That's one abstract cover for the game...
One is a Run-and-Gun third-person style action game developed by Visual Concepts and released for the PlayStation in 1997.
Players assume the role of John Cain, an amnesiac ex-soldier with no prior memories, waking up in a laboratory building with a fancy gun grafted into his arm in the opening prologue. Before he could find out where he is, cue a rude awakening courtesy of a police helicopter launching a missile directly into Cain's room.After escaping, Cain must uncover the truth while shooting everything in his way in multiple levels set in the city, hills, and an underwater laboratory filled with monsters.
See also Apocalypse, another PlayStation shooter with a similar gameplay format.
One contain examples of:
- Advancing Boss of Doom:
- The first boss, a police chopper equipped with twin Gatling cannons, serves as the "run first, fight later" variety, firstly attacking Cain by shooting into a long, meandering corridor that leads to another long catwalk, destroying everything in its path and Cain must run like crazy to the end of the road or be shredded by bullets. After spending most of the stage fleeing, Cain then fights the boss in the final area.
- The tunnel level have Cain on a train and fighting a Humongous Mecha that pursues him relentlessly as it's boss, and Cain needs to shoot it before the mecha can crush him from up close.
- Airborne Mooks: Mooks on mechanized gliders and jetpacks will regularly swoop around Cain attempting to attack him. These enemies have the tendency to appear in places where Cain is very likely to miss a step and fall to his death, like the rooftops and cliffs.
- Animalistic Abomination: The game's Final Boss, a monstrous gigantic snake monster... with spider-like limbs, organic electricity dischargers, and the ability to float in the middle of the arena as it sic attacks on Cain. It's as difficult a fight as it looks.
- Arm Cannon: Cain wakes up with his left arm replaced with one of these, filled with Bottomless Magazines.
- Bottomless Pits: There are areas containing killer drops that takes away an entire life from Cain for missing a step, including the catwalks in the first level's facility, the cliffs, and city rooftops.
- Battle in the Rain: The second stage have Cain escaping into the streets, right smack in the middle of a heavy downpour just as he's facing a manhunt. Cue a massive shootout under the deluge.
- Boss-Arena Idiocy:
- The first boss, when Cain finally gets a chance to fight it. Said boss is a chopper who attacks Cain while hovering under a circular platform, supported by destroyable pillars. The chopper cannot be damaged by Cain's weapons, but the pillars can, and after destroying enough pillars the platform collapses and destroys the chopper.
- The Humongous Mecha boss in the tunnel chase would be a lot more difficult to hurt if said tunnel doesn't have destroyable objects hanging on the ceiling. Shooting those objects will cause them to fall on the mecha and damage it severely, as well as tripping it over stopping it's pursuit momentarily.
- Conspicuously Light Patch: The level in the mountains have Cain leaping from one ledge to another, some which collapses seconds he landed on while some are safe for him to stand. Collapsible ones however can be identified by their lighter textures -
- Easy Amnesia: Cain wakes up without any prior memories as to how he got the nifty gun arm, or why the police and the military are after him. But he still retains the knowledge of kicking all sorts of ass.
- More Dakka: Like every good shooter game out there... Cain's cannon arm, where not only is it's ammunition unlimited, but can be powered up to fire with twice or thrice the speed.
- Name of Cain: Repeat after us, John Cain, a badass Anti-Hero and killing machine with a Mysterious Past, and single-handedly wiping out a terrorist syndicate threatening the safety of the world while being hunted by the authorities. Also crosses over with Meaningful Name - well, his initials are "J.C", what else could those two letters stand for?
- One-Word Title: Repeat after us, One.
- Pistol-Whipping: Should Cain manage to engage mooks in direct, hand-to-hand combat, he can pull off a special move allowing him to whack enemies with his arm cannon, sending them flying aside.
- Platform Hell: The first level already have a ton of platforms on catwalks, where Cain must jump around while being pursued by the police chopper. There are plenty of jumping areas in the cliffs, city rooftops, and the like - watch your step!
- Roofhopping: The city stage, when Cain escaped to the top of skyscrapers and must jump from one roof to another while shooting at mooks from all directions.
- Smart Bomb: If Cain manages to destroy enough stuff without getting hit, he automatically gains one of these, which instantly clears an area of enemies with each use.
- Spider Tank: Small, four-legged deployable vehicles are among the enemies Cain destroys in several areas, showing up after the city stage.
- Step One: Escape: The first stage have Cain waking up in a heavily guarded facility, being pursued by a police chopper and with mooks all over the place, and he must fight his way out. After taking down the chopper, he then flees into the streets - cue the next stage.
- Stuff Blowing Up: The freakin' INTRO has Cain starting off with a bang as a police chopper sends a missile straight into his apartment.
- Super-Soldier: Cain himself, being the subject of an experiment to create enhanced soldiers, which allows him to kick all sorts of ass throughout.
- Timed Mission: The Core level takes this to the extreme where Cain have somewhere between 20 to 30 seconds to clear each area. He must locate and destroy the closest core he sees (those glowing yellow turrets), which adds maybe five seconds to the timer, and then rush to locate the next core, over and over until he reach the last one.
- Traintop Battle: The stage where Cain infiltrates an enemy facility in the cliffs leads to him escaping on a train moving through a tunnel, with jetpack mooks in pursuit. After fending off waves of mooks, he then fights a gigantic robot while on said train.
- Underwater Base: The final stage, an underwater facility where it all started, also filled with monsters that Cain must battle.
- Unstoppable Rage: Achieving the "Hyper Rage" level, which increases Cain's firepower and damage inflicted, allowing him to wipe out more enemies in a few short seconds.
