Personal Computer News


Ziggurat

Author: Mike Gerrard
Publisher: Software Supersavers
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Personal Computer News #093

ZIGGURAT

A ziggurat, as anyone with a copy of the complete Oxford English Dictionary knows, is an Assyrian or Babylonian temple-tower. Whether that's of any use to you in this bargain-basement adventure, I don't know. All the insert tells you (in no less than five languages) is: "Adventure game - standard commands - e.g. GET, LOOK, EXAMINE, WENS, etc." Load it up and where are you, then? You're in a room with a view. The top half of the screen presents you with three walls of the room, the far one has a barred window in it, the other two are blank. There's also a wine bottle. Examining the window reveals a hungry tiger on the other side, while smashing the wine bottle provides you with a green key. The only exit is North, which takes you to 'A very cold room', then on to 'A bright room', followed by 'A grotty room' and so on in much the same vein.

If the room descriptions all sound very similar, then you should see the rooms!

So what about the tasks? After the first eight rooms, and discovering a rusty sword and eight coins, you face a locked door. The key doesn't fit the lock, so on the wine bottle principle I tried SMASH DOOR, which led me to another set of rooms. There was some raw meat in one, and I carried this round but still got eaten by the tiger when I stepped into that room without being given a warning! Next time I returned the meat to the start, fed the tiger through the bars, and guess what? The meat must have been off, you're told, and the tiger dies. Back to the tiger room, discover a blue key, find a bronze ring, pick up more coins then locate a room which has a lift to the surface.

I soon grew tired of the boring graphics and descriptions. The best and the worst that can be said is that it is a cheap adventure.

Mike Gerrard

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