I thought I would post an article about PO'd since there are so many
varying opinions about this game from 'sucks' to 'the best 1st person'. 
The game is published by Acolade and Any Channel and is in the 1st person,
Doom shoot 'em up category.  I'm assuming by now that everyone has at
least attempted a game of this genre.

I was a bit leary about playing this game hearing so many of the negative
reviews posted in r.g.v.s but I thought I should at least try for myself
and make my own decisions on the game.  Another thing is that this type of
game isn't my cup of tea.  I very often suffer from the 'seasickness'
associated with these types of games (though I do well with descent?). 
So, I was a bit hesitant about playing.  Also (and this is a HUGE part of
it) I thought that I should at least give ANY Channel a chance seeing as
how they've stood by gamers on the net time and time again and seem to
genuinely care about their products and how much gamers like them. 
Imagine that? a company that actually WANTS to hear feedback and make
themselves easily accessable to IMPROVE their games as well?  Well, it's
hard to believe but there is at least one good company thats out to do
more than make a buck in the gaming industry and i'm ALL for that!!

I'll start off with the interface.  The interface seemed very bare bones
to me.  The layout was somwhat complicated but you get used to it fairly
quick.  The intro contains no fancy full motion video which seems to be
the PSX standard although it does NOTHING for the game play.  You beginby
hitting any button and then choosing a difficulty level EVERY time you
play!  I really wish this would havve been fixed.  It's very annoying to
have to look at the difficulty every time, it's easy once you know which
button represents the dificulty level, ie. "X" = medium.  It's probably
less annoying than I make it sound.  Another thing was the pause menu
which made you select a button to either return, save, or exit and NONE of
them are the start button, this was a twinge annoying as well.  I really
liked the key layout, it was very similar to Alien trilogies and was easy
to get used to, if you've played any 1st person on the PS.  I got the
control almost immediately, a good note for the layout.  I loved the 3d
map as well (aka Descent) which allows you to view yourself at any angle
and almost any zoom level. A BIG step up from the traditional 2D map of
other games.

   Now the levels, there are many posts that state this is the downfall of
the game well, in a way it is.  For the 1st like 2 levels but that's it. 
It seems that those 2 levels are there to familiarize the user with the
interface, controls, movement, etc. and they do a good job at that. 
Though they are a bit boring.  I would think the game would greatly
benefit from taking those two levels out.  Anyway there are like 25 levels
anyway so who'll miss the first 2?  The other level designs however are
exquisite.  They are very well thought out and many are very large and
complex.  I trully enjoyed several of the levels especially with THE
JETPACK.  The jetpack is essential tothe game it allows you to fly around
the levels and adds a whole new dimension to the game.  Heck, it's fun
just to fly around the game with the jetpack.  And much like the controls
it's very easy to get used to.  I enjoyed the level design of the game
Kudos to the programmers for the later levels especially.

The weapons a big part of any 1st person are unique and very fun to use. 
I won't spoil the weapons by giving a description but you must use these
with a dolby surround system with heavy bass and crank it up you're
neibors will hit the deck I promise.  The missile cam is the most
original, and most FUN weapon I've seen in a 1st person game.  THIS WEAPON
MUST NOT BE IGNORED!! you really have to see and use it before passing
judgment on this game.  I hate to say any game is worth it just for 1
aspect but the Missile cam is great!  A friend and I spent almost an hour
in one large room just shooting the Missile cam and guiding it to it's
poor victims.  WhaaaBoom!!!  Great fun!!

The sound was good when it was implemented and it was very sparce.  There
was no background music and I think that's one of the things missing from
the game.  The monsters and their death screams are about the extent of
the audio aside from your Booming weapons and one other thing, and I loved
this, when you get close to a new weapon you hear this little harp-ish
"lets see what's behind door number 2!" music.  It was fantastic and it's
a very minimal part of the game but It really cracked me up.  Which brings
me to


The graphics were a little sub standard to PS lineups especially in the
texture mapping of the walls and rooms.  They seemed to warp when getting
close to them which was very disorienting.  They were however, very
colorful and many very original but the warping was a bit annoying.  Also,
the some of the level's walls were just flat textureless poly's namely the
ceiling and floors, I didn't like this at all.  The monsters vairied in
graphic quality close up some were very pixilated while others (in the
later levels it seemed) were not bad at all close up.  

The fun factor of the game.  Unlike Doom and the like this game was
actually FUN to play.  It had some genuinely funny aspects to the game. 
It was entertaining to watch many of the enemies (which there are plenty
of and they are all VERY different, no Big mutations of a little one or a
pink one then a green one, they're all DIFFERENT) are just funny to
watch.  This really adds to a game like this.  Doom and the like get
boring really fast because they get monotonous, and it's my opinion that
with some humor the game takes on a whole new level of fun.

Overall I would say this is a very fun game that everyone (that likes the
1st person adventure anyway) should try at least once and give it a
chance.  I think that if one can get past the first couple of levels they
would realize what a fun and original game.   I think if people would
actually give this game a chance they would find out what genuine fun the
game has to offer.  I also think everyone should support ANY Channel which
after this good first effort can really offer some FUN games in the
future.  Keep up the good work ANY Channel.


Jeremy