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author: admin
generator: pandoc
title: 'Exhumed/Powerslave'
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admin
2013-02-20T05:59:19+00:00
[{.size-medium
.wp-image-479 .alignleft width="300"
height="225"}](http://jumpnshoot9000.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/titlecard.jpg)As
previously alluded to in [our
article](http://jumpnshoot9000.com/2013/01/24/sega-saturn/ "Sega Saturn")
on the development of the Sega *Saturn* hardware, history is written by
the victors. It's because the \_Saturn \_ultimately
failed--commercially--as a platform that games like *Exhumed* never got
to deliver developers like *Lobotomy Software* the reward for their
efforts that they deserved.
(or *[Powerslave](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=UsUUV1VDE3Y#t=1810s)*,
as it was known in the US) is a corridor game that touts the virtues of
the *Saturn*. With tight controls, well-executed concepts, and fantastic
early fifith generation graphics, \_Exhumed \_is an example of a triumph
of substance over form, a true case of game design done right. At the
risk of sounding formulaic, it's important to stress that while it is a
fantastic game, it isn't without its flaws.
I'm going to buck the trend and say that the best thing about *Exhumed*
is its non-linearity. That's not to say that non-linearity is a virtue
in itself (cf. [this Kotaku
article](http://www.kotaku.com.au/2012/10/you-can-keep-your-big-open-worlds-i-want-a-jrpg/));
in this particular game, it, as a method of delivering game-play,
non-linearity has been well-executed. From the very beginning, the
player will get the impression that there exists some deeper intention
behind the levels they're exploring. Out-of-reach items and impassable
passages might at first present themselves as confusing obstacles, but
upon finding new power-ups and using good old-fashioned logic, finally
satisfying your curiosity is definitely satisfying. Given *Exhumed*'s
Egyptian setting, it's entirely appropriate that the player should be
feeling as if they're stabbing around in a warren of inter-related
pathways (many fittingly tomb-like), some to be traversed early, some
later, some many times, and some to be noticed once and then entirely
forgotten. As the game progresses you will truly get the feeling that
you're moving deeper and deeper into the heart of some powerful and
mysterious heart of darkness--and this is where *Exhumed*'s aesthetics
lend a great helping hand.
[{.size-medium
.wp-image-474 .alignright width="300"
height="225"}](http://jumpnshoot9000.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/obelisk.jpg)In
addition to the way it structures its substance,* Exhumed*'s graphical
prowess offers much to impress. I'm going to ignore the features of
shooters would deem unacceptable (like the lack of: two *real* degrees
of player visual freedom: left-right, up-down; full 3D,
context-sensitive game environments; complex NPC AI &c), because they
don't impact on the kind of game *Exhumed* was trying to be. In 1996,
first-person shooters were games of a fledgling new genre. Many of them,
like their proginator, *Doom*, were corridor games. Given that it is a
corridor game, *Exhumed*'s graphics/aesthetic features are of a very
high standard. Combine this with the fact that it was purposefully
designed for the *Saturn*, a platform with hardware architecture that
was notoriously difficult to program, and you have something of great
interest in terms of video gaming history.
The stunning thing about *Exhumed*'s visuals is that they feature large
environments without sacrificing its fast-paced game-play speed. This is
achieved through a neat programming trick that owes much
to *Exhumed*'s *Doom* origins.
As *Exhumed*'s 3D-engine programmer Ezra Dreisbach
tells [Eurogamer](http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/death-tanks-ezra-driesbach-interview)
in 2009,
...the main different thing about console FPS of that era is that
every wall has to be diced into a grid of polygons. This is because
there is no perspective-correct texture-mapping and, in the case of
the Saturn, no way to clip. You really needed some custom tools to
deal with/take advantage of this, and Lobotomy
had [*Brew*](http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/saturn/satduke.htm) (made
by David Lawson).
As Dreisbach stated in his interview with
[Segasaturn.co.uk](http://www.segasaturn.co.uk/dd/interviews/ezra_dreisbach.html),
overcoming this limitation in texture-mapping was achieved by
automatically \[combining\] the wall tile graphics into fewer
"uber-tiles" and \[rendering\] the walls like this when they \[were\]
far away.
[{.size-medium
.wp-image-476 .alignleft width="300"
height="225"}](http://jumpnshoot9000.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/machine-gun-lasers.jpg)It's
a simple concept, but many 3D games of the era on the *Saturn* failed
because they refused to take account of the *Saturn*'s hardware. Through
original programming, *Exhumed* was able to pull off enormous
environments with fluid animation and dynamic lighting, helping develop
a proper atmosphere in which to immerse the player.
Much like the effect achieved by the game-play progression, the visuals
really do convey the idea that you're penetrating a many-thousand
year-old civilisation. Sky-lit levels leave you feeling roasted, laying
everything bare and brutally exposed in its openness. The swarm-like
onslaught of enemies in these environments cause you to become desperate
with your weapons, as there is frequently nowhere to run. Contrastingly,
underground levels are suitably chilling and dank, sparsely but properly
lit, all giving the strong impression that these places are musty from
thousands of years of rest, previously untouched, unseen, dormant and
perfectly sealed.
