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You
start off in the desert and must recapture Fort Snake
from Big Nose Bill and his merry men. On the way you
encounter Indians (many of whom are distinctly unfriendly),
rattle snakes, and snakes of the two-legged variety
as well. In fact there don't seem to be many people
around you can trust -- least of all the sprites at
the bottom of the screen who keep saying things like
'Teach him a lesson!' when you come across an Indian.
Needless to say, teaching Indians usually results in
sudden death.
The
best thing about Wild West is the display. The
graphics are very colourful and in some cases can suddenly
come to life to bring you short animated sequences that
show the results (usually fatal) of taking the wrong
advice. Trying to climb a high wall at nightfall, for
example, will soon result in your falling down and killing
yourself in the story and on the screen.
One
thing about this game that appealed to the White Wizard
was how often the sprites encouraged you to 'Take a
rest'. Usually the last thing to do in an adventure
is hang around and do nothing, but I soon discovered
that many of the more important things in the game will
only become apparent if you do occasionally take time
off for a quick nap.
The
game is split into three modules. The White Wizard got
rather confused here. When you finish a module, you
're given a password which enables you to play the next
part. However, you can in fact enter ANY sequence of
letters and still play the module, though it seems that
things don't happen quite the way they should unless
you've actually completed the previous episode and been
given a valid password. The first module contains some
excellent shooting sequences. The second is mostly concerned
with dealing with Indians. The third phase puts you
down by Fort Snake and complicates things considerably
by making each sprite give different advice if you ask
it more than once -- so you have to choose the right
sprite AND the right advice. Help!
Wild
West is lively game -- you'll need a pen and paper
to keep a track of the options you've selected, so that,
by a process of trial and elimination, you can make
progress in the game. The While Wizard reckons that
this game will be particularly enjoyed by younger players
-- older and more experienced adventurers might find
it a bit twee. Still, it's nice to see some new ideas
here in Adventureland.
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