Blurb
Rick Hanson - The First Part of the RICK HANSON TRILOGY.
As Rick Hanson, Special Agent, your mission is to assassinate an evil general and save the world from the final holocaust! This fast moving thriller has many puzzles to solve, characters to encounter and objects to collect as you journey through its vast landscape!
Over 200 locations, masses of atmospheric text, sentence interpretation and super-fast response times make this an adventurer's dream!
Winner of the 1986 A&B Computing Adventure Awards for Best Electron Adventure and joint BBC Best Tape-Based Adventure.
'If you want to know how good an adventure can be, buy Rick Hanson and find out!' - A&B Computing
'Good to see there are still a few programs around that make you envious of BBC owners!" - PC Weekly
Introduction
Rick Hanson is a machine code, text only adventure for the BBC B with OS 1.2 or the Acorn Electron. The game has many problems to solve, charaacters to meet and objects to collect and examine as you journey through its 220 atmospherically described locations. The program has hundreds of messages which have been compated to approximately half their original length, and when these are expanded there is almost 30K of text!
Rick Hanson has an advanced command line interpreter which allows you to type, in upper and lower case, unpunctuated sentences and multiple statements. The program analyses your command and acts on certain 'key' words.
From time to time the message "I can't guess!" may appear. This means that the computer understood part of what you typed, but needed an extra word or phrase to carry out the command. For example, PAY BARTENDER would not be sufficient. The correct phrase might by PAY BARTENDER WITH COIN.
To enter multiple statements simply leave a SPACE between each set of commands. For example, to go NORTH and then WEST, you could type NORTH (SPACE) WEST on the same line.
Most words may be abbreviated, the abbreviation depending on their position in the vocabulary list. Keep your commands simple as it is usually the case that only two or three key words are required to carry out the desired action.
Here are some examples of command lines to help you during play. The objects' names have been changed so as not to spoil your enjoyment of the adventure.
| GET THE FROG AND THE HAT | TAKE EVERYTHING | |||
| EXAMINE THE FROG | EXAMINE HAT | |||
| DROP THE HAT | DROP EVERYTHING | |||
| THROW THE KNIFE | OPEN THE SOUTH DOOR | |||
| CLOSE THE DOOR LEADING IN | CLOSE THE DOOR WHICH LEADS NORTHWEST | |||
| SHOOT AT THE FROG WITH THE RIFLE | KILL THE ANIMAL WITH THE KNIFE | |||
| WEAR THE HAT | TAKE OFF THE HAT | |||
| TIE THE ROPE TO THE RIFLE | UNTIE THE RIFLE | |||
| READ THE NOTE | FILL THE FLASK WITH THE WATER |
INVENTORY or LIST will list your possessions.
LOOK gives a description of your surroundings.
QUIT restarts the game from the beginning.
HELP provides a list of common commands. Press a key to see the next word in the list.
SAVE saves a game position to cassette. This gives the prompt 'S:' after which you must type a filename of not more than seven letters. Figures are ignored.
RESTORE restores a previous position. This gives the prompt 'R:' after which you must type a filename as described in SAVE.
As Rick Hanson, special agent, you find yourself in a disused railway station at the start of another secret mission. What the mission is, you do not know, but you are sure it must be important because the Chief has assigned you to the case!
Hints - Make a map. Remember that all the puzzles in this adventure have logical solutions and there is no 'magic'. Read descriptions and messages very carefully. Should you find yourself hopelessly stuck, simply write your query on a separate piece of paper, enclose it with your S.O.S. Help Card and a S.A.E. and post it to us for a prompt reply.
Helpsheet
To use this help sheet, read through the list of questions about Rick Hanson until you find one which most fits your requirements. For a nudge in the right direction, look up the appropriate hint number. For the complete solution to a puzzle, turn to the relevant number in the answer section; or preferably, ask someone to use the help sheet for you to reduce the risk of you seeing the answer to a problem you have not yet come across in the game.
