AMAZON is a good adventure story (and would make a heck of a movie), but
the program has some strange properties: Directions are sometimes
meaningless; the map is of use only when NSRT headquarters allows it to be;
either a random factor (doubtful) or a bug (likely) renders commands
inoperable at inopportune moments; and we are prompted regularly, via
message or Paco the parrot, to perform mundane actions even a rookie
adventurer would have enough sense to try.
In many cases, only one command works; alternative actions are mostly non-
existent, and even when they aren't, they don't offer much help. Paco is a
fabulous guide when we don't need him, and the hint list included in the
package is of value for but one aspect of a specific puzzle (which is
understandable).
AMAZON does offer some fine problems; unfortunately, the perpetual idiocy
of the program takes away much of the fun of solving them.
Nevertheless, the story makes the trip worthwhile. Be prepared for many
dangers, some insulting program behavior, and be ready to do a lot of SAVEs.
START. At the outset, AMAZON is not under your control, so when the first
screen appears: WAIT. Although the next message says to use a joystick,
twiddling it has no effect on the mini-film that follows: A static-filled
Landsat A-505 transmission comes through, and a panning camera reveals a
wrecked jungle camp, several bloody bodies, and, just before the
transmission ends, the face of a wild-eyed Huni warrior. When the scene is
over, GO TO MURPHY'S OFFICE.
NSRT Director Murphy will ask you your name, then fumble through some
documents. NO MATTER WHAT NAME YOU TYPE IN AT THIS PROMPT, REMEMBER IT
EXACTLY! You will need it later; and if you type it in wrong, you'll end
the game. Answer YES to Murphy's next question; YES or NO to the "Scared?"
query brings the same reply; and YES to the third question. Murphy will
then ask you your level of expertise: for now, NOVICE. He will tell you
that you are to go to the Amazon and find out what happened to the previous
archeological expedition. He'll also give you a sealed letter.
After you're done with Murphy, GO TO THE AIRPORT. OPEN THE LETTER. In it
you will find information about a Professor Beneker, a ticket to Miami, and
$20,000. GO TO MIAMI. A bearded stranger will make a telephone call.
TAXI. Once you've arrived in Miami, you'll hail a taxi. The driver will ask
you where you want to go: TAKE ME TO THE ARCHEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. The
driver will then suggest a hotel. Tell him NO, because you must get to the
Institute: Professor Beneker was murdered not an hour ago. (YES to the taxi
driver gets you mugged and ends the game.)
OUTSIDE THE INSTITUTE. When the taxi drops you off outside the Institute,
you will see police cars. ENTER THE INSTITUTE. This command will bring up a
picture of a policeman. SHOW THE LETTER TO THE POLICEMAN, and he'll get out
of your way. ENTER THE INSTITUTE again. Inside you'll meet a teary-eyed
secretary, who will ask you your name: ENTER IT EXACTLY AS YOU TOLD MURPHY
OR YOU'LL BE HISTORY, BRANDED AN IMPOSTER! She will then ask you if you've
come for the Professor's notebooks -- he was an expert on the Huni tribe --
to which you answer YES. She'll tell you to go to Beneker's office in the
east wing: GO TO THE EAST WING.
From the doorway of the Professor's office, you'll hear more hideous crying.
ENTER THE OFFICE to find a covered birdcage, a refrigerator, a ransacked
desk, and a cupboard. UNCOVER THE BIRDCAGE. At this point, Paco will ask
you your name then take over and do everything except draw you a bath.
Since Paco will lead you around as if you were retarded, here are the
(unexplained) commands to use in the office: OPEN THE CAGE. OPEN THE
REFRIGERATOR. TAKE THE FRUIT AND THE MEDICINE. FEED PACO. YES. YES. YES.
PACO. OPEN THE CUPBOARD. TAKE THE FOOD. EXAMINE THE METAL. TAKE THE DART
GUN. EXAMINE THE DART GUN.
