Bedlam

The main feature of this new rogue game from Skyshine,  is a vehicle that is named the “Dozer” (looks like a modified bulldozer). You man this special vehicle as you are trying to escape from your home in the city of Bysantine (a reference to the Byzantium of ancient times, perhaps?) and safely reach the city of Aztec (referring perhaps to the ancient South American civilization?). Anyway, the raison d’etre is to somehow escape the tyranny of a local warlord-king, who goes by the name of King Viscera. The journey is not smooth however (its an action game, remember?) and you are accosted by various characters such as wandering warriors, groups of fiendishly hostile marauders, mutants, cyborgs and even rogue AI. Also you may run into hostile events that keep you from reaching the safety of Aztec city.

Every turn that you get allows you two actions, that including moving around or attacking an enemy. You use the characters with you to accomplish this however and they may get killed while fighting the enemy. They may use weapons such as “puke” (LOL really) and shotguns to make them into a pile of bones, literally! Many of the powers that you have are from the Dozer itself and you can use these to heal your compatriots, find hidden food and fuel and locate maps.

Bedlam game

If you battle the various enemies and defeat them, you can capture their dozers as well. These are different from your dozer in that they have special powers. For example a cyborgs dozer can have teleportation powers. Sometimes you also run into special characters called as “Elites”. They are tougher to beat as they have more strength and powers-but it is worth battling them because if you beat them, they join you! Yes and that increases your chances of winning manifold as they now fight for you.

However be sure not to lose all the passengers and compatriots on your dozer, because once that happens, the game ends.

Our review: A very interesting game with lots of twists and turns. It does getting used to, but you start enjoying it after a while. The educational value is not so much ,since there is little strategic depth that the game offers. It is more entertaining than informational.