Interphase Reviews

Awesome to see this game finally available on Steam! Since the store page doesn't really convey the gameplay, let me have a go. There are two of you, one character controlled by the player (Chad) and one controlled by the computer (Kaf-E). Your mission is to break into an office building, work your way up to the top floor and steal a valuable item. Now, she goes into the building itself, and will always take the most direct route from one elevator to the next. In the meantime, you have "jacked in" (yes, it's very cyberpunk) to the building's security systems. The layout of the floors are shown as blueprints, upon which you can see Kaf-E's current location, the location of any security guards, and the various obstacles that are in your way such as doors, security cameras, revolving turntables and such. She will periodically send messages to you informing you of her situation, such as a locked door or anything that needs your attention. You can also visualise the security system as a 3D world which you're free to roam, and all of the items in the building are depicted as objects. You have to manipulate and/or destroy various things to help Kaf-E move around and prevent her from getting into trouble. For instance, you can blow open a door, disable a camera or manipulate a turntable so she goes the correct way down a corridor. The game is deceptively hard, as not only do you have to plan Kaf-E's route through the building without getting her killed, but you're also under attack from the security system in the virtual world - if you sustain too much damage you are thrown out of the system leaving Kaf-E to her inevitable demise. As for the Steam release...it's the barebones DOS version of the game, with no added features. Everything is exactly as it was, right down to the choice between CGA, EGA and VGA graphics on startup. The sound is basic, and frankly I would have preferred the Amiga version which had much better ambient noises. But...the gameplay is exactly the same and that's what counts. It would also be REALLY useful to have a tutorial or some kind of guide as people who haven't played before aren't going to have a CLUE what to do!