EXIT the office. Outside you'll be confronted by the Director of the
Institute, who will say that Paco is too valuable to be taken away. EXIT
again, and you'll be grabbed by the guards. Things look bleak, but the
Director will hesitate then demand $20,000. PACO. NO. The Director will
demand $15,000. PACO. NO. The Director will become dangerously impatient,
and demand $10,000 (or else!). PACO. YES. The Director will be satisfied so
GO TO THE AIRPORT.
At the airport, BUY TWO TICKETS. You'll be prompted. GO TO THE COURTESY
BOOTH, say YES, and TAKE THE BACKPACK. Check your INVENTORY (prompted
again!) then BOARD THE PLANE. The plane will make an unscheduled refueling
stop in Guatemala, and a corrupt immigrations officer will demand
cigarettes. (You might want to do a SAVE here, to see if you can find
another way to buy off the officer. The cigarettes come in handy in the
jungle. Chances are you'll have to GIVE THE CIGARETTES TO THE OFFICER, but
the program is so inconsistent, other bribery methods could crop up at any
moment.)
AMAZON. Once you've taken care of the immigrations officer, you'll get the
message GOOD WORK!, after which you'll wake up in darkness, with a pounding
headache. Paco will take the parachute off your head. Of all things, you'll
be prompted to sit up!
Congratulations! You've made it to the Amazon in one piece. Don't get too
comfortable, though, your problems (and the program's) are just beginning.
JUNGLE. The first thing to do in the jungle is ignore Paco: Following his
directions will get both of you lost. READ THE NOTE in your backpack then
TURN ON THE COMPUTER. Type in the code to contact NSRT: The good news is
that NSRT will have a satellite fix on you at all times; the bad news is
that the Huni tribe is on the rampage, government soldiers are drunk and
crazy, the Kemani tribe must be treated carefully, and Macuma, an active
volcano, might erupt at any time.
From your primary location in the jungle (RD,T4), (S)OUTH, SOUTHWEST, and
SOUTHEAST (NE, NW, SW, SE cannot be used,) lead to an impassable cliff;
(N)ORTH and NORTHWEST make you dinner for cannibals; (W)EST leads to a
dead-end game trail and a bloodless encounter with a jaguar (a foray EAST
or WEST from the game trail might result in death). So from RD,T4, go EAST
(but don't bother consulting the map because directions don't match it
properly). A wild boar will appear, then rush off. If you follow it, the
game is over. The only thing to do is go NORTH twice and get captured by
the government troops, a frightening, frustrating, but completely
unavoidable experience.
Much of the troop sequence is justifiably beyond your control. As soon as
you're captured, Paco will fly off, you'll be stripped of your backpack,
then tied up and put in a tent. The leader of the troops will enter the
tent, point a very large gun in your face, brand you a spy, then coyly
demand money. Any command here serves to advance the action. When the
leader exits the tent, he'll drop your backpack beside you. Night will fall.
You'll hear Paco outside the tent, so PACO. He'll come in and release you.
GET THE BACKPACK. Go WEST. You'll be in the middle of the soldiers' camp;
all around you they sleep, but it's so dark you can't see them. WEAR THE
GOGGLES (they're for night vision), and they'll reveal an exit to the north.
DO A SAVE! The most bizarre program activity took place here! Go NORTH.
You're out of the camp but not home free. The message will tell you to
remove the goggles so you don't wear the batteries down. You cannot do
ANYTHING until you remove them. As soon as you do, the soldiers wake up and
discover you've skipped town. At this point, you have three moves to figure
out what to do before the soldiers capture and kill you.
The only command that will get you out of this mess is TURN ON THE COMPUTER,
but I tried it *FIFTY* times before it worked! I kept getting messages: You
Don't Want To Wear Out The Batteries or Conditions Unfavorable or That
Isn't Helpful. No other action is possible in this situation.
So try this: After you've removed the goggles, OPEN THE ENVELOPE, and jot
down (or otherwise remember) the emergency code because the paper on which
it is written oxidizes. TURN ON THE COMPUTER.
