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- CORRUPTION Walkthru
-
- CORRUPTION, by Magnetic Scrolls, is a surprisingly small and slightly less
- "political" game than many of their others. But they've done it again, and
- the graphics are even better than those in JINXTER. A major hint: There are
- a couple of situations similar to those in all their games which are
- included for the sake of completeness. In CORRUPTION, there are three such
- sections -- complete with graphics -- that are simply red-herrings: One is
- entirely useless, and the other two will take you up toward the end with no
- place to go and nothing to do.
-
- Also, beware of hints regarding the end of the game, because an attempt has
- been made to mislead you. On the other hand, it's worthwhile to use these
- hints, because you'll learn something about what Magnetic Scrolls may try
- to do with graphics in the future. Save first, though!
-
- One feature is a perpetual clock that keeps time, on which one minute
- equals one move. This makes things a bit more linear, but saving regularly
- (and some precautionary "snitching") should make it easy for you to try
- something else whenever you're stuck. Just keep in mind you may need to
- patch up your saves if you don't have time to complete all necessary
- actions before going into the endgame. Only other people's movements happen
- according to the clock; yours need not. Generally there is some leeway on
- what you must do and when you must do it. For instance, most of the morning
- needs to be spent collecting information and evidence -- let's say, in the
- manner of a private detective. While most overheard information will happen
- at specific times, physical evidence will remain in place much longer. Also,
- you can place yourself in position to hear things as soon as it's safe to
- do so, and simply WAIT until you hear them. This will become clearer as you
- play the game.
-
- During play it may or may not become obvious that there is a specific
- schedule which the programmers had in mind. It wasn't clear to me until I
- spoke with Rainbird. However, so long as you get it all done, they have
- allowed for you to do things in whatever order you choose. At one point, I
- became badly stuck in the endgame and called Rainbird in California. After
- quite some discussion, it became clear I had done everything. The only
- problem seemed to be a puzzle I inadvertently solved early in the game
- which is semi-automatically set up to happen later. When I went back and
- did it in Rainbird's order, the end didn't work any better than it had
- before. It turns out that wasn't the problem at all: The puzzle can be
- solved at any time. (The person in California had not actually played the
- game and was working only from notes sent from Magnetic Scrolls in London.)
- What I'd neglected to do was read a couple of items in my latest save, and
- the game hadn't been "told" I knew about them. Therefore, a major word of
- caution is in order:
-
- The word EXAMINE is _not_ the same as the word READ, and you _must_ READ
- any document that might in any way be incriminating or pertinent to your
- case.
-
- Part 2 of this walkthru includes a timetable, but not the events. You
- should fill it in as a way to make sure you've found and heard everything.
- One more thing: If you can't seem to make it into the afternoon, you
- haven't collected all the evidence you needed to in the morning. The game
- lasts for approximately one full working day.
-
- I played the Atari ST version of the game which came with instructions for
- the Amiga and IBM versions. All three versions are now available, and I
- have also seen the C64/128 version. Apparently, the IBM version is not
- copy-protected to allow installation on a hard disk. When I tried it with
- the ST version, it didn't work at all, although I didn't have a hard drive
- at the time. There are many hidden files which will not copy, and a
- complete di copy (drag one icon to the other with the mouse) results in a
- message saying the game disk is a different format from a standard single-
- sided, formatted disk (a problem not normally encountered with a hard
- drive). This didn't bother me very much, though. I simply put my desktop
- and clock installer on my save disk, booted the machine with it from Drive
- A, used Drive B to boot the game, and prefaced my save commands with "A:".
- Seemed to work fine. One thing to keep in mind: The game disk is _full_! Do
- _not_ try to save games to it! Use a separate disk.
-
- While playing, remember there are many situations where you cannot possibly
- do things right the first time, so judicious saves are extremely important.
- One area in particular cannot even be explored well enough in the time
- you're given to successfully complete the actions required to solve the
- puzzle there. A couple of quick EXAMINEs will blow the time schedule enough
- to result in your death. Save often!
-
- The following timetable lists the times that are important. You can fill it
- in with more specifics as you go along.
-
- 9:00 a.m. - The game starts.
- 9:03 a.m. - Information only.
- 9:07 a.m.
- 9:15 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
- 10:00 a.m.
- 10:11 a.m.
- 11:00 a.m.
- 11:24 a.m.
- 11:32 a.m. - Opportunity ends for you.
- 11:37 a.m. - Opportunity ends for you.
- 11:55 a.m. - Only semi-relevant.
- 12:00 noon - Opportunity starts.
- 12:09 p.m.
