Locomotion
arcade train game for Commodore 64, 1985
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Locomotion is a flick screen game where you take control of a locomotive from
the Wild West days to collect trucks of gold to deliver to the bank. The game
has two modes - Adventure and Arcade; both have four difficulty levels. In
Adventure you are able to speed up or slow down the locomotive along the
tracks and also control the points of the track ahead to change to new
tracks. As you explore the area you will encounter trucks and these contain
various items as well as gold and these include livestock, fuel and a
sheriff. To hook up to a truck, you must reverse at 20mph or less and you
automatically pick the truck up. You can also unhook any trucks when you
stop.
On some sections of the track are broken parts and you need to unhook the
right truck next to the broken part to repair it. Bandits from Mexico are in
the area and if you stop next to them for a few seconds then they steal your
gold unless you have a truck with a sheriff in it. Runaway trains roam the
tracks driven by the ghosts of previous drivers looking to keep the gold. To
keep the train moving you need to keep your fuel and water levels up by
stopping at fuel dumps or water towers. If you crash, hit a ghost train or
run out of fuel or water then you lose one of five lives.
In Arcade mode you have no control of the speed of the locomotive and you have
to survive for as long as possible by changing the points to move on to new
tracks. If you crash then it is game over.
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Some useful keyboard shortcuts
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[PAUSE] - stop/continue game
[F9] - quick load game state
[F12] - quick save game state (still stored after leaving the site)
[F11] - toggle fullscreen mode
[ScrollLock] - quick switch control ports
[PageDown] - make a screenshot (320x200)