ENEMY ZERO By Strider strider@rivernet.com.au Important note: the following material may be reproduced in whole or in part as long as the writer has been informed and credits given. General The Game is in 4 disks, numbered 0 to 3. Disk 0 contains the Opening Movie to give you an idea of the story, a Training section and some information and clips on the programmers at WARP. Disks 1 to 3 contain the actual game. While the Opening Movie does not tell you why Laura and her colleagues are caught in space, it does give some clues on various parts of the game, and it shows how Parker was killed. I was hoping that the Opening and in-game Movies would use Softdec (software MPEG decoding) rather than True Motion, but no such luck. Still it is not bad, and much better than D on the Saturn. Training The Training section gives you an opportunity to familiarise yourself with the Gun and the VPS (the device which allows the user to locate living creatures without actually sighting them). There are three Training stages, and it is a good idea to complete all of them before you embark on the real thing. Get used to the different tones of the VPS as you approach an Enemy, and make sure you time your shots precisely for the kill. The Gun A word on using the Gun. It is perhaps the main source of frustration of the Game. To kill an Enemy you have to: 1.find out its whereabouts with the aid of the VPS (not particularly difficult); 2.make sure it is right in front of you before you draw your Gun; then 3.draw your Gun at the moment when the Enemy is in range, allowing sufficient time for the Gun to charge (by holding the trigger); and then 4.release the trigger when the Gun's charge nears its maximum. It is imperative that you do not draw and charge up your Gun too early (or too late for that matter), as once the Gun's charge peaks it drops to zero and you have to start again, probably losing your life at the same time. The only way to succeed is to practise, and save your position at the right places. Game mode Normal - Exactly what it says - normal mode. This guide is based on this mode. Easy - This mode is for beginners, but then everyone is a beginner to this Game when he first plays it. The difference between this mode and Normal is in the amount of clues and the "reliability" of the Guns. In Easy mode the rest of the crew talk to Laura in more detail, and some of them live a little longer. You will also find that the Guns are slightly less frustrating as they come pre- charged with power and can fire more shots before recharging is required. At the beginning. You start in Laura's room (Level 1 in Winter Tower). After her long rest in the Cold Sleep Capsule, she wakes up and witness the death of Parker via the Net Computer. She gets dressed and prepares to investigate. You will find the VPS behind the mirror, while the Voice Recorder and Laura's Personal E-Key are found in the drawers. Use the Net Computer to view Parker's room (a mess). Talk to Ronny. He will give you some clues (in Japanese). At this stage you won't be able to talk to the other crew members - George and David both refuse connection, Mercus's system is not working, and Kimberly's Video Phone requires a password. Go to Information and take a look at the Map. Level 1 Map is quite simple. Press down and a Map of the Basement will be shown. The Lock function cannot operate in this Room. Check out the Database for descriptions of some of the items found in the Game. You can also check out the profile of the crew. Laura's personal file contains nothing. Before you leave the room, you can try out the Hologram. They are so deprived of natural life in space they resort to laser tricks. The Locker Room Use the B button to walk faster and save time. Go direct to the Locker Room. You will find a Gun Charger on the wall, but Laura hasn't got a gun so leave it for now. Use the Personal E-Key to open Laura's locker. Inside there is a Card Key. Now leave the Locker Room and go to the Stair Room. The Basement Use the Card Key to open the Connect-Door Lock to the Stair Room. Laura will ride the Manual Lift to the Basement. Head to the Power Room. One of the Generators is shut down. To turn it back on, you need to key in a Code and press the Power Button. The Code is simply made up of Three (3) of the keys. It won't take long to work out the Code. You will notice that the Roller door opposite the Power Room will not operate. The Store Room Having turned the power back on, move back to Level 1. If you try to approach the Elevator, you will bump into an Enemy. Since you are not armed, you will simply get killed. So go instead to the Store Room. The Store Room's Net Computer is the only one which can control the locks at the Basement. Use the Net Computer to turn all locks OFF. Exit and head back down to the Basement. Parker's Room The Roller Door will now operate. Once inside you will soon hear an Enemy. To avoid it keep to the right. Be careful not to hang around at dead ends. With a bit of luck you will find Parker's Room. Enter and you will witness the mess Parker, or rather his killer, leaves behind. Strangely though, Laura reacts as if she sees Parker's dead body for the first time, when in fact she has already seen it via the