Radix: Beyond the Void

In the 22nd century, humanity has achieved world peace. The United Earth Space Alliance (UESA) was able to fully concentrate on space exploration. In the year 2147, the first colony ship was launched towards the asteroid Theta-2. However, the second vessel, carrying the colonists, encountered a terrifying disturbance in space. Alien ships emerged from what later became known as "The Void", and attacked the colony ship; sealing the fates of ten thousand people on board. In a desperate attempt to face the alien threat, the inter-dimensional starfighter Radix was constructed, and sent to Theta-2 to investigate. The Radix starfighter must eliminate all alien presence from Theta-2, and prevent the aliens from using UESA technology for their own evil ends. The Radix starfighter must then penetrate the large alien spaceship and stop it from invading earth, and ultimately fly into The Void to stop the aliens and seal the Void closed forever to prevent any future invasions.

Radix is a first person shooter which takes place in a zero gravity dimension where the player controls a ship through various environments, with mission objectives that must be completed to advance to the next area. The player is given a debriefing before each level that explains the mission for the level, and explains additional objectives that can be completed for extra points. The player will encounter a variety of enemy aliens and alien ships that will either shoot at the player, or try to detonate on the ship. There are various hazards, such as seeking missiles, moving walls/floors that can damage or kill the player, teleports, and gravitational disturbances that will hinder/alter movement. A variety of weapons and power-ups can be found in each level, that will help the player fight enemies, increase health, or give the player a certain ability for a limited amount of time. After a mission's primary objective is completed, the player must find their way to the exit door to advance to the next area.[2]

The game is divided into three episodes. "Theta-2" "Vengeance" and "The Void", each with 8 levels, and one hidden bonus level per episode.

Versions 1.0 and 1.1 use game controls where the player's ship is always moving forward at a slow speed, and it is not possible to stop or fly backwards. The player can increase their flying speed either by using a throttle, or by using afterburners to fly at maximum speed, which use up the ship's energy - which is also required for the use of certain weapons. The ship's energy and shields regenerate slowly on their own, but can be refilled to the max by finding a powerup. The player loses a life once the ship's armor is depleted.

Version 1.1 fixed a few elements, such as tightening navigation controls to make it easier to bank up & down, and also increasing the durability of the ship so as not to take significant damage from minor things like hitting a wall. The first two levels of episode 1 were also significantly modified.

The 2.0 "REMIX" patch was released in late 1996, and introduced a number of new features. A few levels were modified, most notably the boss levels. The game controls are significantly reworked to behave more like those found in Descent - the player's vehicle will hover in place until any of the separate forward, backward, or strafe controls are used. Afterburners still require energy to use, but can boost movement speed in any direction. Enemies are much harder to sneak up on, as they will detect the player's presence once they are within scanner range, regardless of walls or barriers between them. The screen will also flash blue instead of red when a player's shields take damage, and flashing red only when the shields are depleted and their armor takes damage.

There is a glitch in episode 2, where if the player finds & completes the secret hidden level, the game skips over level 5 completely and goes to level 6. Level 5 is only accessible through the main exit in level 4. The 2.0 REMIX patch fixed this glitch.

Jon Mavor, the main programmer of Neural Storm Entertainment, has said the game "didn't sell well"[3] and "didn't really make any money".[4]

• Epic MegaGames page
• Radix: Beyond the Void at MobyGames