Alternate Reality was a game ahead of its time, at least in concept. As a teenager, who hasn't dreamt of escaping to a far off land and having adventures. The concept is you are captured by aliens and then put in an "alternate reality" which is very D & D themed. The graphics were pretty good for the time, and friends and I would swap maps as we explored.
The series was slated for seven games I believe, but technology was too fast for the game to keep up and only one sequel was released, the dungeon.
The game really led me to more of the modern games like Everquest and such, so it was very inspiring to say the least.
One down fall of the game was constantly having to switch disks for a battle or moving to other areas of the city. In this day and age, the time between would be considered non playable, but at the time, it was just the way it was. Some other highlights from the game were visiting the pub where songs would be "sung" -by that I mean the music would play (the old midi style) and words would be highlighted at the bottom of the screen to go along with the music. It was actually pretty revolutionary for the
time and it if some of those songs weren't infectious. I can still recall the tune from on of them to this day.
As for the basic gameplay, you wonder around the city, looking to "level up", but with a goal in mind. Eventually you want to get strong enough by the 7th game to stick it to your captors and go home. It was an interesting promise never quite fulfilled since only 2 games were released. Still, it was fun to get items to use and wear. There were also puzzles of a sort to figure out and other items that were not so desirable. I recall picking up a "lodestone" which basically prevented you from moving at all. Not a good thing when trying to move around the city. And there was the bank - a fairly new concept in these types of games. You would actually earn interest on money you kept in the bank, though you had to be careful about it going belly up.
All in all, a great game and one that really needs to be acknowledging for its influence on future games.