The following
[excerpt](http://theancientsden.blogspot.com.au/2012_11_01_archive.html)
from an now-defunct Slovak game magazine does a great job at conveying
an idea of what *Exhumed*'s atmosphere is like. The language is somewhat
over-the-top (and not perfect), but I couldn't put it any better:
I won't start with technical execution, graphics or sounds, but I'll
spit out immediately the most important and gigantic thing which
Exhumed has: atmosphere. Atmosphere of this game is something so
perfect, heavy, \[colourful and full of emotional impact\], that words
are not enough to describe it. You will be walking inside
thousand-year-old temples full of mummies, and most fantastic
decorations: vases, paintings, hieroglyphs. That \[is all said\] with
a regard for \[the game's\] monumental architecture, which makes you
feel--even though you are the main hero, \[on\] which the faith of
mankind depends, \[and\] though you will be fearfully killing enemies
with your weapons-- small and unimportant. Even though you \[might
be\] cutting with a machete the strings of the original inhabitants,
the buildings remain. \[So too remains the\] gold, paintings and the
old culture, which is \[also\] indestructible. The majestic columns
benevolently gaze over at doings of some man with knowledge that he
will \[soon\] leave, and will leave them to rest maybe for \[many
more\] thousands of years.
Before moving on, it's worth mentioning that a key feature to praise
is *Lobotomy*'s ability to engineer convincing transparency in the
game's water terrain--something heavily rumoured to be a weak ability of
the *Saturn*.
{.size-medium
.wp-image-481 width="300" height="225"}
There are points where the visuals falter. The main complaint to level
against \_Exhumed \_here is a common one among many games of its time:
poor texturing. As an example, an early level, 'Sobek Pass', is almost
entirely composed of one texture. See right for an image.
The difficulty in resolving different wall-faces apart from one-another
makes finding your way around the level's environment difficult, and at
times frustrating. While this is regrettable, the level very cleverly
riddles away the keys to its doors, and staggers its assortment of
enemies in an intelligent way. This is much the same where-ever weak
texture variation occurs: weakness in texturing is always moderated by
the level design. The player is never unfairly forced to deal with too
much of a challenge at once.
[{.alignleft
.size-medium .wp-image-477 width="300"
height="210"}](http://jumpnshoot9000.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/anubis-room.png)A
welcome complement to both *Exhumed*'s graphics and game-play is its
controls. While the main character's enormous jump length, somewhat
stilted ability to look up and down, and at times slippery pin-point
on-the-spot manoeuvring takes some getting used to,
intuitive feel. As opposed to many corridor games and Doom clones/ports,
the controls don't buck back at you in the middle of hectic fire-fights,
resisting your will. It's obvious that careful attention has been paid
to the player's interface with the game environment because one is able
to *learn* how to get better at *Exhumed*. It's rare that a console
first-person shooter that relies entirely on D-pad controls features
such intuitive player interaction (cf. *Croc*), but we here have a
shining example.
[{.size-medium
.wp-image-478 .alignright width="300"
height="187"}](http://jumpnshoot9000.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/firepots.jpg)Modern
FPS players might have a hard time adapting to what they might describe
as primitive control scheme and limited game-environment context, but,
that aside, *Exhumed* is a stellar example of the fruits of the labour
of a developer who cared about their work. \_Lobotomy Software \_may
have ultimately paid the price for not jumping on the same wagon as many
other early 3D developers, but they produced something authentic.
Effort, here, clearly translated into quality, and it is for that reason
that *Exhumed* is definitely worth your time.
If you can scrounge together--by any means--a working version of
this *Saturn* title, you're guaranteed to be rewarded with an experience
that creatively extends and develops the ideas that made their first
exposition in *Doom*.
---
The reader can find a *Lobotomy Software* fan blog
[here](http://lobotomysoftware.wordpress.com/) and a YouTube video about
the history of the developer
[here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMUUrFtwHDY). A really good post
to read from the fan blog that [centralises a lot of
information](http://lobotomysoftware.wordpress.com/2012/12/10/update/)
about *Exhumed* should not be missed. A write-up and a fairly
illuminating interview about the technical aspects of *Exhumed* by
GameFan can be found
[here](http://www.whipassgaming.com/genesisreviews/powerslave/lobotomy.html):
I put the dynamic lights in after seeing Loaded on the PlayStation.
Each of the wall polygons is being drawn gouraud shaded for the static
torch light. As each vertex is transformed, the lighting contribution
from the dynamic lights is added in. The algorithm is the cheapest,
fastest thing I could think of that would still look okay.
---
EDIT: For more screenshots and another great discussion of *Exhumed*'s
concepts, read [this NeoGAF
thread.](http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=440011)\_
\_