..CRISIS CENTER: 1 Player, Joystick.. and Keyboard.....This is a 54-minute real-time..simulation that takes place in one of..3 cities. The object of the game is to..resolve emergencies that arise by..sending the appropriate equipment..needed to handle the situation.....For example, there might be a hotel..burning somewhere. You have ambulances,..fire trucks, police cars and SWAT teams..at your disposal. Crowd control could..become a real problem, so you had..better send some police cars along with..the fire trucks. And, of course, you'll..need some ambulances.....If you have the right combination and..number of vechicles to handle the..situation, the people will be saved. On..the other hand, if you don't get the..right combination in time, you'll lose..points for lives lost! If enough lives..are lost, you'll be fired and the game..will end. The more serious emergencies..are worth more points. Therefore, you..should try to resolve the most critical..situations before handling the lesser..emergencies....... PLAYING THE GAME:....After pressing START, you'll be asked..to choose a city. Each city has its own..level of difficulty based on crime rate..and population. Dallas is the easiest,..followed by L.A., and New York. When..you have made your selection, a map of..your city will appear at the top of the..screen and the game will begin.....The top section of the screen also..contains a status display that is..continually updated during the game...The status screen displays readouts of..how many of each vehicle are currently..available at headquarters, an emergency..counter which shows how many crisis..situations are currently ongoing, your..current score and a real-time clock...The game begins at 12:30 P.M., and will..end at 1:39 unless your score falls..below zero, in which case the game is..ended.....You have two communication links at..headquarters. The primary communication..system is a half-duplex system. To gain control of this communication system,..you must wait until any message you are..receiving is finished and then press..the joystick button to obtain sending..priority. Once you have communication..control, you'll see a command screen...The other communication link is the..emergency phone which is explained in..the following Command Section....... COMMANDS:....Select one of the four commands by..moving the joystick in the designated..direction.......SEND: This allows you to dispatch..vehicles to crisis locations. After..selecting the send command, another..stick diagram appears. Choose which..type of vehicle to send. Then the..locations are given in a stick diagram..with the choice 'MORE' at the bottom...If the location you wish to send a..vehicle does not appear on the menu,..select the 'MORE' option until you find..it.....You'll be asked how many units you..want to send. Type the number and press..RETURN. You'll hear the units leave..Command Headqurters.......RECALL: You'll be prompted for which..type of unit you wish to recall and..from what location. If you attempt to..recall more units from a .f..tion than..there actually are, no units at all..will be returned and you'll have to..try again.....STATUS: This command is included in..case you forget where your emergency..teams are located. For instance, if..all your fire trucks are off-station,..you must recall them before they can be..sent out again.....Select which type of vehicle you need..a status report on, and all ten..locations will be displayed with how..many of that unit type are there.......PHONE: Throughout the game the..emergency phone will ring. It rings..more often in the higher difficulty..games. You must select the 'ANSWER..PHONE' command to find out what..emergency is being phoned in.....If you do not answer the phone in two..or three minutes from when the phone..first starts ringing, that emergency..will have deterioated to the point of..disaster, and an unanswered phone..message will appear that describes the..result. The value of that particular..emergency will be deducted from your..score.....The phone emergency could be one of..small point value, like a simple..traffic accident. On the other hand,..it could be worth lots of points, so..you should stop working on your current..emergency and answer the phone if you..wish to avoid losing points.....You begin the game with 200 points. If..your score falls below zero, the game..ends and you'll be fired from your..position. The simulation is designed to..be a test of endurance, recall and..common sense. The situations have been..worded to enhance the sense of realism.....There is no 'PAUSE' feature since you..should never leave your station..unattended. However, if you must pause..the game, you should select the status..command and choose a vehicle. The..status screen will stay up until you..press the fire button. Though the clock..will appear not to change during the..break, it's still running. So if the..phone was ringing when you took a..break, and you're gone long, when you..come back you'll lose some points.......HINT: Up to four (4) emergencies may..be on-going at the same time. One..limitation the program has is that it..can only solve one emergency at a time,..so it only checks for the correct..situation after a send command.....If you have two emergencies occurring..at the same location and feel you have..sent enough equipment to resolve both..emergencies, then after you receive..points for one of them, send another..unit to get the points for the other..emergency...