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[setcamper]

Originally Posted by The Fifth Horseman

Going with DOSBox is a better idea here.

Haha, wow that was fast...

Yeah, I figured as much and went ahead and got DosBox- ahh the nostalgia!

Anyways, I think I'm all set as soon as I figure out how to save this game...

[Darkhear]

Wow... great game. I think I may have the box and manual for this still. I never did finish it. The combat system was really poor. It took me a while to figure out how not to shoot my own guys. Has anybody actually finished this game? I'd like to know.

"Online game emulators now distributing the game, which is classed as abandonware and therefore free for download, are often marred by a corrupted file that crashes the game at the end of the last battle. This makes it impossible to complete the game and prevents the end sequence which occurs after the final quest is done. In order to complete the game it may be neccesarry to obtain an original version of the game on the floppy disc format of the game, although they are rare (even on ebay.)" - Wikioedia

I had it on Commodore 64, bought the Sci-Fi pack and played it on my IBM 486, and have played it on abandonware now. It never gets old. The only changes I've noticed is the free download version doesn't have the addictive (or endlessly droning) music through out... though, if you search for 8-Bit Weapon, he's remixed it into some cool techno music.
Only problem I've had is some of the free versions crash, either at the end, or if you actually walk to Proscenium on foot and try to enter.

I have loved this game since getting it new for Christmas 20 years ago. I replay it every 4-5 years. It may just be the nostalgia, but I love this game. I beat it yesterday after about 3 hours of playing.

If you're considering playing the game I would suggest these strategies:
1) Ditch your starting character as soon as you can. Don't waste time and money developing him. His stats are lousy. Start with a marine instead and don't settle for less than really high stats in might, agility, and stamina (these determine your health).

2) Start by going around attacking citizens and muggers--there are no negative consequences for killing innocent bystanders.

3) Develop one character at a time. Get that one maxxed out before even adding additional characters to your party.

4) Your first skill your main character needs to learn is programming. Get it high enough to hack into the terminals. Once your hacked-in, get war games clearance--don't waste time training in rifles or handguns.

5) After killing enemies you will be "ready to learn." Focus on these skills for all your characters:
a) battle armor (just train in it once and then buy battle armor)
b) automatic weapons (get it up high enough to buy a particle beam)
c) medical (train enough to buy a med kit c)
d) Golum (only at the weapons shop in Parallax and only after developing all your characters to the max in other areas and only after talking to the right repair shop clerk)
e) Max out might, agility, and stamina (starting with the lowest first)

6) Get money. There are two quick ways. The first is to hire a medical recruit with over 1000 credits, live through a battle, take his money, and then drop that character. The second way is to use the Keno hack (save the game, play keno, record numbers, load the game, and replay using the same numbers and the maximum bet).

7) If when you try to learn medical you get a message that says "Your natural abilities can only do so much" try increasing your education.

8) Figure out the storyline. I won't tell you too much here. Your best bet is to hack into the terminal and read everything you can, track down the bounties in the police stations, and pay the repair shop clerks credits for information (you will not be able to complete the game or train in golum unless you pay off the clerks--the clerks in Primus won't tell you anything, but the ones in the other two cities are loaded with hints and clues). Then you'll want to go basically everywhere you can--including areas that are supposedly off limits or restricted (there are only two times you need to go to the surface though so don't waste a lot of time out there).

9) You may find near the end of the game that the story is stuck. Go into all kinds of places again. You might find new clues in hospitals, universities, and so on. You'll never learn anything at a bar.

10) Use the computer to fight your battles for you. The computer is better at figuring out where to stand and who to shoot to ensure you don't hit your own party members. Be careful though because when the computer is running a battle a character will only heal himself, not any other party member. That's why it's important that each character have his own med kit C.

11) Save often and good luck!

[CoarseDragon]

I did not play this one but I remember playing Mars Saga and paying Keno to death. I don't recall any "keno hack" for the C64 but there may have been.

Great hints from JeremyB.

I played this when I was about 12 and again a couple of years ago under an emulator. The plot was great, and the original box had a sealed envelope you were only supposed to open after breaking into some guy's office in the game. Sweet

I really enjoyed building up my characters, starting with beating on kids (?!) and working my way up through the thugs and the cocky cops that were always giving me the hairy eyeball. The first time you can defeat a team of bounty hunters: sheer satisfaction. The team recruitment system is very cool as well in this game. You can sign people up in bars, barracks, etc. and the types of people available depend on the locale.

Here's my tip to making the game less of a slog if you want to focus on the (very cool) plot. Some strategic approaches to your team will doom you to having to play every battle by hand, or to counting on hoping that the enemy doesn't concentrate their fire on some weak or slow character.

1. Ditch the main character.
2. Stat priorites: You need to max out agility on everyone so you go first in battle. Crucially important. You need to be able to get medical high enough for the best medkit. The rest is window dressing, really. Oh, and go for younger people with relevant skills (education, agility) over older dudes. Younger characters seem to have higher fixed stat gain limits (physical and skill).
2. You can autorun combat, but also autorun one or more characters during manual combat, or tell them "do what I told you to do last turn". Use this to your advantage.
3. Set up every member of your team with the best medkit (medkit C, if I recall correctly) -- this way, on auto, the character will automatically heal themselves (or a nearby teammate) if you need it. Once you get your team set up, you can basically put everyone on auto all the time until the last boss fight.
4. Specialize in RIFLES. This is because 1) battles go was faster than if you use "duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-DUHN" auto weapons, and 2) because the best gun in the game (Reaver rifle) is a rifle. This will also let you focus your "learning points" by not wasting them on multiple weapon types.

Also, if I didn't want to grind for cash (medical and hacking school is expensive!) I shamelessly recruited legions of med students and let them wander into friendly fire as per Jeremy's suggestion.

Bottom line: this game is one of my favourites of all time.

[McDeath]

One of my favorite things to do in this game (c64 mars saga version) was to go to the laser slots. I'd get enough in there (forgot my system) to bet max and slowly gain (either it was a lucky streak or just how the game was). I'd then hook up my autofire controller and flip the switch and then take a nap or go to sleep for the night. Next time I turned on the TV I had so many credits it was ridiculous. I think I once left the computer on for a few days doing this and ending up with hundreds of thousands if not millions of credits. Hard to recall.

[MosesPray]

Originally Posted by Jenkins

I like that game, can't explain why!!

However, there's something missing: The list of the weapons. At the training center, when you ask to train in a specific weapon skill, you are asked what lenght/weight it is and I can't figure what to type in. Maybe you could do the same way you did with Master of Orion, and upload a picture with all technical infos about the firearms

And, to say it again, I love this game and you did the review very well.

Those questions were part of the copy protection of the time. If you had a boxed original, there was a weapons booklet that gave you that info. It was one of the famous Infocom "feelies". I'm not sure what to do about it now.