Psycho circus game

In fact, as the game's title suggests, KISS Psycho Circus takes place in a strange realm inhabited by evil clowns and other creatures from some weird, twisted circus which itself is under the control of a strange being called the Nightmare Child - and only you, playing as the members of rock group KISS can save it from being totally corrupted. Although, given the total weirdness of the Psycho Circus world, it's doubtful anyone would notice the difference. The manual doesn't actually state why it is that the only people who can save this crazy, alternate world are a bunch of glam rockers in goth costumes and make-up, but that's presumably covered in Todd McFarlane's KISS Psycho Circus comic upon which the game is based.

Given that KISS have to be one of the most successful rock bands around, surpassing even Marilyn "Alice Cooper rip-off" Manson in the marketing stakes with dolls, figures, comics and a huge number of other tasteful items available , it would have been easy for Psycho Circus to end up being a cheap and nasty cash-in along the lines of the dire Iron Maiden and Queen games a while back.

In fact, most music related games to date have been pretty dire. Certainly, while Psycho Circus isn't a revolutionary title, it offers plenty to keep 3D shoot-em-up fans entertained. As in most shoot-em-ups, you play a heavily armed hero - or in this case a heavily armed member of KISS ; you take role of a different band member in each of the game's episodes.

You have to liberate the twisted world by, er, shooting and hacking your way mercilessly through its enslaved inhabitants. As a somewhat mindless shoot-em-up, Psycho Circus has more in common with Blood and the somewhat inferior, but similarly dark, Blood 2 than with Half Life. An impressive AI and a compelling storyline are not to be found here - instead broodingly dark levels, macabre monsters and high octane blasting are the order of the day. Another thing it has in common with Blood 2 is that both games use Monolith 's Lithtech 3D engine, with Psycho Circus using a heavily improved version of the earlier LithTech games.

But unlike Blood 2 , Psycho Circus actually plays well out of the box, so it appears Third Law , the designers of the game, won't be doing a Monolith in abandoning their game, then claiming it's not their game, yet mysteriously not giving back any of the money they were paid to create it.

The game is split up into five realms, four proper realms and a final two-level "Nightmare Realm" where you get to kick Nightmare Child arse. Each of these four realms can be played in any order, but it's not recommended for plot fluidity reasons. These realms are in turn split up into about eight levels each. The locations you get to explore within these levels range from the slightly off-kilter to the truly bonkers.

You start off your musical mystery tour in an abandoned roadhouse, wondering where everyone's got to. After a bit of exploring, and picking up your first weapon -- a sword -- you realise you're not in Kansas anymore when a headless creature pops through a nearby mirror and makes for you at high speed.

Naturally, this foe can be dispatched with your sword but given that this is one darkly twisted shoot-em-up, things just get weirder from there on in. Subsequent locations in the first realm include a freak show, a strange sort of abandoned warehouse, a spooky town square and more.

The second, third, fourth and fifth realms are just as gothic and spooky, although the second realm does start off with a couple of slightly uninteresting cavern levels of the type seen in virtually all 3D shoot-em-ups though it picks up from there. While you can have the best looking levels in the world -- Psycho Circus doesn't quite achieve those lofty heights, but the levels do look pretty damn good - if they're badly designed then you're not going to hold the interest of Joe Gamesplayer.

But Third Law , the games designers, have done a good job of creating levels that not only look good but play well too. Psycho Circus 's levels are full of twists and turns and other surprises, and are rarely mundane. If you're the kind person who loathes wandering from location to location hunting for some hidden switch or trigger panel, don't worry.

In Psycho Circus there are no hubs to get lost wandering around; nor will you find yourself collecting an item in the Tombs of Ydrrrynx used to solve a puzzle in the Ice Caves of Fnnnip. The most you'll have to do here is collect a key or flick an easily seen switch to open a door and in the latter case, you are nearly always shown where the door you opened is, usually nearby, so there's little toing or froing required, just plenty of monster maiming.

There are indeed plenty of monsters lining up to fight you, enough to make your quest to kill the Nightmare Child quite hard indeed. There are no enemies that are unique to a particular realm; instead, you encounter one or two new enemies on each realm as well as bumping into all the ones you dealt with in the previous realm. The real cannon fodder of the game are the "Headless": creepy crablike creatures which are, er, headless, and have rather nasty slashing claws but can be eliminated quite easily.

Then there are the fire-spitting dog creatures that are still easy to take out but can be tricky given their ability to gob on you from a distance. Then there are the other circus psychos like cannon ball-hurling strongmen, half-spider half-clown Arachniclowns, Fat Ladies and a whole host of other really freaky monsters, including the Nightmare Child himself who has clearly seen John Carpenter's The Thing.

