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      <h5><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">//<a href="../../../index.html"><font color="#7C420E">loonygames</font></a>://<a href="../index.html"><font color="#7C420E">issue 
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              <h5 align="right"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#00025E"><img src="../../images/icons/shelf_final.jpg" width="191" height="240" align="left"><loonystart>Vol. 
                2, Issue 1<br>
                November 10, 1999<br>
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              <div align="center">
                <p align="center"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000FF"><i><font color="#904C10" size="3">The 

                  Top Shelf:</font></i></font></b></p>
                <p align="center"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000FF"><i><font color="#904C10" size="6"> 
                  Outcast</font></i></font></b></p>
                <p align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">by 
                  <a href="mailto:hb@loonygames.com">Noel &quot;HB&quot; Wade</a></font></p>
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<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/2.9/shelf/">Issue 2.9 (Freespace 2)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/2.7/shelf/">Issue 2.7 (Nocturne)</option>
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<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/2.4/shelf/">Issue 2.4 (System Shock 2)</option>
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<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.16/topshelf/">Issue 1.16 (Half-Life)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.14/topshelf/">Issue 1.14 (Grim Fandango)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.10/topshelf/">Issue 1.10 (Shogo)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.8/topshelf/">Issue 1.8 (Klingon Honor Guard)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.6/topshelf/">Issue 1.6 (Half-Life: Day One)</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.4/topshelf/">Issue 1.4 (Final Fantasy VII)</option>
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              <p align="left"> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><img src="../../images/letters_new/w.jpg" width="34" height="37" align="left">hat 
                comes to mind when you think of the term &#147;Adventure Game&#148;? 
                For most of us, these words are immediately associated with various 
                Sierra and LucasArts games. These games, while having fun and 
                a good story line, can be reduced to location-based puzzles involving 
                various props strewn about a defined area. However, <b>Outcast</b> 
                re-defines the &#147;adventure&#148; part of that tried-and-true 
                phrase; and old adventure games really <i>do</i> seem less grand 
                after playing Appeal / Infogrames' offering.</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The opening 
                story is clich&eacute; enough to bore most experienced gamers: 
                Scientists have been fiddling with the fabric of reality in an 
                attempt to reach an alternate universe. The experiment goes awry, 
                and triggers a black hole that is destroying the Earth. You take 
                the role of Cutter Slade, a troubled ex-Navy SEAL (whose career 
                was cut short by a mishap that you learn about both in the manual, 
                and during the game). Cutter is sent to the alternate universe 
                along with three scientists, to safeguard them while they try 
                to repair the damaged military probe that is the cause of the 
                whole mess.</font></p>
              
              <table border="0" align="right" bgcolor="#D7B582" width="98" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
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                  <td height="43"> 
                    <div align="center"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="http:/home/loonygames/loony.timedoctor.org/content/cgi/image.pl?image=/content/2.1/shelf/images/outcast1.jpg&amp;w=512&amp;h=384&amp;back=/content/2.1/shelf/index.php&amp;name=The%20Top%20Shelf"><img src="images/outcast1_sml.jpg" width="112" height="84" border="0" alt="click to enlarge!"></a></font></div>
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                  <td height="18"> 
                    <p align="center"> <i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1" color="#000253"><ignoreme>Low 
                      res? You bet...but it sure is pretty (49k)</ignoreme></font></i></p>
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              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Luckily, 
                the clich&eacute;s pretty much end there with the back-story; 
                which gets itself out of the way enough for the game to come through. 
                The game starts with you arriving in Adelpha (the alternate world) 
                barely conscious, and with a horrible headache. What&#146;s worse, 
                you don&#146;t know where anyone is &#150; nor do you know where 
                the probe lies. This sets the stage for a breathtaking, exciting, 
                and sometimes hilarious romp around wilderness areas, across seas, 
                and through crowded city streets.</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">As I mentioned 
                before, this game really is different from your &#147;standard&#148; 
                adventure game. To put it as simply as possible, <b>Outcast</b> 
                is a huge game of fairly free-form exploration and interaction. 
                This may sound boring; but the immersion, story-line, dialogue, 
                and a million other details make this every bit as engrossing 
                as the best games I can think of.</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The game 
                bills itself as being open and non-linear, and they did a <i>fabulous</i> 
                job of this. Obstacles and quests can truly be solved in different 
                ways; and are often given an equal chance of succeeding. There 
                are other things, too &#150; like events happening without a particular 
                order &#150; that really lend an &#147;open&#148; and &#147;non-scripted&#148; 
                feel to the game. Even conversations with characters are malleable; 
                and while snippets of them are scripted, your options on what 
                to talk about and how they respond is all dynamic. And cut scenes, 
                dialogue, and special events are all handled directly in the game 
                engine (much better than with previous games that have tried to 
                do this). In the end, you feel much more immersed in the game 
                because you get to do what <i>you</i> want to do, at <i>any</i> 
                given moment. No one thing forces you to go in any particular 
                direction or do any one thing (though there are times when you 
                are given really strong reasons for a course of action). Care 
                to run off and hunt wild animals for a little while? Feel like 
                ignoring your larger tasks and helping out individual natives&#146; 
                needs? It's all possible, provided you haven&#146;t been playing 
                so long that you pass out at the keyboard!</loonystart></font></p>
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<p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">Credits: Illustration 
  &copy; 1999 Dan Zalkus. This review is &copy; 1999 Noel Wade. All other content 
  is &copy; 1999 loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited, 
  goldarn it.</font></i></p>
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