MadSpace: To Hell and Beyond

This weird-as-hell '96 Russian FPS is as obscure as it is ambitious, and as ambitious as it is flawed. This game somehow supports VR (!?) and voice recognition, has a dual-wielding system with independently selectable weapons, and incorporates non-euclidian geometry... but it's also Rebel Assault meets Doom, the overall art and design is confusing, the localisation is shaky, and the DOS Box port is finicky. If you're a connoisseur who is interested in historical oddities, this is a good get—but if you're looking for a serious entertainment purchase in the modern shooter style, maybe just get DOOM.

I am probably one of a handful of people to actually sit down and finish this game and let me tell you i am only giving it a thumbs up because steam doesn't have a meh option in the reviews. It will take about 13 hours to beat. This game while interesting is kinda frustrating to play. There are 26 levels to the game (Alphabet A-Z) and the main draw of the gameplay is Non Euclidean Geometry (see Lovecraft). The story you are greeted with is a massive wall of text that quickly becomes boring and nonsensical because it scrolls too fast. The game then decides to throw you into a FMV on rails shooter that takes FOREVER to finish and if you die at any point during it you START AT THE BEGINNING! It's maddening, I can see what he was going for at the time of release, but now you should be able to just skip this part as it's supremely boring. If you manage to make it through that you will finally get into the more interesting part of the game. This game has some very interesting level design to it and you see quickly why it's called Madspace, both because of the crazy impossible hard to deal with level layout and how the game just pisses you off. Be prepared to take at least 1-2 hours for some levels depending on how lost you are. There is a map, but for the most part its completely useless especially in some of the later levels with layers. There was a level I can't remember I think U or V where you are running around a giant square level that has tons of layers, you need to run around this thing looking for 3 switches to open it. It took almost 3 hours for me to find and open that door. Not every level is like this and some are pretty straight forward with go here, hit a switch, open door, hit more switches, proceed to end of level. I played this on easy and I can't imagine how hard this would be on other settings. Here is some tips for newbies since the game decides not to tell you any of this at all. It will address most of the common problems I see coming up in discussions all the time. I am also going to post this there just to make sure it's seen. -F1 is your best friend in this game as it gives you enemy details, tells you how to swap and destroy weapons, and most importantly translates the krakin symbols on the walls. This helps you immensely in needing to figure out where to go and what is coming up ahead. I forever didn't know there where areas that refilled your health and ammo until I found that out. If you don't play many old school FPS games you aren't going to know this button exist! -Blue bar is health and Yellow bar is weapon energy. When you fly in the game (R button) it DRAINS your weapons energy and thankfully there are very few parts where you need to fly, but use it sparingly. If you get hit from enemies it also takes down on your weapon energy as well, so be aware -Weapon reloads are those weird looking yellow blobs floating around. The big explosive ones can also refill energy at the cost of health -Health is the blue spheres floating around -If you want a crosshair press C -To destroy a weapon you need to hold the number key and press delete, you have a limited weapon inventory in this and need to constantly swap weapons or get rid of useless ones -to switch weapons you need to either A) Hold the Q button while clicking left or right mouse button depending on which weapon you want to swap or B) HOLD the number key of the button and click left or right mouse button -The needlegun (minigun looking shotgun) is your best friend in this as the ammo it takes is the debris from dead enemies. It's super powerful at close ranges and you pretty much have unlimited ammo as long as you kill enemies so make sure you keep it on you. This debris however also explodes and will cause damage to you as well, so be careful -You press F to use the enemy tracker in this which is pretty useless unless you are trying to figure out where an enemy is. -You NEED to really explore the maps in this game, there are many parts where you will hit a switch and it will open a door by the entrance or in a random part of the level or if you sit on the elevator for longer than normal it takes you to a different area -Since the game is Non Euclidean make sure you are looking at stuff from all available angles -You can shoot switches in this, but sometimes you have to be at a precise angle to hit it, you have to do this a ton through this game. -Z has two bosses and the flying guardian is wayyyyyyyyyyy harder than the last boss who can die in one hit. -I highly recommend using two saves to get through a stage. One at the start of the stage and one to save scum your way through. There might be areas where a door refuses to open for you or something doesn't happen and you need to restart the stage, hence why I say that. The ending for this game is so not worth it as its literally just a picture. It was an interesting thing to play through but the farther I got the more frustrated and mad I got. I cannot recommend this to anyone unless you are looking for more of an FPS puzzle game or are into retro shooters. 6/10

Эта игра, насколько я помню, была бонусом к диску Z.A.R.. Точнее, на том CD была демка этой игрушки. По крайней мере, я не помню начальную космическую эпопею, в которую я сыграл сейчас. Действо на той демке начиналось сразу же в космическом корабле. Кстати, это было хорошим решением, ибо меня несколько утомил космический тир. И в детстве я бы не стал играть в подобное. Впрочем… Но не в этом суть. А смысл моей небольшой рецки в том, что я просто хотел поделиться радостью, что подобная игра из моей юности вышла в Steam. Это круто. Взял сей продукт ради ностальгии. Обойдусь без рекомендаций. Игра специфическая и её покупатель – это такой же, как я ностальгирующий игроман.

