Prey
        (ACTION)


   With the upcoming Prey, 3D Realms' goal is nothing less than a
   first-person shooter that is at least "two evolutionary steps" above
   the corridor-crawler as we presently know it. A long standing idea
   with many action game developers has been to copy the most famous games
   and make their own version of it. Prey seem to be ready to change it all.
   Prey pits the player, in the role of an American Indian character
   named Talon, against a trinity of alien races (and also a fourth race
   whose relation to all others forms part of the mystery behind the
   game). While hesitant to release too many specific details of the
   storyline, 3D Realms is quick to point out that the approach here is
   not humorous at all, and that plot, while fine and dandy, should not
   and will not get in the way of what is first and foremost a bloody,
   high-energy action game.

   So what's the big leap? Simply put, it's the environmental mechanics.
   The physical reality of previous 3-D worlds, such as the environments
   found in Quake, means that the computer has to cope with the totality
   of chamber linked to chamber as a whole. Prey will utilize a portal
   technology that means the processor only deals with what it
   needs to at the moment; if the player can't see the next chamber,
   neither can the computer, so it ain't there. Such selective perception
   on the processor's part can result in some fascinating and bizarre
   constructions, such as rooms which are larger than the structures that
   contain them,  or free-floating, zero-thickness teleporters that only
   provide line-of-sight and transport in one direction. Add to this the
   'Radiosity' technology that provides realistic moving lighting effects
   so accurate that the yellow blaze of a rocket as it hurtles down a
   corridor will create other, true colors as it mixes with the ambient
   glow of various light sources along its path, all without making the
   computer twitch.

   And while all of that is certain to at least quicken the pulse of avid
   corridor-crawler gamers, it's nothing compared to the next
   consideration, which is this: Gamers in 3-D modeled worlds want to
   blow stuff up, including the worlds themselves. What, the Apogee
   designers asked themselves, is the point behind giving a gamer some
   hellish man-portable missile launcher if he can't then use it to make
   some major-league alterations to the local scenery? If an opponent is
   busting caps at him from beneath a fragile archway, why shouldn't he
   be able to just bring the thing down around the enemy's ears? Since
   when does crumbling stone and worm-eaten wood stand up to a
   quarter-kiloton tactical nuke? Since never. And in Prey, it won't.
   It's a gamer's dream come true: After twenty years of frustrating
   computer games in which, too often, players could not do the obvious
   thing and simply lay waste to the simple, stupid barriers keeping them
   from what they wanted to see or where they wanted to go, this will be more
   than a refreshing change.

   Don't get all pumped up already ! Prey is to be officially released
   somewhere in late '98. I seriously doubt it though. I wouldn't be suprised
   if a project of this magnitude comes out next year. So keep your fingers
   crossed .