ZX Computing
1st September 1986The Very Big Cave Adventure
Whilst casually hacking into one of America's major computer networks, one of the pupils from St. Brides (for yes, it is they that wrote this thing) accidentally discovered a copy of the first adventure ever written. This was unfortunate as she was trying to divert huge governmental funds into her own personal account at the time. But there is something entrepreneurial in all of those girls and a way was soon found of using the discovery to make a few bob on the side.
If you are losing interest in this review already on the grounds that you have already played one of the 1,001 different versions of this game, then please bear with me for I assure you, you have never played anything quite like this. To say it is a spoof on the original is like saying that War And Peace is just a book. Herein lies the problem though, as it is very difficult to talk about the contents of the game without giving too much away. Some of the jokes are very clever whilst others are so dreadful that you laugh anyway.
All the old familiar faces are there, the locked grating, the bird, the cage and the rod with a rusty star on the end of it but don't expect to use items as you did before. There are also several new ideas. Just off the Hall of the Mountain King, you can go and have a game of Space Invaders - a text only version of course! And how about a visit to Gotham City in the Batmobile or exploring the Habitat and Laura Ashley rooms. One of the nice things about the game is that it pays to be silly as these responses have been anticipated and you get an even sillier response back. For example, if you examine the cage, the program promptly shuts you inside it and the keyboard hangs up just long enough for you to get really worried about it. Other things worth trying include swearing at the program and kissing your guide, Trixie Trinian, one of the prefects.
The game is put together using The Quill, Illustrator and Patch although you would never guess from looking at it. There are all sorts of sounds and time delays built in to keep you amused. The graphics are also well done and add to atmosphere. Because it is so subjective, humour is a very difficult element to include in a game but suffice to say, I laughed out load at CAVES time and time again. This is bound to be one of the adventure successes of the year and should be very high on your list of potential purchases.