ARENA PSYCHOTICA

SYNOPSIS
This very challenging arcade game pits you, as a race car driver, against a monster that leaves a deadly trail behind it. The program runs on all Atari computers, and requires 16K (24K for disk) and BASIC.

The opening screen of this game says "Game Over." To play just plug a joystick into Port 1 and press the fire button.

In Arena Psychotica, your player is the driver of a small race car, which is controlled by the joystick. Your object is to clear as many waves as possible. To clear a wave, pick up all the prizes that are scattered about the arena by running your car over them. Each time you pick up a prize, your car's speed increases. Meanwhile, a monster moves about the arena at random, leaving a deadly, checkered trail. If you touch the monster, his trail, or your own trail with your car, you lose a life.

Each wave contains one yellow dot, or energizer If you hit the energizer, you'll turn briefly into a Crobbler. While you're in this powerful form, you can eat your way through the monster's trail, as well as your own. You receive one point for each piece of trail that you ingest. When you hear the tone change in pitch, it means that your energy quotient is almost used up, and that you'll return to your original form shortly.

For each 100 points you score, you'll receive an extra car. At the start of each new wave, an additional prize is added to the total you must pick up. And every fifth wave, a new type of prize is offered. The game ends after the completion of 24 waves. To restart, press the joystick button.

Erik Wolpaw is a junior at Cleveland Heights High School in Cleveland, Ohio. ANTIC published an earlier game of Erik's, Air Raid 2000, in November of 1983.

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