Cyberia (video Game) - Gameplay

Gameplay

Cyberia uses prerendered visuals during gameplay, and boasted impressive graphics for its time. While mostly linear, there are two points in the game where the player makes a decision that can change important outcomes. There are four basic methods of gameplay which Cyberia employs: exploring the environment through walking (from node to node), attempting to complete puzzles in a full screen view, using a gun turret to shoot down planes, and flying in various vehicles. Direction and speed during flight are computer controlled; the player controls weapons firing. Vehicles include the TF-22 Transfighter stealth jet, a nanotech virus cleaner, "Charlie" the remotely-operated decontamination robot, and the Cyberia weapon itself.

Weapons and methods of attack are few in the exploring sections of gameplay. Attached to Zak's suit is a heat pulse weapon that can be fired from Zak's arm. The only other modes of attack during the walking portions of the game consist of traps that must be set to outsmart an enemy, which goes hand-in-hand with the occasional demand for stealth. For the gun turret portion, two heat-charged energy blasts are released from each side of the turret when Zak fires it. When flying the stealth aircraft, Zak is able to dispense continuous bolts of blue energy at the cost of the aircraft's power supply. When controlling the virus cleaner, Zak is able to do likewise. The "Charlie" robot adds a new form of attack: a weapon which kills all enemies on the screen at the cost of a decent amount of the machine's energy. A similar electrical energy weapon seen on the virus cleaner is also used when Zak is joined with the Cyberia weapon.

The various puzzles in the game can range from requiring the player to figure out the password on a computer to disarming a bomb on a stealth aircraft. Zak can use his suit's BLADES (Bi-optic Low Amplitude Displayed Energy System) to scan the current puzzle in several ways for help in completing the puzzle. The three modes of Zak's BLADES are as follows:

• InfraRed/Thermal Scan - Detects heat traces and marks left in the InfraRed spectrum. This scan is very sensitive, and thus very accurate.
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging - Allows Zak to "look through" a puzzle object to determine an item's function and the way it operates.
• BioScan - Scans the area for organic matter in a limited range.

Puzzle difficulty and arcade difficulty are set in the beginning of the game, but setting both to "easy" is not permitted; if the player attempts to do so, the game will inform the player that it will be "too easy." Arcade difficulty controls the toughness of the combat in the game (both on the ground and in the air).