19th May 2011
New entertainment software for the Commodore PET doesn't happen to often nowadays, does it? Well, this week it does
Retro Mart: Bio Hazard
There's a new strategy game available for the 8K Commodore PET (2000-series machines and compatibles) called Bio Terror, written and developed by Jason Grow.
This neat production sees the United States of America fall foul to an attack of biological terrorism, which invokes a state of emergency across the whole of the country. It's your job to oversee the management of resources available to contain and quarantine all major cities in order to stop the spread of this attack and to eventually make the whole country safe once more. No pressure then!
Fortunately, it's complete with thirteen skill levels, so even someone like me is able to save America from certain doom. There are also only set paths in which you are able to mobilise resources, and for the size of RAM required to run this game, there's a lot included.
If you want a good, old-fashioned and playable character-based game, then this is for you. To get the free download, head over to greatnorthweb.com/bioterror!, and you may also wish to send some feedback to the author once you've played it through. Jason's e-mail address is included on the game's title screen for this purpose.
I also hear something of another PET game that's currently in development, which should be released this year, if all goes to plan. What's that saying about waiting for double-decker buses again? Well, we'll see if anything else materialises, but until then, download Bio Terror and be an American hero!
Putting Pen To Paper
Atari XE/XL fans have a new pencil and paper puzzle game (simulated on the screen, of course) called Cropky, for one or two players, including a rather crafty computer-controlled opponent. The object of the game is to connect dots on a piece of paper until there are no connections horizontally, vertically or diagonally left, which is a little bit tricky, and there are many levels to play through, and a tournament mode or a simple single game mode for practise. One hint, though, is to avoid being forced into a corner.
It's a simple concept and is a fun puzzle game all considered, with some nice presentation and aesthetics (for what's needed) and a really good Pokey-driven chip tune. And it saves paper too. The Atari disk image of this software may be downloaded from atarionline.pl, specifically at tinyurl.com/Cropky-XE.
It's ACE
Those of you who own a Commodore 128 with the appropriate RGB monitor (or TV/VDU adapter) may be interested to hear about a new operating system that is being developed for the C64's big brother. It's called Advanced Commodore Environment 128, and currently allows you to open a notepad file on the old 8-bit micro. Development of this system has been progressing quite nicely over the past two years or so, and there's a YouTube video showing it booting, with the basic GUI briefly demonstrated. I hear that it's to support all compatible Commodore drives, and make use of any extra resources that are attached to the system. Head over to tinyurl.com/ACE-128 to see the latest.
