NetHack? In SPACE???

And now for something completely different. PRIME.

PRIME, as suggested previously, is kinda sorta NetHack in space (based on Zap'm as noted). For all I can tell it has the same procedural level generator but it really is no longer NetHack, at all, as you will find out should you do the right thing and play this.

It reminds me of being 10 years old with my brother and playing the Space Crusade boardgame on a Sunday morning. Finding the original game somewhat lacking, we would recruit any action figures we could lay our hands on (including the pony out of the Hobbit), extend the board with hand-drawn bits of map and just make the rules up as we went along.

But this is better - because PRIME is actually fun.

And my brother isn't taking a hissy fit as soon as things start to go against him.

But that's further on.

At the start, as most people do with such things, I begin the game. I'm standing in a blue-walled, procedurally generated space ship (not a dungeon) and inspect my inventory. I am a Space Marine (a forgiving starting class, apparently) wearing a +1 debugged flak jacket, wielding a pulse rifle (set to burst) and am ready to go. I can't figure out if I can put my rifle on single-shot fire, but I crack on regardless. The keybindings screen is comfortingly shorter than the three-page incomprehensible mess of NetHack.

I pop a few bullets through some bore worms - wander about the place - and it's immediately evident that this game is laced with a nice dose of humour. I like it.

Thinking ahead to how these things often play out - I decide to try and conserve my dwindling ammunition - proceeding to smash things with the butt of my rifle. It's actually an effective tactic as giant cockroaches, grid bugs and warp fungi alike all fall to my violence. But then, in this blue, dire space ship (not dungeon) I see some space goblins (not normal goblins) and am warned that one of them is wielding 2 grenades. I just happened to pick up some grenades myself, coincidentally, and decide that it might be a good opportunity to use them.

The flashbang explodes on the floor, and the four goblins start wandering about aimlessly as I walk up to them and smash their faces in with my rifle. It's about now (shortly after beating up blind space goblins) that I decide to try and 'read' the 'scrolls' that I have picked up - rebranded in PRIME as 'executing' 'floppy disks' (well what else would you use to store information in the far future?). I'm pleasantly surprised that I fail - I actually need a computer to use these things, and - not having one - I wonder if all those disks I have picked up will be a bit useless.

I shoot a few fuel barrels (nearly killing myself in the process) and wake up a sludge monster from a sludge vat (although realising the likelihood that this is PRIME's kitchen sink, I steer clear from thereon in). I find a ray gun, and zap it off harmlessly at nothing, without understanding what it did. I find a 'mega-computer' lying about on the floor, and kill a few phaser-toting redshirts and space orcs.

And best of all, I decide to play a bit of dress-up, putting on a plaid jumpsuit, a pink ornate armour, and a pink pointy helmet. It's like I'm going to G.A.Y. on New Year's Eve, and I feel fabulous.

I start running some programs with my new computer, and manage to detect some lifeforms, teleport across the level, identify some of my equipment, and infect my 'optimized +3 megacomputer' with something or other. Not really sure what the infection was, to be honest, as it didn't really seem to affect things. Perhaps it was adware that the game thought fit to abstract away - after all who wants to be reminded every time you run a floppy disk that a 'pop-up appears on the screen asking you if you want to enlarge your penis y/n?'.

Unfortunately, this bout of software operation and identification has given my outfit much more serious names, and I realise that I am wearing 'chaos power armour' and an 'elven helmet'. If truth be told, I do feel a little more combat capable if a little less camp. I'm still wearing the plaid jumpsuit though, which is small consolation.

And I am very combat capable, as I achieve level 5, enhance some of my skills, and veritably charge through everything the game has thrown at me so far (including an Orc pyromaniac with a flamethrower, and a 'high-ping-bastard').

But then I run out of places to go. Presumably there is a secret door somewhere to take me to a room containing the next stairs down, or I might be missing something else. I don't know, but I start to worry that my boss will come and look over my shoulder and I 'save and quit' the game.

It's another day, and the itch takes me again. I restart as a Reticulan Abductor (leaving Zack the Space Marine in stasis), and all newcomers of this particular class are charmingly dubbed 'Crop Artists'. Checking out my inventory, I seem to be wearing a Reticulan Jumpsuit, a powered shield, wielding a Reticulan Zap Gun, and have various items ready to presumably help me on my way. Like a +1 Anal Probe.

The Reticulan is certainly not as hardy as the Space Marine, as an instant death to an exploding fuel barrel and a single, fatal chomp from a man-eating plant readily confirm.

I'm really glad I've actually spent a little time with this game, as it is amusing, fun and feature-packed. One thing that struck me is that this game really seems to take some interesting steps away from it's NetHack grandparent, in gameplay principles as well as the obvious alterations to the detail.

It feels far more of a 'romp', perhaps fairer to new players, not so much spoiler dependent (at least as far as I have taken it) and my favourite part - there is no 'hunger'. Maybe it's just me, though, charmed by the content - and happy to die in ignorance (as I may have felt when I first picked up NetHack ten-odd years ago).

The painstaking attention to detail of NetHack is there. Each item has a complete, entertaining and informative description and some of the crafty identification sub-games of Grandpa are present and correct (apparently, for instance, you can empty canisters in to the sludge vats and observe the reaction to give you clues as to its nature). If I was to say I haven't explored the range of gameplay options present in this game that would be an understatement.

It's full of references and nods to other sci-fi culture, with Warhammer 40k and Star Trek being the most obvious ones to me - with loads more which I'll leave you to pick up on. The character classes are also very broad (there are about a dozen to choose from), and I can take a trip back in to PRIME in the near future as a Space Orc janitor, a Yautjr Hunter (the Predator!), or perhaps I should go back in and figure out how the Anal Probe can aid an enterprising Abductor. Or maybe I'll just try all of them.

PRIME is being constantly updated, with a new version just being released (version 2.1; 20th January). I can't help but feel I'm selling the game short by constantly comparing it to NetHack - and whilst the influence of that game is pretty pervasive - PRIME really is a game standing on it's own two feet - and to this particular player - it's standing in a position that is a lot more fun.

Give it a chance, go on. You might even enjoy it.

http://arcywidmo.republika.pl/prime/ - The Website