End Day 2240 - Ace Soft/Zenobi Software RRP œ3.99
           (Text/graphics STAC adventure for ST)

"End Day, the year is 2240. The place is sector 17/405. The time
is nearly the time to die."

Doesn't sound too hopeful, does it?  And, in fact, your situation
is just as dire as it sounds at the start of End Day 2240, which
you begin in a termination cell, awaiting end day, for a crime you
didn't commit. End day? That's a nice way of saying that pretty
soon you won't have to worry about anything any more because
you'll be very, very dead. The crime in question is the smuggling
of enzyme pods, a heinous offence in these future times. The
actual perpetrator of the crime was your ex-partner Travis who has
taken the opportunity, while you were being tried and sentenced,
to get off the planet quick! Your only hope if you're to survive
is to escape from the cube, find Travis and kill him.

Considering you start the game carrying nothing and wearing just a
termination robe, with only a limited number of moves before you
meet your doom, things look bleak. There's only one exit from the
cube but it's blocked by energy bars which, when you try to pass,
will emit an alarm to the guards, resulting in your being thrown
into a punishment cube. After a few moves in here, it's back to
the termination cube. The cube isn't completely featureless but
what can you do in there to help you escape?

After some time in these two locations, I came to a halt; I knew
what I wanted to do, I knew I had the right equipment to do it,
but could I do it? No, sirree! In the end I had to seek advice,
from Graham Wheeler who had been one of the playtesters, and
the answer turned out to be a matter of finding the right, and
to my mind not very obvious, wording. Not a good start and,
unfortunately, this same difficulty cropped up again and again in
the game as the program is very specific in lots of cases about the
exact wording you must use in a particular situation. Okay, the
author decides what he wants to use but it would be nice if he
could offer a few alternatives, especially when the inputs he has
decided on are not logical or even consistent from one part of the
adventure to another.
But, back to the plot. Once out of the cube, you can start to
explore the surrounding area and, if you can find a way to enter
and operate the personal flyer parked conveniently in a nearby
location, you'll be able to travel greater distances. In this way,
you'll find your old offices that you used to share with Travis
(guarded, of course), a place called Happy Face where you can get
your features altered (could be useful - after all, the
authorities are still after you) and a space centre where you'll
be able to board a craft and look for Travis ... once you've got
the right documents.

The author has attempted to create a different and (hopefully)
futuristic effect by inventing names and terms for various objects
found in the game and rather than using the words "floor",
"ceiling" and "walls" to explore the cube at the start, you must
use "deck", "top" and "sides". "Search" is used far more
frequently than in most games which is a pleasant change as so
many games don't distinguish between "examine" and the more
intensive "search". There is a 7-screen loading section, which,
unfortunately, you can't skip if you have to restart, where you
must input your name and sex. Your name will reappear on the
noticeboard outside your office later in the game but I couldn't
see what difference it made whether you said you were male or
female.  Neither response is error-trapped so you can just press
RETURN and be anonymous and asexual or you can input another
letter instead of M or F for your sex and go through as a .....
whatever.

The graphics are simple but effective, conveying a limited amount
of atmosphere and audio effects have been added to further enhance
the effect. The game itself isn't hard once you've wrestled with
some of the inputs but the ending, like the start, had me
flummoxed. More advice was needed and this time I had done
something that obviously hadn't been catered for and meant it was
impossible to finish the game. Even when I was told the correct
action, it didn't work, and I ended up wandering around aimlessly
until suddenly the program seemed to take over, my character
carried out some action that I certainly hadn't expected and the
game was over - though afterwards I could see what I should have
done to create the same result.

To summarise, there have been some good efforts made to make this
game atmospheric but it is let down by the picky inputs and the
errors in both the text (punctuation, grammar, use of capitals
etc) and the programming. Don't blame the playtesters because I
know they pointed out the problems to the author. End Day 2240
is better than Dave Blower's previous games (Death Camp and
Souldrinker) but a good session of tidying up would make a lot
of difference and make the game more attractive to the player.
              
                                         Sue