BAT II - Computer's Dream/UBI SOFT RRP œ34.99-39.99
       (Graphic adventure/RPG for ST, PC and Amiga)

           Reviewed on the ST by Alex van Kaam

I don't know if BAT I was a great success on the ST but it did
introduce some great graphics (isn't it strange that most of the
French games have great graphics, BAT I, BAT II, ISHAR,
TRANSARTICA) very good sound thanks to the MV 16 sound card and
the game had a comic book like layout.

So I was very pleased when the doorbell rang and the postman
delivered the game to me.  After opening the box I found 5 disks,
a quick reference card, a scenario, a manual and a protection key
which you must put into the modem port of your ST (STE owners must
first get a adapter because the key is 24 pins).

The story so far. The planet Shedishan has large deposits of
Echiatone 21 which is vital for Earth.  Koshan Inc. the company
who mines and sells the stuff has just taken over Corpotronic,
another company who sells Echiatone 21.  If Koshan Inc. could take
over the Arzonian Beteker Thrust they would have the monopoly on
Echiatone 21 !

This is where BAT comes in, they have found out Echiatone 21 comes
from an exploded star around Shedishan and that the ancient king
Ab'Dish II gave parts of the star (the bit that landed on
Shedishan) to his followers.  They also found out that a girl by
the name of Silvia Hadford (who died 2 years ago) owned 30 deeds
to the star.

They now have sent a BAT agent as Silvia to Shedishan with the 30
deeds, she went to court and told there that she has 280 of the
400 deeds, the mining was stopped but she has to come up with the
remaining 250 deeds!

After the court agent Silvia went to her hotel where she was
ambushed, she survived but her two back-up agents did not!

This is where you come in, you are sent to Shedishan disguised as
Jehan Menasis.....

After loading the game you have the option to Play or Create a
agent, you can create up to 8 agents, after this you are dropped
at the spaceport of Shedishan.  The quick reference card tells you
how to contact Silvia she will tell you what to do next and she
will give you your credit card, the rest is up to you.......

BAT II has all of BAT I and more, you can now even scroll through
a picture. There is less music but more background noise and the
graphics are of a very high level.  There are up to 200 people in
the game with whom you can talk by clicking on them when a talking
face appears.  When they talk to you their words appear in a
cartoon balloon with some of the words red, by clicking the red
words you can get some more info on the subject (it is a bit like
Ultima where you have to type in a certain word to get some more
info about it).


There are:

3 video games (Quattro - a breakout game with no side
               walls but 4 paddles, Chidam - a game of Chinese
               checkers, Tubular - a very strange game with water)
1 race track  (Via Express)
3 flight sims (Mosquito, Raeda V6, Sershoyer)

With the video games you can win some credits, the Via Express
brings you to parts which you can't reach on foot (you can do it
manual or automatic for the same price), as for the flight
simulator .... I hate them..... taking off is no problem, finding
your destination is easy, but landing.... you have to fly very
slowly and straight so you will be caught and guided in....

You still have BOB, your computer implant, which shows you your
health and which you can program to monitor curtain things, it is
very well explained in the manual, except for the following:


Manual:  Run                     Also:  Run
          |                              |
         Do analyze me                  Do analyze me
         If me hungry--|                If me hungry----|
          |-------------Warn me          |              |
         Do analyze me                  If me thirsty---|
         If me thirsty--|                |              |
          |-------------Warn me         If me tired-----|
         Do analyze me                   |--------------Warn me
         If me tired ---|               end
          |-------------Warn me
         end

This may look weird but once you are programming you get it.  It
saves a lot of space and you need all the space you can get!

Then there is the combat: strategy or action.  Strategy is, well,
strategy and Action looks a bit like the Predator demo which was
on an ST Action disk a long time ago. You have infra red vision so
the people in the street are red and the buildings blue, by moving
left or right or up or down you can see that part of the street
and you must try to find and HIT your enemy with your gun.

There is so much in this game that it will keep you playing for
months (just to learn the flight sim (joke))

The few downs are you can't install it on your hard disk
(ST/Amiga) and the flight simulators (which probably work fine
but I'm doing it wrong)

All in all it is a great game and much much better than BAT I so
if you liked BAT I you'll love this.