The Collection Chamber: VAXINE

Inside the human body, a constant war rages between invading virus cells and the body's own defence mechanisms. Day after day the body repels the marauding bacteria until, once in a while a stronger, mutant viral strain penetrates the outer protective membranes and threatens to overwhekm the life-giving organs of your very being.

Now, for the first time, you can fight your very own battle against the forces of biological destruction using your very own VAXINE. Eliminate the invading virus cells before they can join together to form lethal viral strings that are capable of choking the life from your key body cells. Go on the attack with your own colour coded anti-bodies, or use your DNA strands to strangle larger clusters of alien invaders before they reach your brain and numb your senses forever.

The invasion force is growing stronger - how long can you survive without VAXINE?
Vaxine has an infinite number of increasingly difficult levels in which reflex, skill and strategy are the only resources which allow survival of the host.
Digitised sound
100% ray-traced graphics
Extra shooting stars bonus level

~ from the back of the box

TOPICAL ALERT! If you're reading this in the distant future, this review was written in the middle of a global pandemic where a small but vocal minority of the population refuse to take life-saving medicine because of the 17th letter of the alphabet.

At least Vaxine for Amiga and DOS gives a better reason to be afraid of microscopic balls. The premise of this thirty-year-old bouncy ball simulator is that a new viral strain has taken over a patiant's body. To combat this, scientists developed a new shrinking technology to inject a high-tech but useless tank piloted by a doctor with a death wish into an infected brain that's already dosed up with some potent recreational psychedelic drugs. What a premise!

You control the tank using the mouse, and it is surprisingly responsive. You only face in one direction which prevents disorientation, but if you stand still for a moment, giant letters will appear in front of you to tell you where the next viral ball is. These balls can multiply and attach themselves to each other causing all kinds of mayhem, and the only way to destroy them is to shoot them with your own coloured balls. This is easier said than done. You projectiles are thrown in an arc before bouncing with a realistic momentum. The folks at The Assembly Line were proud of this technical achievement which is still impressive to look at considering the hardware it is running on. It's not unusual to have an entire screen of multi-coloured balls bouncing up until the horizon. The issue is that it plays as well as it looks - like balls.

I found it near impossible to hit anything, let alone decipher which ball is your projectile and which are the virus. It gets worse as the viral load multiplies. You can pause the chaos briefly by stepping through one of the black monolithic doorways, but even that didn't help. I found the best tactic was to hunt these little dohnut things that travel on the floor spurting balls, but I still failed. Too many balls in my brain.

Still, Vaxine is an interesting curio from a technical standpoint, but I'm truly glad vaccines don't work like this in real life.

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses DOSBox to bring the PC version to modern systems and FS-UAE to emulate the Amiga version. Manual and Code Wheel included. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 96.4 Mb. Install Size: 210 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

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AMIGA