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Level
9
32k Cassette £6.95
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Level 9 have produced six previous adventures for
the Atari: the Colossal Adventure / Adventure Quest / Dungeon
Adventure Trilogy, the Snowball / Return to Eden / (Worm in Paradise
- may be out by the time you read this) Trilogy and the Lords of
Time. Many of you will therefore be familiar with the value for
money you get for their excellent adventures, normally priced at
9.95. They say that 'Emerald Isle is intended to be slightly easier
to solve' and is therefore priced at only £6.95.
The game starts with you marooned on an island in
the Bermuda Triangle, the only way off appears to be by becoming
Ruler. How to do this is not immediately obvious - still you're
bound to find out eventually, and in the meantime you may as well
explore as much as you can, and find as many treasures as possible -
they are bound to come in useful! Having explored the first twenty
or so locations you come to find yourself faced with a number of
problems: how do you start the clock? - why won't the Butler stay
and talk to me? - where is the key to the gate? - why is there a
letter 'W' cut into the lawn in the Hanging Gardens? - how do I read
these notices in foreign languages or tiny print? - what is the
invisible barrier that is preventing me from going West from the
treasure room? - what am I supposed to do with a boat-building
manual, a glue-pot, and four assorted coins? - should I risk going
into the dark without a lamp? - why don't they provide a disk
version for the Atari so that I can SAVE more easily?
Read the instructions again - Aha - 'Don't be too
afraid of the dark' it says on the box - maybe that's a clue!
The rest of the above questions (apart from the
last one!) mainly require patience. One very frustrating aspect to
the game is the fact that a couple of times you solve all sorts of
dependent problems, one leading to another as they do, and finally
reach the end of a trail only to discover... nothing! The Museum and
the Office fall into this category - but never fear, carry on with
the game as though you don't care that you still don't understand
what is happening. With enough patience all will become clear in the
end.
Some of the problems seem insoluble, but have
faith - there IS a way to climb the two slippery slopes without
slipping, it IS possible to see underwater, and it IS possible to
read the small inscription (the lens is actually in full view, you
have probably walked past it a few times!). Two minor hints: EXAMINE
everything - some very ordinary objects are not what they seem; and
you never need to type more than two words.
There are unfortunately a couple of minor bugs.
The first actually helps you - you can pick up objects in the dark
even if you haven't the slightest idea what they are! (No of course
I'm not going to tell you how, but it IS possible to solve the game
WITHOUT doing this.) To compensate they have put in a bug which can
delay you indefinitely: you should eventually find a plaque with a
hole. You will probably try inserting items into the hole. If you
try INSERT DUBLOONS and it says 'It doesn't fit. Try a coin', DON'T
BELIEVE IT! This is a standard response associated with the dubloons,
and should have been suppressed in this instance. The item you have
to insert is very, VERY much bigger than a coin! I was also rather
disappointed by the number of times you had to travel vast distances
to very little purpose. There are five main areas which extend a
long way from the central beach, and too much of the game is spent
trekking from the far end of one of these areas to the far end of
another area, via the beach. The placing of artefacts at the
opposite end of the world from where they are required is
occasionally interesting, but seemed a trifle overworked in this
game. Further long and unnecessary journeys are necessitated by the
fact that there are far too many items to carry. Allowing more to be
carried (perhaps by some devious means?) would have removed some of
the drudgery from the game.
All that aside it is still a very enjoyable game
and excellent value for money, with over 200 locations and about 60
artefacts. Anyone who enjoys playing adventures will find the low
price an offer very difficult to refuse. Even if it IS slightly
easier than some of Level 9's previous offerings it will still keep
you occupied for a considerable time, and the 30K or so of text
contains plenty of amusing touches! For anyone who has not yet taken
the plunge into adventuring, and can't afford to buy an Infocom
adventure such as Wishbringer, Emerald Isle offers an excellent
introduction to a very enjoyable pastime.
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