I discovered this game while looking for FPS games on Steam. Then, I bought it during the 2015 Holiday sale for less than 2 $ and it's a decent and interesting shooter, although not the best. Some levels's design and puzzle-solving are confusing, which makes you turn around, and it looks slightly outdated graphically for a 1997 game (some classic games like Quake II were much better at the time of Madspace's release) Also, strangely there's no mouse freelook, which is a feature that most games had in that period. So, I suggest to try and buy it, but only when it's on discount. 7.5/10

Особенности игры: - название: "Madspace: to Hell and Beyond"; - выпуск: 1997.06.01; - разработчик: "Maddox Games"; - графика: "2.5D" (полутрёхмерная); - движок: ?; - жанр: шутер (от 1-го лица), рельсовик (вначале). Особенности геймплея: - стиль: олдскул; - сюжет подается между эпизодами в виде видео; - сохранение в любой момент; - мир: коридорно-аренный (неевклидова геометрия уровней); - здоровье не регенерируется; - защиты нет; - мана не регенерируется; - лимита на переносимое оружие нет; - персонаж может одновременно использовать 2 разных оружия, летать; - персонаж не умеет приседать; - ловушки: кислота; лазеры; прессы; взрывающиеся обломки убитых врагов; - интерактивные объекты окружения: кнопки для активации заблокированных дверей и различных механизмов; - бонусы: синие шары для пополнения здоровья; жёлтые шары для пополнения маны; патроны; - секреты. Новаторство, привнесённое игрой в свой жанр: - геометрия уровней стала неевклидова; - персонаж смог одновременно использовать 2 разных оружия. ИМХО: один из немногих российских шутеров 90-х годов ("Старое золото" (1995); "Подземелья Кремля" (1995); "Смута" (1996); "Ожившие мертвецы" (1997); "Madspace: to Hell and Beyond" (1997); "Z. A. R." (1997); "Паркан [1]: Хроники Империи" (1997); "Ликвидатор [1]" (1998)); логические задачи стали ещё сложнее вследствие неевклидовой геометрии уровней, то есть персонаж через разные входы одного и того же помещения мог попасть как бы в разные помещения. Оценка: 4/5. P. S.: шутер малоизвестный, но при этом незаслуженно. http://steamcommunity.com/groups/vladalekap

MadSpace: To Hell and Beyond - это шутер от первого лица 1997 года от российского (!) разработчика Maddox Games. Корабль злобных инопланетян кракинов приближается к Земле, земляне и союзники керкопы побеждают армаду врага, но главный корабль врага остаётся без управления и движется к Земле. Учёный изобретает способ поместить в робота душу человека и таким роботом нас посылают к этому кораблю разобраться с врагами. В самом начале вы играете в FMV-тир, где нужно обстрелять корабль, только после него вас пустят внутрь. Это миссия не самая лёгкая, я раза с 5-го прошёл. Дальше нас ждёт обычный трёхмерный шутер. Особенностью является использование неевклидова пространства, сделанного с помощью порталов. Вам будут встречаться разные инопланетяне. Уровни довольно запутанные и не всегда понятно, что нужно делать и куда идти. Звуков в игре я почти не слышал, но музыка играет постоянно. Вас ждут головоломки и возможность стрелять оружием с двух рук. Игру я не прошёл. Игра очень странная. Но тем, кто любит классические FPS, игра может зайти. В Стиме можно выбрать русскую версию. Я бы поставил нейтральную оценку, но взглянуть на игру интересно.

https://youtu.be/MvPXzkPcAuU Out of the gate MadSpace has a lot of issues that make it hard to play and enjoy. The game opens with a slow on rail shooter that would drive even the most dedicated players away. The later on foot sections are functional but the weapon design is uninteresting and the enemies are just as bland. One surprising element that this game offers is that some of the puzzle solving uses non-euclidian geometry to bend and twist space in tricky ways. If the core gameplay had been solid this would have easily been a top game when it was originally released.

Amazing game, some guy said theres no mouse look, did you even play the game bro

MadSpace runs under DosBox. It is an old title closer to the classic Duke Nukem series than Doom, or in laymans terms there is verticality. However MadSpace is its own distinct beast and breaks a few conventions gamers fond of retro-classic fps may be have become accustomed to. Let's go over my first 2 hours of gameplay: After a barrage of skippable slide-show text and low-fi cinematics, the player is thrust into a spacecraft rail shooter. Enjoyable but dragged on for longer than appreciated. Jump cut to the real game and it's interface. Bars, numbers, icons and values. Did I know what any of them were? Yellow and blue bars, were they health? What's the glowing thing up those stairs, an enemy? The bottom left had ammo, but what were the 1-9 shapes, my weapons? Tapping one and two didn't swap weapons, but I was confident in the akimbo lasers. How could akimbo lasers not be good? The first steps in MadSpace are described thusly; enemies tend to fly, look like drones and their attacks send you catapulting backwards. Taking damage lowers the yellow bar (as I learned later "Weapon Energy") then the blue bar (System Energy). Getting hit matters, without any yellow stuff one of my lasers was swapped out for a shotgun sort. Being super fast meant the short range was never an issue. This shotgun uses the scrap from drones to operate, and I'm pretty sure damage is its middle name, a quick favorite. Did I mention I still had a laser in the other hand? Not long after the first scuffle there was a roadblock, the only place left to go was a dead-end. It was at that moment I turned around to a Escher style mind@#$%. Unfortunately, the level design didn't keep up after the initial areas, quickly devolving into a "Press Button - Find Door" style. The design catches itself later on but the buttons and door game didn't leave. It was about an hour before I encountered another enemy type past metal drone and mouth drone. The combination of the two left a "filler" taste in the gameplay that didn't leave. However, I hadn't seen most of what's presented in the store's screenshots, so I know there's more to see still after two hours. TL;DR Don't be fooled by the introduction, there some real strange @#$% waiting for you. MadSpace is a flawed novelty.

This one is a wonderfully weird 90s FPS fever dream. After a painfully long rail-shooter intro, the real game hits you with dual-wielding, hyperbolic geometry levels, portals, drones, and neon alien madness. It’s confusing, janky, and often frustrating, but also strangely fun once you accept its quirks. A great pick if you enjoy retro oddities; probably not for anyone expecting Quake II polish. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3607771351