(OPENing THE ENVELOPE could be the key here. I opened the envelope upon
first reaching the jungle, so I knew the emergency code. When nothing
worked after escaping the camp, I restarted, and left the envelope unopened
until after I'd escaped. It still didn't work right away. The program
refused to allow me to turn on the computer through fifty RESTOREs; until
all of sudden, it worked.)
CAMPSITE. Okay, you've TURNed ON THE COMPUTER. Assuming things function
properly, enter the emergency code, and contact will be made. You'll get
some nonsense about Washington weather and high-scoring football games --
odd, considering there are two transmission codes and one of them is for
emergencies only. At the question, "By The Way, Anything Wrong?" type YES.
You'll be given your map position (AU,F1) and the location (WP,T1) of a
safe campsite. DON'T BREAK CONTACT OR YOU'LL BE CAUGHT AND EXECUTED!
Consult the map and enter directions while online. Your new location will
be noted after each move. Do this until you've reached the campsite. You
and Paco will be tired, so go to SLEEP. You'll need plenty of rest.
Everything from finger-less natives to jungle mazes will be on tomorrow's
agenda.
JUNGLE MAZE. Next morning, NORTH is the only way to go. In the jungle, an
arrow will thud into a tree, and a Kemani warrior will appear. SMILE, and
you'll be taken to the Kemani village. The tribesmen will make weird
gestures and be described as having no fingers. If you have the cigarettes,
GIVE THE CIGARETTES TO THE MEN. The chances are awesome that you won't have
them, so type in any *safe* command, such as SMILE or EXAMINE FINGERS. The
Kemani will find you tedious and dump you off in the jungle.
The picture that comes up after you've been dumped off will not be the same
after you've done a SAVE, which I strongly suggest be done. It doesn't
matter if the picture changes after the SAVE because using the PICTURESOFF
command here will help you get out of the jungle: with no pictures you get
a full screen of scrolling text, very helpful for maze mapping because you
can see the results of several previous moves. With the PICTURESON, you
have a small text window which erases after each command.
Consulting Paco or NSRT base will tell you to drop objects in the jungle,
draw a map, then retrieve the objects after you've made it out. As far I as
could tell, mapping (rather, what you'd normally consider mapping) is
useless: you can't *draw* a map because directions are devoid of meaning.
Also, it seemed that after running around in circles for a while, I sort of
stumbled out of the maze and back into the campsite. So do a SAVE before
you start anything.
After the SAVE, DROP something then go NORTH. Keep on DROPping things and
going NORTH until you *return* to something you dropped earlier. Go off in
different directions, until you find an empty location, then DROP something
else. At a certain point, you'll be completely trapped -- you won't find a
jungle spot *without* one of your items already there and you'll keep
coming back to the same items over and over. Now, start at a location with
a dropped item, and make a note of where every direction leads you. Keep
returning to the item until you've mapped every direction, then go to a
different item and do the same. (There are only so many items you can drop
before you start running in circles; it doesn't matter where you start
dropping them nor where you end.) In any case, at some point you'll emerge
from the jungle and reach the campsite. Before you go back to retrieve the
items you dropped, remember which item and which direction you exited from.
Retrieve all the others then wander about until you find the last item.
TAKE (the item) then go back to the campsite.
Exiting the jungle maze will return you to the campsite. Again, NORTH is
the only way to go, but this time it will take you to the South Slope of
Macuma. Go NORTH again. You'll start to get cold so WEAR THE PARKA. NORTH
once more and you'll be at 11000 feet. NORTH again and you'll be in a
blinding snowstorm. (Here, another strange thing happens: It seems you can
turn on the computer *only* at times the program assumes are important. At
any other time, Conditions Are Unfavorable, even daylight in the jungle.
It's fortunate for us that the computer works now, but I think a blinding
snowstorm should qualify as 'unfavorable conditions'.) So, TURN ON THE
COMPUTER. Here you will use the same procedure you used to escape from the
soldiers. NSRT will give you your present location and inform you of a safe
campsite on the summit of Macuma (visible as a crater on the map). Enter
the directions and consult the map. Directions don't match, apparently due
to the storm.
