Computer Gamer


Asylum
By Screenplay
Commodore 64/128

 
Published in Computer Gamer #14

Asylum

Have you ever been driven mad by a game after a long and unfruitful session? Well, this disk-based adventure is guaranteed to drive you crazy from the start. Found wandering through the streets muttering adventure commands to yourself, you have now been committed to the asylum and the only cure is to escape. What makes this game stand out from all of the others is the inclusion of a 3D maze to link the rooms of the adventure.

You start off in the maze of corridors which constitute the asylum and, as you negotiate a pathway past rows of rooms, messages flash on the screen. Sometimes it is merely a statement saying what the room is and other times will be an inmate who wished to tell you something of importance.

As you continue, you soon learn that most of the rooms are locked and that success lies in unlocking their secrets. The keys which do this are secreted in boxes or are found in the possession of the other inmates and they must be collected to effect your escape to sanity.

Asylum

Like most old hospitals, the corridors are dull and forbidding but the rooms burst on the screen in glorious colour. Each room is depicted in high resolution graphics whch are loaded from disk when requred. One thoughtful feature allows you to leaf through the various location graphics, so even if the solution escapes you it does not preclude you from admiring the artwork. Cursor key control gives way to text input when you have to interact with any of the crazy inmates. Bartering and badgering your way to the exit is full of surprises and disappointments as you learn who will help and who will hinder.

Enigmatically, the instructions inform you that all the other patients will refuse to speak if you are carrying a certain object. This secret is safe for the time being because I have yet to find out what it is!

The corridor idea makes this game even more difficult to play because you don't start the adventure proper at the beginning. A degree of wandering and mapping must be indulged in first before you discover thekey to the real starting point. Even without this complication the game is as demanding as all the other All American Adventure series. For seasoned adventurers or beginners, this disk is highly recommended.