The Chaos Engine
2026-04-18
I've got interested in "The Chaos Engine" recently, having fond memories of the game, from my Amiga 1200. It inspired me to buy "The Difference Engine" by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, as apparently, the plot of the game is roughly inspired by the book. I went to GOG today, and there it was at the price of 2 euros, even less, so, despite the bad reviews, I decided to buy it. I played a little, but I'll try the Mega Drive port on R36S later, too.
Ports
"The Chaos Engine" had a number of ports, but Amiga CD32's version was the final one, having a richer colour palette and CD soundtrack, and it seems that this was the base for the remaster that I bought. I am a bit thorn about the palette, because while the keys or bugs have this metallic shine to them, it is too cheerful. The original colours made everything washed out and gloomy, and that worked better for the general atmosphere of the game.
The bad reviews center around the quality of the port itself, which runs natively on Windows, have some special visual effects (warning: the bloom effect, which can be, luckily, turned off) and gamepad support, but apparently, doesn't have a view big enough. I will compare that one with the Mega Drive port some time later, but it's true that the monsters coming from the top or the bottom of the screen show up at the last possible moment. Oh, well; I knew about that one from a review.
However, at 2 euros, it's still a bargain, especially that they include the soundtrack! It must be the one that was on the CD32. I always welcome a soundtrack. The normal price is 10 euros, and that could be too much, given the quality of the port.
First impressions
Too bad I cannot configure D-pad and the analog stick for the movement at the same time. The analog stick is too loose, and very unlike for me, I have settled for the D-pad.
Due to tough controls and a bit small view, I managed to get to level 1-3 (there are 4 worlds with 4 levels each, which sets me at the 3rd level in total; but as a kid, I didn't get much further either).
Every 2 levels, there is a shop where we can beef up our character, including buying lives, so luckily it's not the "finish the whole game on a single life" kind of difficulty here.
Anyway, I'll leave it for now, as I literally played for 27 minutes, and that was it.
Mega Drive port
Later that day...
I had a quick check on the Mega Drive version on R36S, and it's 4:3, as all the games back then was, but it doesn't have a bottom bar with stats but a sort of HUD occupying corners, which makes the playable area bigger. And the gritty palette. So, probably a preferable version, after all. And, to my surprise, this mini analog stick on the handheld works better. I need to see if maybe I can do something about sensitivity of the stick on PC.
2026-04-19
I gave up and switched to the keyboard, just like we played "The Chaos Engine" on PC (yeah, I had the PC version in 1995, too).
The health is depleted so easily that it border with "three strikes and you're dead." It seems that the only way forward is learning the placement of monsters i advance and making no mistakes. Which is very early 1990s, if you ask me. No complaints, I knew what I'm getting into. One day, I'll get to level 1-4. And we'll see how's going to laugh then.
2026-04-30
Playing on R36S, I finished the first world. It's slightly easier on this device, but still tough. The challenge is a tight space with fast-moving monsters, coupled with short view. As a result, it's a game not as fast paced as it would seem at first sight; instead, you need to move slowly to avoid incoming monsters, which die immediately but cost you your health. In the end, I was mostly avoiding monsters and letting the AI-controlled character kill them.
Workshops
I have a password now, so I can start from the second world, Workshops. Gone are open spaces of swamps and we're operating in tight corridors, which, if anything, reminded me of Pac-Man. As is, it might be easier than The Forest, because I mostly need to shoot at 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°.
Some monsters are reskin of those golems and lizards from The Forest, but there is also this jumping oily blob, which explodes into small projectiles, so it's better not to stand close to it.