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First released way back in 1983, Impossible Mission hurls the player into a world of espionage, deadly robots, nuclear blackmail and a warped madman.
The plot concerns Elvin Atombender, an ex-college student whose mind was warped after a freak accident with a video game. Eventually becoming a professor of computing and robotics, he suddenly disappeared and remained unheard of ... until now.
Security breaches into key military computers have been traced to an underground complex, where Elvin and his enormous super-computer are thought to reside. Military experts believe that Elvin is capable of cracking the secret US missile launch codes in six hours time, giving him the ability to destroy the entire world. The only way to resolve the situation is if a single person enters Elvin's cavern and shuts down the computer. There's only one person capable of carrying out that task and that's you - Special Agent 4125.
No weapons can be taken with you as Elvin's security scanners would spot them a mile off - the only thing you can smuggle in is your pocket computer.
The screen is split in two, with the upper section containing a side on view of the action and the pocket computer control panel occupying the bottom section. The mission begins at the lift shaft which leads into Elvin's lair. Pulling on the joystick causes the lift to speed downwards stopping at the fist floor it reaches. The agent can turn left or right to enter a room, with your route steadily mapped out on the pocket computers panel. The rooms contain a series of catwalks and gantries containing various items of furniture and machinery, all guarded by robots of varying intelligence. The aim is to navigate the catwalks and walk up to each item to 'search it'. This is done by pushing forwards on the joystick by each item. A bar appears indicating the amount of searching left to do. Once this bar disappears, a discovered password is displayed or if you are unlucky a message saying 'Nothing Here'.
The robots try their upmost to zzap you with their ray guns, or force you off the catwalks into the abyss below. Each loss of life means 10 minutes of precious mission time are lost. A clock is held in your pocket computer, which can only be viewed in the lift shaft. The mission begins at 12:00 and you have until six o'clock to collect all 36 pieces of the password before Elvin launches his missiles.
One computer can be logged onto in every room using the search technique. When this is accessed, the screen displays three options: Reset Lifts, Disable Robots or Log Off. You have to find the relevant passwords to activate the two former commands.
When in the lift area, pressing fire activates the pocket computer. All password pieces found will be displayed here. The object is to find all the pieces and put them together in sets of four. The idea being that four pieces overlap making a completely coloured square. When each square is completed, the pocket computer will bleep and a letter of the final password is displayed. When all eight letters are displayed, you must rush to the room containing Elvins supercomputer and 'Search' it. This disables the missiles and the game is won. Failing to do this within the time limit and the world ends...
PERSONAL REVIEW
This is one of the finest computer games ever written on any format. Written back in 1983, this was way ahead of its time. The graphics, animation, sound, speech and gameplay combine perfectly to create a fabulous atmosphere. The different robot characteristics are brilliant - sometimes a seemingly stupid one turns around and gives chase at high speed, and at other times you spend ages creeping up on one only to find out its completely dormant. Theres some amazing detail to be found in the furniture - right down to the toilet roll next to the lavatory and the microwave on the kitchen unit.
You'll find the graphics familiar if you've played other Epyx games. The agent is similar to the athlete in Summer Games. But the animation is of the usual Epyx high standard. The speech is also incredibly good including the blood curdling scream when your agent falls to his death. There are loads of rooms to explore, and even some puzzle sections thrown in. It'll take a while to complete this game although its not 'impossible'. The program reeks of professionalism and is damn near flawless. Its just a shame some of today's games don't keep to the same standards!
Downloads: Music, Speech, Advert
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| GRAPHICS - 9/10 |
Great attention to detail, colourful rooms and nice animation.
| | SOUND - 9/10 |
Brilliant, atmospheric spot effects and plenty of speech. No tune though.
| | PLAYABILITY - 10/10 |
Instantaneous addiction and high lasting appeal - 32 rooms to explore and 36 puzzle pieces to find and assemble. Controls are dead easy to pick up although some of the jumps are required to be pixel perfect - no good if you have a flight stick!
| | OVERALL - 10/10 |
A timeless classic which has lost none of its original appeal when it was first released nearly 16 years ago!
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; "Click to zoom!")
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; "Click to zoom!")