| How do I kill the main in the railway station? (Answer 10) |
| How do I escape from the railway station? (Hint 2. Answer 1) |
| How do I escape from the guard? (Hint 20, Answer 6) |
| How do I climb the stairs in the tavern? (Hint 1. Answer 3) |
| Where do I find the Quhut? (Hint 6. Answer 20) |
| How do I use the fruit machine in the tavern? (Hint 6. Answer 2) |
| What shall I do with the ale? (Answer 19) |
| What is the significance of my room number? (Hint 3. Answer 11) |
| What shall I do in the tavern bathroom? (Hint 18. Answer 18) |
| What do I do in my bedroom? (Answer 4) |
| Can I enter the other bedrooms safely? (Answer 5) |
| How do I read the letter? (Hint 17. Answer 27) |
| What do I ask for in the bookshop? (Hint 4. Answer 9) |
| How do I read the book? (Hint 17. Answer 7) |
| How do I enter the bookshop? (Hint 5. Answer 16) |
| What is the significance of the title of the book? (Hint 7. Answer 8) |
| What is the significance of the first set of hymn numbers? (Answer 12) |
| What about the other set of hymn numbers? (Hint 16. Answer 30) |
| How do I use the tape recorder? (Hint 8. Answer 21) |
| How do I prevent the recorder from killing me? (Hint 21. Answer 29) |
| How do I get the rope? (Hint 9. Answer 25) |
| How do I get the pretol? (Hint 30. Answer 28) |
| How do I pass the fallen tree? (Answer 10) |
| How do I cross the river? (Hint 29. Answer 22) |
| How do I reach the farm? (Hint 32. Answer 26) |
| How do I get rid of the mouse? (Hint 10. Answer 24) |
| Where do I use the trowel? (Hint 28. Answer 13) |
| How do I climb the cliff? (Hint 22. Answer 23) |
| What do I do with the skis? (Hint 27. Answer 14) |
| How do I make the skis slide smoothly? (Hint 11. Answer 35) |
| How do I dig up my contact? (Answer 10) |
| What shall I do in the small cave? (Hint 12. Answer 32) |
| How do I get down the snowy slope? (Hint 15. Answer 15) |
| How do I stop the jeep? (Hint 26. Answer 31) |
| How do I make the bomb? (Hint 13. Answer 33) |
| How do I enter the base? (Hint 25. Answer 38) |
| How do I map the black rooms? (Hint 14. Answer 34) |
| How do I open the first sliding door? (Hint 23. Answer 30) |
| How do I open the second sliding door? (Hint 31. Answer 37) |
| How do I kill General Garantz? (Hint 24. Answer 36) |
Hints
- Book a room.
- Catch a train!
- It is the letter code offset.
- A book!
- Make yourself presentable!
- Take a gamble!
- The figure is the offset to the book code.
- Examine it for a clue.
- Cut it.
- Make it feel ill!
- Wax them.
- Read the location description carefully!
- Use objects you have found earlier.
- You could drop objects (or see hint 12).
- Wear the skis.
- A contact has left them as a clue to a numeric code.
- Decode it!
- Shave.
- The large ox.
- Kill him!
- Get rid of it!
- Use the rope.
- Remember the church? (See hint 16).
- Don't use the gun!
- Say the password. Remember the cave?
- Blow it up.
- Wear them.
- Somewhere soft so it won't break.
- Go for a dip!
- Use a container.
- The door is jammed.
- Get through the hedge by making the bull angry!
Answers
- Go into the telephone booth, get the tape recorder, play the recorder and note your instructions. Get the pie and spanner, go to the waiting room and get the polish, then make for the bridge. Wait for the train and jump on the guard's van roof.
- Insert Impi then play bandit.
- Pay bartender with Quhut.
- Sleep!
- Some you can. Some you can't!
- Kill guard with spanner.
- See 27. Substitute 12 for the offset.
- See 7.
- Ask for The Twelve Apostles.
- You can't!
- See 27.
- They have no significance. Go back to the church the next day.
- The freshly dug ground at the farm.
- Use the skis to ski down the snowy slope. Wear them and ensure they have been waxed previously.
- See 14.
- Shave with the razor before trying to enter.
- Fix it with the pipe.
- Shave with the razor.
- Drink it, or just empty the bottle.
- Win it by playing the bandit.
- Play tape recorder.
- Swim at the calmest section whilst holding the tyre.
- Tie hook to rope. Throw rope. Climb rope.
- Drop the pork pie.
- Cut rope with razor.
- When you are by the bull, wave seat cover and dodge bull.
- Number the alphabet from 1 to 26. Next, write out the alphabet backwards and start numbering from 4 (or 12) until you reach 26. Then start again at 1. With the letter Z=4, Y=5, X=6...D=26, C=1, B=2 etc.
- Fill bottle with petrol.
- Throw tape recorder away.
- They are the code to the first sliding door. Type 18970.
- Light bomb. Throw bomb. Make sure your timing is right!
- Read wall.
- Make bomb when holding the bottle of petrol and the seat cover.
- The rooms are silent. There is no sound. Go N,O,S,O,U,N,D!
- Wax skis with polish.
- Kill General with razor.
- Open the south door with the screwdriver.
- The password is galoop.
If you are still having difficulty with a problem, write to us enclosing a stamped, self-addressed envelope for a reply. Please do not telephone for help because if we are answering queries over the 'phone, we can't work on our new games!
