PLATOON (C) 1987 OCEAN DOCUMENTED BY HOK 

The first casualty of war is innocence. 

Use a joystick in port two. 

General key-commands for all levels: 
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M : Turn music on. 
O : Turn music off. 
P : Turn pause mode on. 
G : Turn pause mode off. 

Level 1: Combat zone & bridge & village 
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You must lead your platoon deep into thedepths of the Vietnamese jungle and ultimately the village. Once there, you will search the huts for useful objects and ultimately find a trapdoor in one ofthe huts that will lead you to an under-ground network of tunnels. 
The jungle contains many perils such as armed patrols, booby-traps, assassins intrees and concealed 'hides' where deadlysnipers lie in wait. During your trek stay vigilant for a box of explosives left by a previous platoon. This must becollected before reaching the bridge which must be blown up to prevent a 'gook' squad from following you and trying to kill you. To destroy the bridge, you must have collected the explosives and they will be planted as you cross the bridge. Food, ammunition and medical supplies left by enemy guerillas can be picked up and used. Forbest results, spread supplies equally between the soldiers in your platoon. 

List of objectives in this section: 
1. Find explosives. 
2. Find bridge. 
3. Place explosives on bridge. 
4. Find the village. 
5. Search huts for a torch and a map. 
6. Find the trapdoor. 

You control one man at a time using yourjoystick this way: 
UP : Jump, walk up, enter hut, examine object in hut. 
DOWN : Duck, walk down, leave hut. 
LEFT : Walk left. R
IGHT : Walk right. 
FIRE : Shoot. 

Special key-commands for level 1: 
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SPACE : Throw a grenade. 
F1, F3, F5, F7 : Show status panel. 

When the status panel is on screen, you can change control of a soldier by pressing joystick up, down and fire. 

Morale: 
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The morale-display shows the strength ofyour platoon. Every time a man gets wounded or an unarmed villager is shot it decreases. By collecting supplies it can increase. 

Hits: 
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A soldier can take 3 hits. Every time heis wounded he will get 1 hit. After 4 hits he will die and the status panel will show 'Killed in action'. When all 5members are dead, a game is over. 

Score: 
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Score is gained by shooting enemy soldiers, collecting objects, destroyingthe bridge and a large bonus is awarded if the section is completed. 

Other displays: 
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There is one display showing the number of grenades left and one showing the rounds of ammunition left. 

Hints and tips for level 1: 
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* Watch out for enemies jumping down from trees and the ones hidden in the underground; well-placed grenades will blow up the latter. 
* When a member has more than 2 wounds, change it to ensure as many survivors as possible. 
* When you pick up supplies, transfer them to the members which need them most at that moment. 
* Try to map the whole level, it helps. 

Level 2: The tunnel system 
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Leaving the rest of the platoon in the village, you volunteer to go down the trapdoor, whereupon you find yourself inan underground tunnel system. You have got a map and a torch which enable you to find your way through. The map is shown to the right with an arrow pointing in the direction you are facing. The tunnels are full of enemies who want to kill you. They usually appear around corners, but some of them swim as close as they can and then spring up in front of you and use their small machetes. The tunnels also containrooms in which you can find valuable items such as medical supplies, ammunition and secret documents.
It is very important that you find two boxes of flares and a compass. You will need these items later on in the game and without them you will not be able tocomplete this level. 

Controls for level 2: 
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This level is entirely controlled by joystick. 
There are 3 control modes: 
UP : 	Walk forward (A). 
	Move crosshair up (B&C). 
DOWN : 	Move crosshair down (B&C). 
LEFT : 	Rotate left (A). 
	Move crosshair left (B&C). 
RIGHT : Rotate right (A). 
	Move crosshair right (B&C). 
FIRE : 	Shoot (A&B), examine (C). 

MODE A : Moving through the tunnels. When an enemy soldier appears, mode B takes over. 
MODE B : Move crosshair over your target and press fire to remove it. If you hit, mode A takes over. 
MODE C : When you enter a room, move the crosshair around and press fire to examine objects. If needed, items are taken automatically. To leave the room, press fire with the crosshair over the exit icon (bottom right). 

