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Table of Contents
* Access Points
* Walkthrough
* Problems
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Access Points
* Bridge (dead end)
* Probe Room
* Capt. Quarters (sealed)
* Lounge (sealed)
* Airlock (initially sealed)
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Walkthrough
PROBE #1
Enter Capt. Quarters. Link to the Data Storage Unit (Captain Jack
Reynolds Personal Log) to get the captain's access code "Harry and
Betty arrived home and dwelled happily ever after" (HABAHADHEA).
Return to the Shuttle via Reverse View and then enter the Bridge.
Link to the helm control station and enter the captain's access code
to remove the command lock. Identify the coordinates of the alien
vessel (red circle): 160,112,12. Link to the weapons control station
and enter coordinates 16011212E and Fire to destroy the alien ship.
Note: Firing weapons on the Shuttle coordinates 150,110,10 causes
Director Player 4.0 error:
script error: Cast member not found
"dead.1"
from which the Continue button causes the game to hang.
Return to the Shuttle via Reverse View and then enter the Probe
Room by using Torch mode on the spacecraft hull. Head for the crane
control pod in the shuttle bay. Link to the crane control unit and
activate the anti-grav cargo crane to reposition the shuttle and
unblock its entry.
Go to the Lobby and get the message from the alien. Reverse view
and enter the Shuttle. Link to the portable data unit (Prof. Norma
Miller personal recorder). From message #2, download the Phase Viewer.
The game is more interesting with the computer sidekick, so give
priority to the search for that... Exit the Shuttle and head for the
security foyer off the main hall (via the restaurant foyer or one of
the other exits from the main hall). Bear left to the library and link
to the database computer terminal. Complete the dialog with the AI and
download its program. You can now get comments from the AI whenever
the question mark icon lights up.
Return to the main hall and head left into the swimming pool. Go
up into the utility ducts. Reverse view and proceed through the
utility ducts to the (Baron's) quarters on Level 1.
Move forward to the hallway, then reverse view back into the
Baron's quarters. Link to the data storage unit on the brown fireplace
shelf (personal log of Roland Carson, Baron of Sombury). Note the
reference to nine-ball pool in message #5.
Reverse view and go right towards the cargo deck. Enter the cargo
deck after solving the riddle:
Seperated (sic) by an icy wall,
We cannot touch,
Though you reach your left hand,
For my right,
How I would love to talk with you,
But though you open your mouth,
I hear only my words...
What are you?
Answer: MIRROR
Go to the ladder and down to the airlock. Reverse view and scan
the maintenance bulletin. Note the elevator access code: HEADACHE.
Go back up the ladder and exit the cargo deck. Proceed down the
hallway to the elevator. Link to the elevator control unit and enter
the access code for Level 3.
Go left, then left again into Prof. Norma Miller's quarters. Link
to the data storage unit (Prof. Norma Miller personal log). From
message #7, download the alien translation algorithm.
Return to the elevator and take it down to Level 2. Head for the
nightclub off the main hall. For entry, solve the riddle:
I am two-thirds of one hundred, and three fourths of one
thousand. I mean nothing to a miser and grief to a student. What am I?
Answer: ZERO
Enter the pool hall to the right of the nightclub. Scan the right
rear pool table. Click on the individual balls and note that the only
ones not needed for nine-ball are 15 and 12. Link to the general
purpose computer unit on the back wall. Enter the code 1512, followed
by E for Enter. Read the Baron's message and note the telescope
reference. Return to the Baron's quarters on Level 1 via the elevator
or utility ducts.
Link to the digital imaging telescope. Note that telescope
position preset #1 is the chessboard. Scan the chess table and note
that the white rook has been (illegally) moved to the third file
(row). A similarly shaped and colored object in the Baron's quarters
is his fireplace -- zoom in on it. Scan the third brick from the right
in the third row from the bottom to reveal the hidden portable data
device. Link to it to disclose the riddle:
The hand of the dead man has five fingers,
only one points to the artifact.
As your AI companion points out, the answer to this riddle is an
aces-and-eights poker hand. Head for the poker room off the nightclub
on Level 2. Scan the poker table and click on the poker hands until
the aces-and-eights hand is found. Note that the fifth card in this
hand is the King of Clubs.
Head left across the main hall to the bank. Note the King picture
on the wall. Link to the data storage unit on the table and click on
Panel Access. Link to the code key panel on the wall. Enter CLUBS,
followed by E for Enter. Watch the alien steal the artifact.
Head for the kitchen across the main hall. Use torch mode on the
two cups on the center counter. Probe #1 is damaged. Switch to
PROBE #2
Enter the ship via the probe room or the airlock (torch
required). Enter the utility ducts and head for the kitchen. Enter the
kitchen (two mouse clicks required) and torch the alien. Link to the
artifact on its back to bring it into your possession. Return to the
utility ducts. Probe #2 is damaged. Switch to
PROBE #3
Enter the ship via the probe room. Head for the Level 2 lobby.
Enter the lifeboat station after solving the riddle:
This Postman does not dress in blue,
Though is the stuff he travels through,
From an old salt's hand on a desert isle,
His one last hope, his one last smile...
Answer: BOTTLE
Continue on to the Engineering foyer. Link to the computer core
door and enter the captain's access code. Link to the portable
computer device to bring it into your possession. This computer device
must be returned to the Shuttle in order to successfully complete the
game. Note that this probe cannot carry anything else, such as the
artifact, so return to the Shuttle via the probe room and switch to
PROBE #4
Enter the ship via the airlock or the probe room. Enter the
utility ducts and head for Engineering. Link to the artifact on Probe
#2. Click on the artifact icon and your AI companion will tell you the
artifact needs to be recharged with "pingorium" energy. Go to Level 3
via the elevator (HEADACHE). Enter the smoking lounge across the hall
from the elevator. Use torch mode on the ashtray. Using the
translator, you can determine that you've tempted the alien out of the
smoking lounge. Reverse view to the hallway, turn left to the
ballroom, reverse view again, and link to the Level 3 emergency
control. Turn the emergency force-field on to trap the (invisible)
alien from the smoking lounge.
Reverse view and move up to the chandelier. Use the torch on the
chandelier to destroy the (invisible) alien in the ballroom. Continue
straight ahead into the hallway. Click on the artifact icon to enter
the aliens' dimension. Be careful when clicking to remove the AI text
as you don't want to move forward into the alien boarding craft.
Reverse view and pass through the ballroom (alien killed by
chandelier) and hallway (alien trapped by force-field) into the
smoking lounge. For the endgame sequence, torch the alien explosive
device.
Final score: 2350/2950. No idea where the other 600 points are since
all tasks seemed to have been accomplished.
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Problems
* Game is very limited in scope and interface quality in comparison
to comparably-priced competition.
* Many AI comments are logically out of sequence.
* Movement interface needs work. Too often it's necessary to move
forward and then reverse the view in order to access something.
Examples of this are moving from the Promenade to the Security
Foyer, from the Nightclub to the Promenade, or from the Level 1
Elevator to the Baron's Quarters.
* No warning about overwriting previously-saved games.
* Have to respecify drive letter and directory for saved games every
time the program is restarted. The default save-game drive is the
CD-ROM, which is often difficult to write to ;)
* Annoying noises when POV is in Bridge or during access point
decision. Are those supposed to be radio voices?
* Very small playing screen.
* Less-than-inspiring riddles.
* Music cuts out suddenly in places, most noticeably after the
endgame sequence.
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