Virus is a game where you control a spacecraft to battle other crafts around the field. These other crafts are building bases, so you have to act quickly. There's no real other story, but this is a game that doesn't need one.
You have two weapons at your disposal. The first is a general all-purpose machine gun. The second is missiles, which are a lot more powerful.
The game's controls are what really make for the unique experience, though. You can use the mouse (best option) or the keyboard (not so great) or joystick (haven't tried this one yet) to control the craft.
Virus is a game where you control a spacecraft to battle other crafts around the field. These other crafts are building bases, so you have to act quickly. There's no real other story, but this is a game that doesn't need one.
You have two weapons at your disposal. The first is a general all-purpose machine gun. The second is missiles, which are a lot more powerful.
The game's controls are what really make for the unique experience, though. You can use the mouse (best option) or the keyboard (not so great) or joystick (haven't tried this one yet) to control the craft. There's a jet on the bottom, and the craft tilts in any direction as far as you like. However, it's not really accelerating in any direction.
You have to tilt to move, and this takes some getting used to. The difficulty really enhances the gameplay, though.
Also, you can go pretty high for a DOS game. And the graphics are quite good. You see the exhaust of your engines; you get the spray of the water. Collisions are full of particles; ships look right as they turn and flip. Bases have spinning aerials. It really looks good. There's even shadow on the ground and small fish and birds. There are houses and trees, little splashes of water as bullets sink into the depths. All in all, the graphics are great for a DOS game.
As for sound, the game needs a little work as there's little to no sound aside from collisions. However, you hardly notice it since the gameplay is so good.
And onto the gameplay. You have a mini-map on which you can see bases being constructed, and positions of enemies. There's a height indicator, which is really needed when you have battles up in the air. You also have plenty fuel, enough so that you don't have to re-fuel a lot. The enemy AI is also good. Enemies assault your bases, rarely crash on the ground, and shoot reasonably well. Their AI just seems to have one problem-- they won't get out of the way when you come soaring towards them.
All in all, Virus is an excellent action game. The graphics truly work well, the gameplay is superb (and difficult), enemy AI seems polished and plenty of small details all add up to a game you have to try. This is a great game, and the pick up and play factor really works well.
A must-play game.
