Cutthroats - Infocom (deleted)
                      (Text-only adventure)

                     Reviewed by Neil Shipman

Okay, I know what some of you are thinking. Why on earth is he 
reviewing a six year old adventure? Well, like a number of other 
ST owners, I never had the opportunity of seeing an Infocom 
adventure until I bought my ST. I've now delighted in working my 
way through all 29 titles (excluding Battletech) which are - or 
were - available for the ST, and Cutthroats was the last one I 
played.

In it you take the part of a skilled diver living on Hardscrabble 
Island, a small seaport past its prime. One night you are sitting 
in your room in the Red Boar Inn when there's a knock on the door 
and a figure staggers in. It's Hevlin, an old shipmate you haven't 
seen for years, and he seems to be a bit the worse for drink.

He tells you that he's been sinking a few pints in The Shanty 
where he was looking for Red, but he's in trouble now because he 
started talking about the treasure to be found on the wrecks 
around the island. Well, you know that every diver has looked for 
them without success and you push him towards the door. However, 
he shows you an old book on shipwrecks written by the Historical 
Society and points to new locations which have been marked for two 
of the wrecks.

Hevlin leaves the book with you for safekeeping and goes off to 
find Red. He doesn't get far, though, before he's set upon and 
killed - but by whom? When the police tell you about his death you 
don't say anything about the book but, as you lie awake that 
night, you wonder if it could really be what it seems.

In the morning you notice a scribbled note which has been pushed 
under your door inviting you to a meeting at The Shanty at 8.30 if 
you're interested in a big deal. This is where your real adventure 
begins where your ultimate objective is the salvage of sunken 
treasure and, thus, fabulous wealth.
You'll meet up with characters good and bad like Johnny Red, Pete 
the Rat, The Weasel and McGinty but you will soon figure out who's 
on your side and who it's best to steer clear of. The adventure is 
not a difficult one and you are more or less led through it by 
doing what you're told at various meetings. The status bar shows 
your time rather than your score and you need to watch this to 
make sure you don't miss a vital appointment.

Cutthroats is really two adventures in one because there are two 
wrecks on which you can dive, one in shallow water and one much 
deeper. The storyline branches early on when you are shown a 
treasure at a meeting at the lighthouse, so save your position 
just before this. You can then experience both types of diving and 
their associated - and different - problems.

There are two vessels for rental and, once you've determined which 
wreck you are going to explore and have shown that you've got the 
cash to help finance the expedition, the right boat can be hired 
from Outfitters International. This is where you can also purchase 
everything you need for the dive in question.
Once you've made it to the dive site you're on your own. Exploring 
old wrecks can be a hazardous business and a number of dangers and 
obstacles await you. The differences between scuba and deep sea 
diving are well brought out in the puzzles and in the text, and 
it's not difficult to believe that your very life depends either 
on the ever-diminishing supply of air from your tanks or its safe 
passage down your trailing hose from the surface.

Even when you've located the treasure you've still got to get it 
back on board the boat. If you haven't managed to establish who 
the baddies are beforehand then all your efforts will have been in 
vain. But, if you have, fame and riches are yours and you'll have 
a true tale of adventure to tell until your dying day.

The Cutthroats package includes the very necessary book published 
by the Hardscrabble Harbor Historical Society entitled "Four 
Shipwrecks off Hardscrabble Island" as well as a supplemental 
price list from Outfitters International. This latter document 
gives the prices of diving equipment together with descriptions of 
the vessels available for hire and a free tide table.

The adventure comes up to the standard you would expect from an 
early Infocom with a certain amount of character interaction, well 
thought out puzzles and a richness (though, granted, economy) of 
prose with dashes of humour. But, as a confessed Infomaniac and 
die-hard text adventure fan you'd expect me to like it wouldn't 
you?! Cutthroats is definitely not one of their best but if you 
haven't already got it then it's one to add to your collection. I 
found it easy - probably because I'd already worked my way through 
all their other titles - but enjoyable nevertheless.