About Berzap! ------------- Finally, the finest game ever to come from the corporate R&D labs of Infinity Limited is now playing on an AE line near you. Yes friends, it's BERZAP!, the very same action-packed, thought-provoking, arcade-adventure-business- simulation game that EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT. Now, you're probably wondering what this game's doing up on an AE line, if it's as GOOD as "they" say. A valid question. You see, it all started three years ago... "One fine day a young up-and-coming programmer was sitting around in his room, wondering what nifty-neato Basic program to write next. Ahh, those were innocent days. But suddenly, through a freak nuclear accident, he was transformed into Captain Infinity, a powerful assembly language programmer. The Captain took it as his sworn duty to right the horrible injustices that he saw going on in the Apple Software World. He made "Infinimods" a household word. But still, he wasn't satisfied. After getting a copy of "Thief", he embarked on his Quest: to write THE Apple version of Berzerk. But the powers of evil wouldn't stand idly by. There was the fell Atari corporation, whose many battalions of evil lawyers would thwart any attempt to publish an Apple version of Berzerk. Software publishers turned away from the Captain's game in droves, out of fear of incurring the wrath of Atari. And so, in attempt to get his game out, DESPITE THE CONSPIRACY OF EVIL, the Captain has been reduced to his latest marketing scheme..." The Marketing Scheme The Captain is committed. The Captain SHOULD be committed. The Captain is committed to getting his program into the hands of a deprived public. So, to realize this goal, we at Infinity Limited are asking you to PIRATE THIS PROGRAM. Give it to your friends. Put it up on an AE line. Leave a copy in your computer when the 13-yr-olds come over. WE DON'T CARE. We just want this damned thing OUT. Now, since we are in business to make money, HOWEVER FEEBLE THE AMOUNT, we'd really appreciate it if you send $15 (check or m.o.) to us at: Infinity Ltd. 4731 Richmond St. Philadelphia, PA 19137 but only if you like the game. That's it. None of this "You have to throw money at us to become a LEGAL user" crap that SOME companies have pulled. If you don't like the program, fine, you don't have to send us A DAMNED CENT. Of course, we think you'll like it. And, if the thrill of supporting a good program isn't enough for you, WE'LL BUY YOUR VOTE. That's right. We'll pay you to pirate our program. How many other companies can make THAT claim? Here's how it works: You send us $15 and the serial number off the disk that you already have. We'll send you your own personal copy of Berzap! with a different serial number, not to mention plenty of Berzap! propoganda. Then, you give out copies of YOUR Berzap! disk (the one you bought). For each person that decides to buy a copy after pirating a copy of your disk, (and thus sending in YOUR serial number with their $15) you'll get $2. You heard right. We'll pay you $2 for every person you can convince to buy our program. An interesting idea would be to buy a copy and then put it up on every AE line you know. You might also consider throwing a copy at every user group in the area. You could almost certainly get enough sales to pay for your own copy, and you could probably make some PROFIT on the deal. (NOTE: If you decide to put a copy up on an AE line, please put up a copy of this text file, too, just so they'll understand The Berzap! Concept.) The Berzap! Concept You're probably saying "But what the HELL is Berzap!" Glad you asked. The Scenario: This game takes place some time in the future. You've been training in COMSI (the Conspiracy Of Mindless Saboteurs, Inc.) for several years. You have just been handed your toughest assignment to date. Your instructors have dropped you at the headquarters of a huge alien mega- corporation, weaponless (except, of course, your trusty Kill-O-Zap particle beam weapon, which you never go ANYWHERE without). Your Mission: Escape, preferably alive. To escape, you will have to pass through the vast maze of workstations, past incredible numbers of deadly Biz-Ad robots, and up to the fifteenth-floor spaceport. As you climb higher up in the building, not to mention the corporate ladder, you'll find that the low-level Biz-Ads are replaced by the well-armed Yes-Men, and finally by the extremely dangerous Executive-Secretaries. On your way up you will also have to make it past the Junior-Executive-Pool, where great lines of Junior-Executives march back and forth. The Hardware Berzap! is a "hardware" game. It can be played with joystick, keyboard, or Joyport (not that anyone ELSE has one, mind you). It supports the Mockingboard Sound II, the Mockingboard Sound/Speech, the Mockingboard "A", and the Mockingboard "C". It does not support the Mockingboard "D", mainly because the Captain doesn't have a //c. In fact, Berzap! does a HELL of a lot more than "support" those boards. "Skyfox" (from Electronic Arts) "supports" the Mockingboard, and you can see where that got it. Berzap! doesn't just "support" the Mockingboard, it EXPLOITS IT TO IT'S FULLEST. Berzap! is, without a doubt, the best example of what can be done with a Mockingboard. If you have a board you should buy a copy of Berzap! for that reason alone. The Keys From the title page you can press either Ctrl-C to change the hardware settings, or Ctrl-Z to erase the high score table. During the game you can press Ctrl-C to change the hardware, Ctrl-S to turn the Apple's speaker on/off, Ctrl-R to restart the game, or Ctrl-T to return to the title page. If you are attempting to play without a joystick (a bad move), use the 3x3 key cluster around the "H" key (T, Y, U, G, H, J, B, N, M) to move, and use either the "1" key or the "-" key to fire. And then go buy a joystick. Scoring You'll will be awarded 50 points for each Biz-Ad, Yes-Man, or Executive- Secretary that you can persuade to die. This includes shooting them, running into them, having them walk into walls, or any other interesting effects you can think up. In the Junior-Executive-Pool, the robots are lined up according to rank. The robots in the first column score 10 points, second column, 20, and so on to the Bouncing-Infinibots, which score 50 points apiece. The Infinimods Infinity Limited was founded on the principle of "seeing the neat thing at the end", and rather than have someone else modify Berzap! so you can see "the neat thing at the end", we decided to do it ourselves. While playing the game you can press any of the following: Ctrl-@, Ctrl-I, and Ctrl-M. Ctrl-@: This turns "Infinimode" on, as denoted by an Infini-symbol up by the Berzap! logo. This will give you an infinite number of lives. No matter how many times you die, the game will not end. The only way for the game to end is to restart it (Ctrl-R). Ctrl-I: This lets you leap ahead to the Junior-Executive-Pool. To use it, press Ctrl-I, or the "Tab" key if you have one, and then exit via the right, top, or bottom door. Ctrl-M: This will let you leap ahead to the spaceport on level 15. To use it, press Ctrl-M (the "return" key), and exit via the door on the right side of the screen. Note, however that the point of an Infinimod is NOT to get your name at the top of the high score list. Therefore, any scores you may get through the use of these special keys will NOT be eligible for the High Score Table. Sorry, but that would sort of ruin the whole purpose of the table. Coming Soon! Yes, we at I.L. aren't content to sit around on our past accomplishments. Why, real soon now you'll be able to pirate a copy of "Beta Strike". Yes, Beta Strike. Finally, the ultimate flight simulator. Full color, solid body, real-time 3-D graphics, updated at least 10 times per second. Whether you're soaring through the upper ionosphere, or just buzzing some of the hi-res cows, the word is "realism". Incredible? Of course. Impossible? Probably. We at Infinity Ltd. EXPECT the impossible, or at least the inherently contradictory. In Closing... Well, that about wraps it up. Questions, fan mail, and letter-bombs may be sent to our corporate headquarters. The Captain may also be reached at KAOS: (215) 537-KAOS, the BBS of the stars. Or something... The boys down in the Infamous Infinity Ltd. Marketing Division