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''RAMA'' is a first-person Adventure Game developed and published by Sierra Entertainment in 1996 . The game is based on Arthur C. Clarke 's books '' Rendezvous With Rama '' and '' Rama II '' and supports both DOS and Windows 95. It is the second Rama game to be produced. Earlier, a Text Adventure was released in 1984 by Tellurium and exported to systems such as the Apple II and Commodore 64 . As in many '' Myst ''-like adventure games, the player is an AFGNCAAP character; an astronaut who is assigned to replace the late Valeriy Borzov. Much of the gameplay is done with the "wristcomp", a device that is used for communication with other characters and mapping or transport to other locations. The player also has in possession a small robot which will comment and give descriptions of the surrounding objects or events. PLOT Four years ago, a gigantic cylindrical object entered the Solar System . The International Space Agency (ISA) named it Rama and sent an expendition to investigate and find its purpose and origins. They soon discover that Rama is a hollow, Rotating Cylinder with enormous cities, populated by other alien species that have been collected during its travels: Myrmicats (never seen in the game), Avians, Octospiders. There are also the Biots (biological robots) constructed by the aliens who built Rama, and are a part of it. The player at first must investigate the area known as "the Plains" and find items that will help solve the logical/mathematical puzzles. Two Raman cities, nicknamed "London" and "Bangkok" by the expedition crew, will be visited in order to learn more about the species that accompany the astronauts. To proceed, the player must solve "complete with the shape which is logicially missing" puzzles as well as mathematic exercises in the Octal and Hexadecimal number systems. After the Plains have been explored (actually when the player has managed to reach and obtain all the useful inventory items), Rama changes towards an impact course with Earth and a special team inside the expedition (originally consisting of Heilmann, Borzov and O'Toole) proceeds to the "Project Trinity" and arms a bomb network to destroy Rama and its inhabitants. The player is then free to explore the island within the Cylindrical Sea, nicknamed "New York", that's the location for one of the bombs. While there, the player learns that Rama's course has diverted away from Earth and is no longer a risk, but the bombs have already been armed to explode in six hours. Unfortunately, O'Toole who knows the code to disarm it, is lost, and during the six in-game hours, the player has to interpret the code and find the bomb in order to disarm it. The epilogue implies a sequel, which was already scheduled for production, but unfortunately was never completed. CHARACTERS Many of the characters the player will meet first appeared in '' Rama II ''. There are also some characters which are never met, but are only referenced:
Characters are played by live actors, each with their own behaviour towards the player. Although this largely doesn't affect gameplay, it enhances the realistic feeling. There are several hints throughout the game about the characters' relations that point to a secondary backplot. RAMA GEOGRAPHY ''RAMA'' The 'entrance', where the ISA installs the Hub with supplies, lockers and living quarters, is the southern 'pole' which contains the airlock and climate controls. Built in the centre of the cylinder's rotation, the Hub has no gracity in the book, but this was overlooked in the game because navigation would be awkward. An arrow in the lower part of the interface, points towards the 'north' so that the player has a better orientation while exploring. The South is occupied by the Plains that feature hills and cities, named after Earth places. In the game, the player will visit several places, but of the cities, only ''Bangkok'' (actually a museum for each of the species) and ''London''. The player travels in the Plains by the means of a map, projected by his wrist communication device. The Plains are connected to the Cylindrical Sea, which divides Rama into northern and southern hemicylinders and during 'winter' it is frozen. The sea is occupied by a huge island of enormous structures, for that reason named New York. There, there are three 'plazas' for each of the species, the Avians and Myrmicats, the Octospiders, and the Humans. The northern part, which contains the propulsion mechanisms according to the books, is never visited in the game. Cities like ''Rome'', ''Paris'', ''Moscow'' mentioned in the books are never brought into consideration. TECHNICAL INFORMATION The game supports both DOS and Windows platforms and was created using version three of the SCI Game Engine . As was usual in that time, the graphics are combination of 3D rendered scenery and live-action actors. Although it only supports 256 colours, the filmed videos are still of exceptionally high quality. The game comes on two CD-ROM s, with a third reserved for videos. The first part of the videos show the prologue, concerning the reaction on Earth when Rama was discovered in a form of a journalist show, and hosts interviews of the characters that will be seen later in the game. The other features a brief interview with Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee . Clarke himself appears in some scenes of the game, like when the player dies, and in the epilogue, gives advice to the player. He is implemented into the scenery and humorously interacts with it (like when he provokes a Biot in a fight). EXTERNAL LINKS |