C&VG


That's The Spirit

Publisher: The Edge
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Computer & Video Games #47

That's The Spirit

There's more than a hint of the plot of Ghostbusters in That's The Spirit. But don't be put off by that - this is simply the best game from The Edge since Brian Bloodaxe. Not surprisingly, it features some good old primary imbalance to keep you on your toes.

That's The Spirit is an interactive graphic adventure - along the lines of Grand Larceny and Zim Sala Bim - except the text input has been reduced to just one keystroke.

So what do you see on screen? Well, there's the main picture window with graphics which depict a New York cityscape - sort of Wally goes to Hollywood if you get our drift!

That's The Spirit

Below you see icons which depict what you have collected on your travels. You can EXAMINE these by moving a cursor over the object and hitting the examine key. This enlarges the object inside a special box in the centre of the screen.

On the right hand side of the screen you'll see a Spirit detector which looks a bit like a ghettoblaster with radar dishes!

You can control your little baseball-capped character with a joystick - but you'll need to hit the keyboard for the all-important "character" vocabulary which includes TAKE, THROW, CONNECT - a good one this as you can fix objects together and make useful itself - SHOOT, HOLD, etc, etc. The vocabulary is pretty exclusive.

So what have we got so far. A nice looking game with some interesting features. But wait - what about the plot?! Where are the instructions? There's a lot of blurb on the back of the package but nothing about the object of the game or how to play it! Hmmmmm. There will be a short intermission while we get on the telephone and ask The Edge about this. Talk amongst yourselves for a bit, will you?

OK, we're back! The object of the game will become apparent as you play and solve the various puzzles - but it's got something to do with Liberty Island, folks!

Now back to the review. That's The Spirit is a challenging game with some complex puzzles and riddles. If you like a challenge and games which need a bit of thought to crack then you'll enjoy it immensely.

Traditional adventure gamers might like to take a look at it as well!