<!--
	Title: (Best Quest of the Month) BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception
	Author: Stephen King
	Source: QuestBusters, v6(5)
	Date: May 1989
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

Not so long ago, the announcement that Infocom just published a role-playing
game would have been met with deafening laughter. Many people probably expected
it would turn out something like *Zork Zero*—a predominantly text-based
adventure with some graphics here and there to spruce it up. If that is what you
expect, you're in for a pleasant surprise—with the release of Westwood Associates'
*BattleTech*, Infocom has jumped into the graphics arena with both InfoFeet.

## *Star League Collapses!*

It is early in the 3lst century, when mankind's sphere of influence has expanded
to the faraway stars. Because of the tremendous logistical problems of
common rule, the Star League has fallen apart and been replaced by several large
feudal societies.

<figure class="float-right">
<img src="/public/img/articles/questbusters-battletech-review/battletech-screen-shot.jpg" alt="BattleTech screen shot">
<figcaption style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;">IBM EGA/Tandy version</figcaption>
</figure>

The current setting is a retrograde civilization. Hundreds of years of war have
resulted in all the smaller groups being absorbed into five major combines.
Most of the technology that brought man to this pinnacle has been destroyed,
but his legacy remains.

In the continual skirmishes between the various combines,
the major weapon is the BattleMech, a converted mining robot. There
are 55 major types of BattleMech, many of which have several varieties that are
equipped with different weapons and defensive abilities. The smallest Mechs
weigh in at 20 tons, and the largest can be as heavy as 100 tons.

The game begins at the Pacifica Training Academy, sponsored by the Lyran
Commonwealth. You take the part of Jason Youngblood, an existing character in
the *BattleTech* universe that composes the paper and pencil game system published
by FASA for several years. Your initial goal is to find your father, but as
the game progresses, you'll discover a second quest that is tied into the search
for the old man.

You have three major attributes: Body, Dexterity and Charisma. These are
preset and can't be increased for the duration of the game.
The Body attribute, which roughly corresponds to strength and stamina, is the
only one that changes as you are wounded and healed.

In addition to these, you have personal skill attributes. At the outset, you're completely
unskilled in all areas and must pay for training to boost the attributes:
Bow/Blade, Pistol, Rifle, Gunnery, Piloting, Medical and Technician. The first
three relate to your proficiency with hand-held weapons. Gunnery and Piloting correspond
to handling a Mech and its weaponry; Medical experience affects your ability
to heal the wounded; Technicians can repair Mechs and equipment.

Unlike characters in many RPGs, all people cannot be trained to the
maximum in a given skill. Because Jason's chosen profession is MechWarrior,
he can be trained to perfection with handheld weapons. If he has time, he can do
likewise with Piloting and Gunnery—but since he is not a Mechanic or Doctor, his
expertise in these areas will always be limited.

Don't worry, for other inhabitants will wish to join you, for a maximum party of
five. But be careful, because a few treacherous infiltrators lurk among the
trustworthy volunteers. Be sure to keep one eye on them during a fight, or you
might end up with a knife in your back.

<div class="article-sidebar-box float-right" style="border: 2px solid;">

**Type:** Science Fiction Role-playing<br>
**Systems:** Apple (128K), C 64, Amiga, IBM (MS-DOS 2.1 or higher and 384K of RAM required;
	EGA, MCGA, VGA, Tandy 16-color supported)<br>
**Version Reviewed:** IBM
</div>

## *Pacifica High*

The Pacifica School is basically a quiet place where you can familiarize
yourself with the game system. In most towns you'll find weapon and armor shops,
lounges and Mechit-Lube service centers. Besides such mundane places, Pacifica
also offers a Barracks, a Mech training area, The Citadel and a Com-Star
communication center. Use the time in Pacifica to train yourself as a Rifleman
and to buy a weapon and armor. Since you can only have one weapon at a time,
make it a good one like a Short Range Missile launcher.

Of course you will need money to do this. When the game starts, there are 35
C-Bills (Com-Star Bills) in your bank account, along with a periodic stipend of 15
C-Bills from home. A shrewd businessman can parley this pittance into a virtual
fortune by playing the stock market. There are three stocks that can be traded
at the Com-Star building: Deffies (a Lyran blue chip stock that goes up slowly
but surely), NasDiv (Which gives greater returns at a higher chance for loss), and
BakPhar (a failing company trying to make a quick comeback by betting on
highly volatile ventures). By coupling bold trading with discrete game saving,
you can build your stake up to a respectable sum.

When you feel you have enough cash, complete your Mech training. After seven
or eight missions, soldiers from the Draconis Combine attack the base, and from
that point you are on your own in hostile territory.

## *Three Windows*

The screen is composed of three individual windows. In the right one you see
an overhead view of your party and the surrounding area, which is covered from
time to time by descriptions of events. The lower-left window offers a quick
look at your condition. During combat, this information will be replaced with a
battle menu. The upper-left window normally shows direction, but battle reports
appear here during combat. And a short animated out-take might be seen here if
you make a particularly good hit.

By pressing the space bar, you can access a menu and change the game settings.
You can change the movement rate of your Mech while in combat mode, or
slow down the battle descriptions. You can also toggle the sound off or on,
change the frequency of the animated out-takes, or quit the game. Other options
let you redistribute men in Mechs, inspect detailed information about a Mech
or party member (this one also allows you to detect spies), heal a character, save
or load up to six games, or show an overhead map that displays a greater area in
less detail. This auto-map starts out completely dark, but fills in as you explore
more of the planet.

The only real quibble I have about the interface is that control is limited to the
cursor keys. It's possible that was the best choice for this game but it would have
been nice to have included mouse and joystick drivers so people could gravitate
to their own favorite.