None of the monsters in the game are too bright. The headless do attack in groups but that's more scripted than anything else; they don't attempt to cut off your escape route or anything.

Nor do the other enemies move out of the way when you're blasting at them, attacking you at every opportunity. The AI here is nothing to write home about. Though, if the monsters were any brighter you'd find yourself in real trouble. As things stand, you've got an even chance of being able to take them out with your weaponry before they introduce you to the business end of a strongman's dumbbell. A nice touch is that you do know how much damage you need to do to them before they expire as when you hit a monster, an unobtrusive little meter pops up, showing how much life that creature has left a la Diablo - a nice touch and one that is usually reserved for the big bosses in most action games.

In this game, all monsters are treated with equal contempt. To wipe out the scary clowns and their cohorts, you have access to a wide range of weaponry all of which looks weird and wonderful.

You have access to a rocket launcher, an energy chaingun, close range melee weapons each character has his own melee weapon but the rest of the weapons are used by all the characters , a huge BFG-style laser gun, and others.

There's also a whip which can be used to do damage or as a kind of a grappling hook in the odd place to swing onto the pre-positioned hooks to get to another area of the level.

Truth be told, the weapons work in the same way as most other shoot-em-up weapons, so you should be at home toting most of the guns in the game. And naturally you also get to point them at the face of human opponents in the deathmatch mode.

You may have a bit of a problem finding a multiplayer game unless you have access to a network as there's no Gamespy style matchmaking service included with KISS. But going by the fact that Psycho Circus only supports head to head deathmatch play, and that there are plenty of better established multiplayer games about offering more varied multiplayer options, you're not going to be missing much. KISS Psycho Circus won't win any awards for originality, but it is surprisingly entertaining -- partly due to the truly bizarre baddies that assault you and the odd locations you find yourself in as you make your way through the Psycho Circus world, and partly due to the fact that there's enough challenge and carnage to keep most hardened shoot-em-up addicts busy.

So it's by no means a classic game; it doesn't re-define the shoot-em-up genre, nor does it offer enough to keep you coming back to the game after you've finished it.

But if you're a KISS fan, a gamer with a taste for the macabre, or just a shoot-em-up fan looking for something to tide you over until Half Life 2 or whatever, then Psycho Circus is worth checking out.

Screenshots from MobyGames. Lorussky -2 points. Thank you a lot Patient Panda! To run the game, see his comments below install and use DgVodoo. TobiasL -7 points. John 0 point. Clyde3D 0 point. Laris 0 point. Starvoltage -1 point. Whem I'm using it it say : "This application can't run on your pc" can someone help me?? S 1 point. I played it on Windows 7 and it runs flawlessly, although I didn't install the patches. After 20 years, this game is still awesome and unique.

It's so underrated and I don't understand why, because it's one of the best shooters I've ever played. You should check it out!! Lucifer 0 point. Patient Panda 2 points. Update 4: Ok dgVoodoo fixed the game-play. It's not quite as bad as the disastrous Daikatana, but you won't find anything displaying the tactical awareness of the Half-Life troops.

However, with a level tull of creatures that can follow you wherever you go, and taking into account the mix of flying and ground-based creatures with melee or long-range attacks, it doesn't matter. The strategy that you have to follow is dictated by numbers and actually find yourself M halfway through the game I before realising that you haven't even had time to stop and think about the Al.

Another new strategy is introduced via the spawning points. These contraptions spew out smaller creatures up to the rotten Gasbags by the bucket load, so you can't just dig in and keep shooting, otherwise you're going to run out of ammunition just before you get overwhelmed.

Instead you have to destroy the nests before trying to clear the screen of your adversaries. As mentioned, this does lead to a small problem.

The way the levels have been designed, it's sometimes extremely hard to reach the spawn points. In the second realm, spawn points have been placed on upper levels, which doesn't stop the creatures from dropping down and attacking you while you're trying to deal with bigger problems. By the time you've managed to make it upstairs, your ammunition can be severely depleted making it hard to progress through the game without constant recourse to the quick save key.

It's the biggest irritation in the game and it could be solved by a dynamic ammunition system which takes into account how low you are and doles out the bullets accordingly. It's a damn shame as well because the range of weapons is excellent, and having to stare down at five or six empty f barrels can be a heart-breaking experience. The weapons are surprisingly effective, from the melee weapons like the sword, gloves or battleaxe, through to the magma and zero cannons, and up to the four ultimate weapons that are granted to each of the four characters.

The balance is excellent. All of the weapons have their place, and all are effective, even the assorted melee stuff, which doesn't normally work. There's no alternate fire mode, which is a bit of a shame, and there's no sniper rifle although you can zoom in at any time by using the Hawkeye option , but there are some neat little touches, such as the way you have to use the super-whip to haul yourself across huge ravines or up into places you wouldn't be able to access normally.

