BODY HARVEST N64

BODY HARVEST N64 - NUS-NBHP-EUR

Body Harvest is a video game for the Nintendo 64 video game console, developed by DMA Design (later renamed Rockstar North). It was originally intended to be an Nintendo 64 launch title, but was delayed due to its original publisher, Nintendo, having issues with the game's violent themes and eventual dropping of the title, leaving DMA to find a new publisher. It was eventually published by Gremlin Graphics in October 1998.

Each level in Body Harvest requires the player to stop the aliens from slaughtering everyone in the shield area. The player will navigate the map, often coming across towns where aliens will teleport in to attack the town and harvest civilians. Aliens will also warp in frequently to attack the player and can appear from the land, air or sea. Generally, gameplay consists of completing a series of missions. Many of these are very basic, e.g. reach a certain area, but others can be more complicated and require careful thought and skill. Once the player completes a mission they are prompted to check the map to find out what the next mission is.

There is a meter at the bottom of the screen that represents civilian casualties. If too many civilians die for any reason (including friendly-fire), the aliens will destroy the area and the mission will have failed. Generally, only Harvester aliens deliberately kill civilians, but the player must be careful not to shoot or run down any civilians in the process of rescuing them. The player must react to Harvester Waves quickly, as if the aliens manage to harvest 8 humans in a single wave they will create an extremely dangerous 'Mutant' creature, which immediately attacks the player regardless of location. There are also several optional missions that require saving people from the aliens, and although one can fail these missions and still progress through the game, doing so will result in significant human casualties.

 The use of vehicles is a key aspect of this game. Vehicles provide significant protection from alien attacks and allow the player to travel at a far greater speed than on foot. Adam can still fire most weapons from within a vehicle, although many vehicles are equipped with powerful weapons of their own. Vehicles take damage independently of Adam and can be repaired with health pickups spawned by defeating larger aliens. Specific vehicles are often required to advance - for example, boats allow travel over bodies of water, while planes and helicopters allow travel through the air. Each vehicle has a unique combination of top speed, armor and fuel capacity, inviting players to consider their options carefully. Vehicles range from mundane civilian forms of transport to powerful military hardware - the player will pilot tanks, armored cars and aircraft as frequently as cars, trucks and motorcycles. In addition, the Alpha I (the ship the player uses to travel through time) becomes a powerful armored hovercraft during boss battles and for the entirety of the Comet level.

 There are many buildings in each stage which can be entered on foot, many of which are essential to talk to plot characters and acquire necessary items. Buildings also contain health pickups, new weapons other than your standard Pistol are a Machine gun, Shotgun, Rifle and Rocket launcher that each use different types of ammunition. The buildings also have Ammunition pickups and fuel cans (of which one will refuel a vehicle once). With thorough exploration, rarer items can be found including alien artifacts and 'weapon crystals', three of which combine to form a technologically advanced powerful laser weapon unique to that level.

 The eventual goal of each level is to destroy the Shield Generator to remove the shield that surrounds the region. To do this, the player must first destroy a number of Alien Processors, which act as sub-bosses. Defeating an Alien Processor opens a gateway to the next area and allows the player to save their progress. Once the Shield Generator itself has been destroyed, the player immediately faces that level's boss. Once the boss is defeated, the player travels forward in time and to the next level.

ENDAST KASSETT