NET:ZONE

NET:Zone. A remarkable 3-D graphic quest through a futuristic virtual reality fantasy world. Login to NET:Zone. Logout...if you can!

It is the year 2016. Your father, Managing Director of the mysterious CYCORP Corporation, went missing a year ago. It is believed that his disappearance was linked to top-secret research on artificial intelligence life forms carried out by the corporation.

On finally cracking your father's virtual reality interface, you are shocked to discover an e-mail message from him. Something is going terribly wrong and he is desperate for your help.

 

Cross the boundary that separates dream from reality. Enter the virtual world of NET:Zone. Mysterious and alluring, this world is the embodiment of computer programs and artificial life forms. Discover the sinister secrets of CYCORP. Unravel the mystery of your father's disappearance and secure the global communication networks. Is he still alive? If so, how do you both break free from an advanced computer program? Learn to master the virtual world and control the sophisticated technology around you.

Surprise, danger and hostility lurk around every floating corner in this vivid mind game.

Features:

• 360 degree panoramic gaming area and screen "tilt". 
• Beautifully drawn high-resolution (32K colour) graphics. 
• CD sound track and full digital speech and effects. 
• Non-linear exploration and total storyline task and puzzle integration. 
• 5 sprawling worlds with individual graphic styles. 
• A multitude of sophisticated virtual objects to find, create and manipulate. 
• Establish communication with a number of computer systems.

~ from the back of the UK box

If you're gonna go weird when designing an adventure game, you better know what you're doing. You can easily derail the product but being too obtuse with your concept where only the truly tapped in can connect with. Precious Chamber escapee Obsidian, with its pseudo-philosophical robot worlds, did it very well. NET:Zone, Compro's 1996 first-person adventure, not so much.

That's not to say you should be put off with this FMV-infused cyberpunk offering, it just means you should stick with it and try and understand its logic. You are the son the CEO of a major technology corporation who hacks into the company mainframe via a virtual reality headset to uncover some strange conspiratorial murder plots at play. He must navigate this convoluted attempt at corporate organisation to save his father and the future of the multi-billion-dollar business he created from scratch. I don't know if locking sensitive data behind taxing logic puzzles makes his job easier or more difficulty, but we get a point-and-click adventure out of it.

Use the Enhanced Diagnostic Module to hack into and break the testing program at the right moment (left).

Use it to swap out broken computer parks with new or hacked ones too (right).

Our first port of call in this tecno-world is the Central Hub. From here, you can hitch a ride on a number of fantastical vehicles to visit other areas, but it's not as easy as opening the door and piloting the thing. You first have to hack it using your multi-purpose PDA. This devise is how you'll interact with most things and is by far the game's most compelling feature. Floating connectors indicate that you can jack into a nearby computer system, whether it be a Zeppelin air craft, busy worker drones or an information terminal. By using different programs in your inventory - most commonly the diagnostic tool - you can manipulate its inner workings. The tools themselves can even be hacked and modified to provide enhanced capabilities. 

A great example of this is how you gain access to those vehicles from the main hub. Once you've procured the EDM upgrade, you can interrupt the diagnostics to keep the door open and its engine running. Alternatively, faulty parts can be swapped out for good ones or even modified ones making for some fun puzzles to solve. The problem is it's not always clear why your doing it until after the fact. The technobabble in the cutscenes bear little to no relation to real life and are often made up just for this world. They're not always given context leaving you more clueless on where to go as opposed to what to do, especially in the first half of the game.

The four vehicles take you different areas of the VR facility, including this sub called Atlantis (left).

Like all the others, you operate them using the PDA's access point (right).

Thankfully, your PDA (accessed through that ring icon on the bottom left) does have a hint system and a mini-guide embedded into it. It comes in useful when fumbling around at the beginning, especially as the controls aren't as intuitive as you might expect. The mouse cursor has been changed to what they call a CYPROD; a large context-sensitive pointer that doesn't make it obvious what you're hovering over. It doesn't help that that amount you turn left or right isn't consistent making you loose your bearings on occasion. To turn, I mostly used the alternative method of holding the right mouse button and looking around the pre-rendered environment in a full 360-degree panorama.

The PDA also gives you access to emails, which is a little underused throughout most of the game. The Memo screen allows you to type in your own notes while the Map gives you a useful overview of your current location. It's even necessary to solve a multi-faceted maze puzzle completely removing the annoyance of such a groan-worthy staple of the genre while still making you think. Even your inventory is more unique than in most games, being populated with programs and video files more than actual items.

The puzzles are nicely designed, including one of the better examples of the dreaded maze (left).

Your inventory will split to allow you to manipulate objects and programs between machines (right).

From a presentation standpoint, it is rather average for 1996. The trippy, deliberately abstract visuals can alienate until you get a good layout of the virtual land, but some locations do inspire awe. The fractal colours of the Testing Facility make for the perfect location for a sound and colour puzzle while the rocky lava lake of the Elimination Facility (complete with an introduction from a talking sphincter) is something to behold. And that's before we get to the awesome trip-hop soundtrack which gave me positive Portishead vibes on more than one occasion. Well worth giving it a listen.

It took me a while to warm to NET:Zone. Long enough for me to think I'd really dislike it at first but once I tapped into it's very specific groove I began to really get into it. The central mechanic of hacking into machinery to interrupt their programming for your own means is an inspired one. Don't be too put off by its opening moments. I assure you, there's a pretty decent game in there and when you find it I do recommend it.

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses the DOSBox-X build of DOSBox to bring the game to modern systems. Manual and Scrapbook included. MP3 Soundtrack available as a separate download. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 309 Mb.  Install Size: 478 Mb.  Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

Download


NET:Zone is © Compro Games Ltd

Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me

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