B.A.T. 

B.A.T. by UBI SOFT has one major flaw --- it lacks play protection. 
You can actually load this game on your hard drive and play it.  An
insidious flaw that makes any other complaints about B.A.T. pale in
comparison.  

To quote the game manual, "Our aim was never to create a computer
game as such.  As a writer we would have written a novel, as a
film-maker we would have made a film..." --- as a computer game
publisher, they have made a dud.  

Because of the possibilities hinted at in the manual and the
promises made on the box and in the manual, the failure of B.A.T.
to deliver is a true disappointment.  From the way the game plays,
much more attention was lavished on the manual than on the game
itself.  From the disparity between game play and manual claims, it
appears that the manual writer never played the game.  If _you_
insist upon playing the game, loading instructions are on page 22
of the manual.  

I spent several hours a day for nearly a week trying to "get into"
B.A.T. --- that is trying to play the game to some sort of progress
stage.  Had I not been reviewing the game, I would have erased it
from the drive the first day.  Although the graphics are artistic,
they are static.  Wandering around in B.A.T. has about the same
feel as flipping through a comic book.  

Rumor has it that there is a rhyme and reason to the NPC
interactions.  Rumor has it that if you speak to certain characters
at a certain time you will progress in the game.  I could find no
clues to these times, and in some instances, could find nothing to
talk about.  Conversations are severely limited by the menu and
instead of being a mystery, there is a giveaway when the questions
you are allowed to ask, change.  Language is a problem even though
you are equipped with B.O.B. --- a language translator cum macro
program. 

When I read in the documentation that I could program my arm
(figuratively speaking, of course) to do things like monitor my
status, flash messages on the screen and translate alien languages
I was REALLY impressed.....until I began to program B.O.B.
(Bio-Directional Organic Biocomputer) which turned out to be a set
of macro instructions, few of which were of any use, and some of
which did not work all of the time.  

Then there is the COMBAT mode.  Actually, rather than a "mode"
there are apparently random arcade type sequences that just pop up
on the screen and kill you.  The only apparent strategy is to save
often and run.  Not my idea of CRPGing.  

In fact, B.A.T. is not my idea of a CRPG at all.  B.A.T. is more
like the old graphic adventure games (before KQ) with some pumped
up resolution in the images.  Unlike the old adventure games,
however, puzzles in B.A.T. are rare or unpuzzling.  The character
statistics are explained well in the documentation, but in gameplay
seem to be meaningless. 
 
I get the feeling that the character statistics are there to give
the appearance that B.A.T. is a real CRPG.  I get the feeling that
the combat is present to make an adventure game appear to be a
CRPG.  I get the feeling that the promised "necessary elements for
an adventure" have gotten so diluted in this execution that they
are invisible.  I get the feeling that I have been had.        

B.A.T. (Bureau of Astral Troubleshooters) is published by UBI SOFT
and available in either 5.25 or 3.5 disks.  VGA is required, hard
disk is recommended.  DOS 3.2 or higher is required.  A mouse is
recommended and the game will run on IBM PC/XT/AT and compatibles. 
No memory requirements are listed in the documentation and I had no
trouble running the game under DOS 4.01.

B.A.T. is from UbiSoft/Electronic Arts.