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Description
Amok portrays a futuristic storyline on a planet which is
identified in the manual as having the same name. There, two gigantic
corporations, referred to by the acronyms NONLUN and AZTK, had
previously been having an all-out war between them for forty-seven
years. The war had involved all possible fronts and theaters, including
operations in the air, on the surface of the land and sea, and beneath
the water. Very recently, a weak peace accord had only just been
reached. In the manual, the peace accord is described as being much
like "a blanket covering the fire that smolders in the hearts of the
people." The agreement is sufficiently unsteady that an influential
mercenary company, known only as "the Bureau," has now decided to hire
a capable battle walker pilot named Gert Staun to restart the war so
they can continue to make large amounts of money by taking lucrative
contracts from both sides. The player takes the role of Gert Staun.
Naturally
"the Bureau" has placed a high priority on this, and they are funding
it entirely on their own. Indeed, Gert Staun's battle walker, called
the "Slambird" is explicitly said to be custom-modified. In particular,
the Slambird can not only survive either on land or underwater, but it
can transition between the two -- it can move, fight, and safely
control its vertical position in either environment. These abilities
are portrayed as costly and not standard to such vehicles in the
universe where Amok takes place. The transformation of the
Slambird between an underwater vehicle and a land vehicle is
automatically scripted, however. The player has no power to control
this transformation or alter the time when it happens. Instead, the
player must get to the point when Staun will automatically bring the
Slambird ashore to continue his attacks.
The object of this
arcade-type game is to meet a series of objectives, and to do so in
such a way that each side will blame the other. The game has a linear
structure, based on levels that present tasks of increasing difficulty,
and all sorts of hazards and targets are encountered. These include
military bases, power generators, land mines, infantry, tanks,
submarines -- even sharks and huge, aggressive birds. Infantry elements
are poorly armored, so they can be killed by being run over. In one
mission, the only way that the player will be able to get enough time
to escape is to open with a surprise attack, slowing pursuit by
destroying a parking facility full of unattended troop transport
vehicles. Power-ups are scattered throughout the levels. The Slambird
carries a variety of explosive devices and line-of-sight weapons. Some
of the explosive weapons can bounce in a parabolic trajectory, and in
addition there are two laser cannons that can fire rapidly an unlimited
number of times. These cannons are useful in case no other weapons
remain, and they can be used to create complex ripple fire, which can
be used to cover an area that is surprisingly wide. When underwater,
propellers are used, while torpedoes are automatically used instead of
missiles.
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