Radix: Beyond the Void
Radix: Beyond the Void is a 2.5D first-person shooter with behind-person front view, developed by Canadian studio Neural Storm Entertainment and published by Epic MegaGames for DOS in 1995.[2]
| Radix: Beyond the Void | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Neural Storm Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Epic MegaGames Union Logic Software Publishing, Inc. |
| Platform(s) | MS-DOS |
| Release | November 2, 1995 January 2, 1996 (v1.1) November 20, 1996 (v2.0 Remix)[1] |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter, shoot 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, Multiplayer (max 4) |
Plot
In the 22nd century, humanity has achieved world peace. The United Earth Space Alliance (UESA) was able to fully concentrate on space exploration. In the year 2147, the first colony ship was launched towards the asteroid Theta-2. However, the second vessel, carrying the colonists, encountered a terrifying disturbance in space. Alien ships emerged from what later became known as "The Void", and attacked the colony ship; the subsequent fate of ten thousand people on board was unknown. Humans constructed the inter-dimensional starfighter Radix, and sent it through The Void, in a desperate attempt to face the alien threat.
Gameplay
In the mid-1990s, the popularity of Doom led to many shareware "Doom clones", with Radix being one of the few first person shooters which takes place in a zero gravity environment and where the player controls a ship rather than a human. In some sense, Radix is superficially similar to Descent. However while Descent had full 3D maps with six degrees of motion, Radix uses the earlier 2.5D map designs of Doom clones. These are characterized by flat levels with no rooms over rooms, albeit with slopes of various degrees. Despite being a spacecraft, freedom of motion is limited - it is impossible to turn fully vertically upwards or downwards, nor fly upside down.[3]
Versions 1.0 and 1.1 use game controls whereby the player's ship constantly flies forwards in whatever direction is currently faced using the mouse. With this control system, the player can brake to a minimum speed, or use afterburners to fly faster at the expense of using energy that recharges over time. It is not possible to stop or fly backwards.
In the version 2.0 "REMIX" patch, the game controls are significantly reworked to behave more like those found in Descent - the player's vehicle will hover in place until any of the separate forward, backward, or strafe controls are used. Afterburners still require energy to use, but can boost movement speed in any direction much like the "run" key in Doom.
Reception
Jon Mavor, the main programmer of Neural Storm Entertainment, has said the game "didn't sell well"[4] and "didn't really make any money".[5]