CyClones

The player controls the "HAVOC unit" in a series of missions given by the Earth government to confront and push back the alien invaders and their clone servants. The gameplay follows the standard first-person shooter formula set by Doom the year before, requiring the player to navigate several levels while fighting enemies and activating switches or seeking keys to gain access to different areas. Several missions have specific objectives that must be met before the player is allowed to continue and instructions on what to do next may be displayed on-screen when the player enters a certain area. The enemies encountered include the CyClones humanoids, as well as several robotic and alien creatures.

Some enemies are stationary, such as floor or ceiling turrets, and hazards such as explosive barrels are also included. The player can find medikits and "mech-kits" (which serve as armor) in order to ensure their survivability, as well as acquire several weapons which are either human or alien in origin. Later in the game it is possible to acquire an alien suit which grants access to even more powerful weapons, as well as a jetpack that allows the player to fly around the stage.

CyClones is set in the closing of the 20th century, when wars and pollution devastated many countries in the world and led to a policy of isolation for many governments. During this period, episodes of mass hysteria became widespread, and reports of increased UFO sightings and abductions abounded. T. ).

S. military, the corporation began operating in secret laboratories as the millennium came to a close. The corporation was eventually able to discover and examine a downed alien ship, confirming suspicions of alien activity on the planet. Jubilation over the discovery was short-lived, however, as three days later, the aliens attacked.

CyClones was developed by studio Raven Software, a company founded in 1988 by Brian and Steve Raffel and made up of ten staff at the time of its creation. Its in-house engine, named STEAM, was one of the first to support the computer mouse as the primary controls in a first-person shooter. 30 minutes of full motion video was filmed for the game's video sequences.

CyClones received average reviews upon release. Praising the game as "superb" and "overlooked", PC Zone retrospectively praised CyClones for its mouse controls, considering this was a "pioneering" and revolutionary concept for the first-person shooter genre. However, the publication felt the full motion video sequences were "slow", "blocky", and "one of the worst ever witnessed" on a computer, and featured an "interface from hell".