


D/Generation, by Mindscape International. Distributed in North America by BMD.
CD-32 format.

	D/Generation, long a favorite among PC owners, has come to the CD-32. It uses not a shred of CD, or even AGA technology, but I'm glad it's here, nonetheless. Normally, I despise shovelware but D/Generation is quite simply a good game on any system.
	Set in an extremely dark, rather twisted, Cyberpunk future, the game is played entirely inside the Genoq Corporation building. The player is a free-lance courier who is rushed to the building to deliver a mysterious package of vital importance to a strange scientist. The courier arrives only to find the building in complete disarray, with hideous bioengineered organisms rampaging throughout the building, malfunctioning security systems that ignore the homicidal organisms but kill humans on sight, and scared employees whose only hope for survival is you.
	Part puzzle game, part arcade action, D/Generation is creative design at it's best. Over 120 rooms to overcome, mysteries to solve about what is going on and at the top floor, the mysterious scientist who frantically needs the package you carry. And then, of course, there's the D/Generation- a bioengineered nightmare. It can transform itself into anything, runs like a speeding locomotive, and can decapitate you before you even realize what's happening.
	The graphics are fairly primitive and everyone you'll see in the game, including the player character, looks as if they are dressed in a single color, but the character animation is topnotch. The game is played from a cut away, isometric perspective which will lead to awkward control problems and takes some getting used to. Much of the game revolves around gathering security keys, closing off air ducts and other routes by which the various Generation organisms move throughout the building, and rescuing the helpless souls who are stranded in the building without the organisms, the security systems, or you killing them. 
	The game will test your patience and fortitude, especially once the D/Generation starts to come around and some of the solutions to the rooms require a great amount of both arcade skill and intelligence. The game thankfully utilizes the CD-32's non-volatile RAM, taking up a scant 4 pieces of the system's memory. It also uses the CD-32's control pad to full advantage, having a function for all seven buttons.
	I enjoyed playing D/Generation for the most part, though it is a game that should be played in controlled doses, due to it's sometimes frustrating nature. It is extremely unfortunate that the graphics were not upped and that other CD touches like digitized voice and animated intermission sequences were not added, as these would have really elevated such an otherwise well crafted game to greatness on the CD-32.
	
