CD-i Passport of "Atlantis: The Last Resort" - 1997 - Philips ADS (Advanced Development & Support)

Developed by: Philips ADS (Advanced Development & Support; Redhill, UK)

Published by: Philips Media Games

Original release: 1997

Genre: 3D First Person Shooter

CD-i type: Digital Video on CD-i; DVC required

Catalogue: 8110071 (England)

Releases: Originally released in a standard jewelcase in Europe only

Language: English only, the boxart of the European version is multi-language. The game is english only.

Emulator: Working in CD-i Emulator v0.53b4 and higher (+gate-array DVC BIOS), no issues

The parole officer has just made you na offer you cannot refuse… “Shut down the reactor at the heart of the Atlantis resort and you can have your freedom”.

You reply… “Where’s my rocket launcher?” 20 levels of mindless blasting!

Atlantis was the codename and eventually commercial title for this very unique CD-i game first announced by the President of Philips Media Games, Dave McElhatten in Issue 16 of the UK based CDi Magazine in February 1996. The Atlantis project was described as a realtime 3D engine, it was the byproduct of some powerful debugging software developed by Philips Redhill. After a year of refinement prior to the announcement, this unforeseen use for the CD-i architecture was exploited with the release of Ram Raid, a working on-line game demonstrating the engine in action. Ram Raid was bundled with the second CD-online disc attached as a covermount to the UK based CDi Magazine Issue 17 in April 1996. It wasn't until the following year that the full commercial game "Atlantis - The Last Resort" was released, it sadly lacked any of the on-line functionality that the initial demo Ram Raid had hinted at.

Take a close look at the European Front Cover for Atlantis with particular attention to the belt buckle of the hero and you'll notice it is in fact Pac-man about to chump on a yellow pill. The artwork for this cover was made by Johnny Wood who also worked upon the conversions for Arcade Classics and Pac-Panic, it seems this small addition to the heros belt is a tribute to Pac-man and an extension of the artists love for the game!

Unlimited ammo, keys and lives:

In the game main page, move the cursor to the upper left corner and press the buttons 1, 2, 2, 1 in this order. The screen will change automaticly…

You just have to activate:

During the game, when you have no ammo or extra lives anymore: Go to the map screen and move the cursor to the top left corner. Press 1, 2, 1, 2 in this order. 

But you won't have unlimited lives nor unlimited ammo! (Just re-use this code again)

It is sometime in the near future, and instead of going on a traditional holiday people now go on virtual holidays. Rather like in the film Total Recall, people plug themselves into computers and their brains are fed impulses which make them believe they are in a holiday resort.

One such virtual resort, based around the mythological Atlantis theme with a Paradise Beach and underwater aquascape, recently mutated when the controlling computer became infected with a virus. All the creatures in the resort have now become ferocious killers and the resort is unsafe for visiting.

The player is a convicted killer in one of the worlds toughest prisons. The state-funded virtual holiday company realises that the only way to clean up the virtual resort is to send in the toughest thug they can find who must fight their way to the reactor core of the resort and shut it down. Nobody in their right mind would do such a suicide mission or be tough enough for the job, nobody except a convicted killer from the worlds toughest prison! The deal made with the player is thus that if they can shut down the reactor then they can have their freedom.

The resort is divided into the five zones linked by Cyber-Chutes which are energy transfer conduits. The zones are as follows:

Paradise Island: This is the beach area where tourists used to lay by the sea sipping cocktails and soaking up the virtual rays. It is now infected by killer crabs, prehistoric winged drones, skeletons, sand worms, mutant sky surfers, and proximity mines. The weapons available to the player are a handgun, a chaingun, and a missile launcher. There are four parts to paradise island that need to be completed before continuing to the next zone.

Caverns: This zone contains gloomy caverns situated beneath the sands of Paradise Beach. Half submerged in water, the player must fight through these gloomy tunnels carved out of the sand by the sand worms. Creatures that the player will encounter include water bats, stalabats hiding in stalactites, ceiling creepers, wading skeletons, floating stingers, and mechanoid waders. The weapons available to the player are a plasma gun, a scatter gun, and a torpedo launcher. There are four parts to the caverns that need to be completed before continuing to the next zone.

Aquascape: This underwater zone is where tourists used to swim among the fish in the ruins of Atlantis. The player must move through this enemy fighting through schools of piranha, sea-stabber sea-horses, man-o-war jelly fish, and mecha sharks, whilst avoiding mines. The player has limited oxygen tanks so they must pick up oxygen canisters they find lying around on the sea bed when needed (or they can stand on a bubble stream to slowly fill their tanks). Weapons that the player has are a sonic blaster, torpedoes, and depth-charge mines.

Industrial Zone: This area is the construction area for the virtual resort. It is here that the mechanised creatures were originally made and maintained. Now it is full of two varieties of hunter-killer creatures, missile-firing construction droids, patrolling plasmas, lightening arcs, and fierce security TV drones. The player has a weave-gun, missiles, and a flame thrower. Teleports allow the player to jump around the area. There are four parts to the industrial area although only the first is available in this release.

Reactor Core: This area is at the heart of the virtual world and is the final part of the game. The player must move through the area using teleports, fighting past three overlords who will each leave the player a key to allow further access towards the reactor core. The player must also avoid lighting arcs as the virtual world breaks down. The player has the same weapons as in the Industrial Zone. There is one part to the Reactor Core.

Most CD-i Games have "Abstract", "Bibliographic" and "Copyright" details on the softwares disc itself, any interesting information in these files can be found below.

Abstract: The CyberResort of Atlantis has become infected with a deadly virus. Virtual holiday makers have been successfully extracted but now somebody has to go in to the resort to clean it up.

As the meanest, maddest and baddest convict in Morton high security prison you have been offered the chance to earn your freedom - by committing yourself to the suicide mission of cleaning up Atlantis. You are the last hope, the last resort.

Bibliographic: Atlantis - The Last Resort, developed by Philips Media Games.

Project Management: Richard Soppelsa and Paul Clarke

CD-i Development: Paul Clarke

Graphics: Johnny Wood and Rak Patel

Music and sound effects: Chris Helmore

Level design: Andy Morton and Paul Clarke

Level design tools: Paul Clarke, Jain Shah, Arosha Bandara

Copyright: Copyright 1996 Philips Media Games. All Rights Reserved.