Your Sinclair
1st February 1986
Publisher: Mikro-Gen
Machine: Spectrum 48K/128K
Published in Your Sinclair #2
Fine Young Cannibals
Prepare for a taste of Paradise - only trouble is the Weeks family is on the menu. But rather than make a right Wally of yourself, read Rachael Smith's review of Three Weeks in Paradise, the new feast from Mikro-Gen. Dinner is served!
Every year thousands of wallies go on their hollies, but there's only one Wally and neither he nor the mussis nor even Herbert, the nipper, come within that notorious 18-30 age range. So Wally, being wally, decided on a pleasure cruise... on the HMS Pedalo!
Eventually the gormless mariner was washed up on a desert island, and when the natives said come to dinner he was thrilled. But he didn't realise that the first course was to be Boiled Baby followed by Sautéed Spouse. And as Wilma's always been a game old bird they were keeping her hanging around first. Her parting cry was to call her hubbie a stupid pudding, but that was the last thing he wanted to be - and he was already hot-footing it into the jungle.
And that's where this episode in the Wally saga begins. You're helping him rescue his family and stopping him getting... sorry, becoming somebody's just desserts. You just have the man (man?) himself to control this time, but other features make the game an advance.
Instead of just swopping objects you can now choose to pick up and drop things as well as having to use them in the right places. That means Rambo-wally's rescue mission calls for even more ingenuity. There's also a nice selection of puzzles, from the fairly obvious to the maddeningly difficult, but they all depend on acute lateral thinking and horrible puns.
In return there's less of the arcade element this time with fewer things to dodge. But the thing I liked best about Three Weeks was its humour. There's a speech bubble Ouch as he rubs his behind. And look out too for the scrolling message line at the bottom of the screen that conveys some screamingly cryptic clues, as well as the family's cries of help.
And finally fed up with reviewers' constant grumbles about attribute problems, Mikro-Gen has included the option of switching off Wally's colouring. A word too for the music - it's great, and it adds a lot to the humour. A great game that just goes to show that even if he's too old for Club 18-30, Wally's not past it yet.