Bio Menace Overview
Bio Menace is a side scrolling action game where the player controls a CIA agent named Snake Logan. His mission to investigate mutant attacks in Metro City becomes a ground operation after his aircraft is shot down, leading him to confront the scientist Dr. Mangle and, later, a superior entity known as Master Cain across three distinct episodes.
The technical foundation of the game is the Commander Keen engine, resulting in shared interface elements like the status display, menu systems, and startup configuration. Gameplay involves navigating through twelve levels per episode, defeating various mutants to reach an exit. Progression is gated by the need to first rescue a hostage in each stage, often requiring the deactivation of laser barriers using found keycards or crystal shards.
Snake Logan possesses a health system of eight units, making direct confrontations fair rather than instantly lethal. His arsenal extends beyond a standard machine gun to include lasers, land mines, and grenades. Levels contain locked lockers opened with gold keys, which hold score boosting items and occasionally extra lives, awarded also for collecting gems or a specific power up item.
Certain stages introduce environmental puzzles, such as color sequence challenges where switches must be flipped in a specific order; incorrect attempts are penalized with hazardous falls. Temporary power ups like a flask granting invincibility can be found, though they offer no protection from fatal pits. Players can practice all but the final boss level when starting, with three difficulty modes available.
