The
adventure is set in the distant future at a time when
mankind has become totally dependent on machines (I
thought you were already). One day a machine decided
that man was no longer a necessary ingredient in its
plans and the nerve centre of the robot world -- the
Master Control Unit -- set about reprogramming everything
it controlled in an effort to destroy the human race.
Luckily the Gent who created the MCU had included a
failsafe device into the machine should anything ever
go wrong: if the correct code can be found and input
into the computer, it will switch itself off. Obviously
a code this powerful could not be written down for any
Tom, Dick or Harlequin to find, and is therefore scattered
around his home town. Unfortunately the programmer and
all but one of his friends have been killed by the rampaging
robots (guess who the one surviving friend is) and it's
now up to you to find the code and shutdown the MCU
before it's too late.
Mo's
Guest House is the opening scenario, with your room
adorned by the obligatory bed and chest of drawers;
a quick search reveals a keycard. The key to the front
door is to be found under the welcome mat and soon you
will be wandering around the holiday resort of Blackness
. . . sorry, Skegpool. The MCU itself is located very
close to the start of the game and taking too close
a look at it whilst not in possession of the code results
in a deceased player. An Aquarium. Park, Hotel and Amusement
Arcade are all there to be explored, with objects dotted
about, just waiting to be picked up and utilised. Several
instant deaths await the unwary adventurer, so be warned,
the sea is not a safe place to be and the pool in the
Aquarium can end the game very quickly if you're not
prepared. Many unfriendly robots patrol the area and
either demand answers to their riddles to allow safe
passage or they simply blast you off the face of the
screen; there is no warning as to where these machines
may be located (they appear at random) and they can
become rather more than tedious when you have been killed
for the umpteenth time. The locations (of which the
game boasts 'well over a hundred') are not very well
described, the usual 'YOU ARE IN . . . YOU CAN SEE'
is used far too often, and brevity is obviously the
style of the author. There are over forty locations
within Skegpool which are depicted graphically;
it would have been better if they had not bothered with
them at all -- they are poorly drawn and (all together
now) add nothing to the game whatsoever.
Skegpool
has been written using the GAC and although there
appears to be lots to do within the game, it is boring.
The one redeeming feature is the price, which I have
taken into consideration for the overall percentage.
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