


Liberation, by Mindscape Int., distributed in North America by BMD.
CD-32 format

	There are only two titles so far that utilize, to any noticeable extent, the capabilities of the CD-32 machine, one is Electronic Art's Labyrinth of Time, the other is Mindscape's Liberation and both of them are excellent. Liberation is the sequel to classic Amiga game, Captive, and, like the first, is a first person, real time, sci-fi RPG in which you control four humanoid robots via a remote link.
	Liberation continues the story of Captive, taking place within the many zones of vast future city. And for once, this city is alive, almost real. Cars drive along the roadway, non-player characters actually move independently through the buildings and city streets. Everyone has something to say and say it they do- in crisp, clear digitized voice. Indeed, there's hours of speech in the game, as you struggle to unravel the mysteries and right the injustices that the game throws at you.
	The backgrounds and buildings are all made of fantastic, futuristic metallic looking graphics. The mobile objects, like cars and other persons, are made from polygons and there should have been much more detail in the quality of these graphics and more variety among the dwellers of the city. Liberation also has a spectacular opening sequence, even though the voice over doesn't exactly match the speakers, and it sets up the story well.
	The object if Liberation is misleadingly simple. It seems that certain models of interrogation droids have been killing their subjects due to a glitch and the System wishes to cover this up by passing the blame on to innocents. Your job is to find and rescue the various prisoners who have been unjustly incarcerated. In order to complete this task, which quickly becomes monumental in just the first mission, you'll have to talk to almost everyone looking for leads, follow up leads, notes and hints to all parts of the city and engage in combat with more then a few of the hostile beings that the droids encounter.
	Liberation is not a game that you will grasp in the first sitting, or the second for that matter. It is a deeply complex game that gives you completely free reign over your characters. You can go where you like, anytime you like. Joypad control is excellent, except for the lack of a pause command, and all buttons of the CD-32's controller are used. Once learned, controlling the four droids is simple, but that doesn't make solving the game any easier.
	Aside from the fact that Liberation should have had much more diversity and better quality in regards to it's polygonal character graphics, it also has the most obnoxious save feature I've yet seen on the CD-32. Liberation basically requires all of the CD-32's non-volatile memory to order to save it, which most players will find unfortunate and inconvenient, especially if they have other games in progress. There are some quirks in the way that the other characters you meet will suddenly change their voices when you talk to them again and the fact that when you are looking for a particular individual, it's hard to know if you have actually found that person or not because there is no way to ask them what their name is. 
	I also encountered problems with the game locking up sporadically, after playing for an hour or more. I am not sure if the problem is simply isolated to my copy, or machine, but I have heard of at least one other case of someone else having encountered this problem. 
	Liberation is really the first true 1st generation CD title for the CD-32, and it is, without a doubt, a success and the first really bright signpost for more spectacular software to come. It uses the machine's potential to a great extent, has a fantastic soundtrack, great gameplay and a truly, intriguing Cyberpunk storyline to drive it.
	If you have a CD-32, or you're planning to buy one, then Liberation is a must have, if only just to give you a taste of what's to come in the CD-32's future.   