Buck Rogers - Countdown to Doomsday & Buck Rogers - Matrix Cubed [Strategic Simulations, Inc.] [Retro] [Dos] [adamantalias]

Although SSI's Advanced Dungeons and Dragons games are critically acclaimed best-sellers, the fantasy context of the AD&D world tends to exclude many gamers. While we might enjoy the role-playing aspect, the idea of roaming a medieval world of orcs, elves, dragons, and wizards just doesn't interest some gamers.

But what if the role playing mechanics of the series are left unchanged, and a new world is substituted for the usual AD&D settings? That's exactly what SSI did with Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday, and that simple change of venue is enough to give even the most avowed dragon-hater a chance to enjoy SSI's intricate role-playing system.

The plot may not be Star Wars material, but it is fascinating in attention to detail, basing as it were on the well-known universe of Buck Rogers the comic book series. The year is 2456. The Earth is a polluted ruin, having been abused through centuries of heavy industry and warfare. The interplanetary megacorporation RAM (Russo-American Mercantile) has risen to become one of the greatest powers in the solar system in the 3rd Millennium. Only a few relatively small resistance groups try to oppose RAM's rape of the Earth, but they are hopelessly outclassed in nearly everything. The game begins as your party join one of those resistance groups - NEO (New Earth Organization) to fight for Earth and restore it to its former green glory.

Countdown to Doomsday plays like the other Gold Box games in many respects, but is definitely more thought-out than the other fantasy-RPGs from SSI. For one thing, the plot thickens much faster than its fantasy counterparts, and whereas the fantasy-games have fixed classes, CtD offers you a skill-based system where you can invest skill points on your own, thereby giving you a far greater flexibility.

Rather than traveling by foot or horse from game location to game location, you will travel via a medium cruiser among the various stellar objects. Random encounters while traveling from location to location in space means that you encounter hostile ships and these fights can be very tricky-- only go up against a RAM Heavy Cruiser if you know exactly what you are doing, or if you're feeling especially suicidal [EG]. Even encounters of ships equal to your own can be devastating if you haven't got characters that have advanced to the maximum level the game allows.

You will meet several of the famous characters from the Buck Rogers universe, like Wilma Deering, Turabian and even Buck Rogers himself. There is a lot of combat, but not as much as other games in the genre. Still, because the combat system is well-programmed, the number of combat scenes is more bearable.

This is definitely a game that will leave you with a feeling of accomplishment. Even playing on the easiest level offers seriously difficult encounters at times, such as when you go up against RAM Combat Robots, and (surprise!) ship-to-ship encounters aren't affected by adjusting the difficulty levels.

A superior sequel to Countdown to Doomsday, Buck Rogers: Maxtrix Cubed is the second and last game in the promising series of RPGs based on the Buck Rogers comic book universe.

As with its predecessor, you are thrust into the twenty-fifth century, a world of political intrigue, epic struggle, and mind-boggling scientific advances. Earth has been ravaged by centuries of exploitation at the hands of the Russo-American Mercantile (RAM), a mega-corporation fueled by the planet's resources. Although the New Earth Organization (NEO) - headed by Buck Rogers, and the group to whom your loyalties belong - has managed to regain control of Earth (as recounted in Countdown to Doomsday), RAM's bases on Mars and throughout the Asteroid Belt remain powerful.

As the game begins, your party of rugged adventurers is on a space station orbiting Mercury, sentby Colonel Rogers to seek the allegiance of the new Mercurian Sun King. While there, you meet a scientist who tells you of his theory to create a Matrix Device. The device will transform any matter into whatever new form is desired - just the thing to repair the scarred Earth. But before you can take the scientist to NEO's Salvation Base to meet with Buck Rogers, he's kidnapped by a new terrorist organization, PURGE, dedicated to the Prevention of Unwanted Research and Genetic Engineering.

The group seeks to destroy all genetically engineered lifeforms, or Gennies, created to aid in the colonization of the other planets. PURGE fights to reclaim the solar system for pure Humans. But many Gennie groups, such as the Martian Desert Runners and Venusian Lowlanders, are now peaceful and fully realized cultures. Indeed, Gennies are a vital part of the NEO organization. And so you must race to assemble a Matrix Device for NEO, while keeping the technology out of PURGE's hands.

The plot this time around is even more intriguing than Countdown to Doomsday and involves a much more intricate web of sub-plots and characters. As for gameplay, anyone who's played the Gold Box series of TSR/SSI games will immediately recognize the Matrix Cubed gaming system. It's simple and straightforward, providing easy access to the game's role-playing mechanics.

SSI also definitely listened to fans' comments, as many of the complaints for Countdown to Doomsday have been addressed: there are now fewer combat sequences and more NPC interaction, and more weapons and gadgets to find and use. Although not as graphically pleasing as contemporary RPGs, Matrix Cubed is great fun. Effort was spent on making the story and engine top-notch, and it shows. As a result, what it lacks in glitz it more than makes up for in substance.