B.A.T. Download (1990 Amiga Game)

This is a wonderful role playing adventure more than two years in the waiting. BAT stands for the Bureau of Astral Trou-bleshooters, and as one of their best agents, based on Terrapolis you are summoned for a new mission. Vrangor, a brilliant but mad scientist and Merigo a small time hoodlum have announced their intention to detonate huge bombs in Terrapolis, the largest city on Selenia. The ultimatum, leaves the government only ten days to evacuate the city and turn it over to the madman. The planet is in mortal danger, the countdown has begun and it is up to you to foil Vrangors evil plans.

The game is played out on over 110 gloriously drawn static screens that have bits of animation in them. What makes this game entirely different from any other game of this genre is that the cursor works very hard. In fact the cursor is the key to controlling the game. Using the mouse, you move the cursor around the screen picture, and depending upon which pan of the screen you are on, the cursor will change to a particular icon that represents what you can do at that point. If it is a possible direction to move, for example, the icon will be an arrow pointing in the direction of the exit. If it is a place where you can drink something then it will change to a bottle. If it changes to a speech bubble it means you are near a person with whom you can communicate, and if you come across a machine or need to accomplish a specific action then it will change to an upright pointer. Clever huh? This system of dynamic icon control lets you concentrate entirely on the game whilst giving you direct immediate information The cursor also generates sub menus for the usual Look. Search. Help. Drop. Eat commands etc that are displayed in pull down windows in screen.

The structure of the game is based on a 'distributed adventure' format, that allows you to reach a solution in various ways. The creators describe the adventure as having a 'main backbone' composed of branches and knots. The branches can be parallel or concurrent, they converge towards the knots which lead to the next step in the story by logical relations. In essence, you are free to wander around the world at your own pace because eventually you will follow a lead which will allow you to progress further. And this advanced format does not end here Implanted within your character's arm is a computer called BOB which is based on electro-organic technology which means it is a separate organ of your body. It allows you to monitor information about your body, but, moreover, lets you modify some of your physical and mental characteristics. For instance you can program it (and I mean just that, write a mini program) to translate robot and alien languages. (because until you do you won't understand anything they say) increase your heartbeat before a battle (extra energy) warn you of hunger or thirst, in fact anything that you think you will need to survive. This is a revolutionary concept in computer gaming, and one that deserves great credit.

You can create your own character, or use the predefined stats that are present at the start of the game. There is literally so much scope in the game that cannot be written about here because of space restrictions, but you explore the vast city, go un-derground (mapping is needed) play 'Bizzy' a memory game for money, get romantic in the sleazy hot spots of vice downtown, navigate a desert vehicle and do battle with many nasties on your quest. This is a true mega game of obvious quality and amazing depth that simply must be seen and played to death. A fantastic achievement.

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

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