G L O O M Typed by Belgarath I glanced up at the flag waving forlornly in the acid sharp breeze. 'The United States of Earth' was what it represented, but the enormous number of stars it had accumulated over the centuries made it look more like a dirty rag. I turned my attention back to the N.W.O. building ahead. It was, as it was meant to be, an imposing building, both in size and design. It's sharp spires, oddly coloured windows and antique building materials were the ultimate tribute to the ugliness of an age long passed. I had only been here twice before, and the results of each visit are still etched in my mind - as are anyone's worst horrors... Seated before the council of 7, I struggled to maintain a dignified calm. The room was cemetary quiet - the old men holding me firmly in their collective gaze. At length, one of them rose to speak... 'The New World Order Greet you agent Black. Thank you for arriving so promptly'. I grinned inwardly at the rhetorical compliment. He continued... 'We of the council have reason to believe that the Cultists are operating again.' My stomach froze. I had really known this all along, although I had not wanted to believe it. My other missions for the N.W.O. had involved the Cultists, and both had involved more violence than any man could be expected to endure. But I had survived, sanity more-or-less intact, and had made the mistake of thinking the N.W.O. would see fit to retire me from further Cultist missions. 'Evidence suggests that Cultist infiltrators are smuggling equipment and resources off Earth, on an Earth Starcruiser, and are time jumping to cover their activities. We believe we know which Starcruiser is involved but due to the time jumping we have no strong evidence to implicate it.' My mind reeled - Time jumping? Had they really gone that far? The dangers of time jumping had long ago been established, ever since spacecraft were capable of reaching the phenomenal speeds necessary - it's tendency to unravel the very fabric of the universe - the mind shattering effect it had on it's practitioners. 'We have arranged with the owner of the concerned shipping company to have you teleported aboard the suspected Starcruiser. She has personally guaranteed us of your safe cover and passage. Your mission is simply to determine the Cultist's destination, and return such information to us. Again, we thank you for your co-operation.' He sat. I left. I had a bad feeling about this mission. It nagged at me all through a mostly sleepless night, right up until I reported to the Teleport Centre the next day. As I lay on the teleport couch, watching one reality fade while another took it's place, I hoped that things would go as smoothly as the council has promised... Playing Gloom Yeah! right! As you emerge from the teleport, plasma cannon at the ready, Hordes of Cultist warriors rush you from the dark corners of the Starcruiser! You, or you and a friend, must find the exit before you get killed...and eventually locate the Cultist's destination. Along the way, you collect Weapon boosts for your cannon, the occasional healthy drink, and lots of other goodies! You begin a game with three lives, and continue until you either run out of lives, or discover the secret of Gloom. Controls Gloom can be played using either the Amiga's keyboard, a joystick or a CD32 joypad. Note that to sidestep using a joystick, you must have a two button joystick. To Play Gloom Using The Keyboard Move Forward Press 'up arrow' key Move Backward Press 'down arrow' key Rotate Left Press 'left arrow' key Rotate Right Press 'right arrow' key Sidestep Left Hold 'Alt' key down and press 'left arrow' key Sidestep Right Hold 'Alt' key down and press 'right arrow' key Fire Plasma Cannon Press 'Amiga' key To Play Gloom Using A Joystick Move Forward Push joystick up Move Backward Push joystick back Rotate Left Push joystick left Rotate Right Push Joystick right Sidestep Left Hold down button two and push joystick left Sidestep Right Hold down button two and push joystick right Fire Plasma Cannon Push joystick button one To Play Gloom Using A CD32 Joypad Move Forward Push joypad up Move Backward Push joypad down Rotate Left Push joypad left Rotate Right Push joypad right Sidestep Left Push left joypad shoulder button Sidestep Right Push right joypad shoulder button Fire Plasma Cannon Push red joypad button The Main Menu Once Gloom has loaded, hit the return or the joystick button to bring up the main menu. This will present you with a screen of options: ONE PLAYER GAME - Begin a one player game of Gloom TWO PLAYER GAME - Begin a two player game of Gloom. In this mode, the players cooperate in their search for Gloom, and players are not capable of harming each other. In a two player game players share lives, so it is in each players best interest to help the other out! TWO PLAYER COMBAT - Begin a two player combat game of Gloom. In this mode, two players are thrown into a random series of arenas in which they attempt to prove who is the better Gloom player! Players are most definitely capable of harming each other! PLAYER 1 - Selecting this option allows you to choose the control method (either joystick or keyboard) for player one. PLAYER 2 - This option allows you to select the control method for player two. REMOTE LINK OPTIONS - This allows you to play Gloom with a friend and another Amiga. See 'Gloom for Two'. VIOLENCE MODEL - We leave the beauty of this option up to you discover... ABOUT GLOOM - Brings up a screen of interesting facts. EXIT GLOOM - This allows you to exit Gloom, and is only really useful if you have played Gloom from your hard drive. The Ingame Menu During a game of Gloom, pressing the 'ESC' key, or the CD32 'Play/Pause' button will pause the game and bring up the ingame menu. The options here allow you to customise various aspects of the display - useful for those with slower (standard) Amigas, as many of these options affect how smoothly Gloom runs. CONTINUE Returns you to the game. RESOLUTION Swaps between small and big pixels. Small pixels look better, but are slower to draw. Resolution also affects the maximum game window size - small pixels let you blow the window up to only about half the screen width, while big pixels let you blow the window up to any size you want. WINDOW SIZE selecting this will increase the size of the game window. FULL SCREEN WINDOW Wammo! This option blows the display up to it's maximum size - it's a little chunky, but very involving! FLOOR This option allows you to disable the Floor graphics (fast), draw the floor as a single colour (fast-ish) or draw the floor in all it's technical glory (slow). CEILING This option lets you determine the appearance of the ceiling graphics. QUIT GAME This will end your game and return you to the Gloom title page. Your Plasma Cannon To aid you in your dispatch of the various foes you will encounter playing Gloom, you are equipped with a standard issue Plasma Cannon. Your cannon is capable of five degrees of firepower, and can be boosted by collecting weapon powerups. Collecting a weapon powerup of the same type as you are using will increase your Plasma Cannon's firing rate. Gloom For Two You can play Gloom with a friend over a null modem cable or over the modem - just select REMOTE LINK OPTIONS from the main menu. Player controls should be setup BEFORE this, as only one player will have control of the game options once the Amigas have linked. Also both Amigas must have the Gloom title up before attempting to link-up. To start a null modem game, both players should select NULL LINK from the REMOTE LINK OPTIONS menu. To start a modem game, one player should select DIAL UP, while the other should select ANSWER. Once a successful connection has been made, players can 'chat' during a game by typing characters or numbers. Chat messages typed during a linked game will appear in the chat area at the top of the screen. Note: When playing Gloom over a modem, it is highly recommended that your modem's error checking feature is disabled. Please refer to your modem's manual for details on how to do this. The Enemy You will meet many strange and unpleasant creatures during your travels. Here is a brief description of some to watch out for. Cultist Warrior You will encounter many of these during the early phases of your mission. Although not too bright, the Cultist Warrior is a persistent foe. Terran Construction Droid (Terra) Slow moving but hard to destroy, Terra is also armed with a high energy Plasma rifle. Watch out for these! Undead Servants Of Gloom Barely visible to the human eye, these poor souls are doomed to a life of tormented servitude. Their arrival is heralded by an unearthly shriek, while their lack of substance allows them to pass through physical obstacles. Metaphisix Dedicated to the mysterious ways of the Cult, Metaphisix is a bit of an enigma. Metaphisix is reputed to be capable of removing a man's soul while leaving his body intact. Typed by Belgarath