## *Truth, Justice and the Lyran Way*

Once Pacifica is destroyed, the game becomes one of battle and exploration.
From the very beginning you will be attacked by House Kurita. Until you have
your own Mech, my advice to keep a phrase from Little Feat at the top of your
mind, "Feels, don't fail me now!" Usually you'll be outnumbered, and even if
you have one of the only two hand-held weapons that will damage a Mech, they
won't do much damage.

Use your time in Starport to locate potential party members. Probably the most
interesting thing you can do in Starport is to hi-jack your own Mech from the arena.
I'll leave it to you to figure out how this works, but suffice it to say that you
shouldn't rely too much on your battle computer.

The combat menu includes several options. If you own a Mech with jump jets,
you can set a direction and number of paces to walk, run or jump. If standing
next to an enemy Mech, you can Kick it, and you can Scan any Mechs or Warriors
on the field. The Use Weapon option allows you to select your weapon and target.
Next Unit will let you set the actions of your other party members. You may
also attempt to Flee.

Finally, you have the choice of directing the battle or letting the battle computer
handle it Early in the game you'll want to do it manually to familiarize
yourself with all the functions, but as you become used to combat, it's safe to let the
computer handle situations where you have a clear advantage.

One interesting difference between the main game and combat maneuvers is
movement. Ordinarily, just hitting the appropriate cursor key causes you or your
Mech to hustle off in any of the eight directions. Because there are many things
happening simultaneously, this gets a bit more complex during combat.

While you still use the arrow keys to indicate direction during battle, movement
doesn't occur immediately. For each step you take, a black marker with an arrow
in it will appear, forming a line in the path you trace, until you exceed your
maximum number of moves. You can extend the cursor further at this point , and
any leftover steps will carry over into the next combat round.

The number of steps you take depends on your Mech's design. The engine's
size, weight and armor are combined to determine the number of spaces you can
walk, run or jump per round, which corresponds to your current speed. Moving
faster or erratically will increase your defense bonus, but also generates more
heat, which can lead to total shutdown if a critical state is reached.

## *Worth a Thousand Words*

The graphics are exceptional. CGA is supported, but for the full effect you need
EGA, MCGA, VGA or Tandy TGA. The background is colorful and filled with
various types of terrain (Lionel, HO gauge...oops, just kidding). Jason ambles
along in a realistic depiction of motion, the lower part of his body disappearing as
he walks through a puddle. Similarly, traveling through dense forest might obscure
him entirely.

Mechs move in mighty, mechanical splendor. Looking closely, you'll see
they even reflect sunlight as they move. In battle, lasers of red and blue or missiles
in flight shoot through the air. If a Mech Warrior fights from behind trees, he
may find enemy lasers encircling him with fire that makes his Mech overheat
and shut down.

The animated out-takes are done in Japanese cartoon style, complete with
comically overplayed expressions of anger and dismay. In a couple of the smaller
towns, there are even movie theaters that string several of the animated spots into a
short feature film. (I wonder how many C-Bills popcorn costs?) When the film
breaks, a crowd of disgruntled patrons walks out with you.

By far, my favorite graphic effect was in the aftermath of battle. If a Mech was
destroyed, a pile of junk metal remains at that site for the rest of the game. If the
casualty was human, you'll see a bloody splat mark. Sound seemed to be somewhat
more limited. There was an off-key tune that played with the title screen,
which sounded quite a bit better with the three-channel Tandy sound chip; unfortunately,
there is no provision for using Tandy sound with EGA. You'll hear a
few regular sound effects like the firing of lasers or whistling of missiles in flight,
and the opening of doors in the final maze of the hidden Star Fleet cache. (All
weapons have individual sound effects.)

## *We'll Be Right Back*

<img class="float-left" src="/public/img/articles/questbusters-battletech-review/mech-sketch.png" alt="A sketch of a battle mech">

Fans of the paper and pencil RPG may recognize that this game barely touches
on the totality of the *BattleTech* universe. Don't be distraught, for a sequel is already
in the works. The owners' manual explains the operations of the game and
gives some history of the successor houses and biographies of important
members of the Youngblood clan. A flyer will familiarize you with
hand-weapons and the four light Mechs.

There's also a FASA ad highlighting no fewer than 44 BattleTech products: from
complete board games and individual RPG campaigns to technical blueprints and biographies
of the five houses. Even novels about some of the major characters and battles
are offered (some written by Wasteland co-designer Michael Stackpole). With
this incredible wealth of history from which to draw, it's easy to predict that
this may turn into the next major game series.

It supports one or two floppy drives and hard disks. Two 5.25" disks and one
3.5" disk are in the box. There are two variations of key word copy protection.
Every time you go to the Mech training facility, you have to identify key parts of
a Wasp Mech from a diagram in the manual. This repetition would get annoying,
but you never have to do it again after completing the training missions.

Additionally, there is a star map that you need to solve the final puzzle. This is
far more subtle than the first scheme, because it really is a legitimate game puzzle.
It's up to the player to figure out which of the many planetary common denominators
define them as a likely part of the ultimate password.

**Conclusions:** If *BattleTech* is any indication, Infocom's commitment to the all-text
adventure will surely carry over into graphics gaming. The visuals are excellent,
yet don't suffer the corresponding loss in speed that hampers games like Future
Magic. I'd like to hear better sound and see a larger slice of the *BattleTech*
universe in the sequel-but as the first game in the series, this one is top-notch.

<hr style="border-top: 6px double;">

**Skill Level:** Intermediate<br>
**Copy Protection:** Key Word<br>
**Price:** C 64, $39.95; others, $49.95<br>
**Company:** Westwood/Infocom
