Games published by Hodder and Stoughton Software
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James Herbert's The Rats
Based on the novel by James Herbert, The Rats is a game that combines elements of strategy and a text adventure in which you control several characters in a battle to control and kill a huge swarm of rats invading London. If the rats spread beyond London and reach the rest of Britain, it's game over. You start the game as Foskins looking at a map of London with flashing white squares showing reports of rat sightings. Here you can view the report, deploy forces or activate the investigation with Howard.
You have several forces to deploy in the infected areas, such as rat killers, police, firefighters or the army (a last resort), and you must manage them carefully, as you only have a limited amount. You also have limited equipment you can use which includes offensive equipment such as gas, rifles and dogs, as well as defenses such as shields and suits. Some equipment can only be used by certain types of forces. As you deploy, you can initiate research with Howard and this includes origins, defense, offense and nature.
As you fight to save London with Foskins, from time to time the adventure part of the game is interrupted and you can take on the role of main characters such as Harris, Howard and Foskins, as well as minor characters from the book such as Pauline Blakely who is trying to save herself and her baby. The situation each character finds themselves in is an encounter with the rats and their struggle for survival. The screen has text describing the situation and there are several options to select such as go, take and attack and as this part is in real time you don't have much time to make these decisions or face death with the graphics of the rats attacking the screen.
Letting the rats spread out from London, the main characters dying or your forces running out means it's game over and you receive your score. The keyboard is used to control the game.
