Disruptor (video game)
Encyclopedia
Disruptor is a video game for the PlayStation. It was the first game by developer
Insomniac Games
, who would later go on to create the popular Spyro the Dragon
, Ratchet & Clank
, and Resistance
series.
of Disruptor is similar to many first-person shooter
s, but the player has access to special powers called "Psionics", similar to psychokinesis
. Different powers include drain, healing, shock, and a shield.
) of Earth's United Nations talking about how he came up through the ranks of the LightStormer Corps. This turns out to be a recruiting commercial airing at the LightStormer Corps Headquarters. There Jack Curtis (the player character), a new recruit, is talking to his commanding officer Blake Curtis (Anthony Palermo), who also happens to be Jack's elder brother. Jack (Don Jeffcoat
) is sent on a training mission, after which he and his fellow LightStormer Troy Alexander (Trae Thomas) receive psionic implants. Troy and Jack are sent on another training mission, through an "abandoned" chemical factory.
Upon returning, they are given another psionic implant, drain. Jack's third and final training mission is across several rooftops. He completes this with flying colors, then reports to Blake, who congratulates him. In fact, Jack has placed himself right up there with Blake himself... and their late father, a revered LightStormer who was a personal friend of U.N. President Krieger. Then Blake gets an emergency call, a crew of Cryo-Pirates have commandeered a space station in Jupiter's orbit. Blake sends Jack to activate the station's self-destruct sequence, which Jack does. Unbeknownst to both him and Blake, however, a mysterious girl named Eve (Christine Champion) is monitoring Jack in action and says: "This Jack Curtis might be the one we've been looking for." Back at LightStormer HQ, Blake promotes Jack to corporal for proving his value in the field; Jack has accomplished, in one mission, what took their dad three missions.
Moreover, President Krieger has taken notice of Jack and ordered an endorphine boost for him. In Blake's words, "They don't hand these out like candy." They talk briefly with Troy, who has already been promoted to sergeant and is being sent on a "special assignment" by President Krieger. Then another emergency call comes in, this time from Triton: one of Neptune's moons, where a colony of scientists was established ten years ago to terraform the moon. The colony has been overrun by hostile aliens, so Jack is dispatched to eradicate them, which he does. Returning from Triton, Jack learns that Troy has been KIA on Mars while attempting to locate a mysterious psionic orb. Blake hopes Jack will succeed where Troy failed; Jack comes through, despite having little more than his psionics to fight with, and is promoted to sergeant. Then he's sent to Antarctica to wipe out another batch of surly extraterrestrials.
This time, the results of a scientific experiment have gone haywire. For this mission, Jack receives a new psionic: shield. After this, Jack is sent to Saturn's moon Io
; there he has the kind of day Sean Connery
never had in Outland
: retaking the colony from interplanetary gangsters who've commandeered a mine/antimatter production plant. President Krieger personally congratulates Jack upon his triumphant return, and promotes the young LightStormer to lieutenant. He then dispatches Jack to New Atlantis, to join Blake for some R&R. Just then, Blake calls in from New Atlantis. The colony has been overrun with hostiles and a reactor coolant leak is about to destroy the whole place.
Jack rushes over, outfights the enemy and kicks in the backup coolant all to no avail. New Atlantis explodes, killing Blake and thousands of innocents. Jack alone survives because Eve beamed him out of there just in time. She explains that President Krieger used Jack to locate and bring back the psionic orb, because this will give him all but unlimited power. Krieger then set up both Curtis Brothers—just as he set up their father years ago—to "tie up the loose ends." Eve is the head of a rebel faction attempting to overthrow Krieger's tyrannical Presidency and replace it with their own benevolent regime. She convinces Jack of their cause, then gives him a new psionic implant: Terrablast. Jack takes on Krieger's private army as he infiltrates the evil president's headquarters but he gets captured by a boobytrap. Krieger uses a machine to try to retrieve the Terrablast implant from Jack's skull, but Jack resists and battles his way free of the machine. He then rampages through Krieger's secret base and the rest of the evil president's forces, at last taking out Krieger. At this point, two different endings await depending on the difficulty level. In easy mode, Eve becomes President of the U.N., and Jack head of the LightStormer Corps. In hard mode, Jack himself becomes the U.N.'s new president. Either way, he gets the girl and the orb.
noted that the game was above average for the Doom clones seen on the PlayStation.
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
Insomniac Games
Insomniac Games
Insomniac Games, Inc. is an American video game developer headquartered in Burbank, California. Founded in 1994, Insomniac has released titles for the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3 video game consoles. It created Disruptor, the first three Spyro the Dragon games, and the Ratchet &...
, who would later go on to create the popular Spyro the Dragon
Spyro the Dragon (series)
Spyro the Dragon is a platform and action game series starring the video game character Spyro, which was originally published by Sony Computer Entertainment and developed by Insomniac Games for the PlayStation....
, Ratchet & Clank
Ratchet & Clank (series)
Ratchet & Clank is a series of platform video games. The franchise was created and developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PS2 and PS3 consoles, with the exclusion of Size Matters and Secret Agent Clank, which were developed by High Impact Games for the PSP...
, and Resistance
Resistance (series)
Resistance is a science fiction horror series of first-person shooter and third-person shooter video games developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita video game consoles.The series takes place in an...
series.
