Botanical Gardens by Basil Waterton
Hints by Jonathan O
In some ways the hardest part of this game is getting started, as it is not at all clear what you
should do. You need to explore the gardens and find two essential items first, then use them to
enter the Admin office. (You don't need to keep the photo with you - just examine it at the
start.)
It is useful (though not essential) to realise that the maze has two entrances (or exits).
The maze is totally rectangular, so mapping it is very easy. In fact, once you've eliminated
two dead ends, there is only one possible path through it.
When in a cluttered area, it is a good idea to search it.
There is an inventory limit of 2 (!) items, so you need to drop objects once you've used them
(and no item needs to be used more than once, with one exception - and even that may not be
necessary to keep if you make notes or have a good memory).
When you have the two essential items (one from the hut, the other from the maze) go to the open
window in the Admin office and make a vital object (clue: Peter Pan's adversary). You then need
to go through a complicated sequence to open the window, which involves using what you've made
in a specific location.
Again, once inside the office you need to search in one of the rooms. What you find gives vital
clues for three things - the first use is in the room where you found it.
Take an item you found in the safe to the computer room. Note that to switch the computer on (yes,
it's a Beeb!) you need the un-intuitive ON COMPUTER.
Once you've logged on (using the book again), read all the menu options, using PRESS M to
return to the menu each time.
Once you've done that, leave the office again by the window. Shortly afterwards a dramatic
event will occur, apparently on the island. Find the boat and enter it - the rest is done for you.
After the demise of Dr. Stonehouse (aka Nitty - why were such silly nicknames necessary?), go to the
laboratory and follow the first part of his instructions. To get in, use the book for the last time.
To turn the switch off, remember what you did to turn the computer on. To open the valve (which
kills the plants) you need an object from a nearby room (another object will follow you with it, but
don't sorry about that). Finally go to another room and get two vital objects (if you still
have the book, drop it as you've finished with it.)
Now go to the staff car park (if you've been here before, you'll notice that Dr.
Flint's van has gone) and use your two objects to get to a new set of locations.
In nearby locations there's one object which you will need. You should drop it before climbing
anything (and you must climb something or you'll lose), but then take it to the river - the
hard-to-guess verb is LAUNCH, then do something more obvious, ending up on the other side. (The
motor boat seems to be a red herring.)
When you get to the house, go into the shed to get a necessary object, then wait more than once
(otherwise Flint may kill you).
You can't open the front door from outside, so go round to the back door.
Be careful in the house - there is a vital object in there, but once you've found it
you'll need to leave the house by a different door from the one where you came in to avoid
being killed.
Once out of the house, go to the southern location of the two where you can see the helicopter, and
take two actions to destroy it (each fairly obvious). This completes the game with Gritty (aka Dr
Flint) self-immolating in the resulting blaze.
Some plot nitpicks and loose ends:
In the game's intro, you are told that everyone else should have gone home apart from a
security officer. Where is this person? Why didn't they appear when the shooting took place?
When you enter the security code into the computer, why is it done one digit at a time?
When you press B, the message you get is slightly muddled - it implies that Dr Flint is Nitty and Dr
Stonehouse is Gritty, when it's actually the other way round.
Presumably, the shooting must have happened like this: Both doctors went to the island, where Flint
shot Stonehouse and then came back (if he'd shot him from the mainland, the boat would still
have been at the island). Why did they do that? What were they going to do on the island?
If the Succubus project has been officially terminated, why are the plants still being kept alive?
Why do you need to park somewhere on the opposite side of the river from the house? And why
isn't there a way across the river on foot (ie a bridge)? And assuming that the van you find
there is Flint's, why did he park there and not at his house?
