''Traffic Department 2192'' is a top down multidirectional shooter for

IBM PC compatible IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such computers were referred to as PC clones, IBM clones or IBM PC clones. ...

s, developed by P-Squared Productions and released in 1994 by Safari Software and distributed by

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. The full game contains three episodes (Alpha, Beta, Gamma), each with twenty missions, in which the player pilots a "hoverskid" about a war-torn city to complete certain mission objectives. The game was released as

freeware Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the f ...

under the Creative Commons License CC BY-ND 3.0 in 2007.

Plot

The player takes on the role of Lieutenant Marta Louise Velasquez, a hot-tempered young pilot working for the Traffic Department in the city of Vulthaven, on the planet Seche, in the year 2192. Since the vile gang known as the Vultures began attempts to take over the planet, the Traffic Department has become the only law-enforcement in the city. As the game's introduction explains, fourteen years earlier, Velasquez saw her father Ric killed by the Vultures while returning from garrison duty. The story deals with Velasquez's aggressive attitude towards everybody she meets, apparently caused by the painful memory of her father. Intertwined is a complex

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story of cloning, mind control, and

cybernetics Cybernetics is a wide-ranging field concerned with circular causality, such as feedback, in regulatory and purposive systems. Cybernetics is named after an example of circular causal feedback, that of steering a ship, where the helmsperson m ...

, combined with a tale of betrayal,

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, and warfare.

Development

The game was scored by Robert A. Allen. However, John Pallett-Plowright wrote ''Satair'', and his 13-year-old brother, Michael Pallett-Plowright, also known as Owen Pallett, wrote ''Menu'', ''Vulture'', ''Intro 2'', and ''Death''. The most notable aspect of the series is the detailed and often complex script by Christopher Perkins. The game features lengthy cutscenes before and after each of the sixty missions. Each cutscene spans across multiple scenes, giving the game's storyline a reported length of 50,000 words. The cutscenes are made up of conversations between two or more characters on the screen with static 3D images of locations cut between each scene. The game's dialogue features both

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and sexually-suggestive language, but there is an option at the start of the game to disable all mature content. Over the years the series has developed a small dedicated fan base that has produced

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models of the various "skids" in the series.

References

External links

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Review and download
1994 video games Creative Commons-licensed video games DOS games DOS-only games Multidirectional shooters Freeware games Video games about police officers Video games developed in Canada Video games developed in the United States Video games featuring female protagonists Video games set in the 22nd century Video games set on fictional planets