Sinclair User


That's The Spirit

Author: Richard Price
Publisher: The Edge
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Sinclair User #42

That's The Spirit

IT'S 1996 in downtown New York - which could be anywhere since the World Government renamed every city New York. They've also banned spirits. All the cops have become ghostbusters and your job is to rub out the spooks that flitter and lurk about the streets.

That's the Spirit calls itself a graphics adventure without the text. Aside from the cursor keys there are over 20 keypress instructions which let you control objects. The status screen below the action displays items you have collected and when you want to use them you position a frame and key in the required action.

Other indicators show your strength and sanity. Any prolonged contact with a ghost will drive you totally bananas and end the game.

That's The Spirit

You will find a lot of things strewn around the city. The subway seems a fairly safe place to store them and you can transport yourself to other parts of the city from there. Some items have obvious uses, like the bone to dispose of the phantom dog, but there are lots of odd mechanical bits which you must try to connect up. If you link them in the correct way you may be able to make some decent ghostbusting equipment.

You will certainly need it as the ghosts are persistent and troublesome, constantly blocking your way.

Ghostbusting is no doddle - despite having about 15 items stashed away I wasn't able to connect anything up and you will have to experiment long and hard to make link-ups.

That mental worritting raises That's The Spirit above a straight arcade adventure but is still not quite the same as the broader requirements of text adventure.

Richard Price

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