WALKER ****** BY ** PSYGNOSIS ********* WALKER - THE STORY ================== The shape grew in the dark. A grinding and clashing of metal filled the dank air as the immense hulk rose to its feet. Soldiers looked on, paralysed by fear at the shape that now stood tall and menacing scant distance ahead. The machine settled itself, almost relaxing on its haunches like a puma in wait, muscles flinching, silent and purposeful. A powerful hum drew attention towards the towering monster as gun turrets swung smoothly into view and began to scan the scene. Shouted orders now issued back and forth accross the lines of infacntry men who spurred into action. A rumbling heavy cannon drew up behind the lines with a loud hiss as airbrakes brought its colossal weight to a halt. Yet it was still dwarfed by the Walker. And there they lay, face to face; the might of the Endalion Time Force - a specially trained unit with the latest mortar technology and the best back-up hardware money can buy (Super Wild Card?!) - against the Walker, the machine from the future. It came as no surprise, of course, to the troops on the ground facing the Walker; they'd been waiting and preparing for weeks now, waiting for the time vacuum to burst its deadly load upon their doorsteps. But when the Walker did arrive, its sheer size drove dread into the hearts of the troops who's task it was to destroy it. The history of The Time Wars was scarred with appearances such as this. The war broke out in the year 2370 following the invasion of the Myarn terbium-mines by the great warring continent of Northern Endalion. But it took over three decades before the war entered its most deadly phase... With the shifting polarity of the mother planet, vast new tracts of space time opened up in which these deadly war games could now be played. But it was Northern Endalion who reacted most swiftly. Suddenly realising the strategic advantage to be gained they sent large forces of highly trained commandos back in time. There, the Time Bandits, as they were to become known, established bases in full knowledge of future enemy manoeuvres. This meant that the war being waged in the present could be irrevocably altered by war in the past - a war in which the Endalions would have a huge advantage of both surprise and technology. It was only when entire units of the Myarn army were thrown out of existence by the actions of the Endalion Time Bandits that the Myarn high command realised the immense danger their essentially peaceful nation was in. And so it was that the AG-9 - codename Walker - was born. A weapon which could be taken back through time and challenge the Endalion units established in past time zones. Engineering criteria required a self-contained and energy-efficient unit - thus expansive armour and a powerful yet efficient weapons' system would be required. Plus the ability to traverse any terrain, at speed, necessitated a bipedal movement system. The only compromise this design required was the need for a large heatsink at the back of the craft to dissipate the heat produced by the Walker's power source. Thus produced, the Walkers were sent through the Myarnian timegate and into battle leaving the High-command waiting with baiting breath to see how many returned. History now relates the ensuing events up to the present day; of how the Endalion forces attacked the Walker installations, halting Walker production for any foreseeable future. It also tells of how only one Walker returned in a usable state, limping through the timegate to report the sole successful mission of Walker operations. No other mission results were reported. With hindsight, it was rather ironic that these events happened at about the time that Myarn intelligence units communicated the presence of four key Endalion positions within the timescape which it appeared, with the enigmas thrown up through time-travel, could prove decisive in the wars. It was noted that should these four bases be destroyed, Endalion forces in the present would cease to exist. And so, armed with this piece of information, the Myarnian commanders turned their attention to the remaining Walker unit. Conventional attacks could not be successful because speed was of the essence to prevent present-day Endalion units mobilising quickly and reinforcing the remaining key installations. Only a Walker unit would be quick enough and versatile enough to complete the mission within time constraints. But only one Walker remained operational. And it it, only one chance for survival... WALKER - LOADING ================ Insert disk 1 into the internal drive and turn on your Amiga. Witness cool intro. Follow any on-screen prompt messages asking you to insert disk 2 and disk 3. The game will now load. One external floppy disk drive is supported. To skip the intro, click the mouse button and the game programme will load. WALKER - CONTROLS ================= FIRE GUNSIGHT / UP ___/ /\ / LOCK-ON TARGET MOUSE: |/ / KEYBOARD: _______|/|____/__ | ___/ ___/ | _____ _____ | _| /|_| /|_ | <- | | | | -> | | | | | | | | WALKER | Z | | X | WALKER | | |___| |___| | | LEFT |_____| |_____| RIGHT <-| | | |-> GUNSIGHT| | | |GUNSIGHT _____ _____ LEFT| | | |RIGHT <- | | | | -> | | | | WALKER | <-- | | --> | WALKER | | | | LEFT |_____| |_____| RIGHT | | | | | |_____________| | | | |_________________| \/ GUNSIGHT DOWN ________________FIRE JOYSTICK: / / ______/____________/ | ___/ ___/ | | | /| ____ | /| | | |___| | | |___| | | |_ _| | <-| | | |-> WALKER| | | |WALKER LEFT| __| |__ |RIGHT | | |__| | | | |________| | | | |____________________| ACTIVATING THE WALKER Walker is controlled by an innovative mouse/cursor key combination. The cursor keys or the Z and X keys control the direction of Walker whilst mouse moves the target cross-hair. The left mouse button is used for firing Walker's twin 30mm carbines and the right button will allow you to lock-on to a target - wherever it goes. SCORING & CANNONS Top left of the game screen, you will find your current score. Below is the gun temperature indicator. When the gun is used, the indicator rises from red through orange and yellow to white representing the heat level of the cannons. At white, the cannon is overheated (an alarm will sound) and needs to be allowed a short time to cool down. One tip for using the cannon is to use it in short bursts - letting the cannon cool down during use. At the bottom left of the screen, a written display of gun temperature is available. LIVES & SHIELD To the top right hand side of the screen you can see how many lives you have left. Below that is the shield indicator. When your shield is complete, the box is entirely green. As you are hit by the enemy, the shield level will drop. When the level becomes low, an alarm will sound and a written display to the bottom right hand side of the screen will tell you of the current status of your shields. When the shield is destroyed, the enemy will be destroying the fabric of your Walker. The shield box turns red and when the box is empty, the Walker is destroyed. AREA STATUS & LOCK DISPLAY When the current screen is clear of enemies, the message box in the centre will display 'AREA CLEAR'. When enemies are about to appear, the message will be 'DANGER'. When the cannons are locked on to a target, the message display below the area status box will display 'LOCK ON'. TIME SCENARIOS Walker is initially placed in a Berlin World War II scenario. Once the travel is cleared of enemy troops, he travels to the next timezone. These progress as follows: i. Los Angeles 2019 (The survivors call it Judgement Day...!) ii. Middle East, present day. iii. The Great War 2420 (THE REST OF THE MANUAL DESCRIBES THE SPECS OF THE WALKER BY HIGHLIGHTING AREAS ON DIAGRAMS -- AS I AM NOT GOING TO DRAW IT IN ANSI, YOU CAN IMAGINE THE REST....) End.................