over the board) the game is played again. If you win the
game, you destroy the enemy and can take the abilities of the enemy bot.
If you lose, your energy is decreased.
Things to do
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Thoughout the game you will find computer terminals (ok well, one! But when
you see it, it looks like a computer!) run into them and press circle. This
will log you onto the terminal where you can look at various information
about the level and bots (not all functions of a terminal are enabled in
this preview).
You will also find door consoles (these look like computers on a stick!)
grapple with them and play the grappling subgame to open a door elsewhere
in the level.
Levels also contain teleporters (a pyramid on a stick!) press circle when
touching these to transport to the next level (the preview will not allow
you to transport down a level)
Killing the boss bots will also open doors.
This to see
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Pressing START will change the camera angle
Thats it!
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We hope you like it...
Enjoy and let us know what you think!
And wait for the proper release... errrr sometime real soon now!! ;)
Mobius Codeworks
Credits
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All Yaroze Code, Z2 engine, bugs......Jim Pitts jim@codeworks.demon.co.uk
Bot Meshes, Music, Sound FX, Rendered Images......Andrew Webb andreww@enterprise.net
Utilities, Map Editor, Meshes, Graphics......Greg Read greg@x-nin.demon.co.uk
Public Website http://www.codeworks.demon.co.uk/
Yaroze site http://www.netyaroze-europe.com/~Sig1LL
Known Bugs
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Ok, so this is the prerelease version, there's bound to be some (read lots)
bugs.
These are the ones I know of. If you can get it to crash and can reproduce
it I would love to know. Also if you see any glitches in the engine.
It sometimes appears to Rain. (this is doors freaking out!)
You can sometimes colide with laser bolts and are thrown back.
You see one too many tokens in the grapple game than you actually have.
The camera will be automatic. (oneday.)
The Computer Terminal only have one half implemented option. (just ignore the others).
If the frame rate starts gipping and you get into a grapple, the nme player doesn't work.
Sometimes you can get stuck inside other robots and entities.
Some robots appear to float if the camera view is low. (Its a perspective thing. Move the camera back up. ;-)
Doors don't always open 100% but there is an opening somewhere you can move though.
If you die the sound effects are badly restarted, ignore them..
Whoops, I've just noticed a debug message if you try and quit, (select). Ignore the comment.
If you quit DON'T restart the game without reloading it. It trollys itself after its been run.
Anything else, let me know..
Cheers
Jim