Another nice touch and completely in keeping with the arcade style of game is that each of the creatures you attack has a life bar so you can see how much damage each weapon is doing and how much longer you need to keep battering away until the thing gives up the ghost. And there's even a few dollops of humour. The different creatures that are sent out to destroy you have an uneasy alliance with each other.

One stray shot and this is gone, leaving them to slug it out with each other while you tiptoe back to the safety of the spectators gallery. With the amount of creatures on screen at any one time, this is pretty well balanced; it doesn't happen too often but when it does, it's usually right when you need it.

There are also a few jukeboxes scattered around. Use one and a Kiss track drops onto the platter and starts blaring out of your speakers. You might like this who are we to say?

And, on the subject of humour, the game itself is a cheeky twofingered salute to Third Law's ex employer Ion Storm. Think about it. Daikatana is a FPS that's set across four distinct realms, populated by a wide variety of creatures. In each one you get access to a multitude of different weapons, including the fabled Daikatana sword, and you can upgrade characteristics such as jumping along the way. Trouble is, the game stinks. Psycho Circus is also set across four different realms, with different creatures, weapons including a sword that actually does a bit of damage and the ability to collect armour along the way that upgrades your powers.

It's also a quality game. Psycho Circus doesn't rewrite any of the FPS laws, but it succeeds in refining and tweaking and proving that there's still life in the genre. It's not going to win any awards and there's a general feeling of deja vu, particularly in the second realm, but as a means of passing time there's a lot worse on the shelves of your local shop.

Third Law has had to withstand a lot of criticism about its abilities but Psycho Circus has done just enough to prove all the critics wrong. Who's having the last laugh now? Here I am, Here we are, We are one. I've been waiting for this night to come, Get up. Now it's time for me to take my place, The make-up running down my face, We're exiles from the human race. In actual fact these are the profundities from the title track of the brand new Kiss album.

Psycho Circus. Why should you care? Because later on this year the Gathering of Developers is rolling out a game inspired by the Kiss vision. Unless you're a fan, this simple fact is going to leave you distinctly cold. Games based on film or pop star tie-ins are renowned as being absolutely shockingly terrible, but we reckon that Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child may just have the capacity to surprise.

And that's why we're here -to fill you in on the juicy gossip and explain why we think the game is actually going to be pretty good. For a start it's a first-person shooter that's going to use a heavily modified version of the LithTech 1. And if you're a bit of an anorak about your 3D engines, you'll know that this means it's going to look absolutely top notch.

Take a glance at these early screenshots if you need a bit more gentle persuasion. If you want more technical details, the modifications are going to include saturation blending, gourard-shaded models and all-new player movement physics.

The other big feature to watch out for is the fact that the developers have tweaked the code so that you can expect to see loads and loads of drug-induced Kiss-inspired demons coming at you at once, something that the FPS genre hasn't really seen since the good old days of Doom.

What else? You get to play one of four playable characters based, funnily enough, on the current Kiss line-up and as you progress through the game you can unlock and master unique abilities. Despite this, we're not expecting much else apart from a good, old-fashioned first-person shoot 'em up, although with the power of the LithTech engine and the promise of monsters galore we're getting strangely excited about this one.

And no, before you ask, we're not Kiss fans, although Mark Hill's first ever album purchase was Dynasty, a fact he's keen to keep quiet. Shame that. Unfortunately, despite the fascinating possibilities, Gene Simmons' tongue reach of around 46cm according to one particularly excitable fan isn't going to feature in the game as one of the weapons.

This is a fact that's bound to distress the legions of female 'Kissers' around the country. Unreal Tournament and Quake III might be great games, but if you're looking for a story-fuelled single-player shooter, then you can forget both of these. In fact, games that fit this particular bill are a bit short on the ground, and if you've B played through Half-Life and V its sublime, but short-lived, B add-on pack, then you're B pretty well stuffed.

Forget Daikatana. We reviewed it in the last issue and it's not much cop. So where should you look for solo thrills next? A release based on the exploits of 70s supergroup Kiss? Well, why not? Kiss Psycho Circus isn't a game that's been hastily thrown together to sit on the back of the Kiss moniker. It's actually based on the rather tasty comic of the same name created by Todd McFarlane, and it's got more in common with Sandman and Hellraiser than good old-fashioned American rock.

In the comic, the Psycho Circus is a macabre collective and handily enough it's also a gateway to alternate realities, which lead to adventures drawn around the deepest and darkest recesses of the human soul. Sounds like our sort of gig. The Nightmare King is getting ready for an immaculate conception, and if his child is bom before the Elders can return, he'll "swallow the universe whole, just to spit it out again in a highly undesirable form". And no, we're not kidding.

This is where you come in.