1 ADVENTURE IN BRISTOL - STREETS AND ROUNDABOUTS

ZX Spectrum Vega game #0021

Dear Readers,

Today I'll talk about this text adventure game by Garry Lancaster. It's black text on a white screen and it gives thorough instructions on startup. Quite unusual! It also uses two word commands for most of its actions so that's very nice. Every keystroke beeps so that's another thing that's kinda unusual. I can't delete keystrokes in this game though, so it can get frustrating when I make a mistake and have to type stuff out again.

I started out near a ship called the SS Great Britain, where a woman was selling admission for £1.00. I had £1.40, so I paid and went on board. I didn't find anything there apart from a bell, which I can't ring or take, so I left the ship to explore elsewhere.

After exploring a maze of roads and roundabouts I came across a statue in the docks of King Neptune. When I asked to examine the statue it said it didn't know the word "statue". So I left.

After exploring more through areas described only by what their street names are, I came across the door of a school house. I tried to open the door and it responded by saying it didn't know the word "door". So I left.

I explored a bit more. By the way, I hope Bristol is more interesting than this game is making it out to be. It only tells me place names so I can't really get an idea of how it's described other than having streets and roundabouts.

I came across a broken drain. Thank goodness the game knew the word "drain"! When I examined it there wasn't any clue, so I left.

Things got interesting when I went into the museum and found the Bristol Mummy in the Egyptian exhibit. There was a clue beside it but I couldn't make out what it meant. Something about ringing in my ears? Does it have something to do with the bell from the ship?

While typing this post up, I didn't have the game paused so the limited time I had ran out and it played a ringing chime, which meant it was game over. It was surprising but it wasn't too startling. Maybe that's what the clue meant about ringing in my ear?