Classic Computer Magazine Archive ANTIC VOL. 7, NO. 12 / APRIL 1989

GAME OF THE MONTH

Type-In Software

Shutdown

Escape those killer robots. By Tony Barnes

Shutdown is a challenging fast-action game where you dismantle enemy power stations while evading the alien robots that have taken over. This BASIC program works on all 8-bit Atari computers with at least 48K,disk or cassette.

Trouble is brewing on Xena 5 with a capital "T". Mechanical aliens from an unknown planet have taken over all seven power stations on this world.

You are Jake Retron, an elite trooper in the Galactic Marine Corps and it is your duty to go into these seven stations and shut them down.

It won't be easy because the robots can detect all metals, so you can't bring in any weapons. Also, the only way to move up and down between platforms is to use the elevators scattered about. The only problem is that the aliens have reprogrammed them so you don't quite know where they'll take you.

GETTING STARTED

Type in Listing 1, SHUTDOWN.BAS, check it with TYPO II and be sure to SAVE a copy to before you RUN it. If you have any trouble typing in the special characters in lines 21010-21012, 23010-23012 and 30100-30140, don't type them in. Instead, type in Listing 2, check it with TYPO II and SAVE a copy. When you RUN Listing 2, it creates these hard-to-type lines and stores them in a file called LINES.LST.

To merge the two prognans, LOAD "D:SHUTDOWN.BAS" and then ENTER "D:LINES.LST" Cassette users: CLOAD Listing 1, then insert the separate cassette used for Listing 2 and ENTER "C:". Remember to SAVE the completed program before you RUN it.

To shut down a station you must cut all the power going there. This is done by turning off the many generators scattered about, which you accomplish merely by touching them.

You move Jake by pressing the joystick left or right. Nothing happens when you press the joystick button or move the stick forward and back. To activate a lift all you must do is step onto it. If you get trapped you can restart that level by pressing the [START] key. This loses one of your lives, however.

Tony Barnes was the author of Escape From Hell (June 1988).

Listing: SHUTDOWN.BAS Download