The Let's Play Archive

The Chaos Engine

by Attilla

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Original Thread: Let's Play The Chaos Engine or How I Learned to Love the Machine

 

This LP is also available on the Internet Archive! Some video LPs are kindly hosted by the folks on archive.org. This means the original source videos will always be available for download or watching, even if the original video hosts are no longer available!

Introduction



Title: The Chaos Engine (Soldiers of Fortune in the USA)
Developer: Bitmap Brothers
Publisher: Renegade Software
System: SNES
Release: March, 1993

The Chaos Engine, a top-down shoot 'em up set in a steampunk Victorian Britain and made by the Bitmap Brothers (who also made such games like the Xenon series, the Speedball series and the Z series). The main objective of the game is to fight your way through hordes of automata and mutants caused by The Chaos Engine's cloud of chaos and stop it.

The systems it has been made for are at the very least the Amiga, Amiga CD32, Atari ST, MS-DOS, RISC OS, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, SNES and the Mobile Phone (may or may not have been made for the GBA, it is unclear).

Now for an example of the game's interface which should hopefully explain what it all means without having nagging questions about why certain numbers are going up:



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In addition below is a rough guide to each of the game's selectable characters (and my opinions of them).
Mercenary

Cost: £2750
What they say:
"A good all-rounder. He is quite mad and enjoys nothing more than experimenting with a collection of unsavory weapons"
What I say:
Like both of the medium-class characters, medium speed, firepower, toughness, wisdom and special power utility. Wields what is called a "Gatling" as his main weapon, his first Special Power is the Bomb.


Brigand

Cost: £2750
What they say:
"Another well rounded talent and a cut throat bandit to boot"
What I say:
Another medium-class. He wields the Rifle as his main weapon, his first Special Power is the Shotburst.


Gentleman

Cost: £2500
What they say:
"A lean and clever character. He is a dapper chap without a doubt. What he lacks in muscle he makes up with wit"
What I say:
One of the light-class characters, very fast and with high wisdom, but does about as much damage as a pea shooter, and can be knocked over by a swift breeze, on the other hand his Special Powers are extremely useful. He wields what is called the "Flamer" but appears to look like a revolver (he is just that classy), his first Special Power is the Map.


Navvie

Cost: £3000
What they say:
"The strongest of the six characters. A good fighter with heavy weapons. Although he only has a few specials they are very destructive"
What I say:
One of the heavy-class characters, very tough and with very powerful attacks, but is slow as molasses in winter and his Wisdom is quite lacking. He wields what is titled the "Cannon" but is apparently a bazooka he stole from the future, on the less causality-affecting side his Special Power is the Dynamite.


Thug

Cost: £3000
What they say:
"When it comes to characteristics he could pass for the Navvie's brother. The Thug is a mammoth of a man, a little stupid but very powerful"
What I say:
The other heavy-class character, not quite a Navvie-clone, chiefly due to his weapon, and Special Power. His main weapon is the Shotgun, and his starting Special Power is the Molotov.


Preacher/Scientist

Cost: £2500
What they say:
"The smartest of the six characters but then, he has God on his side. Beware, his perverse nature is not to be trusted" (Obviously this is the blurb for the Preacher, but you can easily get a probably identical blurb by replacing the word God with SCIENCE.)
What I say:
Somehow less tough and with a crapper gun than the Gentleman, the trade-off of having the best Wisdom of any character (Wisdom is basically how non-retarded the AI is) is not really worth it, but his special powers more than make up for it. However he is seriously side-kick material, unless you're either masochist or I suppose seriously want to challenge yourself. His main weapon is simply called the "Lightning", and is basically that, a lightning gun, however his starting Special Power is the almighty First Aid.


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Intro: Daily Motion - Viddler
(Though idly I prefer this version of the intro, I cannot currently access the version it came from, or at the very least lack the equipment to Let's Play that version)


Videos

World 1: The Forest:
Level 1: The Beginning: VeohDaily MotionViddler
Level 2: Mud Rivers: VeohDailymotionViddler
Level 3: Rings: VeohDailymotionViddler
Level 4: Rockies: VeohDailymotionViddler
World 2: Workshop
Level 1: Maze: VeohDailymotionViddler
Level 2: Traps: VeohDailymotionViddler
Level 3: Steam: VeohDailymotionViddler
Level 4: Quarters: VeohDailymotionViddler
World 3: Fortesque Mansion
Level 1: The Pits: VeohDailymotionViddler
Level 2: Confusion: VeohDailymotionViddler
Level 3: Reverse: ViddlerDailymotionVeoh
Level 4: Way Out: VeohDailymotionViddler
World 4: The Cellars
Level 1: Sewer: VeohDailymotionViddler
Level 2: Pump Room: VeohDailymotionViddler
Level 3: Hall of Machines: VeohDailymotionViddler
Level 4: Time For Chaos: VeohDailymotionViddler
Bonus Content:
Bonus 1: Let's Play The Chaos Engine 2 (Megadrive/Genesis): VeohDailymotionViddler
Bonus 2: Let's Play The Brigand: VeohDailymotionViddler
Bonus 3: Let's Play The Navvie: VeohDailymotionViddler
Bonus 4: Let's Play The Mercenary:VeohDailymotionViddler
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