Game History - Bio Menace: Dr. Mangle's Lab - 1993
The CIA has learned that gigantic mutants are wreaking havoc in Metro City
and their sources say that the destruction is caused by a scientist calling
himself Dr. Mangle. For this reason, they send Snake Logan, the CIA's top
secret agent, on a dangerous mission: fly over Metro City, investigate what's
going on, then report back to the captain. Unfortunately, Snake’s plane is
shot down, forcing Snake to walk the streets and kill mutants.
There are three episodes in this game: In "Dr. Mangle's Lab" and
"The Hidden Lab", Snake must destroy two labs and Dr. Mangle himself. Just
before he dies, Mangle tells him that he is forced by somebody known as
Master Cain to do his bidding, or he would be killed, so in "Master Cain",
Snake sets out and destroy the creator himself.
All three episodes use the Commander Keen engine, which id Software used.
It has a similar score box located at the top-left of the action screen, same
menu system, same on-line help, and the same start-up screen where the game
detects your sound card, video card, I/O devices, and the amount of memory
you have. It even allows you to view the old status screen if you press
[Space] during gameplay.
But the only differences are that Snake has eight units of health, so each
time Snake collides with a mutant, he doesn't get killed straight away unless
he had one unit left. There are 12 levels in each episode. When you start a
new game, as well as choosing the three difficulty modes, you get to practice
every level except the very last one, which is the episode’s final boss.
Snake can use more than one weapon. For example, beside his trusty machine
gun, he can also use lasers to fire through mutants, place land mines on the
ground or throw grenades to blow them up.
Snake has to make his way through each level by blasting mutants while
finding the exit. But to find it, he must first free a hostage located on each
level. Some parts of each level are blocked off by a laser gate, and these
include passages where the hostages are kept. To turn these off, Snake must
search for a keycard or a crystal shard. There are lockers which store these,
and can only be opened by obtaining gold keys.
Also in these locked doors are goodies that can boost your score, which
could give you an extra life. You can also get an extra life by either
collecting 50 gems or a mini-Snake. A few of the levels have a color sequence.
This involves finding five different colors in a line, and then finding five
switches that must be flipped in the correct order that corresponds to the
sequence of colors. Doing this will allow you to get goodies that add many
points to your score. However, failure to switch in the correct order will
result in Snake falling down a pit of spikes or toxic waste. In some areas,
you can also get a flask full of liquid that will make your invincible for
30 seconds. As normally, it does not work when Snake falls down a pit.
Game history from Moby Games
Game created by Apogee Software, Ltd. in 1993
File Download - BIO-Menace-1993.zip