Forgotten PC Games: B.A.T. II - The Koshan Conspiracy
Decided to create another new series, this one talking about old PC games that I remember fondly from my childhood. These are games that stuck in my head and set up shop. I may not have even finished them or played them much compared to other games, but the graphics, the concept, whatever really stuck with me. Hope you enjoy and let me know if you have memories of these games as well!
B.A.T. II - The Koshan Conspiracy
PUBLISHER: Ubi Soft
DEVELOPER: Computer’s Dream
RELEASE DATE: 1992 (Amiga, DOS), 1993 (Atari ST)
Back in 1992, when Ubisoft was still styled as Ubi Soft, the company published B.A.T. II: The Koshan Conspiracy, a follow-up to B.A.T. and short for Bureau of Astral Troubleshooters, of course. Developed by Computer’s Dream, the sequel dropped players into a strange cyberpunk universe full of interplanetary politics, shady trusts, valuable minerals, assassins, wrist computers, and tons of nonsense words.
The set up for the story is presented as an introductory text crawl once you boot up the game. It is packed with invented terms, political intrigue, economic warfare and enough proper nouns to make you feel like you’re reading a Robert Jordan fantasy novel:
The economic universe is in crisis. Koshan, a Shedishan planet trust, holds a monopoly of Echiatone 21, a very valuable material.
The Arzonian Beteker Trust is the last fortress against this monopoly.
With such a stranglehold on Echiatone by Koshan, the C.F.G (confederation of the galaxies: the Earth government) decided to launch an undercover operation to destroy Koshan and take over its monopoly.
To accomplish this, C.F.G contacted the B.A.T, who assigned Sylvia Hadford to the mission.
She pretends to be the daughter of a sage close to the Shedish throne and says that she has enough title deeds of the natural satellite of Shedishan to take it over. This satellite, called Bedhin6, has the largest deposit of Echiatone in the system.
She proves her claim by showing a document bearing the royal seal and stating that the old Shedish king Ab’Dish II granted rights to the satellite to several people for services to the throne.
An enquiry is started and a new appointment set with the judge handling the case.
Shortly after Sylvia survives an assassination attempt (two sniffers are killed).
The B.A.T decides to send another agent mascarading as Jehan Menasis (arrested on earth on a false drug charge) to find the title deeds and complete the mission as requested by the C.F.G.
Sylvia will be your first contact on Shedishan at Mantoue Manor, a hotel in the Shedishan capital city, Roma II…
Whew! So many made-up terms plus an economic war over a valuable mineral? Sign me up! But seriously, the opening crawl makes no sense. For a kid, this is the kind of stuff you would gloss over before clicking your way into the actual game. However, we do have to remember that Ubi Soft is a French studio and some of the English translation may not have been the best, especially in 1992. Still, right out of the gate, the game can be a little overwhelming to get into.
