Interpose is a great but little known shooter that was developed by Twilight Zone Software. It was published by Katz Media AS/Webfoot Technologies Incorporated and was released for play in the middle nineties for personal computing systems running the MS-DOS operating system. It is a side scrolling shooter with a really nice, clean scroll and great VGA graphics, especially considering that it was a shareware title. It offers a great futuristic theme and has some unique and very interesting characters in it.
The user will play the part of an overlynx, which is basically a higher animal with sentient capabilities. You originated from the planet Earth, specifically the lost city of Atlantis. You are a peaceful race of creatures, most accustomed to living in quiet seclusion but in harmony with those you do encounter. You are a steward of the land and are one with nature. The planet of Danedola hosts a race of aliens nothing like the overlynxes. They have manipulated DNA to create a new breed of superhuman, engineered only to exterminate the overlynx population and reclaim the Earth. You will have to go against your peaceful nature, board a powerful little space shooter, and defend your home from wave after wave
of invading human vessels.
Beyond the unique storyline, Interpose becomes a fairly standard shooter. Basically you shoot every thing in sight on each level. The levels are actually quite well done and feature some nice animations and the backgrounds offer the look of depth and quality. The cut scenes between level are quite nicely done, as well, especially for early VGA. The game play, as mentioned above, is consistent with that of other shooters of this nature, such as Tyrian. There are powerups on each level, although they are not especially ingenious and should be pretty standard to shooter fans. The regular weapons are pretty standard too. However, there are over twenty levels and they become progressively more difficult, so the user better make sure he gets to know those standard weapons and powerups fairly well before arriving in the challenging later levels.
Overall, Interpose is a really good play from top to bottom, even if it does not bring any new game play to the table. The backstory is pretty good, and the looks of the game are very attractive. The action is fast and furious and the game is long enough to keep the user engrossed for much more than a single sitting. Especially for a shareware title, this is a real winner.
