Red Alarm

A devastating World War ravaged the Earth for 70 agonizing years beginning at the end of the 20th Century. During the later stages of the war, and automated battle system named "K.O.S." (Killer Operating System) was developed. Central to the "K.O.S." program was a highly sophisticated neural net, which included the compilation of all biotechnology data available. This made the "K.O.S." an extremely efficient and highly adaptable weapon, able to rapidly determine and generate the most effective response to any external threat. It became known simply as KAOS.

KAOS turned the tides of war, and the war ended with the establishment of the "Commonwealth of Earth." The new government promised to establish a utopia, and its first move was to order the destruction of all the weapons of war.

KAOS was ordered shut down and all other weapon systems destroyed. The world rejoiced and weapons were torn apart at a record pace. What no one realized was that KAOS had become a sentient being, with only one goal: SURVIVAL! It turned off all external signs of operation, and began secretly creating a massive army of weapons and brutal creatures.

Without warning, KAOS released its armies on the world to destroy its new found enemy, all of humanity! The only weapon of war remaining was a lone Tech-Wing Fighter! Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to pilot the Tech-Wing Fighter, enter KAOS and destroy it from within! The fate of humanity is in your hands!

And that's all the excuse you need to kill off a lot of enemies! Battle your foes with the Balkan Cannon's rapid-fire direct energy weapon and homing missiles! The game starts out with a nice intro where your jetfighter is launched towards KAOS for entry. The game consists out of so called vector graphics, meaning you'll see objects and plains made out of lines everywhere, making the entire game 3D!

At first the vector graphics formed landscapes seem confusing and true enough even as you go ahead in the game it quite a few times leaves you lost if the level makes a quick turn, that is annoying, but it's nothing that can't be prevented by taken the appropriate speed and thus overview in the different sections of each level. It all does look strange, but the levels themselves and the enemies in them all move so fluidly (I like the dragon mech animations best) you and your Tech-Wing Fighter will make yourself feel right at home, or at least make it your home as you blast everything that's in your way to bits.

The in-game music is really great! The tunes are sci-fi, fast paced, dark & exciting background sounds. Combined with the shattering sound effects, about everything you could wish for in a shooter and the added in-game voice speech, it makes for a pack full of sound that doesn't leave your ears alone for one second.

Besides the common IPD and Focus setups, you can adjust about everything in this game. From the depth perspective you view the levels at to four different button configurations, so you can play the game as you see fit best.

REPLAY is an amazing feature they put in the game, once you have cleared a level, or when the game is over, you may watch a video recorded replay of the Tech-Wing's flight through the level using various camera angles. You can even fast forward the replay or play it off in slow motion! Great for spotting your mistakes and learning from them or to watch your fighter kick booty.

Be sure to keep an eye on your fuel gauge as it indicates the amount of fuel remaining and indirectly how much time you have left to complete the stage. Control the Tech-Wing Fighter backwards, to a stop, slow/fast forwards, left, right, with or without using slide as an evasive maneuver. And if you're in a hurry don't fret to use the Turbo. It's a really great experience moving your jetfighter in every possible direction with such ease.

Got to love it when the guy says "Fantastic" when you beat the stage's boss, but don't let it go to your head. The levels get harder and tougher and as you move on everything about the game proves to be a big apple to bite through. It takes a while to get used to the frames used by the game to create the 3D effect, but the action rich music and stages make you forget about it. Top class game with as it says on the box "kids-adults animated violence".

Red alarm sure does it's name credit (and no I'm talking about it being red), you have to be on alert constantly. The game's really action packed and I think "it" knows it too by the hard to defeat CPU creatures when you move up the difficulty level to hard. Now if you will excuse me, I have to employ my skills on the next pesky stageboss. Why won't he just die!?!