Alternate Reality: The City
| Industry | Video game publishing |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | United States |
| Products | Video games, including Alternate Reality: The City |
Alternate Reality: The City is a role-playing game from 1985, published by Datasoft and marking the debut of the Alternate Reality franchise. Created by Paradise Programming under the design direction of Philip Price, it was made available on various platforms such as Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Apple II, Macintosh, Atari ST, Amiga, MS-DOS, and the TRS-80 Color Computer. The soundtrack was composed by Gary Gilbertson.
Technology
Progress in the game is saved using a specially prepared, blank disk referred to as the "Character Disk."
Reception
In a review for Computer Gaming World, Scorpia offered a mixed assessment of Alternate Reality: The City. She commended the intricate visual design and the large-scale city exploration but pointed out issues with unclear goals and monotonous combat once players had mapped out the city. The 8-bit editions omitted certain elements such as guild affiliations, and the Apple version was criticized for its inferior graphics quality. By 1993, Scorpia characterized the title as "an intriguing concept that ultimately failed to deliver," suggesting it only to those gamers with considerable perseverance.
The Macintosh and Atari ST editions received ratings of 3 out of 5 stars each from Dragon magazine reviewers in 1988. Additionally, both Alternate Reality: The City and its follow-up Alternate Reality: The Dungeon were evaluated in issue #135 of Dragon, earning 3 stars and 2½ stars respectively.
Reviews
- Casus Belli #33 (June 1986)
- Games #70 (December 1985)