After the first of Tsunami's RINGWORLD series, RINGWORLD: REVENGE OF THE PATRIARCH, you may enjoy playing the following RETURN TO RINGWORLD, an illustrated and animated interactive adventure game based on Larry Niven's realm of Known Space.
It's the 29th century and the galactic core is exploding! A shock wave of radiation undulates into space, threatening all life forms in the galaxy. That's the bad news. The good news is that the radiation won't get to the inhabited reaches of Known Space for another twenty thousand years. So no one is panicing yet... I mean no one except the Puppeteers. As the natural cowards of the universe, Puppeteers will not travel in hyperspace. So they have put their incredible technology to use, escaping the galaxy with their "home world" and four farming worlds in tow. Traveling at sub-light speeds, this Fleet of Worlds heads for the Clouds of Magellan, a lesser galaxy on the edge of the Milky Way. As the planets move sedately through space, another drama unfolds...
Long ago, the Puppeteers worked behind the scenes manipulating the races of Known Space. During the Man-Kzin wars, they secretly aided the Humans by attempting to influence the development of an increasingly passive Kzinti race.
Centuries later, knowledge of the Puppeteers' covert actions reached the Kzinti Patriarch, inciting an explosive response unmitigated by the passage of time. The Patriarch decreed the Puppeteers' destruction, sending a well-armed hyperdrive starship to intercept the Fleet of Worlds. Just in time, the Patriarch's plan was thwarted by three unlikely companions. Risking their lives and reputations, they prevented Puppeteer genocide and adverted another Man-Kzin interstellar war. But instead of being hailed heros, the three are denounced as criminals and forced to flee for their lives.
Quinn McQuarry (a male human), Miranda Rees (a female human), and Seeker of Vengeance (a male kzin) are fugitives from injustice. The Kzinti Patriarch has placed a price on their heads because they blew up his weapon of revenge, the starship Destroyer. They also cheated the Puppeteers out of technology discovered on Ringworld. They are also wanted for the theft of the Lance of Truth, a hyperdrive research vehicle built jointly by the Kzin and Human governments.
Now hunted throughout Known Space, the crew has only one choice: return to Ringworld and lay low until they can clear their names. Yet even this colossal artificial world holds no safe haven, for Ringworld's mysteries have attracted a dangerous force...The United Nations' Amalgamated Regional Militia (otherwise known as the ARM). Can the fugitives discover Ringworld's secret in time to defeat the plans of a power-crazed megalomaniac? Now, it's your turn to play and you may switch at will between the three characters described above.
Return to Ringworld is a very classic adventure game where all activities can be accomplished by using the mouse. When you click the left button, the character will take action. Clicking the right mouse button, will cause the Action Menu to be displayed.This Action Menu is a triangular-shaped graphic with six smaller diamond shapes called Action Buttons. The cursor changes its shape to match the Action Button you just selected. The actions you can select are the following: walk, look, use, talk, switch actors (to change character), and game utilities. Pressing the game utilities button brings up a window which highlights and accesses game-related utilities (these functions are Saving, Restoring, Restarting, Pause, Sound options, Quitting and Speech/Text Display).
During gameplay, the screen is divided into two areas: the strip across the bottom is the inventory bar which allows you to see what the game character is carrying (it also displays the name of the character you are currently playing). The large portion above the inventory bar is the game screen, where all the action in the game takes place (this is also where conversation text and game messages are displayed). Return to Ringworld is not a "try-and-die" game experience. If an action would logically result in your character's death, the game will not permit that action. Just save your game-in-progress before you quit!
Time Warner Interactive Ltd.
GRAPHICS ------ 81% 1 Rushmills, Bedford Road,
SOUND ------ 84% Northampton, NN4 7YH England.
MUSIC ------ 80% Tel: +44-(0)604-602-800
GAMEPLAY ------ 78%
INTEREST ------ 79%
Time Warner Interactive
2210 W. Olive Avenue,
OVERALL ------ 80% Burbank, CA 91506-2626
Tel: 800-482-3766