When you reach the summit, go NORTH to the lava tube. ENTER THE LAVA TUBE.
FEED PACO. TURN ON THE COMPUTER. You will receive important instructions:
Able bridge has been washed out, and a boat will be air-dropped tomorrow;
to reach the Rio Sagora River, you must enter the Macuma crater to the
north; and since Paco is deathly afraid of water (he warned you of this in
Beneker's office), you should use the dart gun on him before you cross the
river. After this, get some SLEEP. In the morning, go NORTH three times,
down through the crater. You'll emerge in the jungle again. Go NORTH to the
clearing. A plane will fly over, and a parachute will fall into the trees.
Go EAST four times, and you'll find a parachute and a large carton. TAKE
THE PARACHUTE. OPEN THE CARTON. TAKE THE RIFLE AND THE OAR. EXAMINE THE
RIFLE and EXAMINE THE OAR will inform you that both are bent, but they will
be of use so keep them. INFLATE THE RAFT. It has a leak that cannot be
repaired so leave it. You'll have to find another method of transport to
cross the river.
RIVER. Go NORTH from the useless raft and you'll be at the banks of the Rio
Sagora River. WEAR THE GOGGLES. A hippo will be visible so consult PACO. He
will advise you to BE STILL, amigo. The hippo will float away. Go WEST
twice. There is a native boat here but EXAMINE THE BOAT reveals a hole
punched through it. USE THE PARACHUTE and the hole is repaired. Since our
parrot guide hates water, TRANQUILIZE PACO. ENTER THE BOAT. CROSS THE RIVER.
Out in the river, the currents will toss the boat about wildly, thus
attracting a slew of starving alligators. USE THE OAR to beat them away.
You'll race frantically to the shore. Paco will wake from his drug-induced
sleep, you'll set up camp, and soon fall asleep to the chattering of
monkeys.
MONKEY PUZZLE. When you wake up the next day, Paco will have forgiven you
for the dart gun episode. The computer will beep. TURN ON THE COMPUTER. You
will be given your position and the message that the Rio Sagora River was
the last major obstacle. NSRT will then ask you why you didn't check in
last night. SLEEP or TIRED will return this message: "Check your inventory
then call back." As soon as you're offline, a new message will inform you
that all your equipment is missing. TURN ON THE COMPUTER again and you'll
learn that NSRT knows all about the monkeys and your missing backpack.
Fortunately, a micro-transmitter was sewn into the backpack, and NSRT is
tracking it. Here, we have the same procedure as that used for the
snowstorm and the soldiers: You'll be given the positions of yourself and
the backpack; you consult the map and enter directions. After a few moves,
NSRT will tell you this isn't working. They'll send you a graphic image and
leave it up to you to retrieve your gear. (The graphic image appears even
if you've used the PICTURESOFF command.)
You'll need a joystick. The graphic image is that of a rectangular grid,
fifteen blocks long by twenty-five blocks wide. You are marked by an oval
blob and the backpack by a small rectangle. Although the backpack moves on
diagonals, you can't. The trick is to corner the backpack, which can be
done quickly. I accomplished this in the bottom right corner.
After this chase is over, you'll be back in your camp. Some of your
equipment will be missing (rifle, oar, and Paco's food), and the monkeys
will throw rocks at you. The game then prompts you: "Better go east."
From the prompt, Go EAST twice. You'll reach a suspension bridge which
spans the river. Paco will outright refuse to cross, so SHOW PACO THE DART
GUN to persuade him otherwise. He'll hop on to your shoulder and close his
eyes. CROSS THE BRIDGE. Midway across, the structure will sway sickeningly,
Paco will detect it, and fly off on his own. CROSS THE BRIDGE once again
(you'll make it!), and the bridge will collapse behind you.
