C&VG
1st July 1986
Publisher: CRL
Machine: Commodore 64
Published in Computer & Video Games #57
The Very Big Cave Adventure
I can honestly say I never laughed out loud so much while playing an adventure! Terrormolinos has its humour and satire, Bored Of The Rings is an excellent spoof, but the jokes are many and varied in this one.
If you've been there before, it adds to the hilarity no end. And of course, I have been there before in Tandy's Pyramid, in Abersoft Adventure, in Classic Adventure, and in Colossal Adventure. I've even played a mainframe version.
I refer, of course to the original adventure, and its many derivatives. I often wonder how Crowther and Woods view the people who recode their original work in faithful playing detail. However, they can hardly fail to smile at the latest example!
This one is from those lovely ladies at St Bride's School, and school prefect Trixie Trinian is your guide. She knows her way around, so behave yourself, and follow her.
The Very Big Cave Adventure is a Patched and Illustrated Quill adventure, but had I not been told on the inlay (which itself has a dig at inlays!) I would not have known. The graphics are good and fast, and the appearance is not stereotyped. There are two parts, and although there is a RAMSAVE option, you will need a tape to move from Part 1 to Part 2.
Believe it or not, you start in a forest outside a brick building. It's a Welly House, and to get in you'll have to put a penny in a slot of a brass mechanism that says 'Vacant'.
Once inside, you will find a spring of the coiled type, and a familiar, yet somehow different set of objects. There are the keys, of course, else how would you hope to open the inevitable grating? And there's food, and a bottle. But there never was a bomb in any version I played before!
Examine the bottle, and you will get a warning of what's to come. "Green. Originally one of a set of ten."
But if you've played the original, the game doesn't work out quite as you might expect. How do you get hold of the penny to open the door, to get the key, to open the grating? Hmm... not so simple, eh? You'll have to find someone gullible enough to help...
Fancy visiting the bog? Perhaps a quicksand bog with a blue ox, spoofing another well known game? No, just a reminder that I had already spent my penny!
Once in the cave, if you play by the old rules, the game tells you that it knows you've played it before! There are jokes, and unexpected happenings all the way. Ever tried playing text space invaders? You'll get the chance here!
So how did I rate? I scored a measly two shillings and fourpence three-farthings, out of a possible top notch Spelunker's rating of £131,000. And that's only in Part 1!
Get it - you'll love it!