Abuse (video game)
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| Abuse | |
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| Developer(s) | Crack dot Com |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts, Red Hat, Bungie |
| Version | 1.0.1 |
| Platform(s) | PC (DOS, Linux), Mac, Acorn Archimedes, AmigaOS 4, GP2X Wiz |
| Release date(s) | 1996 |
| Genre(s) | Run and gun |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T (Teen) ELSPA: 11+ |
| Media | CD-ROM |
| System requirements | DOS version: 486DX 50 MHz (66 MHz recommended for network play), VESA graphics card, SoundBlaster compatible sound card, 8MB RAM, 13MB hard drive space, MS-DOS 5.0 or later (Windows 95 for IPX network support) |
| Input methods | Keyboard and Mouse |
Abuse is a run and gun video game developed by Crack dot Com, and published by Origin Systems/Electronic Arts. It was released in 1996, and runs on DOS and Linux operating systems. An improved port of the game was released for Mac OS by Bungie Studios and for the Acorn Archimedes by R-Comp Interactive. In 2009 it was ported to AmigaOS 4 as well.[1] Furthermore, the game has been ported to the iPhone/iPod Touch platform. The game's source code has been in the public domain since the late 1990s, along with some of the Shareware content.
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[edit] Plot
The protagonist of the game, Nick Vrenna, has been unjustly incarcerated in a prison where the staff are performing unethical medical experiments upon the inmates. A prison riot occurs and an experiment goes horribly wrong. The people inside the prison - except for Nick, who seems to be immune - get infected with a substance called Abuse that transforms them into monsters. Nick takes a laser gun and goes on to single-handedly destroy all mutants, stop the substance from spreading further, and escape from the prison complex.
[edit] Gameplay
Abuse resembles a side-scrolling platform game. The game is marked for its unusual control scheme: The keyboard is used to move Nick, while the mouse is used for aiming the weapons. The basic gameplay consists of fighting various enemies (mostly the various forms of mutants, who prefer to attack in huge swarms) and solving some simple puzzles, most involving switches.
Networked play, through IPX/SPX, is also supported. The game originally had support for TCP/IP play, but this was not present in the retail version.
[edit] Active zone
To help the efficiency of Abuse's engine, the code would only allow objects within a certain radius of the game window to be active during play; of course, it had to be much greater than the in-game resolution of 320 x 240. This meant that free-roaming enemies and always-on mechanical devices out of the range cannot attack the player, nor will projectiles fired from weapons that supposedly have an "infinite range" continue their journey far off the screen.
[edit] Distribution methods and later developments
The game was originally released as shareware. The free release was done based on incomplete game and final version was published through major software publishing house and distributed through ordinary retail channels.
The shareware versions were released for MS-DOS and Linux. Abuse was distributed with many GNU/Linux distributions at the time.
Abuse was also ported to Mac OS by Oliver Yu of Crack dot Com and published by Bungie Studios. The port was unusual in that it was largely reworked for Mac. Graphics were partially redone to work better in the 640x480 resolution.
The game has also been ported to the iPhone/iPod Touch under the name Abuse Classic.
Approximately two years after the release of the game, Crack dot Com decided to release the game source code, as well as the shareware release game data (excluding the sound effects), to public domain.[2] There has been little development based on this source release, though it did allow up-to-date GNU/Linux builds and making the game work over TCP/IP. An SDL port of the game is now available, allowing the game to run in Microsoft Windows and also in X11 systems in displays with more than 256 colors. The Mac version has been updated to run on OS X.
[edit] Development
Abuse had a very different storyline coming out of production. The update for it replaced the original introduction with the current "Nick Vrenna" storyline. The original involved an invasion by an alien species.[3] The player was an unnamed man, sent into their 'hive' to covertly destroy the aliens by shutting down the cooling system. This story was alluded to in a hidden section towards the end of level 14, where a large area, full of maroon tiles, can be found.
[edit] References
- ^ "Abuse ported to AmigaOS 4!". 2009-07-09. http://amigaworld.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4976. Retrieved 2009-07-11.
- ^ "Purchasing Abuse". web.archive.org. http://web.archive.org/web/20030610094112/abuse2.com/public_domain.php3. Retrieved 2007-09-07.
- ^ Nathaniel Krell. "Overview and Brief Analysis of Abuse's Plot" (TXT). ABUSE @ Net-Mage.Com 1.4. http://www.net-mage.com/nkrell/abuse/abusePlots.txt. Retrieved 2009-05-11. "The Ants were fearless, efficient killers. The Unified Underground's only opening was that the Ant defense systems were designed by engineers too arrogant to consider the threat of an individual. It was enough to justify the covert Abuse Missions."
[edit] External links
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