The Ooze

The Ooze is a video game developed by Sega Technical Institute and released in 1995 for the Mega Drive/Genesis console. In the game, players take the role of a slimy puddle of liquid and face off against various enemies and obstacles.

Plot
The Ooze starts with Dr. Daniel Caine, an excellent scientist who invented an achromatic odorless toxic gas and its antidote, sneaking into the research lab where he worked in order to find evidence that crimes were being conducted by using the toxic gas he created. Caine discovers that his colleagues are planning to release a plague upon the populace, and make a fortune as they hold the only cure. However, the Directorate of the company discovers Caine in the lab. Caine is disposed of by means of chemical waste. Unbeknownst to them, the chemicals do not kill him; instead, they alter him into the angry, sentient, formless creature known as "The Ooze".

Swearing revenge, the doctor seeks two things: to stop his former colleagues and to assume his human form once again. He must now find the DNA helices scattered throughout the wasteland or else end up in a jar.

Gameplay
The game takes place from an overhead view. Players control Dr. Caine as a puddle of ooze with a head, who can move around and use two attacks. One is stretching out a steerable pseudopod of ooze whose length is only limited by how much ooze he currently has to attack, and it can also be guided around with the control pad. He can also spit gobs of ooze, although this takes off a bit of his puddle. Enemy attacks deplete the size of the ooze puddle as well, and the Ooze will die either if he becomes very small or if his head is attacked directly. He can also die by dropping off the edges of certain areas, or staying on a drain for too long. Numerous puzzles must be completed in order to progress from one level to another. An optional goal of the game is finding and collecting all 50 helices, in order to see the game's good ending.

Areas

 * Toxic Dump: A vast, open land surrounded by poisonous lakes. The boss is a trio of tongue-lashing heads inside the drainpipes leading out!


 * Waste Plant: A series of passageways set amongst pools of hazardous waste. The boss is a tentacled beast with eyes that can fire deadly blasts!


 * Genetics Lab: A research laboratory that inhabited by experiments gone horribly wrong. The boss is a hideous multi-eyed blob that spews mutant insects!


 * Power Core: The central area of a nuclear power plant. The boss is a lightning-shooting ball of electrical energy!


 * Plague Factory: This is it - the final confrontation with the Doc's former colleagues. The full forces of the factory are unleashed against you. The final boss is the head of the company and his greatest experiment!