Gameplay
GameplayGameplay
Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...
of Disruptor is similar to many first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
s, but the player has access to special powers called "Psionics", similar to psychokinesis
Psychokinesis
The term psychokinesis , also referred to as telekinesis with respect to strictly describing movement of matter, sometimes abbreviated PK and TK respectively, is a term...
. Different powers include drain, healing, shock, and a shield.
Plot
The game opens with President Krieger (Vaughn ArmstrongVaughn Armstrong
Vaughn Dale Armstrong is an American actor.-Prior to acting:Armstrong served in the United States military and saw action in the Vietnam War.-Star Trek:...
) of Earth's United Nations talking about how he came up through the ranks of the LightStormer Corps. This turns out to be a recruiting commercial airing at the LightStormer Corps Headquarters. There Jack Curtis (the player character), a new recruit, is talking to his commanding officer Blake Curtis (Anthony Palermo), who also happens to be Jack's elder brother. Jack (Don Jeffcoat
Don Jeffcoat
Donald Lee "Don" Jeffcoat, Jr. is an American actor.-Biography:Jeffcoat an American actor, who got his big break playing Eric Antonio on The Wonder Years, has starred and appeared on a number of films and television shows, including the children's game show Wild and Crazy Kids broadcast on...
) is sent on a training mission, after which he and his fellow LightStormer Troy Alexander (Trae Thomas) receive psionic implants. Troy and Jack are sent on another training mission, through an "abandoned" chemical factory.
Upon returning, they are given another psionic implant, drain. Jack's third and final training mission is across several rooftops. He completes this with flying colors, then reports to Blake, who congratulates him. In fact, Jack has placed himself right up there with Blake himself... and their late father, a revered LightStormer who was a personal friend of U.N. President Krieger. Then Blake gets an emergency call, a crew of Cryo-Pirates have commandeered a space station in Jupiter's orbit. Blake sends Jack to activate the station's self-destruct sequence, which Jack does. Unbeknownst to both him and Blake, however, a mysterious girl named Eve (Christine Champion) is monitoring Jack in action and says: "This Jack Curtis might be the one we've been looking for." Back at LightStormer HQ, Blake promotes Jack to corporal for proving his value in the field; Jack has accomplished, in one mission, what took their dad three missions.
Moreover, President Krieger has taken notice of Jack and ordered an endorphine boost for him. In Blake's words, "They don't hand these out like candy." They talk briefly with Troy, who has already been promoted to sergeant and is being sent on a "special assignment" by President Krieger. Then another emergency call comes in, this time from Triton: one of Neptune's moons, where a colony of scientists was established ten years ago to terraform the moon. The colony has been overrun by hostile aliens, so Jack is dispatched to eradicate them, which he does. Returning from Triton, Jack learns that Troy has been KIA on Mars while attempting to locate a mysterious psionic orb. Blake hopes Jack will succeed where Troy failed; Jack comes through, despite having little more than his psionics to fight with, and is promoted to sergeant. Then he's sent to Antarctica to wipe out another batch of surly extraterrestrials.
This time, the results of a scientific experiment have gone haywire. For this mission, Jack receives a new psionic: shield. After this, Jack is sent to Saturn's moon Io
Io (moon)
Io ) is the innermost of the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter and, with a diameter of , the fourth-largest moon in the Solar System. It was named after the mythological character of Io, a priestess of Hera who became one of the lovers of Zeus....
; there he has the kind of day Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
never had in Outland
Outland (film)
Outland is a 1981 British science fiction thriller film written and directed by Peter Hyams.Set on Jupiter's moon Io, it has been described as a space Western, and bears thematic resemblances to High Noon....
: retaking the colony from interplanetary gangsters who've commandeered a mine/antimatter production plant. President Krieger personally congratulates Jack upon his triumphant return, and promotes the young LightStormer to lieutenant. He then dispatches Jack to New Atlantis, to join Blake for some R&R. Just then, Blake calls in from New Atlantis. The colony has been overrun with hostiles and a reactor coolant leak is about to destroy the whole place.
Jack rushes over, outfights the enemy and kicks in the backup coolant all to no avail. New Atlantis explodes, killing Blake and thousands of innocents. Jack alone survives because Eve beamed him out of there just in time. She explains that President Krieger used Jack to locate and bring back the psionic orb, because this will give him all but unlimited power. Krieger then set up both Curtis Brothers—just as he set up their father years ago—to "tie up the loose ends." Eve is the head of a rebel faction attempting to overthrow Krieger's tyrannical Presidency and replace it with their own benevolent regime. She convinces Jack of their cause, then gives him a new psionic implant: Terrablast. Jack takes on Krieger's private army as he infiltrates the evil president's headquarters but he gets captured by a boobytrap. Krieger uses a machine to try to retrieve the Terrablast implant from Jack's skull, but Jack resists and battles his way free of the machine. He then rampages through Krieger's secret base and the rest of the evil president's forces, at last taking out Krieger. At this point, two different endings await depending on the difficulty level. In easy mode, Eve becomes President of the U.N., and Jack head of the LightStormer Corps. In hard mode, Jack himself becomes the U.N.'s new president. Either way, he gets the girl and the orb.
Reception
Disruptor was well received at the time of its release, with scores averaging at 82%. IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
noted that the game was above average for the Doom clones seen on the PlayStation.