Waxworks (1983 video game)

Waxworks is an interactive fiction game by Brian Howarth and Cliff J. Ogden.[1] It was published by Digital Fantasia in 1983 for the Commodore 64, Plus/4, ZX Spectrum, and BBC Micro.[2] It was the 11th game in the Mysterious Adventures series.[3]

This article is about the 8-bit game. For the later game, see Waxworks (1992 video game).
Waxworks
Developer(s)Brian Howarth
Publisher(s)Molimerx
SeriesMysterious Adventures
Platform(s)Commodore 64, Commodore Plus/4, ZX Spectrum, Acorn Electron, BBC Micro, Dragon, Oric
Release1983 (1983)
Genre(s)Interactive fiction
Mode(s)Single-player

The story is about a waxworks in which the protagonist is trapped. Escaping involves finding statues of famous people (like Hillary and Tenzing).

Whilst some of the statues are exceptionally easy to identify, others are not so simple without acquiring the necessary clues earlier in the game. For example, identifying the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George is exceptionally problematic without first finding a clue to his whereabouts.

Reception

CRASH magazine reviewed Waxworks in the July 1984 issue. The text parser was described as "eccentric" but with "some noteworthy flexibility", being a modified verb/noun form that also allows adverbs and conjunctions ("QUICKLY GET THE LAMP, SWORD, CLOAK AND STAFF", for example). The graphical display was also highlighted, making up for the absence of long room descriptions.[4]

Your Commodore thought the game was not as good as the Zork series and with inferior graphics to rival title Dallas Quest. Overall it was considered to be "a standard adventure with standard graphics."[3]

Personal Computer Games said the game had good graphics, but they took a while to draw so the option to skip them was useful. They also noticed that the response to commands was "nice and fast." The reviewer thought it likely that the game would become as much of a favourite as the other titles in the series.[5]

References
  1. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.php?cat=96&id=7174
  2. Waxworks at SpectrumComputing.co.uk
  3. "Waxworks review". Commodore User (3): 48. December 1984.
  4. "Waxworks" review; CRASH issue 6, pp77; July 1984
  5. https://archive.org/stream/personalcomputergames-magazine-08/PersonalComputerGames_08#page/n91/mode/2up
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