Knuckle Busters

You're a wanted man.

You've busted out of the lobotomy labs, screwed up the Central Computer, and now you've got to run the gauntlet of android guards who patrol the slum jungles of the city.

The action is fast, very fast. And yet somehow you've got to grab some breathing space to ransack the city zones for food and keys, and work out all the nasty logical problems which lie between you and freedom.

Driving you on is the relentless beat of Rob Hubbard's musical score over seventeen minutes of atmospheric, pounding, unrepeating music.

Prologue

Extra: The history of reform in the 21st Century. **** Chap. 1185 ** Para. 34 ** Data: Rehabilitation Surgery 2133 *****

* By the beginning of the '30s, widespread civil disturbances had resulted in a state prison population of more than thirteen million - one in three of all adults.

* Overcrowding in prisons was, however, effectively ended by the Penal Reform Act of 2133, which replaced long prison sentences with rehabilitation surgery. All anti-social tendencies were erased or amputated, and the raw material of mind and body was chemically altered and reconstructed.

* These rehabilitated criminals were now socially useful and incapable of independent thought. They were programmed to take up menial occupations, and later used in policing no-go city areas or in guarding Penal Re-Form Centres.

* They were known as The Re-Formed, or, more commonly, Androids...

*** END DATA TRANSMISSION ***

As his fingers scrabbled at the locks which held the input panel in place, Deke calculated that by now the cell wardens would have discovered his absence and were probably already tracking him down to the prison Cencorn terminal, where he was engaged in fusing the heat-sensitive alarm systems.

But even if he succeeded in evading the android wardens within the prison confines, his haphazard escape route was likely to take him through some of the most heavily policed zones of the city, where the andries were programmed to kill on sight - not with humane laser weapons, now banned by the Convention, but in lethal, clinical, hand-to-hand combat. Still, it was preferable to the fate which awaited him in the lobotomy labs of the Re-Form Centre.

There was a sudden bang! of shorting circuits as he wrenched the PCB free of its moorings, and then he was gone, racing to the cell block and the city which lay beyond. As he went, he reflected that it was unfortunate that his sabotage of the central computer would indirectly cause it to self-destruct, taking the entire city with it. This would give him only limited time in which to reach the outer city wall and make good his escape.

But he'd probably be dead by then anyway...

The Escape Route

To reach the sanctuary which lies beyond the city, Deke must travel through six zones - the cell blocks, the guard area and the prison wall, the city, the downtown precinct and, ultimately, the outer city wall.

There is, however, only one exit leading to the last zone, the city wall.

The Androids

Five android variants were originally Re-Formed by the chemico-surgeons, some more formidable than others. Deke will encounter all five types on his journey, and he can choose to fight or avoid them. Evasion will enable him to further explore the zones, but the wholescale destruction of androids will increase the score, as well as revealing useful objects and renewing depleted energy levels.

The Objects

The zones of the prison and city are littered with valuable objects, such as the all-important keys, energy-giving foodstuffs, extra lives and bonus points. Many of these can be found by overturning oil drums or boxes, others by opening doors. But some of these places of concealment will be booby-trapped, or used by androids lying in wait for Deke. Some are merely empty.

The Screen

Deke's escape is monitored in the top two-thirds of the screen. Beneath it information is displayed regarding: number of lives left; score; time countdown; energy level; and the current object being carried.

Playing The Game

The game is played with a joystick in port 2.

Without the Fire button pressed, possible moves are:
Left, Right, Jump, Drop

With the Fire button pressed, other moves are available, including punches and kicks:
Kick Left, Kick Right, Jump, Drop, Punch

To go through a door, press the Space bar when standing in front of the door.

To break down walls or other obstructions, just punch or kick them.

To go behind walls, press the Space bar as you run past an arrow on the wall.

In order to pick up an object, run over it and it will be collected automatically.

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SHIFT-RUN/STOP

Game Credits

© Martin Sneap
Music by Rob Hubbard
Cover by Steinar Lund
Published by Melbourne House