Here's another budget game from Peter Torrence of Subsunk and Seabase Delta fame. Both these earlier efforts were excellent value, and I had no doubts on loading up Imagination that it would be a worthy follow-on.
The game has all the looks of a typical GAC creation - slightly crude but attractive shaded graphics up top and a Mode 1 scrolling text window below. However, the game scenario itself is highly original. On loading the adventure you are confronted by a computer which, of course, you must get working using a nearby disk. Type INSERT DISC and you're away!
What you then get, if you EXAMINE SCREEN, is an option to play any one of four games. These are:
2002 - A Very Odd Day in Space.
The Lords of Half Past Nine.
Panic Miner 9000 and 90 Niner
Raid Over Margate.
Sounds familiar?! Entering the appropriate number then takes you into the relevant game, but instead of playing it as normal you will actually be taken inside the game-world itself, where you must solve a number of puzzles in your efforts to discover (I think) the number of stars in the universe.
There are some very amusing bits in these game sequences. Among other things you'll see barely disguised take-offs of Level 9 graphics in the Lords of Half Past Nine; you'll thrill to the smell of dogs on the sea-breeze at Margate (the opening graphic of which bears a remarkable resemblance to the screen-layout of a once-popular arcade game); or you'll spend a hazardous few minutes climbing up and down ladders and dodging sprites in - you guessed it - Panic Miner.
You can get out of each game scenario by entering QUIT - very necessary at several points in the game since obstacles discovered in one game will often be overcome only by using objects found in another. None of the game scenarios is that big in the way of locations, but you'll be kept busy moving about collecting the things you need and trying to solve the various logical but quite tricky puzzles.
Really, for £2 you can't go wrong here. Don't expect an epic game, but at that price you don't deserve one.