This section has no villagers in it, so everybody down there is an enemy. 

Hints and tips for level 2: 
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* Search all rooms and remember where useful objects are located. 

Level 3: In the dug-out 
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Upon finding the exit in the tunnel system, you find yourself in a dug-out. Night has fallen, you are tired and doubtful of the terrain and the positionof the enemy. Thus you decide to rest inthe dug-out until confirmation comes through from base camp. Unfortunately, abunch of guerillas suspect your locationand will have no hesitation in attackingyou. You have your machine gun and a supply of flares to light up the night sky in order to see the enemy silhouetted against the horizon. But be prudent, supplies are limited as is the time of illumination. You must ensure that you do shoot each enemy soldier yousee as your own muzzle flash will give away your position and anyone who is left standing will find it easy to locate and kill you. Again everybody yousee in here is an enemy, so try to shootthem all. 

Controls in level 3: 
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UP : Move crosshair up. 
DOWN : Move crosshair down. 
LEFT : Move crosshair left. 
RIGHT : Move crosshair right. 
FIRE : Execute enemy. 

Special key-commands in level 3: 
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SPACE : Release flare. 

Hints and tips for level 3: 
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* Shoot attackers immediately. 
* Conserve ammunition and flares by sending flares up regularly and removing each attacker with a short, well-placed burst of fire - not a long, inaccurate barrage. 
* When you get hit, hurry up. Otherwise you will get hit directly again. 

Level 4: Jungle confrontation & Barnes 
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Having survived the night in the dugout, you go in search of sergeant Elias,the platoon leader. However, you meet sergeant Barnes who informs you that Elias is dead, killed in combat. Shortlyafter, you see from a far distance that sergeant Elias is in fact alive and is, pursued by guerillas, running for his life. In front of your eyes you see your sergeant being mowed down in a hailof gun fire. You are now hatred of sergeant Barnes, because he had lied andis indirectly responsible for Elias' death by not aiding him. But before you have time to do anything, you hear a cracle come over the radio - a transmission from the general. An air strike is planned at 1000 hours. That means that the section of the jungle where youare in will be napalmed in 2 minutes, asit is crawling with guerillas. 
That just about gives you time to reach a safe area and take cover from the air-borne onslaught. You have been given thecompass bearings of a safe area and you must make your way there as fast as possible. Otherwise you will be blown upby your own air-force. 
Once you reached the safe area, you are attacked by sergeant Barnes, who is hatred of you, because you have figured out what happened between him and Elias.Thus he wants to eliminate you here without any witnesses or any other evidence. From his foxhole, he throws grenades at you and tries to kill you. You must remove Barnes from the bunker in order to avoid the napalm. The cover that is afforded Barnes, makes machine gun fire rather ineffective leaving you with the only option of a frontal assault with your grenades. You must, infact, score five direct hits with your grenades into the foxhole. 
You will find the box of grenades at thestart of the screen and these must be picked up immediately. 

Controls in level 4: 
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UP : Move up the screen. 
DOWN : Move down the screen. 
LEFT : Move left. 
RIGHT : Move right. 
FIRE : Shoot. 

Once you have picked up the grenades, press fire to throw a grenade. The amount of grenades is not limited. 

Hints and tips for level 4: 
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* Find out the fastest route and use it every time. 
* Keep moving as enemy fire is directed straight at you. 
* In order to make good time, certain screens will have to be rushed. Other more difficult screens may be negotiated after you have cleared the way of all visible attackers. 

So much for the documents. 

Credits: 
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(C) 1986 Hemdale Film Corporation. 
Game design (C) 1987 Ocean. 
Programmed by Zach Townsend. 
Graphics by Andrew Sleigh and Martin Macdonald. 
Music & Fx by Jonathan Dunn. 

This was a Remember service! 
Now enjoy a great game! 
All work on Platoon was done in 1998 by Jack Alien and HOK of Remember. 