Bad Blood

Overview

Bad Blood is post nuclear RPG played out in a pseudo isometric top-down view. It was released in 1989 by Origin Systems.

Plot

The game opens with scenes of nuclear devastation, followed by a camp fire conference taking place many years afterwards. Humans, or “humes” in the game, are tooling up for a war to eradicate all the mutants of the plains. Ressok, The mutant shaman leader or “Himmuk” of the Mardok village gathers the top three contenders in front of the elders to determine who is going to deal with the hume threat.

It is at this point where you chose one of three playable characters in selecting the game’s protagonist. There’s Dekker the human, who uses a knife and is quite weak. Jakka is a half mutant female with eye beam attack and Varigg – a big green mutant who’s tough, but can’t move freely in some “hume” areas of the game later on. Jakka is able to get away with movement in these areas because she can hide her mutation behind her “eyeblast” patch.

Aside from some additional tasks that Varigg has to do, the game is linear in progression and follows the travel here, find that,take it there, use it on that, talk to them approach to gameplay. The gaming area is large by standards of the day and consists of desert wastelands bound by rivers and rocky outcrops, a subway system, various villages, ruined cities and fortifications on the mutant plains. The game finishes in an underground bunker facility where your quest for peace in the plains ends with a confrontation with the evil Equitus.

Gameplay

The screen real-estate is divided into a large foreground picture with a TV set and a green bottle. The huge green bottle represents player health by faintly emptying as health is lost. The TV screen contains the actual game-play area. Controls on the TV set indicate keyboard keys that access the players inventory, or allow them to talk to NPCs, use or examine items, change game options or save the game.

Player movement in the game is limited to either X or Y directions only. There is no diagonal player movement in the game, which can impair evading enemies that can move diagonally. Most of the playable area in the game is post nuclear wasteland containing re-spawing creatures called “buzzars”, “turkles” and “urse”. Often, food items that replenish your health meter are left behind after battle.

There is no player map in the game, although a GPS co-ordinate display unit can be found later on. This display aids navigation between points of interest considerably. Initially, the playable area is bound by rocks and water, but a boat becomes available during the game that allows the player to reach new areas. The relentless questing can become confusing and the textual style of the game does not aid comprehension of the plot too much. The final underground bunker has some obtuse switch-flicking puzzles and a vital final area is impenetrable without using a “vibrablade” found earlier story, making this a difficult game to complete.

Retail Box Description

PULSE-POUNDING Arcade Action!

RADIOACTIVE Roleplaying!

The Ultimate Post-Apocalypse Saga!

ARE YOU MUTANT ENOUGH TO HANDLE IT?

In a world devastated by nuclear holocaust, the pure-blooded humans have sworn to exterminate their mutant cousins. Only you can prevent it!

EYE-POPPING GRAPHICS AND BONE-JARRING MUSIC

Battle dozens of lethal foes in real-time arcade combat. Gun-toting slavers, airborne buzzars and the terrible Urse push your survival skills to the ragged edge!

Arm yourself to the teeth with weapons like sawed-off shotguns, rapid-fire oozees and high-powered buzzooks.

Interact with the survivors in this blasted world using a fast-moving, menu-driven conversation system.

Explore searing wastelands, ramshackle towns, ravaged cities, and hidden underground complexes seething with forgotten technology and mutated monsters.

You're the hottest slicer in the village—that's why the Himukk picked you.

"If the humans attack," he said, "we're slag." See what's got'em wadded up, and try to fix it.

You've been trekkin' for days, hammerin' buzzars and turkels, huntin' the Oracle. For all you know, you're already too late.

With a blade in your hand and a oozee on your hip, you can take those snaky spuds. You hope…