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Z2 Preview by Mobius Codeworks (Sig1LL)
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Thanks for downloading the Preview of Z2. I guess we should tell you how to 
play our little 'ol game!!!

Well, the idea of the game is to battle your way through the levels to the 
final level!! Simple eh?

Gameplay
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You play the part of Z2, a small battle droid, with laser, missile, and 
grappling abilities.

The game has two sections to it. First the 3d world (the main view you will 
see when you first start the game) and a grappling subgame.

You have a set amount of energy that is depleated by enegy fire and lost 
'grapples'. Extra energy can be obtained by grappling with an enemy bot 
and stealing it's power supply.

Control
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You can control Z2 via the Direction pad on the controller, pushing the pad 
forwards will move the Z2 bot forward, pulling it back will reverse. Left 
and Right will rotate the bot in the appropriate direction. Z2 can also 
slide left and right with the left and right shoulder buttons (L2 and R2). 
X can also be used to propell Z2 forwards

Square will swap Z2s current weapon between missle and laser (in this 
preview we've given you an unlimited supply of missiles, we're nice like 
that!)

Things to Kill
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Effectively EVERYTHING on the 3D view is an enemy and will try to take you 
out. You have a  choice of destroying enemy bots and bosses with your 
weapons or, you can grapple with the enemy to attempt to take some of it's 
abilities (missles, powerups etc)

Grappling
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Once you are close to an enemy (actually touching it) press the Circle 
button. This will grapple the other bot. You will enter the subgame...

Head to Head Grappling
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A screen will appear showing a circuit board. You and the enemy bot both 
have a number of 'tokens'. Each token allows you to change the colour of 
one circuit line on the board. The objective of the game is to change as 
many circuit lines to your colour as possible.
The tokens change the control on a circuit line for only a short time. 
If your token and an enemy token are attached to the same circuit line, 
the last token still 'working' will control the line.
Circuits change from subgame to subgame, some lines split into two lines, 
firing down the single line will change both the resulting lines to a colour. 
Some lines merge into a single line. To control this line both initial lines 
must be fired down. Other lines have a 'booster' token in them, this appears 
as a small token halfway down the circuit line. This doubles the time that a 
token can 'work' on a circuit line.
The battle is played against the clock and different bots have better 
grappling abilities, and hence have more tokens in the game. The subgame 
can end in either a Deadlock, a win, or a lose. If a deadlock happens (no 
one has control over the board) the game is played again. If you win the 
game, you destroy the enemy and can take the abilities of the enemy bot. 
If you lose, your energy is decreased.

Things to do
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Thoughout the game you will find computer terminals (ok well, one! But when 
you see it, it looks like a computer!) run into them and press circle. This 
will log you onto the terminal where you can look at various information 
about the level and bots (not all functions of a terminal are enabled in 
this preview).
You will also find door consoles (these look like computers on a stick!) 
grapple with them and play the grappling subgame to open a door elsewhere 
in the level.
Levels also contain teleporters (a pyramid on a stick!) press circle when 
touching these to transport to the next level (the preview will not allow 
you to transport down a level)
Killing the boss bots will also open doors.

This to see
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Pressing START will change the camera angle

Thats it!
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We hope you like it...
Enjoy and let us know what you think!
And wait for the proper release... errrr sometime real soon now!! ;)

Mobius Codeworks

Credits
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            All Yaroze Code, Z2 engine, bugs......Jim Pitts   jim@codeworks.demon.co.uk
Bot Meshes, Music, Sound FX, Rendered Images......Andrew Webb andreww@enterprise.net
     Utilities, Map Editor, Meshes, Graphics......Greg Read   greg@x-nin.demon.co.uk

Public Website http://www.codeworks.demon.co.uk/
   Yaroze site http://www.netyaroze-europe.com/~Sig1LL
   
Known Bugs
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Ok, so this is the prerelease version, there's bound to be some (read lots)
bugs.

These are the ones I know of.  If you can get it to crash and can reproduce 
it I would love to know.  Also if you see any glitches in the engine.

It sometimes appears to Rain.  (this is doors freaking out!)
You can sometimes colide with laser bolts and are thrown back.
You see one too many tokens in the grapple game than you actually have.
The camera will be automatic. (oneday.)
The Computer Terminal only have one half implemented option. (just ignore the others).
If the frame rate starts gipping and you get into a grapple, the nme player doesn't work.
Sometimes you can get stuck inside other robots and entities.
Some robots appear to float if the camera view is low.  (Its a perspective thing.  Move the camera back up. ;-)
Doors don't always open 100% but there is an opening somewhere you can move though.
If you die the sound effects are badly restarted, ignore them..
Whoops, I've just noticed a debug message if you try and quit, (select).  Ignore the comment.
If you quit DON'T restart the game without reloading it.  It trollys itself after its been run.

Anything else, let me know..

Cheers

Jim