-
- You start out in your new office, and it's certainly not very nice. Your
- secretary is very unattractive and unpleasant, and the furniture is
- terrible. Only the view and your new BMW are any improvement over your old
- job. Oh well, maybe things will get better when the firm moves the way your
- new partner, David, says they will.
-
- For the start of the game I've used measured moves which are slightly
- arbitrary. You don't have to do things in this exact order; these are
- simply the moves I used to reach the necessary times and to see all the
- graphics. You can alter them to suit yourself. My moves are also separated
- but can be strung together in most any way you want. I tend to be a bit
- paranoid about closing doors, drawers, etc., behind me. But if I ever
- forgot to do so, the game never caught me at it. So, it's probably not
- necessary, and no one ever commented on what I was carrying with me.
-
- The first couple of moves aren't particularly important. EXAMINE DAVID and
- EXAMINE BOOKINGS will do fine. Follow David out into Margaret's office by
- going north because you want to know what he says to her. Then go east,
- north, and west into -- and automatically back out of -- the Dealing Room
- with a message for David. If you used the same number of moves I did, he'll
- be out i the Corridor; so, TELL DAVID ABOUT SERIOUS FRAUD OFFICE. If he's
- not there, you can tell him later, although I never did find out if it's
- necessary to do so.
-
- In any case, he'll be casual about it and go into Hughes's office to the
- east. Since this is sort of suspicious, LISTEN AT WOODEN DOOR, and you'll
- have a better idea of what's going on. (The time he goes in is specific and
- is indicated on the schedule. But you can do the listening at any time he's
- in there, which will be for about 5 minutes or so, although I didn't check
- that part.)
-
- Now is a good time to go exploring. Go south and east into the bathroom. Go
- south to enter the cubicle, OPEN CISTERN, LOOK IN CISTERN, and GET BAG.
- EXAMINE BAG and you find it has some powder in it. EXAMINE POWDER. Although
- it doesn't exactly tell you so, it's cocaine. CLOSE CISTERN (just in case),
- then go north, west twice, and south to your office. There's a cabinet here.
- OPEN CABINET. LOOK IN CABINET. GET LEDGER, CERTIFICATE. EXAMINE LEDGER.
- READ LEDGER. EXAMINE CERTIFICATE. READ CERTIFICATE. CLOSE CABINET.
-
- If you've done an inventory, you should have noticed a briefcase. OPEN
- BRIEFCASE and LOOK IN BRIEFCASE. READ ORGANISER. (Note the spelling with an
- "S," rather than a "Z." This drove me nuts.) READ TIMES, and PUT LEDGER,
- CERTIFICATE, BAG IN BRIEFCASE. It doesn't seem to be necessary to close the
- briefcase, so I frequently didn't. By now (after 9:15 a.m.), the check
- David mentioned to Margaret should be done and on her desk. Go north and
- GET ENVELOPE. ASK MARGARET TO CALL JENNY (just for information), and go
- east into the Corridor. READ ENVELOPE and READ CHEQUE. Now, for more
- information, go north then east into Bill Hughes's office, ASK HUGHES ABOUT
- INSIDER DEALING, and EXAMINE RED LEATHER CHAIR. These actions will give you
- information about Hughes personally, and what his and David's frame-up is
- about. (He's a creep. The accusation is major securities fraud similar to
- the one which happened on Wall Street recently.)
-
- Now, go west, south twice, down twice, and north to the Reception area.
- EXAMINE JARVIS, and EXAMINE BARBARA for information, then go south and down
- to the Car Park. There are three cars here: your new BMW, David's Porsche,
- and Hughes's Volvo. EXAMINE VOLVO, then go up twice, north, and west to
- Theresa's (David's secretary) Office.
-
- It should now be 10:00 a.m., and Theresa will leave for her 10-minute break.
- (If it isn't 10:00 a.m., you can wait until it is.) This is one of the
- areas where you don't have much time; hopefully, you have explored it by
- now. GET LETTER from the shredder, OPEN DRAWER in Theresa's desk, GET BRASS
- KEY, and CLOSE DRAWER. Since this is the key to David's office, OPEN DOOR
- WITH BRASS KEY, which unlocks and opens it in one move. Go west into
- David's office, GET TAPE, and east out. CLOSE DOOR, LOCK DOOR WITH BRASS
- KEY, go east to the Corridor, and east again to look at the Board Room.
- (This location has a nice graphic but is otherwise irrelevant.)
-
- Go west, south, and down twice to the Car Park, and OPEN BMW WITH CAR KEY.
- (It was in the pocket of your jacket.) Get IN, READ LETTER, PUT TAPE IN
- STEREO, GET TAPE, OPEN GLOVE COMPARTMENT, GET SCREWDRIVER, CLOSE GLOVE
- COMPARTMENT, and EXIT. Well, now you know you're being framed by a couple
- of guys who profess to be your "friends." It's time for you to start
- getting rough back! BREAK WINDOW WITH SCREWDRIVER, which will get you into
- the Volvo so you can get the folder you overheard David and Hughes talking
- about earlier. GET FOLDER, OPEN FOLDER, EXAMINE AFFIDAVIT, READ AFFIDAVIT,
- CLOSE VOLVO, CLOSE BMW (not that it will help), PUT ALL IN BRIEFCASE, and
- go up three times, west, and south to your office.
-
- Take a few minutes to take stock and see what you've discovered so far.
-
- First, you know David's been doing some illegal stuff -- insider dealing
- (called "insider trading" in the U.S.) probably -- and something to do with
- drugs -- cocaine from the looks of it. (If you leave the bag in the cistern
- and wait around, David will come along during the morning and take it away;
- so, it's his rather than belonging to some irrelevant addict from the
- Dealing Room or elsewhere.)
-
- Second, you know David and Hughes are working together to make you the
- scapegoat for it. You overheard the conversation in Hughes's office at 9:07
- a.m., you've listened to the doctored tape from your promotion conversation,
- and you've read the affidavit. In addition, your ledgers are altered, and
- the stock certificate is in your name. It looks innocent, but it could be
- construed as "suspicious."
-
- Third, you know that David and your wife, Jenny, are having an affair. So
- far, you don't know much about it because, if you ask him, David will tell
- yo it's all in her mind. But judging from the letter, he's just stringing
- her along. (You don't need to read the letter in order to ask him about the
- affair.)
-
- Fourth, you know that someone, at what is supposedly a "security" firm, is
- getting paid a _lot_ of money (from the envelope and cheque), and it isn't
- for making sure the building doesn't get robbed. (Remember Jarvis?)
-
- Margaret goes to lunch at 11:00 (at which time, if she still had it, she
- would have taken the envelope to David, and you would be unable to get it).
- Now you need to see to it that you have her phone in your hand at 11:24 to
- overhear an "interesting" conversation. Go north and GET PHONE. You can
- make some calls if you want (call Jenny), or just hold on to it by waiting.
-
- At the proper time, Bill Hughes will call David to tell him the Serious
- Fraud Office is in a bit of a hurry. It is this phone call that prompts
- David to start running around the building, picking up the various pieces
- of "evidence" against you. Pretty soon, the folder in the Volvo, the
- certificate and amend ledgers in your cabinet, the tape in his office, and
- the plastic bag in the cistern would be gone if you hadn't already
- collected these things. (I never tried it, but I assume you would be
- arrested and convicted if you hadn't collected enough of these items first;
- however, if you just missed a piece or two, they can be collected later.)
-
- Things are nasty and getting nastier. Theresa will go to lunch at 12:00,
- and you need access to her telephone shortly after that. WAIT UNTIL 11:45
- (or however you want to do it), then go east, south, down, north, and west
- to her office. You can wait anywhere you want, but make sure you have the
- phone in your hand (either hers or David's) by about 12:09. GET PHONE, WAIT,
- and you'll overhear David call M. Charpontier (the head of the erstwhile
- "security" company). Uh-oh! Now you know what David's doing with the drugs,
- where he gets them, and that there's now a contract out on your life!
-
- (In case you were wondering, prior to 12:11, the traffic will block you
- from driving your new BMW out of the Car Park; after 12:11, it will explode
- and kill you if you turn it on. Useless sort of vehicle.) It's time to head
- back to your office for a bit of business before lunch.
-
- Go east, south, up, north, west, and south to your office, then drop the
- briefcase. You're meeting Jenny for lunch at 2:00 p.m., and you can wait
- for the time to pass however you want. A stroll in the park is pretty, but
- except as a passage to the Zebra Crossing and some nice graphics, it is
- entirely irrelevant. Still, at some point in the game you may want to look
- through the Park. There's a suspicious looking derelict, a Salvation Army
- Band (which will actually give a concert later in the afternoon), a Band
- Leader you can follow, a Band Stand, a Duck Pond with ducks, a tempting
- trash barrel, and some rather nice graphics. However, while it looks as if
- they originally intended to write a larger game, it's all window dressing
- in the one they've released.
-
- If you have not done so before, I suggest you go to the restaurant a few
- minutes early, and wait outside for 5 or 10 minutes so you can confirm your
- suspicions. To get there from your office, go north, east, south, down
- three times, and west to the street, then north to Outside Le Monaco.
-
- When Jenny arrives, she gets out of a red Porsche. Guess who has a red
- Porsche? Right: David! Go east into the restaurant, and the waiter will
- seat you at your table. All you can do is sit there and WAIT while Jenny
- says some truly nasty stuff. Her actions revealed (to me anyway) that she's
- a real...well, let's say her stinky little actions and speech made me want
- some major revenge. You can't even usefully insult her right now; so, WAIT
- UNTIL 2:26 (you'll have to use the WAIT command a few times to get there
- due to Jenny's interruptions), go south from your table, and west once onto
- the sidewalk. When you get there, wait for a minute or two doing whatever
- you want. At this point, someone will push you into the oncoming traffic.
-
- (There are a couple of other times during the game when you can go west
- twice while the light is green and the cars are rushing past. The result is
- the same, however, and this is the most convenient as far as timing is
- concerned.)
-
- Whatever you do, you wind up in the hospital. When you get there, Nurse
- Stephenson will be in attendance for six minutes to make sure you stay in
- bed. Use this time to EXAMINE CABINET, EXAMINE EMPTY BED, and whatever else
- you want. Keep the following points in mind:
-
- 1. If your briefcase is in the cabinet, it's time to restore and leave it
- behind; you will not get out of the hospital with it.
-
- 2. If you don't get out of the hospital soon, you'll end up dead since the
- doctor doesn't seem to care much about his Hippocratic Oath.
-
- 3. Unless you're simply playing this game by following the commands in this
- walkthru, you need a save here. This is the place to which I specifically
- referred in the introduction. There simply isn't any way to figure out
- what's going on here, or do any looking around (except while the nurse is
- there, and then, not very much at that), and get out alive. This is a
- particular pain because you die and have to restart before you can restore.
-
- Okay, on to the method for getting out. As soon as the nurse leaves, GET UP.
- GET PAPERS, PILLOW CASE from the other bed (add whatever other small items
- you may have brought with you, using more commas because you don't have
- much time), and go south twice to the locker room. By looking at a previous
- save, you kno there's a bear (by the name of Boris) in here with a
- stethoscope around its neck, and that's exactly what you want (the
- stethoscope, not Boris). OPEN LOCKER (it has your clothes in it), and PUT
- CLOTHES, STETHOSCOPE IN CASE. (You can't take the bear; the nurse will
- catch you with it later.)
-
- Go north and you reach another point in this scene where you need to know
- what to do from a save. You want to go west and pretend to be the "Mr.
- Davis" whose name is on the papers from the empty bed in your room, but the
- nurse will come along too soon for that. So, what you do instead is go east
- into the Accident and Emergency Lobby, then north, east, and/or northwest
- (all of which will lead you in a circle right back to the lobby) as many
- times as it takes, until one minute (move) after you hear footsteps in the
- hallway (the second time).
-
- Now you can go west twice to the bed. Here you have approximately four
- moves to WEAR the BANDAGE (it's on the bed), LIE ON BED, and WAIT. The
- orderlies come and take you off to an ambulance waiting for Mr. Davis. Once
- in there, DROP BANDAGE, PYJAMAS, WEAR SHIRT, TROUSERS, TIE, JACKET. Then
- GET UP, OPEN DOOR, WAIT until the ambulance stops at a light, and EXIT (or
- go south).
-
- You'll find yourself Outside Le Monaco. Go south, east, up three times,
- north, west, and south into your office. GET BRIEFCASE. Then, go north,
- east, south, down, north, and west into Theresa's office.
-
- If it's after 3:30, Theresa will have left for the day; if not, wait until
- she has. OPEN DOOR WITH BRASS KEY, go west into David's office, and MOVE
- TELEVISION. Behind it you'll find a safe which you plan to crack. You've
- watched enough television to know the proper method. WEAR STETHOSCOPE, PUT
- STETHOSCOPE ON DIAL, and TURN DIAL. Great! It's working! TURN DIAL again,
- then a third time. Oops! The shredding machine user nearly gives you heart
- failure, but TURN DIAL one more time, and the safe is open. LOOK IN SAFE
- and you'll find a set of ledgers, receipts, and some chips. GET LEDGERS,
- RECEIPTS, CHIPS. READ RECEIPTS, READ LEDGERS (don't forget the "S" on the
- end of the words), and EXAMINE CHIPS.
-
- It's now getting near 4:00 p.m. when Hughes goes home. Go east twice and
- WAIT UNTIL 4:00. He'll come out and head off toward the fire escape. If you
- have EXAMINEd the pocket in your jacket, you know that in addition to your
- BMW car key, you have a credit card. If you also EXAMINEd the lock on
- Hughes's door, you know it's pretty easy to get past its lock; so, OPEN
- WOODEN DOOR WITH CREDIT CARD, and go east into his office.
-
- His desk has a locked drawer, but the credit card is ruined. OPEN DRAWER
- WITH SCREWDRIVER. GET the DOCUMENT from the drawer, and READ DOCUMENT.
- Yikes! This is nasty stuff! While you're there, READ LAW MAGAZINE which
- will give you a bit of information and a suggestion on what to do with the
- chips you just "found."
-
- Check your score; you should have 150 points. If you don't, look in the
- briefcase and READ everything in it because now you're ready for the last
- few bits of the game. Make sure you have every bit of incriminating
- evidence!
-
- Go west from Hughes's office, then south twice, down three times, west,
- north, and east into Le Monaco. SHOW CHIPS TO WAITER, KNOCK ON WOODEN DOOR,
- and you're in the Casino. If you want to play a few games, you can. But
- it's not necessary since your goal is to get through the padded door, and
- talk to the Manager.
-
- ASK FOR CREDIT, and you'll wind up face to face with M. Charpontier
- himself! He's not a nice man, and he's certainly not someone from a
- legitimate corporate security company. He'll inform you that he holds a
- contract on your life but will make a deal for the document. (This happens
- to be the one from Hughes's office which you have in your briefcase.) Don't
- believe him! You're dead if you give it to him, and if you come back at any
- time (with or without it), he'll kill you no matter what you do. Use this
- for information and points only.
-
- When you get back to the Casino, go south, west twice, and EXAMINE LIGHTS.
- Keep doing this until they change, and it's safe to walk across the street.
- Go west twice to the Zebra Crossing. At the Zebra Crossing, go north twice
- to the Police Station.
-
- If you go east before going inside and then north, you'll be in a pharmacy
- (which also has a picture). At any time before you break into Hughes's
- office, you can buy shaving cream, a razor, and film with the credit card.
- You can use the first two to shave off your beard. Doing this keeps the
- police from recognizing you after you break out of jail (you'll mess up
- your chat with the Inspector). There are two graphics for the jail cell.
- Don't look at them unless you save first, because you won't be able to
- finish the game.
-
- These graphics may indicate a plan to change some of the graphics to better
- correspond with the action in future games. It would be a rather nice
- improvement, even though it's a major departure from their current
- "bookplate" style.
-
- You should now have 170 points. Sergeant Russell's standing in front of you.
- TELL RUSSELL ABOUT DAVID. (You can show him the bag, too. The result's the
- same.) Now you're in the Interrogation Room with a very suspicious
- Inspector Goddard. I found the sequence here to be extremely important. So,
- although there may be other ways to do it, this is the sequence I used.
-
- TELL GODDARD ABOUT DAVID. This will include the call from Hughes, so TELL
- GODDARD ABOUT AFFIDAVIT, TELL GODDARD ABOUT CASSETTE, and TELL GODDARD
- ABOUT CERTIFICATE. (This is where you'll run into major problems if you
- haven't used the READ command enough. You won't be able to figure out what
- to tell him, and that's the clue.)
-
- He'll start to get suspicious, but GIVE CERTIFICATE TO GODDARD, and it
- seems to help; he wants to hear more. TELL GODDARD ABOUT ACCOUNTS, then
- TELL GODDARD ABOUT RECEIPTS, which will prompt him to ask for them. GIVE
- LEDGERS, RECEIPTS TO GODDARD and GIVE AFFIDAVIT, TAPE TO GODDARD. He _still_
- wants more! GIVE ENVELOPE TO GODDARD, which prompts him to ask you what you
- know. TELL GODDARD ABOUT CHARPONTIER.
-
- Enough! Inspector Goddard is finally convinced and outlines a plan, which
- includes rigging you up with a microphone, and sending you back to the
- Casino. There's really nothing else you can do. SAY "YES" and he'll have
- Russell wire you up. Keep in mind that you still have the document even
- though it's the first thing you told him about. Go south twice, and east,
- then EXAMINE LIGHTS. Go east when it's safe, then east again. SHOW CHIPS TO
- WAITER, KNOCK ON WOODEN DOOR, WAIT a time or two, and watch the end unfold.
-
- You did it! You beat CORRUPTION!
-
- CORRUPTION is published by Rainbird Software and distributed by Mediagenic.