B.A.T. (video game)

B.A.T. (expanded: Bureau of Astral Troubleshooters) is a futuristic point and click adventure game with some role-playing video game elements. It was first released in 1989 and available on several home computer platforms, mostly in 1990 and 1991. It was developed by Computer's Dream and published by Ubi Soft. A sequel, "B.A.T. II – The Koshan Conspiracy", was released in 1992.
Atari ST dongle.
The Atari ST version shipped with a dongle purporting to be a 16-channel sound card. This was required to play the game, but resulted in no sound being transmitted to the attached monitor or television, and to get any sound at all the user was forced to either play the game wearing headphones plugged into the dongle, or purchase external speakers. It is also dubious whether the dongle produced higher quality sound, since the music did not feature any more channels than regular sound-chip music.
The card actually contained a 12-bit DAC, giving the dynamic range for 16 simultaneous 8-bits samples at the expense of the CPU given the lack of DMA. The game audio itself only used up to 4 simultaneous samples.
Reception.
"Computer Gaming World" praised the NPCs and graphics of the Amiga version of "B.A.T.", but criticized the combat, puzzles, user interface, and arcade sequences. The magazine advised traditional RPG fans to avoid the game.