Net Computer. Anyway, the only thing of interest here is Kimberly's Access Code, located in the drawers. Use it to Video Phone Kimberly. By now you should see Ronny dead in his room if you Video Phone him. You cannot contact the other crew members. Leave the Basement as you enter, but this time keep to the left. Take the Manual Lift to Level 1 and go to Mercus's Room. First Encounter As you get closer to Mercus's Room, you will hear an Enemy right in front of you. Do NOT retreat. Keep going and you will witness an event that will enable you to enter Mercus's Room. Mercus's Room Very messy indeed. Mercus's head has exploded while having a coffee. There is a VX-Projector on the wall. Try it out. Be sure to search everywhere. You will find the "key" to the DNA Lock guarding Mercus's own room of lockers. Inside you will find the much needed Gun. Now we can get even. The First Test The Gun can only be used while YOU are in control of Laura. Once you are outside of Mercus's Room, try out the Gun. Nothing happens, and you see a red light on the Gun flashing. You know where to go to charge it with energy. We have now come to the point where you should use the Voice Recorder to save your position. You can head back down to the Basement to kill the Enemy there, then come back up to face the one just outside the Elevator, or you can ignore the one at the Basement and go straight to the one standing between you and the Elevator. Once the Enemy is gone, you can enter the Elevator. Laura will press 4. Get some rest? Just when Laura thinks she can relax, an Enemy has managed to break in the Elevator. Laura will not be able to kill this Enemy for she will lose her gun (so soon!). As soon as you regain control of Laura, head to the LEFT (you will DIE if you don't listen). Kimberly will speak to Laura through the Speaker system as she approaches a door that won't open. Look on the UP side and there is a way. (use the C button together with UP on the D-pad) The Duct System A Map is a MUST here. Make a Map as soon as you start roaming about. The first thing to do is to grab a Gun in the Data Room (access via an outlet in the Duct system). There you can muck about on George's Computer, and it will spit out a multipurpose GE Key. Use it wisely and you will be able to leave the Data Room with a new Gun. This new Gun is unfortunately flat, so the next step is to get it charged. A fair way away there is a Tool Room where you will find a Gun Charger. You have to avoid any Enemy you run into. Just remember to whom the Gun belongs when you use the Gun Charger. Before you leave the Tool Room, it is a very good idea to save your position. The Gun and the Enemies As soon as you leave the Tool Room you will hear an Enemy near you. Find it and kill it, and make sure you get it the first shot. That's right. Unlike the first Gun Laura has, this Gun can only fire ONE (1) shot per recharge. Now you realise why it is a good idea to save your position before leaving the Tool Room. Once you kill the Enemy, go back for a recharge. Keep going and eventually you will come to an Elevator. You will know because you will hear the door open. Do NOT run towards it because an Enemy is waiting right outside the door. Shoot to kill. The Elevator Although you can see the Elevator and its door is open, you can't get in without using FORCE (and a couple more minutes). The Elevator will take you to Kimberly (Level 2 in Winter Tower). It is a good idea to recharge your Gun before you enter. Kimberly's Room With a few of her crew members already dead, Kimberly will not take any chances with her pot plants. So she flowers them. That's what she is doing when Laura enters her room. After a long chat, Kimberly will sit down and Laura will be free to check out the room. There is nothing of interest here except the Net Computer. You will be able to talk to David for the first time. Check out the Database and you will find an interesting picture in Kimberly's Personal File. Since Kimberly has fallen asleep with all the flowering, wake her up by connecting to Ronny and Parker. She will leave the room when she sees the mess in Parker's Room. To make her come back, talk to David again. Kimberly reappears with new found determination. The pair will then venture out of the room. Note that if you wish to save your position, you have to do so before Kimberly comes back. (Disk 1 ends) The Way to Summer Tower Kimberly decides to take on the Enemies herself. She puts on a Head Set Camera so that Laura can monitor her movement. Connection to the Camera is cut when Kimberly is attacked by an Enemy. Laura will run inside the maze of corridors to find Kimberly. A Map here will be very helpful. You may or may not run into the Enemy in the vicinity. If you do then I hope you have recharged your Gun as advised. You will eventually arrive at the point where Kimberly was attacked. You see blood and Kimberly's Gun but you can't find the body. Strange. Pick up the Gun and keep walking until you see yet another Elevator. Inside Summer Tower There are nine (9) floors inside the Tower. Get yourself familiar with the layout as soon as you see a Net Computer. The Elevator is operated with three switches representing three digits of a binary sequence. A