Mind Walker

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Mind Walker is a 1986 computer game by the late Bill Williams. It was published by Commodore and is often cited as the first commercial title for the new Amiga 1000 computer, though there are other contenders. The game is perhaps best known for its unusual gameplay and concept.

[edit] Story

The game's story is rather reminiscent of the Disney film Fantastic Voyage. The player is immersed inside a human brain and must cure a cancer that is threatening to kill the patient. Many aspects of the game (including enemies and power-ups) play on this psychological theme. The four player avatars, for instance, are the human bodybuilder, the sultry water nymph, the mysterious wizard, and the alien spriggan.

[edit] Description

The first stage of the game requires the player to build a path from a crystal to a special square located somewhere in the brain. Various types of platforms rest between the player's starting point and the destination —each type corresponds to one of the avatars. For example, water can only be connected by the nymph, towers by the wizard, and so on. The destination point is often surrounded by "tubes" which often block the players path as a path cannot be created on a sqaure with a tube. Once the destination point is reached the surrounding tubes lower, allowing the player to venture into the next stage. Stages vary depending on which tube is chosen.

The next stage takes place in a 3D first-person perspective (the player is falling down a pit). The player must maneuver so that he falls into one of the green zones and is taken into a deeper region of the brain.

In the next stage, the player must guide the avatar through a maze of neurons. Touching any of these neurons instantly kills the player, and various colored enemies also float around the stage (the damage they incur increases as the game progresses). The player must travel through the maze trying to find a pyramid object (sound can be used as a cue here, it gets faster as the player gets closer). Once the pyramid is obtained the player must backtrack to their starting point, and exit the level (the exit is surrounded with neurons, only one of them allows the player past, the rest insure instant death).

The last stage asks players to put together a strange, color-cycling puzzle. At the expense of their accumulated points, players can tap an old man's pipe (perhaps a psychoanalyst?) and be shown where a piece must be placed, or they can place the pieces in the puzzle themselves. The puzzle consists 42 spaces (6 x 7), and 7 pieces are gained with the completion of each of the 6 levels.