The Big Red Adventure, as the name would cleverly suggest, is an adventure game that of the standard point and click variety. It was Dynabyte and released for play in the middle nineties by Core Design Limited. It was originally released for play on the personal computer in 1995, but in 1997 it was reworked and also released for the Amiga. It is a simplistic game with a detective or mystery theme that is geared more towards lower level gamers who are not experts at adventure games, although some of the ideas and humor are quite sophisticated.
It is a follow up to Nippon Safes, Incorporated and again stars Doug Nuts.
The setting of the Big Red Adventure is Russia, and the game takes place shortly after the collapse of the Communist party changes the face of the nation. The country is now experiencing a flux of tourism and is open to Western ideas that were previously veiled from the people. You will play the part of Doug Nuts, who is more of an antihero, since he is actually a renowned international thief. The game begins with you deciding to steal the crown of the Czar of Russia and you will have to solve some silly puzzles and do some weird fetch quests in
order to get to the museum where the real adventure will begin. You will be fleeing from Russia and will get on the Orient Express where you start to meet some very interesting characters that you can, in fact, take over and play. The plot begins to thicken as these new characters are introduced, each one having his or her own dilemma. For example, the sexy red-head Donna gets kidnapped by Dr. Virago, and you will also meet Dino, who is a stupid musclehead looking for a particular oil tanker. While the characters seem unrelated and silly here, playing the game will see them intertwine together very nicely as the plot comes together…no spoiler here.
The game is entirely mouse driven and the user will do a lot of pointing and clicking to acquire inventory, solve puzzles and converse with the people he meets. The graphics are exaggerated cartoons and deeply add to the game’s humor, which mostly consists of parodies of other games and pop culture figures. The music is very good and the user is also able to select from several languages at the set up.
The Big Red Adventure, while it is a reasonably easy game, is really fun. The humor, the music, the funny characters, and the plot make it very playable and interesting…almost addictive. Give it a go.
