Davy Jones Locker - River Software RRP œ2.95
                 (ST STAC text adventure)      
                   reviewed by K. Wheeler

In Davy Jones Locker you are one of five survivors from the clipper
ship Atlana, which was lost at sea on 11th August 1927.

At the start of the adventure you find yourself on board a lifeboat
with four companions and a very friendly small dog. The lifeboat
has drifted close to an old ship which it is possible to board by
climbing up a chain. Your companions rush to board the vessel,
leaving you to follow behind with the small dog. When you reach the
deck and look around you find to your amazement that there is no
sign of your friends, in fact the ship seems to be completely
deserted. After solving the initial problem of how to see below
deck, you search the ship thoroughly only to find that the vessel
really is empty and your friends have vanished without a trace.
The search to discover what has happened to your companions is now
on and you soon find yourself leaving the relative safety of the
ship and setting off to explore a strange and sometimes dangerous
underwater world inhabited by weird and often humorous creatures,
who may or may not be persuaded to help you with your quest.  

The adventure is text-only and contains all the features normally
associated with games that have been written with the STAC utility,
such as Ramsave/Ramload and the ability to use shortened forms of
the more commonly used words. I found the text well set out and
easy to read, but I thought that the game would have benefitted
from the inclusion of an option to change the text colours.
 
I thought that the atmosphere of the game was excellent, but I
must admit that I have always been a sucker for a bit of off-beat
humour and the odd pun, so it is not surprising that it was to my
taste. The puzzles were for the most part logical although this
does not mean that they were all easy to solve or that you will
be able to sail (forgive the pun) through the game without much
head-scratching and nail-biting! I found the adventure to be
comparatively bug-free, which I must admit made a refreshing
change from some of the more expensive games that are on the
market at the moment.

As it is a Spectrum conversion you will find that it is not an
exceptionally large adventure, but I am sure that anyone who, like 
myself, has played and enjoyed River Software's other adventures
will find that it is well up to their normal high standard and at
the price it is certainly great value.

@~To order, send cheques/POs made payable to Jack Lockerby to:
@~River Software, 44 Hyde Place, Aylesham, Canterbury,
@~Kent, CA3 3AL.