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Form
2-19
Rorschach
Scientific Stationary
THE
LAB REPORT
RESEARCH
PROJECT: Binary code addiction as a means of controlling
the world.
HEAD
SCIENTIST: Prof NORMAN NUTZ Phd, Bsc, KP.
RESEARCH
EQUIPMENT: C64, Amiga A500, Cray-2.
LAB
ASSISTANT: The Geek
Before
anything else I must apologist for last month's intro
-- it was exactly the same as the one the month before!
So I didn't get the chance to tell you about what a
lousy Christmas I had. I must also point out the mix-up
was not my fault, the Geek muddled up my files because
I didn't give him what he wanted for Christmas, ie a
new leg -- well what's wrong with (a) second hand?!
Last month, you may also have noticed that Ed nicked
another of my reviews. If this happens again I'll have
to give him urgent unanaesthetised brain surgery with
a pickaxe!
Onto
this month, and only one review I'm afraid, but the
Geek insisted on putting in some tips which got squeezed
out of the last issue. Next month I hope to have a full
review of Future Wars from French software house Delphine,
and the long-awaited Space Quest III from Sierra On-Line.
Until then, I'll wish you a belated Happy New Year!
.
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 ak
McKracken was one of those games which all ZZAP!'s
reviewers drooled over, a unique achievement for an
adventure! Now the unique format has been updated for
Indy: The Adventure Game and it took all my cunning,
and the sneakiness of the Geek, to grab the review copy
from the Welshman.
The
game follows the structure of the film quite closely,
with a number of arcade sequences included as well.
A hilarious start sequence has Indy dripping wet from
recovering the fabulous Cross of Coronado, trudging
into Barnett College. After Prof Marcus Brody fills
him in on some college news Indy is free to wander about,
trying to follow in Harrison Ford's footsteps. People
who've seen the film will obviously have a slight advantage,
but lots of details have been changed so no-one's going
to find it easy.
After
a visit to his student-filled office, Indy gets the
yearning for the quieter life of battling Nazis. In
any case, he is soon taken to see Walter Donovan, a
wealthy industrialist. Donovan, like Hitler and quite
a few real US industrialists of the time, has become
obsessed with mysticism, mythology and archaeology;
in his case symbolised by the Holy Grail, the chalice
which caught the blood of Christ when he was on the
cross. Anyone who now drinks from the Grail may live
forever, Donovan believes.
Indy's
father was also interested in the chalice and has disappeared
while looking for it on Donovan's behalf. Indy must
now find both his father and the Grail. A plane is put
at his disposal to take him to Venice, which is where
his father was last seen. But first Indy must find his
father's diary, which will provide invaluable advice
on his quest.
Finding
the diary shouldn't prove that hard. As in Zak McKracken,
you move Indy around simply by pointing and clicking
with the mouse. More complex actions mean you have to
use the keywords at the bottom of the screen. For example,
to ring the bell in a boxing ring you click on 'Use',
the word appears on the sentence line, and then you
click on the object you want. In this case it's a mallet,
resulting in the sentence 'Use mallet with'; click on
the bell to put the word in the sentence, then click
again to put it into action. It's all very simple, allowing
a good deal of flexibility without vocab problems.
After
meeting Dr Elsa Schneider in Venice, Indy must find
his way into the catacombs to find the shield. Once
near the catacombs' hidden entrance, the Grail Diary
-- which loads in cryptic, but vital clues -- can be
used. When you get in the catacombs the view switches
to an overhead one, a tiny Indy figure moves around
the maze with only a small area around him illuminated.
With
information from the catacombs Indy learns his father
is being held prisoner by Nazis in a castle. Once in
the castle you can get into fistfights with the Nazis
in proper arcade fashion, although punches, blocks and
movement is by keypad, not joystick. According to the
instructions you can always avoid fights if you're clever
enough, but they're good fun anyway.
After
freeing Dr Jones, Indy pays a visit to Berlin, then
tries to escape Germany in a Zeppelin. But the airship
turns around mid-flight, forcing Indy to escape in a
plane. This leads to another sub-game, with a first-person
perspective of the cockpit. While Dr Jones shoots at
the German fighters, Indy must keep the plane steady.
Eventually though, the plane's shot down. Then it's
on to the Middle East, where you arrive in the Grail
Temple to have another confrontation with the Nazis.
Like
most 16-bit Lucasfilm games, Indy started out
as a PC product, before being converted to the ST and
Amiga. The graphics then are all quite attractive and
nicely detailed, but make very little use of the Amiga.
Sound is improved from the PC/ST, with some great
samples such as the squelch of Indy's boots at the start,
but the tunes are disappointing. More importantly there's
a good save feature, allowing you save over a dozen
files to a blank disk -- but sadly no RAM save.
The
game is great fun to play, with some good puzzles, although
obviously not quite the depth of an Infocom game. Also,
humour isn't quite up to the standard of Zak,
but this is still an essential purchase for fans of
the movie, and most adventurers as well.
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