IF YOU WANT a quiet day at the zoo, we advise you not to visit Dr Bongo's Safari Park. The park is a base for the evil doctor's missiles. Any player brave enough to enter this adventure, for the 16K Spectrum, accepts the task of finding the island base at the centre of safari-land and the missiles which could destroy civilisat ion as computers know it.
Onc thing we noticed during our wander through the park was that very few of the dangerous animals attacked us. We were, however, stung by a swarm of bees for stealing honey.
Some simple commands are not understood by the adventure. For instance, you must use 'e' for east and 'n' for north. That is the same for most of the direction keys.
The game is ideal for some one who enjoys trying to discover which words will work and which will not during an adventure. Others may be disenchanted by it.
We found the game frustrating - we seemed to be getting nowhere fast. The concept is good and the plot is unusual but it would have been better to present the player with some easy tests at thc &ginnin rni gradc them upwards as the game progresses.
The game is rather slow and the reason seems to be that it is written in Basic, although slowness should not worry the player as it gives a certain amount of time for thought.
Apart from those criticisms, Dr Bongo's Safari Park is certainly recommended as an adventure game and its complexity should keep players happy for hours.
It can be obtained from Custom Software, 44 Aireview Terrace, Skipton, North Yorkshire. It costs 14.95.
17th May 1983
