One of the most innovative platform games ever, Abuse is a cult classic. Players move using the arrow keys on their keyboard, but aim their weapons using the mouse. This allows the hero to fire in 360°, even while running in the opposite direction. The story changed between versions, though the rest of the game is largely unchanged. In v1.05, the game takes place in 2021, and Nick Vrenna is a Unified Underground agent fighting against the Ants. In v2.0, Nick Vrenna is wrongly incarcerated in the year 2009. Genetic experiments that isolated the aggression gene, called Abuse, have caused everyone in the prison to transform into hideous monsters. Using battle armor, Nick must prevent the Abuse-infected water supply from contaminating the outside world. The graphics are dark and almost photo-realistic, and the sound effects and music are terrifying. Monsters scream as they ambush, and the entire game has the feel of a science fiction horror movie. There are a variety of weapons, and various switches, doors and elevators, breakable walls, hidden areas, and teleports are arranged as puzzles that must be solved in order to advance. The commercial version has 17 levels, 12 network-only levels, and more weapons, enemies, sound effects and artwork.

Graphics

Downloads

Abuse v2.0 Shareware Episode (3,128,035 bytes)	20 February 1996	DOS	Play online
Abuse v1.05 Shareware Episode (2,350,844 bytes)	20 September 1995	DOS
Abuse v0.33 Beta (2,330,476 bytes)	31 August 1995	DOS

Source code for Abuse in C (2,525,552 bytes)

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Availability

Crack dot Com has generously released this game as freeware.