You have been spending your holiday in London. You are returning home today and must catch the five o'clock flight from Heathrow Airport. Before you go to the airport, you want to buy some souvenirs for your friends at home. You have to find your way around London, visit the right shops and buy the presents you need.
You will be told where you are at what you can see at each place. You will then be asked what you want to do or say.
Choose what you want to do or say by using the arrow keys (to the top right of the keyboard) until your choice is shown at the bottom of the screen and then pressing Return. Thankfully, it's pretty easy to know what to pick if you have a grasp of the English language; nevertheless, I'll mention what you need to pick in this blog.
This is your shopping list: a tie, a policeman doll, a print, a statuette, a tea tray and perfume. You can get some useful information (including your shopping list) by pressing some of the red keys at the top of the keyboard. A reminder of these keys will appear at the top of the screen.
Remember your time is limited. You must not miss your plane. Good luck!
The game starts at 9 A.M. in Charing Cross, in front of the National Gallery. It is nine o'clock in the morning. You have a wallet with £5 in it, six traveler's cheques, your passport and your return plane ticket. You are outside the British Council office in Spring Gardens and you can see the large building on the other side of Trafalgar Square. To the right there is a kiosk and the entrance to a Tube station.
F0 shows the time. Believe it or not, while time passes as you do things in the game, time will still pass even if you're not doing anything and leaving the game idle, so keep that in mind. F1 shows your inventory, which shows what you are currently carrying. F2 shows the shopping list, which we've seen earlier. F3 shows the guidebook, assuming you've bought it. F4 shows the Tube Map, assuming you've bought it.
Walk to the kiosk. Here, buy the carrier bag. You'll need to increase the amount of things you can carry as well as make it so you can carry all of the souvenirs that you are buying. If you want, you can buy the Tube Map and the Guidebook. The Tube Map will show the routes to all the places you need to go, with different colors for different lines, and the Guidebook will tell you where you can buy all the souvenirs. (Not surprisingly, The carrier bag are 5p, 50p and £2, respectively.
- "I'd like this carrier bag, please."
- "I'd like this Tube map, please."
- "I'd like this guidebook, please."
From here, you can either make your own hand-drawn map or take a picture of the map, or you can copy down what is in the guidebook or take a picture of the screen stating what is in it. Since I can do that, I then restart the game in the Let's Play video of the game (as opposed to the longplay).
From here, you can buy the policeman doll for £2.50. You can buy the policeman doll at the kiosk outside any large building, but I just do it here for the sake of it.
- "I'd like this policeman doll, please."
To get more money, you'll need to find the bank, and to find the bank, you'll need to stop a passer-by and ask them where you can change traveler's cheques. You'll get some directions and head to the bank automatically, but the bank will only be open between 9:30 and 15:30.
The Tube is the London subway system, and you can use it to go anywhere in the city. When you go there, always head to the ticket station first and buy a ticket. Of course, it helps to know where you're going and where to buy a ticket for, and you can ask how to get somewhere. You can then pick which Tube station to stop at and then ask how to get there. For Knightsbridge, for example, you take the Jubilee line and change at Green Park.
- "Could you tell me how I get to (insert Tube station name here)?"
From here, you can buy a ticket to the Tube station you want to go to. From here, you can go down the tunnel marked "Jubilee Line," and you'll then wait on the northbound platform until the train arrives and the doors open.
- (Insert Tube station name here), please."
Get on the train, and get out when the train arrives at Green Park station. This part is timed, and if you wait too long, the train moves to the next stop, much like in real life. From here, go up the escalator, and you'll be back outside.
From here, I go to the bank like I tried to do earlier. Once at the bank, go up to the counter marked "Foreign Business." When changing traveler's cheques, change one or two at a time. If you change too many at once, you'll lose more money out of them from fees, so just change one or two - $20 or $40 worth of cheques - every time you need more money.
- "I'd like to change some traveler's cheques, please."
After getting my money, you can stop a taxi. Ask the driver to take you to Harrods.
The taxi ride can either become pleasant and take you there, or you can get stuck in traffic. Sometimes, you may end up back where you started, and you'll have to spend more money to call another taxi and try to get to Harrod's again. Thankfully, the fare is not all that expensive. You can also use the Tube to get to Harrod's as well.
Once you make it to Harrods, you can then walk to it after you pay the fare and step out of the taxi outside of a large building. Enter the large building to enter Harrods. Once inside, approach an assistant. You'll need to do this to politely buy what you need. The perfume is £15, the tie is £8, and the tea tray is £4.
- "I'd like this perfume, please."
- "I'd like this tie, please."
- "I'd like this tea tray please."
From here, leave Harrods, stop another passer-by to go to the bank, and change two traveler's cheques - $40 - worth of money. At this point, you should know what to do.
The only things you'll need left are the print and the statuette. The statuette can be purchased at the British Museum near Goodge Street. Head to the tube, and ask how to get to Goodge Street. You'll have to take the eastbound line and change at Leicester Square. From here, buy a ticket for Goodge Street, then go down the tunnel marked "Eastbound."
- "Could you tell me how to get to Goodge Street?"
Enter the train, then stay on until the train stops at Leicester Square. When it does, get out. From here, enter the tunnel marked "Northern Line" and go down the tunnel maeked "Northbound." Get on the train, then get out when you reach Goodge Street. Go up the escalator, then enter the large building to enter the British Museum. Approach the assistant, and politely ask for a statuette, worth £8.
- "I'd like this statuette, please."
Leave the building, then go back to the Tube and head to the ticket office to buy a ticket to Charing Cross.
Enter the tunnel marked "Southbound," then get on the train when it arrives. Get off the train when it arrives at Charing Cross, then go up the escalator and enter the large building. You'll be in the National Gallery. Approach an assistant and politely ask to buy a print for £2.50.
- "I'd like this print, please."
You'll now have everything on your shopping list, so leave the building and take the Tube. Go to the ticket office and politely ask for a ticket for Heathrow Central, which will take you to Heathrow Airport and end the game.
- "Heathrow Central, please."
You can ask the ticket office attendant how to get there, but you'll eventually find out - either through them or the tube map - that you'll have to do it the same way I'm doing it here. Get on the train, and stop at Green Park, then go down the tunnel marked "Piccadilly Line" and go down the "Westbound" tunnel. Get on the train, and get out when you see the "All change, please." message. You'll be at Heathrow Central station when it happens, and when you get out, you'll reach the airport and end the game, and you'll have done it with all the souvenirs as well as plenty of time and money to spare. You just beat London Adventure!
It's a fine text adventure game, and it's a heck of a way to find all the cool spots in London. While all the action is in the dialogue prompts, they get the job done, and the game behaves like it should. My only complain is that the game goes the same way every time and that the shopping list is not randomized, so that's quite a few places in the game that are left completely unexplored. Other than that, it's still a fun game and one to recommend.
The Guidebook
Foyles: The largest bookshop in the world. Nearest tube - Tottenham Court Road.
Hamley's: A large toy shop in Regent St. Nearest tube - Piccadilly Circus.
Harrods: A high quality department store. Nearest tube - Knightsbridge.
HMV Shop: Sells records and cassettes of music to suit all tastes. Nearest tube - Oxford Circus.
Selfridges: A general department store in Oxford Street. Nearest tube - Marble Arch.
British Museum: Contains antiquities of all kinds. Nearest tube - Goodge St.
National Gallery: Houses a fine selection of European paintings. Nearest tube - Charing Cross.