Psytron

Psytron is a video game in the action genre and published by Beyond originally released in 1984. It is currently playable on Commodore 64.

To keep the Betula 5 facility running smoothly and to protect it, it is run by a central computer called Psytron that keeps oxygen levels stable, assigns food and tasks and, most importantly, protects the facility from any saboteurs or attacks. The game allows you to take on the role of Psytron, but instead of jumping into the deep end and overwhelming the player, you play through five levels that introduce new tasks at each level to help you get the hang of the game before attempting to play level six, The Final Conflict. You must play each level five times and your goal is to get an average score of 50% or higher to move on to the next level. The levels are:

Level One: The alien invaders are transporting Tri-Pedroids into the airlock service tunnel that surrounds the entire base. Their goal is to damage the airlocks, so you control a chase droid that must move through the tunnel and destroy any saboteurs you encounter during a five-minute period. Even if the airlocks are damaged and you can see ships in the sky, your only objective is to destroy the saboteurs in this level. A radar at the bottom of the screen shows the location of any saboteurs and your position.

Second level: Now you have to defend the skies and you control a crosshead and you must move around the facility to shoot any alien ship that intends to bomb the facility for five minutes once again. A radar shows the position of the ships and yours, as well as whether the alien ship is about to bomb.

Level 3: This level combines level one and two and you must switch game modes to protect the facility from being bombed or the airlocks being damaged for a period of ten minutes.

Level 4: In addition to defending the facility from the skies and the service tunnel, you must now send crews to repair any damaged airlocks or buildings. To help you, you can use freeze time, which slows down the game but you only have limited use, and also fuel, which allows freeze time. You have ten minutes to survive, but you need an average score of 60%.

Level 5: The last level before The Final Conflict and now you combine levels one to four plus you have to keep the facility supplies at their correct levels using freezetime once again. You have to take into account the weight the supply ship can carry and the time it takes to arrive and unload. Again you have ten minutes but with an average score of 65%.

The final conflict: You now have full control of Psytron and must keep the facility running, deploy crews and defend the base from bombers and saboteurs. Try to keep the facility running for as long as possible, aiming for an hour.

Actually, there was a competition where the best score earned you a Q.L. computer, where your score combined your Final Conflict score and your average scores from previous levels.

It is possible that we have multiple downloads available when different versions exist.