Review by: Bob Mandel
Published: December 17, 1998

While 3D first-person shooters have abounded in the last couple of years, imitating and in some cases improving upon the landmark efforts by Id Software’s Quake, there have been relatively few clones of Interplay’s Descent. What set Descent apart from all of its predecessors is, of course, its six directions of free movement, and recently only Acclaim’s Forsaken has really taken this game type to the next level. Part of the reason for the absence of more activity here may be the difficulties of harnessing this freedom in such a way as to make a game really fun to play.

Well, a small Louisiana-based company, Goldtree Enterprises, has long been attempting to refine this particular gaming niche still further. After releasing its DOS game Cylindrix in 1996, Goldtree began redesigning its product to take full advantage of more powerful computers and Windows 95. This effort culminated in the recent release of Dead Reckoning, a more polished and glitzy version of Cylindrix distributed by Piranha Interactive. Dead Reckoning is an arcade shooter of the purest sort, with no distracting elements to take you away from the fast-paced action.

In contrast to the complex labyrinthine passages found in many games of this sort, Dead Reckoning’s battle arenas are all relatively compact cylinders. There are 15 of these, each with different coloring and barriers and other objects inside that give you places to hide and make navigation tricky, and each with a small number of enemy craft to overcome. More specifically, you encounter pylons which strengthen your team’s weapons when bumped, radar bases that control the homing of your missiles and that fire continuously at any enemies within range, and energy squares that recharge your shields.

The plot in this game is exceedingly simple. You are forced by a Master Race to represent humanity in violent combat in the arenas against gruesome space aliens. Whoever designed these outer space creatures did a truly masterful job, as their images are chilling, repulsive, and in some cases terrifying. If you lose in your fight against them, the entire planet Earth is destroyed; and if you progress far enough through the cylinders, you get a chance to confront directly the Master Race itself. You fly about in a small spaceship, decently but not extravagantly armed with lasers, missiles, and one special weapon, to accomplish your mission.