TREE OF SKULLS. After the bridge collapses, Paco (what a bird!) will point
(?) south. Go SOUTH three times. After each move, Paco will grow more
excited. The third SOUTH move will bring you to the Tree Of Skulls, which
is exactly that.
The direction to take from the Tree Of Skulls can be found by reading the
Warren-Allen University letter, reproduced on the inside flap of the game
package. (Of course you can figure out the direction by trial and error.)
WEST will bring you to the entrance to the Lost City Of Chak. TURN ON THE
COMPUTER. (The map location you are at now is the last reported position of
the previous expedition. The coordinates are also noted on the inside
flap.) NSRT will candidly admit thinking you wouldn't make it. You'll also
be told to make camp by 6:00pm; and, because the Huni attack at night, to
be prepared with goggles and laser. Moreover, you have enough rations for
only five days, so you have to be done and out of Chak before then. Macuma
might erupt at any moment. NSRT also thinks the videotape of the destroyed
camp (from the beginning of the game) will be useful and they'll upload it
to your computer.
HUNI ATTACK. After the transmission, it will be time to make camp. Paco
will indicate SOUTH. Camp will be made, it will be night, and you'll hear
grunting in the jungle. ACTIVATE THE LASER. WEAR THE GOGGLES.
You'll need a joystick again. The screen picture (PICTURESOFF doesn't
affect the graphics here) will show a huge crescent moon in a starlit sky,
and three figures scurrying back and forth among several bushes. At the
bottom of the screen is your laser defense. No difficulty here, just
pretend you're playing SPACE INVADERS!
After the battle, Paco will indicate it's safe to SLEEP. You will awake on
Day 1, and be told that Chak is to the north. Check your INVENTORY then go
NORTH -- we're almost done.
If you want to explore the following areas, well sure, go ahead. You don't
have a lot of moves to waste on exploration, for night arrives swiftly and
you *must* be back in camp: The Huni attack every night, in increasing
numbers. Also, Paco will get sick on the second day -- still got the
medicine?
WINDOW ROOM. ENTER Chak and you'll be in the Window Room. North leads to an
open courtyard; west to the ground floor of a tower; east to a passage with
a nasty-looking anaconda; and south leads outside to the entrance. Again,
each exploration is limited in moves, and there really isn't much to find.
So from the Window Room, go NORTH to the Open Courtyard. Go NORTH again
into the Fruit Room. Go EAST to the Statue.
In the Statue Room, go NORTH again. You'll be at the North Wall. PUSH THE
NORTH WALL. Part of it will pivot open to reveal a lever. PULL THE LEVER
and a floor slab will open to reveal a stairway leading down. Go DOWN to
the Narrow Passageway. The slab will close. Return is not possible.
From the Passageway, go WEST. You'll find a lighted stairway leading up. UP
will take you to the Vast Hall. Go WEST into the Smelly Room. Go NORTH and
TAKE THE KEY. Go SOUTH, then EAST back into the Vast Hall.
Go NORTH in the Vast Hall to the door with the gold lock and the rotting
skeleton. UNLOCK THE DOOR. TAKE THE PAPER. READing THE PAPER will show a
cryptogram message. The computer will beep, so TURN ON THE COMPUTER. NSRT
will tell you that the message has been deciphered. You must open three
doors at once and in the right sequence. When contact is broken, you'll see
a passage WEST, which will lead you to three doors. This is one of two
moments in the game when graphics are a must, so if you've been playing
without pictures, use the PICTURESON command. You have one move here and it
has to be the right one or poison gas will make short work of you. You'll
see three doors. Count the markings on each door then OPEN 132.
You made it! (Well, almost.) Ecstatic, you scoop up the DV emeralds. Macuma
erupts, and creates an earthquake (?). Blocks of stone fall around you. Go
SOUTH (yes, you'll be told) into the Vast Hall. A Secret Passage appears,
so go SOUTH again. Paco will prompt you to go SOUTH yet another time. SOUTH
once more will bring you to volcanic earth, and UP gets you out. Here is
the second moment when the graphics prove their worth. The picture will
show a freshly-dug hole, a shovel, and a passage West, none of which is
pointed out in the text alone. So go WEST and you'll be at the entrance to
the (no longer) Lost City Of Chak. A few rather messy-looking pictures
depict Macuma's destruction of Chak. Just when you think you and Paco are
doomed, a helicopter arrives. To put the icing on the cake, Paco will
prompt us to get in.
