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Link: Alternate Reality: The City - Player Competition











The Flaming Dragon Tavern (2MB DivX Video)

Ah, Alternate Reality - what a cool game series! These games were the reason for me to buy an Atari 8-Bit computer I still remember booting The City game again and again, just to hear and see the story-telling intro which I think was unique at its time. And the game itself was a demonstration of Atari's power - cool pseudo-3D-graphics with lots of colours, superb sound, great game atmosphere, and really nice copy protection Too pity only two parts have been released of seven parts that were originally planned

AFAIK I was reading something like that a demo version of "The Arena" (3rd part) was "released" , but I don't remember where I was reading this. Can anyone confirm the "release"?

P.s.: don't miss the interviews with Philip Price in the Atarimania AR-entries!

I have never heard of the Arena being released, but that sure would be cool.

I always imagined The Arena as a place where you could duel other players or fight your way up through gladiators to become a Champion.

AR- The City is a fantastic game.

It's one of those titles that, if you'd bought it when it was released, would have given you endless hours of enjoyment. For a 48K A8 game, it is just brilliant.

When you play your first few games, it's tough to survive a single (AR) day.

As you get deeper into it, there's more and more to discover.

It really is a pity that the series wasn't completed.

There are several movies in there...

Wrathchild is working on an AR cartridge right now at atariage.com! When it is finished, you can play AR with no disk swaps and be able to save your character on the cartridge! Its already working with a temp char.

Check it out:

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.ph ... opic=70147

I guess I'm the first "No" vote. Looks like a great game but I've always been an action and sports game player at heart so I've been reluctant to fire this one up. I don't think I've ever finished an RPG game through the end, maybe got through a quarter of a Final Fantasy or Mario RPG. And I've been gaming since Pong and I had an Atari 800 in 1980.

But I do plan to play it some day, it looks awesome and maybe it's the one long, invovled game I actually do finish

Thinking about it I finished several Infocom text adventures so maybe there's hope for me.

oesii wrote:I guess I'm the first "No" vote. Looks like a great game but I've always been an action and sports game player at heart so I've been reluctant to fire this one up. I don't think I've ever finished an RPG game through the end, maybe got through a quarter of a Final Fantasy or Mario RPG. And I've been gaming since Pong and I had an Atari 800 in 1980.

But I do plan to play it some day, it looks awesome and maybe it's the one long, invovled game I actually do finish

Thinking about it I finished several Infocom text adventures so maybe there's hope for me.

It's worth playing even just to hear the sound of the smithy as you pass nearby. The Pokey chip has never really been fully exploited, I think, but that sound is great. In fact, the audio in the game is very atmospheric overall.

For the time, it was a huge achievement.

Discovering games like this is a great reason to collect old software, and to use it.

Actually, you cannot finish Alternate Reality: The City. Its a virtual world and you are one of the inhabitants. There are no set tasks to complete or plots to follow. You decide what you want to do and when you want to do it. So you cannot "win" it. You can set goals for yourself and try to accomplish them, but otherwise its mostly about survival and building your character, just like any other action or adventure video game. But instead of a highscore, you are developing your character and collecting better equipment. Its really much like the MMORPG games of today, except single player. This game was way ahead of it's time. It's graphics were only matched seven years later with Castle Wolfenstien, but I don't think it's realism and complexity have ever been matched.



You could play forever, or you could play for 10 minutes. It truly is an alternate reality.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.ph ... opic=69487

CURRENT PLAYER RANKINGS:

#1 axewater:


#2 Xebec's Demise:


#3 Gunstar:


#4 Goochman:


#5 smartwhois:


#6 Bunsen:

It always amazes me that some people have not even tried AR, as we can see with the two no votes in the poll.

If you have not tried this game. Download it here and give it a shot. It is definately one of the greatest most complex games ever made for the Atari 8-bit computers. Featuring some of the best graphics, sound and music ever, a ray-tracing graphics engine that was seven years ahead of it's time and one of, if not the first, movie-like game introductions. The game is also far more believeable and realistic than most games that are produced, even today!

If you are not into Dungeons & Dragons or 1st Person Fantasy Roleplaying, the game is still worth checking out simply to appreciate the masterful programming and musical talent that went into creating this Atari 8-bit game.

If you need any help, check the link in the above thread.