The locally owned and operated software design company Cyberflix has been

making big waves in the CD-ROM market with its graphic-heavy computer

games. Using technology designed by co-founder Bill Appleton, Cyberflix

offers incredible animation in games of cinematic narrative.

Following the wild success of their first game, Lunicus, the

Cyberflix gang put out Jump Raven, a violent romp through a darkly

humorous future. Both games have received rave reviews from computer and

pop culture sources — from CD ROM Review to Playboy.

The premise of Jump Raven has the game player taking on the persona

of the title character, a mercenary hired by a government agency to rescue

pods containing the DNA of Earth’s near-extinct animal life. Jump Raven and

copilot must fight an assortment of Nazi skinheads and evil cyberpunks to

replenish the planet’s animal population.

The extensive opening narrative is well-animated and sets a great mood for

the arcade sequences that make up most of the playtime. These sequences are

along the more traditional video game lines, but the Cyberflix folks put

some interesting spins on this. Basically, you can’t just fly around until

you get blown up. Realistic concerns come into play, like running out of

fuel or ammo. Also, the game allows for partial damage of the player’s

craft.

To relieve these problems, the player must chase around a fuel truck,

weapons supplier and repair shop. It’s usually as much of a challenge to

catch up with these helpful characters as it is to fight the

opponents.

The three stages of play are fairly similar, but the player can choose from

six different computer copilots each time. The copilots have wide-ranging

personalities, phobias and skills. Choosing one is as much fun as playing

the whole game, and choosing different copilots for each round alters the

atmosphere of the “cockpit.”

If you are skilled enough to play the game through, the end narrative is

surprising and entertaining, a great pay-off for the shoot-em-up of the

game.

New and upcoming releases for Cyberflix include Dust, an interactive

western, Skullcracker, an action-horror arcade game, and R.M.S.

Titanic, an interactive adventure set aboard the famous doomed ocean

liner.

Cyberflix games are available locally at most software outlets, notably

MacSoftwareHouse in Farragut.