Zenobi Software
£tba

Society's doomed. An unidentified disaster wipes out all but the chosen few, who retreat to an underground shelter and form the nucleus of a post-apocalypse society. You're one of the chosen!

The game begins as you awake from drug-induced sleep, only to find the shelter has been evacuated. The underground chamber is four levels deep and very large. Perhaps a little too large - there's too much map for too few problems.

The games parser does it no favours, either. It's hellishly unfriendly, relying heavily on standard responses such as I CAN'T and OK. In the first location, it look me half-a-dozen attempts to walk through an open door!

April 71h suffers from an identity crisis. One minute it's a sci-fi thriller, giving graphic descriptions of mutilated corpses, the next its a 'cutsey' game, and some puzzles rely on fairy tale logic! However, it's well programmed, the text's good and there's some semblance of a game in there somewhere.

Title: April 7th
By: Zenobi Software
Reviewer: Tim Kemp

Neo-Maoist Fundamentalists! The United European Republic! Sino-Arabian Alliance! The Republican Army of New Mesopotamia! Oh yes, and Aliens too. What does it all mean? Well for a start, this is the future and there's a touch of the old full scale thermonuclear-type war lurking in the background. You're one of the lucky ones (?) chosen to dwell in purpose-built bunkers and help prepare for life after the big bang. With the passing of time your 'mission' seems pointless, and it's only when you awake one day to find a strange note from a friend telling of the slaughter and mayhem that took place as you slept that the game itself begins...

Being a Quill-ed adventure most of the commands stick to the good old verb/noun format. From the note you find at the start of the game you discern that it's a bit toxic and dangerous outside, and the stern warning to 'kit-up'should be heeded.

Right from the start there are minor tasks to complete, body searches to carry out and pass cards to collect. Most of the first half is fairly straightforward, there aren't many red herrings so most of the items you pick up will have a use at some stage in the game. The items themselves are varied and have logical uses. Experienced adventurers will shoot through this post-apocalyptic tale pretty darn quick. Nevertheless, its interesting from start to finish as you never quite know what unpleasant surprises await you. A good first game from newcomer Geoff Lynas.

April 7th is available for £1.99 from Zenobi Software, 26 Spotland Tops, Cutgate, Rochdale, Lancashire OL12 7NX. Cheques etc to Zenobi Software. Non UK customers add 50p postage per game or £1.00 per game for Air Mail.)