The Chaos Engine is one of those 3D on a 2D landscape shooter games. It can also be kind of a Pandora's box. In other words, don't try to find Chaos unless you are prepared to fight Chaos or you are going to open up more than you can handle onto yourself.
The nice textures and puzzle mazes had me playing it for hours, when I was younger, due to its fun blend of mind works and bad bug killing agenda. The objective was to find one's way through each maze (level) and find the best exit.
Each world has several (four) levels and each level potentially has several exits. Each world has a theme and style to it and its mazes, demons and audio (which during its day was lush and appealing). Activating “nodes” opens doors and changes the maze structure slightly, allowing the player access to hidden rooms and additional exit points (some of which are better exits than others and take you to more lucratve areas). A “node” is a tall antennae of sorts which when shot becomes active, signaling some sort of level change, just when you think you have the hang of one.
Level complexity increases with each level until you reach the next world and are given a new set of levels. Around each level are
various treasures and special weapon ammunition / improvements. Finding a hidden room usually means finding a plethora of this, which is why it is very important to explore thoroughly. Most of the opponents are monsters of some sort most notably the big bad (but usually easily killed) bugs. Defeating opponents improves skill and weaponry by collecting the coins left behind, which can be used to purchase more supplies. At the end of a world the player can cash in the coins and select improvements and power ups.
At the game start, the player’s character is selected from several characters each with varying skill, (regular and special) weaponry, cost and orientation. Each character has a unique weapon which improves in different ways. Along with a unique special weapon designed to do large area damage. This allows for great replayability because you can continue to play until you have tried all of the unique characters and learned their special skill. Player skill starting point varies depending on the character selected, which during the game can be increased at the end of each world with coins. This game always plays with two players in tandem either you and a computer AI or you and another player. Both players must exit before the next level starts, so it is often best to work together instead of trying to be coin hogs. Since the view area limits how the players can separate both players need to exit from the same exit, making this a team effort only kind of thing.
Game play is on a smooth scrolling 2D landscape map where everything is in 3D providing a view from above effect. This allows the player to “see” over nearby walls, at times, to view other areas and hidden rooms within the scroll area. This can be frustrating if one cannot find the access point or can provide insight as to what is to come.
