Neil Peart- Mission: The Camera Eye

Neil Peart- Mission: The Camera Eye is a 2D freeware game from DXF Games. It's a fictional account of the members of Rush playing a New Year's Eve concert in the year 2111. It plays like a simple arcade game with an overly huge storyline. The game is mostly aimed at hardcore Rush fans.

Overview
From the DXF Games site description:
New Year's Eve, 2111. The members of RUSH have defied natural science and through some milk of paradise and honeydew have willed themselves to live upwards of 160 years old, in anticipation of the year that their stellar "2112" album was named for. Everyone expects them to play 2112 in its entirety for Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve, but virtuoso drummer Neil Peart has a different plan..

Hours before the show, Neil announces to bandmates Geddy and Alex that he wants to finally play their lost epic "The Camera Eye", as a show of thanks for the almost 200 years of support from their fans. Horrified, Geddy and Alex attempt to lock Neil backstage and teleport his giant piece drumset into the icy caves of Xanadu. Never more shall they return! Little do they know the evil plans of the Portnoybot 1000 will turn everything they all know upside down!

Can Neil Peart escape his prison and travel to the Icy caves of Xanadu to assemble his drumset again? Will he be able to do it in time for Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve show? Can he thwart the Portnoybot 1000 and save Geddy and Alex from his mad overplaying? Will The Camera Eye ever be played live??

Credits & Specs
Graphics, Story, and Code by Dave Fillion of DXF Games, and was made using Multimedia Fusion 1.5. The music tracks are MIDI remakes of Rush songs, most of which have been rearranged significantly. Sound effects were made with the SFXR Sound effect generator by Dr Petter.

Gameplay
The game is a tribute from a longtime Rush fan specificially for other Rush fans. There is much emphasis on the game's story as told through long cutscenes depicting members of Rush in a wild, futuristic setting. It was made to resemble an old 8-bit game from the NES era, featuring the same 320 x 240 screen resolution and the classic NES font styling throughout. The actual gameplay is relatively short, as the whole cave of Xanadu is only 14 levels deep. The player's real opponent here is the game clock, which depicts how much time is left before Rush play 2112 instead of The Camera Eye (which equals a game over).

Neil explores each of the levels of Xanadu looking for pieces of his drumset. He can collect drumsticks to throw at enemies and even destroy some walls to discover secrets. Along the way he'll also find musical notes which power his magical Roll the Bones era bandana. Using the bandana requires 1 musical note, and the effect is random. Most are helpful, but a few aren't. None of the effects carry over to the next level of the cave. The powers are all named after other Rush songs, except for "Hold Your Fire", which is one of their albums.

A listing of the different Note Powers:

*Available Light- Lights up the darkness of the cave.
*Chemistry- Turns all enemies into money bags.
*Coldfire- You can shoot icy flames instead of drumsticks.
*Countdown- Each tick of the clock takes 2 seconds away instead of 1!
*Hold Your Fire- Neil can't shoot drumsticks or coldfires!
*Marathon- Doubles Neil's walking speed.
*Something for Nothing- Gives Neil some free drumsticks.
*Test for Echo- Sonic waves radiate from Neil and can detect false and breakable walls.
*The Necromancer- Summons the Necromancer. You'll be set back 50 seconds if you get hit!
*The Weapon- Summons The Rocinante starship to drop bombs on your enemies.
*Time Stand Still- Stops the clock for that level!
*Vital Signs- Removes all bad and good effects from Neil.

There are different types of enemies to try to stop Neil from collecting his drumset inside the cave as well:
*Killer Snowman: Animated snowmen. They move very slowly either up & down or right & left.
*Bazerker: Robots who shoot lasers when Neil gets too close. They move in a rectangular pattern.
*Bats: Bats are very quick and can fly over water and walls.
*The Necromancer: This special enemy can only be summoned by accident using Neil's bandana.
*Portnoybot 1000: The main villan of the story, this is a robot modeled after Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy. He is Neil's replacement for the New Year's show.

Music Remakes
The soundtrack for the game is composed entirely of remade versions of classic Rush songs. Each song was composed using the Midi Maker program, and are vibraphone and piano heavy. To let the player in on how neglected The Camera Eye is, the popular Rush song Tom Sawyer plays during the title screen instead of the title track.

A listing of the songs found within:
*Tom Sawyer
*Prime Mover
*The Body Electric
*Twilight Zone
*The Big Money
*Lock and Key
*Xanadu
*Mystic Rhythms
*Stick It Out
*The Camera Eye

Secret Characters
To get the secret characters to appear towards the end of the game when Neil finally escapes Xanadu, you need to do the following:
*Snowdog: You need to have found the special treasure "The Macallan".
*By-Tor: You need to have visited at least 2 of the game's 4 secret shops.
*John Rutsey: You need to have found his secret prison and received the "Drum Boots".

Rush References
There are many in-jokes and obscure references found within the game. Some of them include:
*Neil's orange chainmail shirt is made out of misprinted Caress of Steel album covers. This event actually happened early on, where a printing error made what was supposed to be a silver sheen album cover copper instead.
*The phrase "Never more shall he / they return!" is mentioned numerous times. This is a line from the song Xanadu from A Farewell to Kings.
*Neil calls the Portnoybot 1000 "unit one", which angers it. "Unit One" is the designation of the fearful android subject in The Body Electric from Grace Under Pressure.
*Snowdog thanks Neil for writing Dog Years from Test For Echo, which in Rush circles is widely considered one of their weakest songs, at least lyrically. He then goes on to say he still doesn't like Tai Shan from Hold Your Fire, which is also regarded as one of their weaker songs.
*During the map scene towards the end of the game the words "Half The World = 1 Inch" appear on the map legend. Half the World is another song from Test for Echo.
*Also during the map scene three phrases: "Better Food", "Better People", "Better Beer" are also displayed. These reference a line from the song Territories from Power Windows.
*As a joke on the giant size of Neil Peart's drumsets over the years, the special red Tama 2112 edition set in the game also sports two rocket engines and even a missile launcher.
*Neil's serious concentration during concert leads many to believe he hardly ever smiles or isn't having fun at the events. The last picture at the end of the game shows Neil smiling, as he was finally able to play The Camera Eye for his fans.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu