MISSION IMPOSSIBLE?

TOPOLOGIKA'S 'COUNTDOWN TO DOOM' or DOOMAWANAGARA if you prefer to be formal, certainly lives up to its name. How long can YOU stay alive? DOOM is a very inhospitable planet with a dramatically varied climate - not unlike planet Earth - and an intensely volatile atmosphere. Peter Kilworth's BBC version sold 25,000 copies, let's see what the upgraded PCW version has to offer hopeful space explorers.
	As an 'adventurer' you leave your native earth and soon begin orbiting DOOM:
		'14.07 :  Orbiting Doom - 25 Km from touchdown. Surveying    
				Doom : Atmosphere corrosive.
				Surface conditions : Deserts, Glaciers, Jungles, Swamps.
				Many spaceship wrecks detected.

		 14.11 :  Flying over dwellings of the ancients...

		 14.12 :  Under attack.  Spaceship disabled. Prepare to
				crash...'

	Helplessly you play the controls, miraculously you escape death on impact. You've been taken out of orbit by DOOM's automatic defence system and now the countdown begins. 
	You must salvage from many other similar spaceships six essential components to repair your spaceship and escape from DOOM: Dilithium Crystals; Motor Unit; Navigation Unit box; Life support system; Medikit; Nuclear reactor. All this and pit yourself against the hazards of DOOM before your own craft corrodes away in just 400 Time units. (That's 400 moves.) 
	But can you escape DEATH? It's waiting for you around every corner. Peter Kilworth has schemed a varied selection of death traps, and they are all just waiting to get you! How do you fancy a 1000 volt handshake with a 'jelly like blob'? Or suffocating under a swarm of slugs? And what ever you do, keep well away from the swamp! You may prefer getting lost in the maze of tunnels beneath the 'Artefact', a large grey metallic dome that beckons you from afar.
	Unfortunately not even the help sheets that are available and the on-line help system that gives you clues were enough for me as I succumbed to just about every monster, Trod?, explosive and snare laid out for me.
	This was indeed, an impossible mission for me, an unseasoned adventurer. However, don't be put off because many have succeeded in leaving DOOMAWANGARA and even in Returning to DOOM, Peter Kilworth's sequel, part 2 of his Trilogy, which is now available.
	A pity the adventure isn't copied onto M: drive to allow you to quickly reload and start again. Countdown to DOOM comes with a handy 'How to play Adventure Games' fact-sheet written by Peter Kilworth, helpful if you haven't played an adventure before.
	COUNTDOWN TO DOOM - a text only adventure -  comes from Topologika, 'phone (0733) 244682, and costs #9.95 inclusive.  (Return to Doom #12.95 from Topologika.) Have you got nine lives to spare?                                                               