Electron User
1st December 1987
This adventure landed on my desk for review way back in July. It's not that I'm slow, but it has taken me a long time to complete the game and even longer to make decisions as to its merit. The adventure is an oddity as it is presented with simplistic, if sometimes crude, graphics. However, the adventure is ingenious and more about puzzle solving that true adventuring.
The cover instructions do give some warning concerning the contents: "Oxbridge takes a light-hearted look at the world of higher education. If you like puzzle books, you'll love this game!"
Those of you who have played Colin Jack's previous adventure, Programmer's Revenge, will have gained some insight into the sardonic wit and ingenuity which is present in this game.
Your object, as the hero is to escape from the college, get served in a pub, learn how to punt, get cash from your bank, solve numerous puzzles and generally cope with student life. My favourite part of the adventure involved the deviation on the old Chinese sliding-block puzzle. In this case, however, you need to sort out furniture into appropriate rooms. This is difficult to say the least but you are rewarded with a Rubik's cube.
I also loved the garden maze, which is solved using the Knight's Tour chess problem. Needless to say, chess players will find this easier than others.
Obtaining the manuscript from the library also involves a clever maze and requires very careful mapping. Look at the colours and lettering. I found the higher letters very difficult to locate.
Having played the 300 location BBC Micro version of this game, I found the watered-down Electron version which has 200 locations a little disappointing. I also found it more difficult, as a result of the paring of the game's structure.
The cassette inlay offers some help in solving the puzzles and if you really do feel like tearing your hair out, Tynesoft provides an excellent four page Puzzle and Solution leaflet.
As someone who loves mathematics and puzzle solving, I like this game though it does not follow that you will. Try before you buy is perhaps the best advice I can give.
Screenshots