good place to start would be the top floor, so off we go. Poor Ronny. The top level is where Ronny's Room is. If you talk to Ronny over the Video Phone for enough times you would have heard him die. His room is guarded by a lock. To save your trouble, Ronny has posted the password right next to the lock. Enter his room and you will see his body minus his head. You will pick up his sunglasses. Check out the room and you will find a Computer and a Body Scanner. The Body Scanner cannot be operated but the Computer can. A "password" is required to access the information. The password (and the clue to get it) can be found on the Calendar. Ronny's computer contains a file on AKI which described an incident in which the whole crew on a spacecraft was killed by the Enemies. Laura obviously doesn't like what she sees. The other crew members It is about time to talk to David and George face to face so head down to level 5. You will not be able to enter David's room at first. Go and see George instead. He will be at his computer meditating on something. You can disturb him and he will talk back. The most important item in George's room is the Gun Charger. Now on to David's Room. For some reason you may now enter David's room. David will greet you at the door and the couple will embrace with a deep kiss. David will then leave for the Basement, leaving Laura free to check out his room. The Power Room On Level 6 there is a Power Room, but first you have to negotiate a maze. Make sure you familiarise yourself with the Map (on the Net Computer) before you proceed. The Power Generator has four dials which must be set correctly before the power is switched on. Take out any Enemy you come across, but you won't be able to turn on the power just yet. The other Levels Level 4 is the Payload Bay. Level 3 is a Tank Area. Laura cannot exit from these Levels, and their Maps are not shown on the Net Computer. Level 2 is where the Summer Tower connects to the Winter Tower. Again Laura cannot use this exit. Level 1 connects to Fall Tower. There is a lock which needs to be disengaged first. There is a Basement, inside which is a Store Room with a Gun Charger. David - Part Man, Part Machine David goes for a break and he ends up in the Store Room at the Basement. Go down and check him out. When Laura arrives at the Basement there is a lot of blood on the floor. Then she sees David, covered in blood, badly damaged by the Enemy, a total loss. The couple has a quick word, before David gives up his ghost. Laura will find something not quite useful from David's body. Back to George Go back to George's room. He is not there, so why not try out his computer. Here you will be able to view the "history" of David, using what David left you. Suddenly a creature flies inside the room right into Laura's mouth. Laura is struggling to swallow the creature when George appears with a Gun and shoots the bastard. He will then leave the room again. On his way out he will drop something so make sure you pick it up. The Body Scanner Go back to Level 7. Go to the Body Scanner and turn it on. Laura will then allow herself to be scanned and she will find out what can happen with too much junk food. George then comes in and persuades her to give herself up. Laura declines and runs outside. Here is something very strange: if you go straight back into the room, George is gone! Maybe he is using Ronny's toilet, or something.Let's not disturb him. Payload Bay and Tank Area Remember the two levels which cannot be accessed earlier? Well you still can't access them. Go back and find George (as he is the only one around!) and see if he can help. He is not in his room so maybe he is in David's using the toilet there. Nope. Just when Laura turns around, George appears at the door and.there is something above him! George will now give up everything he has to help Laura, so make sure you check him thoroughly. The Power Room again Turn on the power with George's tip. Then head towards the Elevator to the Fall Tower (made accessible courtesy of George). Just when Laura thinks that she can take a break, the little fella inside her wakes up.. (Disk 2 ends) The Fall Tower First thing you should do after Laura puts the little fella to sleep is to take that Voice Recorder out and start recording. The Fall Tower is made up of levels of labyrinths, with Enemies patrolling at convenient locations (ie those where you want to go). Maps are again important. Note also that you only have limited charge in your Gun, spare it for only the Enemies in your way - you won't find Gun Chargers anywhere. Avoid the Enemies as far as possible, or you will find your Gun flat before you can say "Where is my Gun Charger?". At last, your dream Weapon. At the bottom of the Fall Tower, you will find a locker room. Apart from giving you some rest, you will find David's space helmet. Laura will weep on it and a Gun will drop out. This is the Gun to have, as you will soon see. The Spring Tower, probably. The Spring Tower is made up of yet more labyrinths. In here you will also find new company - the Baby Enemies! They are very easy to kill but may get you by surprise from around corners. Fire your Weapon whenever you hear suspicious noise - better safe than