Here comes part II of my Killing Time version comparisons.
I will be folding in Part I of the comparison into this thread, so please comment on any differences I may have missed, and you found, in either the Alpha or Beta versions here.
Alpha vs. Beta - Completeness and Playability
The Alpha (v2.2) compared to the beta, is actually more complete and playable in some ways, and less in others. The entire game is there, all areas / songs / enemies exist. You can complete the game and "win" with less issues than the beta. (v2.7)
The following things are completely missing though :
1) Keys. They just don't exist in the Alpha. Doors just open, and some areas where locked doors existed in the beta and retail versions are missing. Given this fact, you can run straight up into Tess' bedroom with no winged vessels and no keys, and complete the game almost instantly. Obviously the key system had not yet been implimented in the Alpha
2) Winged vessels. 8 out of 10 are available. The two I could not find (first and fifth from the left) were where they should have been, but instead of being the actual winged vessel, they were recharge vessels. Given the fact each vessel works as a power-up, I imagine they had not yet implimented the code for that specific power-up, so they just tossed in a recharge vessel as a placeholder
3) In Tess' Temple, the scarab beetle puzzle that lifts the columns to obtain the recharge vessel is not yet available. I tried every single angle to activate the switches, and it just wasn't happening
4) About 3/4 of the dungball monsters in the sewers just roll around aimlessly, never morphing into the enemy creatures to attack you. There are only like 5 per area that actual attack at all. This makes the sewers extremely easy compared to the beta and retail versions.
5) In Time2Die (attic area) there are no enemies within the stage. They just don't exist in there.
ADDITIONS TO ALPHA NOT PRESENT IN BETA
Previously, in my beta overview, I wrote the following
Here are the issues : The hedge maze is a disaster. As soon as you even attempt to enter the area, you start clipping into oblivion. Only by walking BACKWARDS can you avoid this happening. For some reason, the engine must not be rendering what is behind you, so by not "looking" at it, you don't let it start bugging out. Unfortunately, you do need to turn around to open some of the doors. Basically...you need to force the game into the bug, keep hitting the c button, listen for when the door opens, then turn around again to get out of the clipping. This occurs @ 1 frame per second or so, so it can take a good minute to make this happen.
Even still, you can get from one end to the other if you try hard enough.
http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/1394/cvf.mp4 (link to video example
Within the Alpha, the hedge maze is basically complete, and does not throw a single error. Its straight out of the retail copy basically. Surprising considering its from an earlier version than the beta. Wonder how they managed to introduce such a major problem into a later version?
THINGS IN THE BETA THAT DID NOT EXIST IN THE ALPHA BUILD
All the following bugs from the beta, are NOT present in the alpha.
![Image](http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/1702/28323969.jpg)
The missing textures in the wine cellar have returned
![Image](http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/6475/29627612.jpg)
![Image](http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/1605/85897883.jpg)
There is no longer any enemy corruption in the hedge maze.
INTERESTING FINDS IN THE ALPHA
1) The music in Tess' Temple starts to play, then about a 1/2 a second later, stops completely. This area stays silent as far as music is concerned.
2) Arterian Experience (and the whole flame room areas in general) seem to be MUCH darker than in the beta / Retail versions. Makes them even harder when you are trying to navigate across the narrow beams. Who the hell did the Conways hire to be the architech of this place anyway? Narrow beams that fall into flame pits. That CANT be up to code! haha
The frame rate here is also pretty bad
3) In Pyramid of Pain: Osiris Hunting, if you save, fall through the floor into the sewer, obtain the flamethrower, than quit and reload the save, you get to keep the flamethrower even though the game you are loading puts you in the spot BEFORE you fell into the sewer
4) All recharge winged vessels reappear once you load your game. So you can collect them, load, and they show up again (only after you exit the area, and return later though)
5) In Time2Die in the attic, once you open the door to the area, its damn near impossible to go through it. Took me 5 minutes to finally pass...also not populated with any enemies
6) In certain areas (most specifically the 2nd floor of the mansion, in the hallways, right before you enter the area with the maids that attack) the frame rate seems to hover right around 30fps. You can really tell...things just start to run smoothly. Unfortunately as soon as you enter the larger areas where enemies exist, the frame rate goes right back to standard Killing Time sluggishness
7) In Hargroves Storeroom in the attic, there is a warp that goes nowhere, you can't get out, have to reload previous save outside attic. Strangely enough, this doesn't happen every time. Only 1 out of 3 attempts hitting this warp caused me to end up in some area, off the map, in complete blackness with no escape. When this occurs though, if you load the last save state, all the waterclocks you destroyed stay destroyed. (which is interesting considering you cannot save in the attic, so the last save avail. to load would be before destroying any waterclocks)
ODDITIES
Here are some of the things that are different, or slightly buggy, that are none the less interesting visually to check out
1) The pointer in the map is an arrow, where in the beta and retail versions, its a diamond shape
![Image](http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/9255/img0689x.jpg)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
2) The secret door exit to the hedge maze has not been very well hidden now has it?
![Image](http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/8256/img0690ho.jpg)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
3) The locked door to the West Wing of the Mansion is gone...poof...vanished. Go ahead, walk right in!
![Image](http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/6872/img0692gs.jpg)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
4) Hopscotch on the Rocks - missing map
![Image](http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/4373/img0693u.jpg)
5) Some of the faux lighting textures seem to me much brighter, and much better looking, than in the beta and retail versions (or I could be nuts)
![Image](http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/3639/img0694v.jpg)
![Image](http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/3195/img0711b.jpg)
CONCLUSION
The Alpha is actually less buggy than the Beta version I have also "reviewed". Its just less complete in the fact that there are no keys in the entire mansion, some areas have zero enemies, and two of the winged vessels fail to appear. (unless they hid them...can't be 100% here)
This Alpha must have been the last stop before hitting beta stages. Its 95% of the complete game.
The date on the disc bitrate dumped is 8.8.94, where the date on the disc 3DO Experience dumped is 8.28.95. So mark me dissapointed when, after playing through both discs, I find that over the course of an entire calendar year, the only thing added to the BETA version was keys, two winged vessels, and some major bugs!
So there you have it! That's what I found in the Alpha Version. Below will be the beta comparison post in its entirity.
I would compare the Japanese version to the US version for you guys, but honestly its just the language that changed. I find zero difference between both discs.
Maybe I will compare the PC to 3DO versions though. I put a poll up, vote and let me know what you think!
And thanks to Bitrate and 3DO Experience for providing the alpha and beta versions of Killing Time. I've had a ton of fun playing them, and they now have a special place in my Killing Time Collection!
and just as a bonus...E3 95, this existed in the demo of Killing Time
![Image](http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/8030/028ei.jpg)
The entire HUD is completely different than anything I have seen before. So there must be (obviously) even more versions out there. I'd say that HUD is the most significant difference I've seen out of anything!
Now if I could just get my hands on an earlier alpha, or any version of the PS1 / Saturn port (if it exists).
Open Call : If you have a version of Killing Time I have not seen, by now I think I have shown I have been pretty hard working on getting as much info out of them as I can. So if anyone out there has content I don't know about, please let me know. If you don't want it released to the public, I am more than happy to check it out privately and just post up the differences!
And if you have anything rare to sell, let me know. Always buying if I don't have it already
Thanks everyone for reading!