Preppie! II
Adventure International
Longwood, FL
16K Cassette
32K Diskette
$34.95

Review by Steve Harding

Up and coming prepster Wadsworth Overcash had the world by the tail until a failed Freshman initiation banished him to the tender mercies of the cruel Groundskeeper. Forced to recover wayward golf balls on a course of hellish design, Wadsworth barely escaped with his Lacoste intact. Now, the saga of Wadsworth Overcash continues as he faces his greatest challenge yet in -- Preppie! II" So begins the manual in the latest installment in Russ Wetmore's delightful Preppie! series from Adventure International.

Preppie! II is far different from Preppie!. In Preppie! II, our hero finds himself once more in the clutches of the evil Groundskeeper. This time, the golf ball retrieval motif has given way to a paintbrush, and a plethora of "Preppish" colors with which Wadsworth must paint the floor throughout a series of mazes. There are five levels with three different mazes in each level. The object is to paint the entire floor in each of the three mazes.

Sounds easy so far, right? Not so. The first and third maze in each level are inhabited by radioactive frogs that will search out our hero and leap on him, given a chance. Each of these mazes also has a pair of revolving doors that Wadsworth can use and the frogs can't -- a real advantage for our hero, unless there happens to be a frog waiting on the other side!

The middle maze in each level should look familiar to Preppie! veterans. The lawn mowers and the golf carts are once again out in force in an attempt to "raze" Wadsworth's hopes. These mechanized dangers move horizontally and at varying speeds, making avoiding them all the more difficult.

Wadsworth has one advantage -- The Cloak Effect. Pushing the joystick fire-button renders him invisible for a short length of time. The Cloak Effect also makes our hero impervious to radioactive frogs, lawn mowers and golf carts. The amount of Cloak Effect available is shown by a bar at the bottom of the playfield. But use the Cloak Effect sparingly and only when you've painted yourself into a corner. Once the Cloak Effect is gone you're on your own until the next game.

Russ Wetmore has provided a little cartoon respite between the first and second levels: an alligator chasing Wadsworth across the screen. Then Overcash, swinging a hammer, chases the alligator. As for other between-level surprises, you'll have to discover them for yourself. Level three is as far as I can go for now.

Mark Murley's documentation is almost worth the program's suggested retail price of $34.95. It is well written and humorous. You can play the game without reading the manual, but do read it. It's quite good.

In sum, Adventure International and Wetmore are to be commended for a job well done. I can hardly wait for Preppie! III!