END. NSRT Director Murphy will be unimpressed by your success. Paco will
screech light praise. Music will play.
When you go to Murphy's office shortly after the start of the game, he will
ask you your level of expertise: Novice, Seasoned Explorer, or Expedition
Leader. The above walkthru took the Novice level. The notes that follow
concern the Explorer level.
Explorer level is played exactly the same as Novice, except for three minor
differences, which made play somewhat more difficult.
IMMIGRATIONS OFFICER. As with the Novice level, Explorer must deal with the
corrupt Immigrations Officer. Do a SAVE here because there are two
possibilities: If GIVE THE CIGARETTES TO THE OFFICER works, fine. If it
doesn't, you'll be tossed in jail, from which there is no escape.
If the cigarette bribe works, your next stop will be La Paz, Bolivia. It
doesn't matter what move you make here because you have only one, and as
soon as you've made it, a thief will jump out an alley, steal your
belongings, break a few of your ribs, and leave you lying in the street.
Paco will fly off. Check your INVENTORY. You should have a computer, a belt,
and a sealed envelope. You're in too much pain to go anywhere (or sit up,
for that matter) so OPEN THE ENVELOPE. It contains the emergency code
number. The paper will crumble to dust so write down the number. TURN ON
THE COMPUTER, enter the emergency code, and NSRT will tell you to stay put
because an agent will replace your stolen belongings.
At this point, you'll feel better. The La Paz police will show up and
demand money in return for Paco. EXAMINE THE BELT. GIVE THE GOLD TO THE
POLICE and Paco will be returned to you. You will then try to spend the
night in the Grand, the most luxurious hotel in La Paz. Too bad, they don't
let parrots into the rooms, so you hang around the streets all night. In
the morning, an NSRT agent arrives and replaces your stolen equipment. The
next scene puts you in the jungle, in exactly the same state as that at the
Novice level.
ALLIGATORS. Crossing the Rio Sagora River provokes an attack by alligators.
As a Novice, you were able to fight them with the oar. As an Explorer,
you'll have to USE THE OAR and, because it alone does not rid you of them,
USE THE RIFLE.
ANTECHAMBER DOORS. At Novice level, you had to open three doors in the
proper sequence. Being an Explorer, you'll have to do this twice. The first
three doors are identical to those at Novice level: OPEN 132. (The wrong
move kills you; the right move gives you a breath of fresh air.) The second
set of doors also OPENs 132, even though the markings are different. (I did
a SAVE here then guessed. There is really no way to determine the sequence
because the door markings are vague, at best.)
In addition to the oddities noted for Novice level, one cropped up at
Explorer level. On first reaching the jungle (at any level), you must TURN
ON THE COMPUTER and contact NSRT base. At Explorer level, however, you are
given a mission quite different than that of Novice: you are to find the
Lost City Of Chak and get the DV emeralds which, ultimately, will be used
for secret national defense projects. Although reading the game package
will tell you that the emeralds are the goal, the initial Novice-level
computer contact won't bring this to your attention.
One more thing: After you open the envelope with the emergency code, the
envelope will self-destruct. It does this at both levels of play. At
Explorer level, after you're mugged, you'll have to open the envelope in
order to contact NSRT base. Later, in the jungle, checking your INVENTORY
will reveal another envelope with the emergency code. It's neither magic
nor a bug. Remember, you were resupplied after the mugging in La Paz.
As for Expedition Leader level, you're on your own. I can't bear to play
AMAZON again.
AMAZON is published by Telarium Corporation.
This walkthru is copyright (c) 1986 by The Doctor's Office. All rights
reserved.
