CHOLO
SolutionThis latest mega-game seems to have captured more imaginations - and postage stamps - than anything since Repton 3, and it's certainly drawn more pleas for help than any other.
Cholo gives a first impression of being another Elite - it's an (initially) immensely complicated game that comes with a map and instruction manual/novelette, and features Elite-style 3D vector graphics. It is, however, an altogether different proposition.
Many thanks to David Backhouse, Stuart Booth, Stephen Levin and Michael Smith for their excellent tips, which now follow:
The game starts with you controlling Rizzo, a RatDroid, who is wandering around Cholo's Central Computer building. Use the map in the manual to find the Cyber 1 computer, and log on by colliding gently with it.
Read PassITXT into rampak 1 and then run it. This gives you a list of passwords, which can be used to control the many other robots you will find along the way. Don't forget to write them down.
As you leave the building you will find a small robot travelling along the street in front of you. Chase it and shoot it until you get a message saying that it is temporarily paralysed. Stop shooting immediately - this isn't Elite now, you know! Log into this robot with the password PLUGIN and you now have control of lgor the Hacker.
You can use this same method to take control of Guard robots by using the password XXXXXX. However, you lose control of them once you move out of their allocated area.
Take lgor back to Cyber 1, where you will find RadarPRG - a short range radar scanner. When this is on, your position is shown in the centre of a large scale map of the surrounding area. It is a good idea to share important programs between droids, because when a droid dies all the information in its rampaks is lost.
Switch back to Rizzo and search around the buildings until you see Anneka the Flying Eye coming in to land. Disable her in the same way and log into her with the password Brazil. Fly her to Logic Island and position her on the triangular-shaped teleport pad. Leave her there and switch control to lgor.
Guide the Hacker to Group Pier where you will find another teleporter. Move on to it and he and Anneka will change places. Enter the church, where you will find another computer, Cyber 2, against the far wall. Don't worry about the robot guard immediately inside the door, it's dead.
When you log on you will find two programs, ReadmTXT and SurvyPRG. The former is simply a credit for the authors but the latter switches on two vidbots (camera robots), Ridley and Fellini.
Although they appear to be sitting in the sea in the south-east quadrant of the map, they are in fact located on an unmarked radioactive island. Ridley is particularly useful, because he is permanently located in a room.
To save your current position simply select Ridley, then press Escape followed by f0. Go back to the teleporter and return to Group Pier.
Next go to the bridge by the McNeil river, but don't go across just yet. Transfer control to Rizzo and take him to the bridge as welI. Switch to Ridley and save the game.
As Rizzo, race across the bridge as quickly as possible, swerving from side to side to avoid bumping into the guards, but don't fall in. And don't bother retaliating - it only wastes time.
When you finally get across you'll see pyramids on either side of the road. Follow the road and turn north after the third pyramid. In front of you will be a truncated pyramid. Go in the door on the north side.
Inside you will find a computer (Cyber 3) and a line of five apparently dead robots: A rat, a guard, an autodoc (revealing what one looks like), a hacker and a giant robot of a previously unseen type. The fifth is in fact not dead: He is Gort the Leadcoat, a powerful ally. After paralysing him, log on with the password KLAATU.
You now come to the difficult part: How to get the comparatively delicate lgor across the bridge. I have found the best method to be as follows:
Take Gort outside and move onto the eastern end of the bridge. Take control of lgor and move across the bridge, dodging the guards until his damage nears its limit. Switch to Gort and paralyse all the guards. Then guide lgor across at your leisure followed by Gort.
Once across, visit the Alan M Turing Science Institute (the building with the radar scanner). There you will find three computers, each designated Cyber 5. Logging on to any of them gives immediate control of Queen (a ship) and also access to a program, Hack1PRG. Next go to Cyber 3. If you already have Hack1PRG, you will find a program called Hack2PRG. If not, you will be denied access. Return to the bridge and transfer both Hack programs to Gort.
Select Queen, and dock with the end of the pier in the harbour - not, take note, the one on the headland to the east. It's quite tricky, and may take several attempts.
Return to Gort, cross the bridge and go to the harbour, where you will find another teleporter pad in front of the eastern pier. Position yourself on it and you will be transported into the ship's hold.
Transfer control back to Queen and sail to the radioactive island, using the positions of Ridley and Fellini on the main map to guide you.
On the way you will notice a number of Rats swimming around you. Stuart points out that Rizzo can also swim. Take him in the ship instead of Gort.
You won't be able to move or use him, since he's still in the ship's hull, but if you move Queen elsewhere you'll find that Rizzo is now outside on the surface of the water.
You can just steer him towards the land. Once on it, however, don't take them back into the water or they'll die. This technique is re-usable. Also, before re-taking control of any seafaring droid after you've taken control of a landlubber droid, make sure you take control of Queen first, or it'll die with a splash.
Dock at the right-hand side of the pier on the island and transfer control to Gort, who will then disembark. There are five buildings on the island: Go in the door on the central one.
Located inside is another computer, Cyber 4, in which you will find two programs, AtmosTXT and C-C-CTXT. The former gives you the location of the Bunker Cap - the sealed entrance to the humans' underground bunker. Deeper inside the same building you will find Ridley and Koke, a Coca-Cola machine.
Disable Koke very carefully - reading C-C-CTXT will tell you that it is actually an armed bomb - then log into it. Take both Gort and Koke back to Queen and return them, one at a time, to the mainland.
Take Gort to the Cassadra aerodrome and locate Aviata, the plane at the northern end of the runway. Paralyse it, then transfer control to Koke, guide him to the plane and get on board.
Take control of Aviata and fly to the Robot Citadel, labelled Manic Mine on the map. It looks like a pyramid, but you'll soon know when you're near because ground-based robots will start using you for target practice.
Crash Aviata into the Robot Citadel to explode the bomb and destroy the Bunker Cap. With a fancy firework display in the background, a message appears thanking you for freeing the people of Cholo. The game is now completed.
The other robot you will encounter is Dr. John, the unknown autodoc. I never use him myself, but he can normally be found wandering around somewhere to the right-hand side of the bridge. Log into him using the password STETHO.
David Backhouse says that the doctor can log into Aviata without paralysing him. To do this you should use the password FLYBOY.
Cholo is indeed a superb game - one that, once finished, you could keep coming back to time and again. I must say I was mildly irritated by the fact that you can only save the game while controlling a robot that is inside a building. But that's about my only complaint, and even that faded once I'd gained control of Ridley.
The only other points are a couple of possible bugs. I once logged into lgor along Bridge Street only to find SurvyPRG already in his rampak. The other occurs if you paralyse and take over a guard which is subsequently killed. The "robot select" page appears and the available robots are scanned through very rapidly, but the game no longer recognises any keyboard input. The only way out is to press Break.
This solution originally appeared in the "Micro User", published by Database Publications.
Scanned in by dllm@usa.net
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