Pax Corpus FMV's

Here is a rather complimentary review of the game that contains more details about the plot than I could figure out, being unwilling to play it past the first level :)

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/review/R15358.html

Yeah, so many images were lifted almost directly (especially the Habitat, which they didn't even bother to change at all -- except maybe by putting it into space). Even the music was trying to do the Drew Neumann thing. It makes me wonder why they didn't just keep it an AF game (licensing issues?)

Thanks for putting the videos together! I was always curious to see how this turned out. It's funny how some things are almost completely unchanged (like the leg brace design, and the Enter Drift Theory habitat, as said). Even that rocket ship launch seems inspired by "Demiurge". It's interesting that they drew so many different elements from the series into what seems to be a linear plot for the game - I wonder how their full interpretation would have been.

After 2 or 3 failed attempts, I'm amazed any Aeon game eventually got made at all, and it wasn't until the movie tie-in that it finally happened.

Wow, Chas. I worked with Cryo on the development of the game, but till now never saw the eventual outcome of their efforts. Viacom New Media was shut down in the middle of development. At that point, Cryo couldn't use Aeon, but since there had been a lot of work already done, they went ahead and released it under the new title.

Basing the game's mission on the Demiurge was my idea, along with the need to create copies ("clones") of yourself in order to win the game. As you progress, you realize you need to sacrifice yourself on suicidal showdowns with various allies who can accomplish parts of the mission you can't yourself. You had to let them kill you; they would steal a blood sample of you, then copy you, at which point your copy would kill them. Your goal is to carry the glowing disembodied head of the Demiurge to the rocket in Trevor's tower and launch it before the head freed itself from its box and transform you into its slave. Stray copies of yourself, when affected by the Demiurge's light would be transfigured into blue angelic Aeons (gnostic iconography) if you failed to destroy all traces of your stolen blood samples. There was a Trevor double implanted with a custodian also, if I remember correctly. Anyway, it was deemed too complex for the game engine available at the time (1996). I wanted the game to come with a two-way reflective shield which you'd place over your monitor at the end of the game. The player would face his own reflection enhanced by a glowing halo as the Demiurge bestowed its blessing on you for winning.

Wow, I had no idea that you were actually consulted on the mechanics of the game... but I really like what you came up with. The goal of purposefully killing your character is maybe more taboo in video games than it is in film (or is it the other way around, where you die so often that it no longer has any meaning?) In any case I think it would have been interesting. I'm not sure what to make of the two-way screen, though. Something about it gives me the willies.

I'm actually eager to rent the newer game for PS2 when I get back to the states... I don't have high hopes, but the mix of movie and animated AF elements I've heard about appeals to my synchronist side.

"Anyway, it was deemed too complex for the game engine available at the time (1996). "

That would have been amazing, but yeah, pretty tough at the time. Especially that early in the life of the playstation. Possibly a powerhouse developer like the original tomb raider team could have pulled it off, but they were the only ones doing that back then.
They had done something no one had seen before when that appeared.

It sounds like it would have been more suited as a PC game, which I understand was also the intention. But that would have even been sophisticated for PC's at the time. The 333 pentium 2 didn't appear until '97.
I'm not terribly familiar with the history of PC gaming but as I recall the first PC game I had was of the point and click variety, which would have been pretty but would have made a rather plodding Aeon. The first action PC games I owned that were sophisticated enough to feature actual plotlines were Half-life and Thief in 1998. But both of those being first person shooter based, which still wouldn't have been good for Aeon because we want to see her :)

Once again Aeon was just ahead of her time, even 5 years later.

Did drew neumann originally do the music for the game? There's a mention of a "train" song in the review that reminds me of the "Train Station" Drew Neumann track on the Tone Casualties sampler CD.

Yeah, that was music composed for the game. If I remember correctly, it's about every other track on the first CD. I think he worked with a french musician on those tracks, which might explain why they sound a little different (to me, anyway).

Yep--some of those cues on the TC release "Eye Spy" are indeed
the lost cues from the video game. I worked on some of them
with my friend Gilles Sivilotto (who lives in Paris) who
later repurposed some of the cues for Pax.

Brings back many interesting memories of 1996--10 years ago
already. Yikes.