sorry. You still get your regular invisible Enemies so keep an ear out for them. You will know that you are at the bottom when you find yourself inside a greenhouse sort of maze. Keep looking and you will enter a duct leading to a hall. Take out the Enemies and their kids and proceed to the next hall (through another duct), and the next. You will meet the Mother of all Enemies. Surprisingly easy to take out, as she is VISIBLE. Stay put and you will eventually arrive at the escape chamber! Kimberly What's that trying to come out of the Escape Vessel? Surprise, surprise, Kimberly is alive! So that's why Laura could not find her body. I wonder how Kimberly gets so far so easily, when Laura has to fight her way there - she should have taken Laura with her, silly woman! Anyway, Kimberly gives a memo to Laura as souvenir and says goodbye as she is about to die alongside Parker. This is fine except she has activated the Self Destruction Timer on her way out and Laura follows her to try and stop her! The Final Labyrinth Fortunately there is only one Enemy inside. Take it out (so that the VPS does not bother you), and find your way to the Manual Lift (tricky without a Map). Laura has in fact returned to the Winter Tower Basement. Go to Parker's Room and you will be just in time for the shot. Poor Laura, now she is REALLY on her own. Worse, the Self Destruction is on its way, so there is no time to waste. Re- enter the Labyrinth and Laura finds her VPS runs out of battery. Only supernatural forces can help her now, and they are exactly what she gets - David SPEAKS. He will give direction to Laura as to how to negotiate the Labyrinth, in Japanese of course. For those of you who don't understand Japanese (such as I), David will give one of three instructions at cross roads, namely "keep going", "turn left", and "turn right". You should be able to figure them out after a few turns to nowhere. When you succeed in escaping, you will be treated to the ending movie. Finally. Having completed the game in Normal mode, you will find that a Hard mode is added to the options. In it you will find even more Enemies, and even flatter batteries for the Voice Recorder. Good Luck. Hints and Tips Save your position when you feel you have gone far enough. Don't overdo it and your batteries should last the game. Remember the only thing that is in the way between Laura and the Escape Vessel is the Gun. Practise, practise, and practise, and you won't get killed as often. For those of you who own a memory backup cartridge, use it to store your Voice Records. Here is how: transfer the Voice Records to the Cartridge from the Saturn's internal memory, then remove the cartridge when you play. Transfer the Records back when you die. This way you never run out of batteries. This process is made easier with the Action Replay (aka Game Shark), which does not have to be removed when you play. Closing comments WARP has produced a fine game in Enemy Zero, and I enjoyed it very much. However, there is a lot of room for improvement: 1.a more original story would be nice. As it is, the story is too similar to the Alien Trilogy (the movies, not the game) for comfort; 2.there are places where the acting could be improved - Laura looks indifferent after "witnessing" events such as the death of Ronny over the Video Phone; 3.the design of the Gun is perhaps the worst flaw in the game. It is just too frustrating; 4.the layout of some of the levels are simply too complex, their sole purpose seemingly being the creation of frustration and the extension of the length of the game; 5.the Net Computer is too slow! 6.the game is in substance not long enough. Let's hope that Enemy Zero 2 (or similar) improves on the above. The Z-Files. Explanation of the following mysteries regarding the in-game movies on a postcard to WARP please: 1.Why does Laura look like she is not carrying anything, when in fact she is carrying a lot of things? 2.Where does Laura hide her Gun when she is not using it? 3.Why does Laura keep the loose bit of Mercus in her inventory? 4.What is the significance of the holographic butterfly? 5.Why do I get the impression that Laura is foreign to the AKI (look at how many times she becomes puzzled by the operation of some of the equipment)? Is she really the Co-Pilot? 6.Why is George's Gun so crap compared to the others'? 7.Why does Laura have to break into the Tool Room? Where is its proper entrance? 8.Who needs an Elevator to the Ducts? The Cleaners? 9.How could George remain so calm when half the crew has been killed? 10.Why does David not talk to Laura at the beginning? Is he really her lover? 11.What is inside the Payload Bay and the Tank Area? 12.Does George have to die before he will help Laura escape? 13.Why has David hidden his Gun so well? 14.Why is the Mother of the Enemies so easy to kill? 15.How does Kimberly get to the Escape Chamber so easily? 16.Why does Laura run after Kimberly when she knows Self Destruction has been activated? Is she stupid? 17.How does David come back to life? 18.Why does the Escape Vessel have to go through such a long and winding tunnel? Who designed it? Who designed the AKI? 19.Why is Mercus's name spelt that way? Additions to the above list to strider@rivernet.com.au