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the sort of adventure that will appeal to those hardened
and cynical adventurers who tackle such delights as
the Infocom series. However, it might well suit the
younger apprentice wizards, as limited interaction and
locations make it quite a simple game.
You
take the role of Ed Lines (you're a journalist if you
couldn't guess), and you're writing about a life aboard
a modern submarine. Suddenly (there's always a suddenly)
you're attacked and, before you can submerge, the enemy
takes the whole crew. Luckily, you've hidden and have
remained undiscovered. Great, until you find that the
sub has been sunk. Find the telex room to send a message
and you'll be rescued . . . otherwise a watery grave
awaits.
The
game features graphics, if you can call them graphics.
They're very poor indeed, created from the in-built
Commodore graphics set. They don't add to the game whatsoever.
What is more, there is no separate text window -- the
graphics scroll upwards with the messages.
There
are sounds too. These, like the graphics, are horrible.
After the opening tune the sound reverts to horrendous
pings, pongs and screeches. Worse still, the noises
hold up play -- you have to wait for the game to go
through the sound for a location every time you enter
it.
The
vocabulary is limited and the responses are very unhelpful
-- 'I Can't' is the standard response for non-comprehension.
For example, 'Examine manual' gives 'There's writing
on it!'. Following that up with 'Read' or 'Examine writing'
will give the stoical 'I can't'. Getting the manual,
as with all objects, results in 'OK' . . . I do hate
these Americanisms.
Those
of you who rely heavily on the 'HELP' function will
be annoyed with this adventure -- 'You're sunk unless
you EXAMINE things!' is the reply to every inquiry.
Certainly
one which is well fitted to the £2.50 range and overall
not that bad an adventure, but one that the White
Wizard would recommend only to the juniors.
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