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You're visitor 6154. Last modified August 2001.
How to Play
Loading
After delynxing, do LOAD"CWI",8,1. Nether has a fastloader in it,
so I recommend only running it on a 1541 or 1571 drive. 1581s and HDs probably
won't be able to boot it.
There have been some complaints that a tone sounds during loading. It
goes away when it finishes. I can't replicate this bug but it doesn't look
like it hurts anything.
Playing
Nether works with the joystick just like in DOOM: forward and back move you
forwards and backwards in the level; right and left rotate you 90 degrees.
Fire fires your infrared pistol.
Your energy is given as a grey bar on the left of the screen. Energy is
both exhausted by pistol fire and alien attack. When something is being
repelled by the energy suit, the border flashes red.
The Nether Environment
LIGHTS: Lights are your friends. They illuminate and enhance areas
that would otherwise be darker and duller. Unfortunately, they were weakened
by the asteroid, so their effects are only intermittent.
SWITCHES: Switches are the way you manipulate a level, to open secrets
or doors to other parts of a level. Walk up to them and press space.
Inactive switches show a red light and active switches show green. Switches
have lights that fortunately are more reliable than the bigger white lights.
Types of switches: recharge switches recharge the energy bar (located
near red cross on white background tiles); upgrade switches temporarily
increase the power of your infrared pistol (located near lightning bolt tiles)
and exit switches remove you from a level (near red EXIT signs). If none
of these tiles or signs appear, the switch must do something else more subtle.
Secret doors or opening areas, anyone?
MONSTERS: Shoot them and disintegrate them. Alternatively, run past them
like a chicken.
What makes these monsters tough is they can teleport anywhere: right in
front of you, behind you, around the corner. Listen for their sounds.
There's four types in Nether alpha:
- Security Droid: This tentacled robot fires infrared bolts
similar to yours. It used to patrol hallways, but the aliens have fitted it
with a teleporter and now it's content to fry you when it finds you.
- Alien Probe: The first alien you will encounter, these floating
energy balls drain energy from you once they get close enough. But they
have to get pretty close, and then they're dead meat ... right?
- Seeker Droid: This angular robot is basically a flying grenade.
Previously a complement to the Security Droid, it equally has a lethal
teleporter and a bad attitude. Since it explodes when it comes in contact
with you, running past it could be fatal.
- Alien Walker: These big, menacing energy entities are fast and
dangerous even far away as they leach the energy from your suit as soon
as they find you. Dispersing them should be top priority.
The Automap
Nether does have an automap that you can look at by pressing M. Note that
the automap can be deceptive: it tracks your steps, but depending on what
the switches in the level have done, you might not be able to go back.
Cheat Codes
Like any good 3D game, there are positively no ways you can cheat.
Don't you believe us?