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High Stakes (Text Adventure)
Compatibility: 64K Apple II series; IBM PC
Requirements: One disk drive; printer optional
by Jeff Hurlburt
The trouble with making a lot of money is that the moment you start to spend it on something really fun, like race horses, people start calling you a "playboy". Then, when it turns out your trainer is stealing a fat percentage of every winning purse; and you discretely tell him he's fired-- viola! you show up in the tabloids as an ungrateful, boorish playboy. Such are the first signs that trouble looms on the horizon for Steven Scott, millionaire toy designer. In Mindscape's adaptation of the Dick Francis horse racing mystery you are the beleaguered Scott, who discovers, almost too late, that everything he's got, including his life, is on the line. This time, for sure, you're playing for "High Stakes"!
OK, so maybe you should have filed a complaint and had Leeds arrested. At least that way he wouldn't have had the chance to nearly run you down at the park AND take off with your horse, Energise, in the trailer! (Obviously the guy is a hotheaded nut; and if Energise isn't back by ...; well, the caller claimed your horse was left with another trainer.) After such a morning it was bad enough to come home and read that nasty little piece in the paper; but why should anyone break into your workroom and wreck almost every toy model in the place? (Leeds again? an angry competitor?) Just what the blazes is going on?!
Set in a semi-rustic preserve of racing parks and stables north of London, "High Stakes" is one of those snowballing, race against the clock adventures. Typically, you begin unconcerned as time ticks away on every move; that is, until it starts to look like a deadline of some kind is approaching. Then, when everything seems about to fall into place, there's a frantic rush to make sure you're not the one everything falls into place upon. You can count on doing some amateur detective work in this one; but, fortunately, not so much as to seriously strain the capablities of a mediocre parser backed by an efficient multi-position save/restore. Late night drives along deserted roads, sudden violence, an attractive stranger, and the smell of big money all lend a distinctly Phillip Marlowe flavor to one of Mindscspe's better role-playing fantasies.
Available from Mindscape: 3444 Dundee Road, Northbrook, IL 60062. (312) 480-7667. $39.95
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