Exile for the BBC Micro
There are several versions of Exile. I couldn't find a whole lot of screenshots from the BBC Micro version on the internet, so I made this page. I used the BBC Micro emulator "BeebEm".
The title screen. The suit design is a bit different here, and I think the robot design is used later in the C64 version of Exile. The purple was probably less extreme when viewed on a TV screen.
JoyToKey is an incredibly useful program which lets you control the keyboard with the joystick. Exile is quite difficult to play with the keyboard, so if you have a joypad with a dozen buttons it will help immensely.
CONTROLS ----------------------------------------------------- By mashing the keyboard, I figured out the following: Q Move left W Move right P Jet up L Jet down Ctrl/AltGr Lie down O Adjust aim up K Adjust aim down I Set aim straight ahead M+1 Pick up and hold item S Store held item G Take out item and hold it (cycle) M Prime and drop grenade / Drop item M+2 Prime and throw grenade / Throw item Space Fire gun / Prime held grenade Func# Use gun # (switch between weapons) Arrows Scroll the view around.
These are not all of the keys. For more detailed information, see this Exile information page.
What's on the menu? In BeebEm you can Map F1-F10 to f0-f9 under Options. If that's too confusing, you can just use F10 as F0. You can load and save freely, and Catalogue lets you view the contents of the disk.
A status screen. Exile for the BBC Micro doesn't have an ingame HUD showing the player's equipment. However, the player will flash if health is low, and if the player is holding an item it's shown graphically.
You can view your current position from the menu. In this case I'm still aboard the Perseus.
(Y)es, you may. In BeebEm, Hardware / BBC Model >: Set model to BBC Model B plus. The extra memory gives you a larger view area and also nice speech effects.
Triax (left) steals the vital 'destinator' aboard Perseus. The player has no easy task in getting it back.
The Pericles is a derelict ship left by the previous expedition to the planet. It has been disassembled for parts which were moved down into the cave system below. Someone has placed a hostile turret underneath, and it's shooting me right in the guts.
Oh yeah, there are two grenades in a compartment above, which presents the player with an interesting choice: Blow up the door with one grenade and get two grenades, or open the door with a key later on. Also, if the door is blown open there's a chance that all of the grenades will go off.
It's possible to aim up and down at any angle. This features comes in handy quite often, and with the aim mapped to joypad buttons it's easier to use in the fray of battle. The aim is marked by flashing pixels. You can also scroll around with the arrow keys. Since turrets which are not in view won't update this gives you the ability to sneak past things (although here I have scrolled up just to show the turret).
The grenade bounced and hit the door. It will be a while before it goes off. The first grenade can be found behind a bush on the surface.
The grenades are very limited in supply, but they produce a powerful explosion. Duck and cover! Later in the game there are some doors which require even more powerful explosives. There are also remote controls which just opens the doors, but where's the fun in that?
Attacked by flashing balls which suddenly appears out of the upside down tubes.
Augh! The bees! An obnoxious bird which follows you around will actually eat these. You can also catch the bees and trade them with the imps for new items. All the caves have names, and this one is called "Hamlet".
Break and Entry. There's a red robot guarding gun. There's a remote control key for this door not far from here, but I'm using a grenade. One fun thing about the remote controls is that they actually fire a beam which collide with the door, and you have to aim it. Exile has lots of physics based gameplay like that.
The blue mushrooms which these imps throw will temporarily disable the jetpack. The red robot is in pursuit wants you dead, it even says so out loud. The gun from before fell down here too.
Taking a bath with my friend the red robot. The palette of the player character changes when submerged in water. The water plays an important part in some puzzles.
The robots likes to guard stuff. I'm stealing a power pod which can be used to recharge a weapon. The power pods explode if you don't pick them up quickly. Above are some robots which you come into contact with later in the game. The blue one is called the chatter bot, and it's a mobile factory of sorts.
This turret has been the bane of many. It fires a rapid stream of explosive balls.
No infringement intended. Exile was made by Peter Irvin and Jeremy Smith. It was published by Superior Software and released for the BBC Micro in 1988.
Page by Niklas Jansson, 2009.