~8 minute readMech Wrecks
Infocom's "Battletech"
Time stood still as Jason waited for the acid stench of melting metal to reach his nostrils. His 25 ton Battlemech had taken three direct hits from the enemy's Jenner-class medium lasers. Their concentrated energy was enough to burn through any amount of shielding, even the massive amounts Jason had added on to the mech's chassis back at the Mechit Lube in Starport. The question now was whether he would live long enough to return to Starport and repair the metal monster.
"Moving would probably be a good idea", he thought. Kicking in the jump jets, he got the mech running toward a patch of forest ahead on the left. Just as he made the tree line, burning cinders hit the windscreen causing a shower of sparks to momentarily blanket the main viewport.
"Great!", he thought out loud, jumping momentarily at the sound of his own voice. "Now I'm running blind. All I need now is to find out I'm up against more than one of those Kuritan rattletraps."
Battletech from Infocom affords players the opportunity to control the massive megaton fighting machines of the future in an adventure quest set on a distant planet. Designed by Westwood Associates and based on the Battletech world from FASA, both companies have taken care to keep The Crescent Hawk's Inception consistent with the characters and universe of the novels and paper and pen game. This is one of the first entries in Infocom's new series of graphic adventures. This is not a typical Infocom adventure game, though. It is a role-playing game set more in the style of the Ultima series, but using the basics of the Battletech combat system.
The player starts off as Jason Youngblood, son of the great Mech Warrior Jeremiah Youngblood, who has mysteriously disappeared while on a mission of top secrecy. Jason is about to begin his basic training which will ultimately qualify him to be a Mech Warrior in his own rite, and the player takes up the game as Jason starts school. Training in the compound takes the place of a series of missions which acclimate you to the mech environment.
The sound of the pursuing Jenner rose in pitch as it drew closer to Jason's starboard. Fortunately, the trees he was brushing aside and knocking over worked better than the blown out windscreen wipers that were dangling uselessly from the wrecked cockpit frame. Unfortunately, the view Jason was now afforded was of a second approaching Kuritan Locust that was training both machineguns and its torso-mounted medium laser at the already exposed intercooler.
Punching the fire button, Jason poured all the remaining firepower he could muster into the rapidly approaching mech. Once again his viewport was covered with smoke and ash, but this time it was from the Kuritan slagheap that used to be in front of him.
"Gotcha, you wimpy, bucket of bolts!" he shouted, as once again his Commando was rocked by a direct, rear hit from the still pursuing Jenner. "Right", he thought, "I almost forgot about that one." Turning the Commando to the right, the enemy Jenner loomed out of the smoke and darkness and filled Jason's viewscreen. Silence settled over the newly formed clearing as the Commando and Jenner stood face to face. Ancient gladiatorial combat was being refought 3000 years later, with newer and deadlier weapons. Times had changed, but man had not. Jason reached for the blood-red fire button as the silky soft whisper of his damage control system announced the fact that excessive heat-buildup would prevent any further functions . . . and his cockpit door was ajar.
"Thank you, and have a nice millennia." The sound of the computer faded away as Jason frantically scanned his readouts. Slowly, he raised his gaze to meet that of the Kuritan pilot who was now focusing his weaponry for the final blast. It was then that Jason Youngblood heard what he thought were the last words he would ever hear. Smiling, he realized what they meant. Above the sound of static coming from his audio receiver, he heard the words in Kuritan, "Thank you, and have a nice millennia."
Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad day after all.
First, you learn how to get where you want to go ASAP, then you graduate to maneuverability and finally to the proper operation of the metal monsters in combat against one, and then multiple opponents. In between missions, you have the opportunity to acquire armor, weapons, and a variety of combat and mech-related skills. There is medical training available and a tech school is there to help you brush up on Repair 101. All of these skills are valuable as you'll be using them as you explore the world of Pacifica.
Money is received in the form of an allowance, and it's possible to invest it wisely on the stock exchange and make a handsome profit. You'll need the profits because armor, weapons and skills don't come cheaply. Once you learn a skill, there are multiple levels of improvement, so it pays to spend a lot of time between mech training wandering around, and building up capital. Picking the right stock isn't very difficult and soon your portfolio will be looking pretty good.
After a while though, the compound gets to be somewhat claustrophobic, and you just itch to get out into the world and try and find out what happened to Dad. About this time, there is an enemy invasion at the citadel that destroys all the buildings and most of the people. You're left with whatever weapons and armor you have on your person and the knowledge that you have to make it to the Starport to find out if civilization still exists. Fortunately, there's a map that gives you the general direction and off you go. I would strongly advise carrying an "Inferno" with you for protection. Designed to be used like a bazooka against battlemechs, an "Inferno" makes a dandy anti-personnel weapon and comes with an inexhaustible supply of ammo, definitely a plus!
Starport has a wonderful place where you'll be spending a lot of time: it's called the Arena, the training ground for mech warriors. This time there is the added incentive of winning money. Of course, should you lose . . . well, a hot-shot warrior like you won't get caught with your viewscreens down, right?
Starport is also where you get the first additions to your party. Up to six members can be in your party at any one time and you'll need several of them to solve problems in the end game. These party members can also be trained in different skills so you'll be sending guys to school for refresher courses on a regular basis. Beware, though, some of the agents you recruit might be doubles, so keep an eye on them closely at first. As you explore more of Pacifica it's possible to pick up mechs and once you get your first one, you're well on your way to establishing your reputation. You can have many mechs in your party but it's also possible to win with only one. The mechs only have room for two passengers, so the extra party members are forced to walk. By having an extra pilot walking or copiloting, though, you increase your ability to scavenge useable mechs you've defeated in combat. I got more pleasure out of melting those rattletraps into molten slag, so my extra party members had to keep buying new shoes every town or so. Whatever turns you on.
Finally after much exploration and many combats you'll get to where you need to be for the final solution. If you've got the right mix of party members and skill levels you should be able to proceed to the end-game. Upon successful completion of your mission you find out that there will be a sequel and you'll be transferring characters and possessions into the next game.
The story line is rigidly linear and characters have a number of places they need to go to proceed to the next phase of the game. The freedom in the game is centered around the individual battles and the tactics that each player will develop. The battles are what BattleTech is all about. In mech combat, players have the options to walk, run and jump, making it harder to be hit, and if close enough to an enemy, they can physically kick him, doing a variety of damage. The informational readouts allow you to scan an enemy for location and weaponry, and allow you to scan your own machine. This is a good idea because heat buildup can cause your perfect fighting machine to "freeze up" at the most inopportune times. Discretion is still the better part of valor, even in the future, so fleeing is an option, although "real men" know it's only viable for wimps. Each mech comes with a variety of weapons and it's possible to upgrade them at different speed shops.
The graphics are excellent. During combat, and also during parts of the story, there are outtakes done in the style of Japanimation (animated cartoon features based on Japanese Comic Books). They are outstanding, though they do slow down the fighting.
According to Infocom, the game is designed for the 13 to 19 year old market and we agree. It could also be used to introduce younger kids into role-playing on the computer. BattleTech is made to be solved in about 35 hours, but it can easily be finished in around 20. It depends on how much fighting you want to do. The game is really a combat game with some story lines wrapped around. It's a good game, but definitely for beginning to low intermediate players. It could be a great bridge to bringing new players into the computer field. I'd like to see the sequel add a great deal of complexity and flesh out the many concepts touched upon in this game. Infocom has a great framework here. They should be able to get a lot of mileage out of it in the future.
This article appeared in
Computer Gaming World
Jan 1989
These historical, out-of-print articles and literary works have been GNUSTOed onto InvisiClues.org for academic and research purposes.
