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Updated November 20, 2004

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Armageddon VII: The Ultimate Invasion
(A Mike Wnuk Production)


vvvvvvvvvvvv
"When Resident Evil meets The Faculty"

There's a conspiracy going down in Lake Park High School! Your teachers are actually aliens from another planet bent upon an world domination and an education for every teenager in this earth! Only you and your highly sophisticated BFG 7000 laser gun can put a stop to these insane demands!

First, you must escape the Control Center or else you'll face eternal detention. Then you must discover who among your closest friends are actually alien spies bent on destroying all human life. Then, carry that laser gun up to the mothership where you must battle a horde of green-eyed, buggy alien Math teachers!

Game Review
Graphics (n.)
The use of animation and visual effects to stimulate the senses
vvv
(Good)
The highlight of Armageddon VII's graphics is the use of scanning. Yearbook pictures were scanned of all the characters you meet in Mike Wnuk's little world, and when you talk to anyone you immediately get to see their face while the dialogue shows up.

Though Armageddon VII uses tilesets, the game hardly looks tileish. This game was made to look like it takes place on an overhead 3D view, much like Ultima VII. It's evident that a lot of time was spent, as the result are a series of well-drawn worlds, especially at the control center and the town of Itasca.

The drawback is that there weren't enough tiles drawn. The first level, the Control Center, consists of a gigantic maze. After a while, as the entire Control Center looks the same, the graphics get a little stale.

Sound/Music (n.)
The smooth blend of atmospheric sounds and original harmonies
vv
(Average)
There's only one sound effect, and that the's PC sound your BFG 7000 gun makes when you open fire. But it's a very important sound effect because it makes the mothership level more arcade-like. It also gives you the additional satisfaction of hearing all the carnage you're pulling with your laser gun.
Gameplay (n.)
The precision of control and involvement of character within its universe
vv
(Average)
The game has four levels. In the first level, you don't have a weapon. To reach the next level, you have to make it through a relatively large maze (pretty unorthodox for an RPG to start up with a really large town).

Once you reach the town though, you'll realize that this game doesn't follow the standard formula for making towns either. Instead of charging up your hero and travelling to the next town, a lot of the game's action takes place here. You don't walk into stores and buy items. You have to talk with everyone and figure out the mystery about the "conspirators" before you can reach the next level.

The last two levels are even further off from a standard RPG, as you have to use a laser gun to shoot down everything you see (really more of an arcade/Doom element here). But there are clear RPG elements in this game (HP, day and night elements among them) that make this game original but questionable in terms of gameplay.

Story (n.)
The creativity and presentation of the game's critical plot
v
(Poor)
Brief summary: Alien teachers have come down to a suburb attempting to take over the world by creating an enemy base at your local High school. Not very creative... we've seen this plot before in at least a dozen B movies. 
Replay Value (n.)
The timelessness of the gamer's delight, such that the experience can be repeated again and again
v
(Poor)
Hmmm... the Control Center level didn't have enough surprises to be very exciting, which is a downer because it's a pretty huge part of the game. After going through the levels where you shoot things and eventually solve the game, it's hard to think of coming back to that long and boring  Control Center again to start a new quest.
Challenge (v.)
To strike the mental nerve in such a way as to stimulate human thought and reflexes
vv
(Average)
The shoot 'em up levels are pretty easy to beat because your range is just much better than your enemies. The maze level is long, but it isn't really challenging. That said, uncovering the conspirators in Itasca is probably the bulk of the challenge in Armageddon VII.

The principle of besting this RPG is to remember your villagers. From a distance, the people of Itasca look nearly alike. As you converse though, you'll discover that each of them have their own personalities. More than that, each of them knows something different that could help you in your quest to take down the enemy teachers.

Fun Factor (n.)
The overall entertainment value as maintained throughout the adventure
v
(Poor)
I guess the bad outweighs the good here. There are some parts to this game (particularly in the very beginning) that are so boring that the game could have done better without it. Or the game could have had a few more surprises in it. As for the fun parts, shooting alien teachers with a laser gun might be misinterpreted by the reality-impaired, although Armageddon VII isn't graphically violent at all. Nevertheless, people searching for an unorthodox RPG will find it with Armageddon VII.
Players 1 player Genre: Role Playing Game
Rating To solve: 2-3 hours Final Rating: 12/35

Download
To download Armageddon VII: The Ultimate Invasion (480KB), click here.
wTo play Armageddon VII: The Ultimate Invasion, unzip the file and run "ARMGDN.EXE".

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Game Summary
Coding Group
Mike Wnuk Productions
Genre
QBRPG
Homepage URL
http://www.students.
uiuc.edu/~wnuk
E-mail
wnuk@uiuc.edu
Players
1-player
Final Rating
12 out of 35 points

The Highs: A mixture of shooting, puzzles, and RPG elements make for an original experience.
The Lows: Trying to get out of the Control Center is the first, longest, and most boring part of the game.

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