Andrew Fisher (697) on 4/16/2023 6:11 AM · Permalink · Report

Looking for cheap games for old PCs again I found this one at K-mart, not very impressed by the black and white, isometric graphics, but I think my parents encouraged me, having nostalgia for the old war film. I was spared though when the guy couldn't find the disk, much to his disappointment, he said he really liked the game.

I like the concept, you're never shot trying to escape or caught planning to, you're repeatedly placed in the "Steve McQueen cooler" i.e. solitary confinement wearing down your morale until you become a zombie repeating the daily eat, exercise, sleep routine i.e. The computer takes control and you have to quit and start over. Other than that it's puzzle/strategy game, there are items scattered around prison, some essential, some useful, some though not red herrings, don't have much use and this is where a BIG part of the trouble is. Well firstly, some of the items are sent in Red Cross parcels which arrive every morning, OK fine, but where the hell are they? Even when you find the storeroom they're kept in they're not clearly marked, neither are most of the other items, but the worst is the green key, which is hidden in a corner of the yard, in the dirt, under a watchtower, of all places. You don't even know it's green till you pick it up, not that it matters as it's almost invisible. And the green key is absolutely essential as it opens the door at the top right and give access to the room with the spade. You don't actually have to use the spade, but if not then you have to use the secondary escape tunnel hidden behind a large box in the same room as the spade. At least you can tell the keys are keys and know what they're for, but other stuff is unrecognizable. There's a guard uniform that looks like a stack of papers or bedsheets with a pillow on top though to be fair when you pick it up you go use item on it and realize what it is and it's very useful for getting around the camp without hassle (the Commandant/Warden will see through your disguise though). Then there's the pouch that comes in the first red cross box. A pouch of what? I guessed it was money, but found I couldn't use it to bribe prisoners or guards. The wire cutters in the second Red Cross box, fine, you can see what they are and guess what they're for, the next one, what is that? An access card? ID card? No it's a block of chocolate with which you bribe a prisoner to be a decoy, something I didn't find very useful, similarly useless was the poison bottle (a little red bottle with 'P' on it) and food parcel combination, which you can lay down next to guard dogs and poison them (temporarily freeze them) until a human guard discovers your trap and retrieves it. The last Red Cross smuggle is a compass, you can just about tell it is, but you're wrong to assume it's of use in the camp, because if you do manage to cut under the wire fence and escape you'll find that your escape fails if you leave empty handed, you need to use your two item limit to carry something that will keep you from getting lost and something to get you across the German border. Pretty sure the compass is the only navigation item, but besides false "papers" e.g. passport you can use the money pouch to bribe the border guards. I don't think you can bribe them with anything else, I tried the chocolate and the food parcel at least, but the game will recognize an attempt to use the German uniform to pass the border and tell you that you are found out and shot as a spy, actually I think that's the only way you can be killed.

Knowing all this it's quite a fun game and you can appreciate the sketch like graphics of the converted castle that is the prison. I was surprised at how little the manual served as a guide, at best it drops a few subtle hints and tells you the controls for picking up, dropping and using items. I still think I was spared a bad game at Xmas '90, but the game might have helped bring about The Last Ninja in '87, which while being more arcade, had similar trial and error item puzzles, but a lot more fun.